Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: SPORTS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: DAYTON, OHIO LENGTH: Medium
And not all of the no-names in the NCAA Tournament are easy Riders. This year there are five first-timers in college basketball's really big show that starts today.
The new kids down on the block are Gonzaga, Florida International, Mount St. Mary's and two who will play at the Dayton Arena - Colgate and Nicholls State, which plays 13th-ranked Virginia this afternoon.
``When I saw the name in the bracket,'' said UVa guard Harold Deane, ``I had no idea who they were or where they're from.''
Southwestern Louisiana may have the nickname, but Nicholls State (24-5) really plays like ragin' Cajuns. They press and run and average 91 points a game. But really, where are the Colonels coming from?
Reaching the NCAA wasn't just a matter of winning the Southland Conference, a league where familiar coaching names Ned Fowler, J.D. Barnett and Ron Everhart work. After a rousing sendoff in hometown Thibodaux - no ``e'' please and pronounced Tib-uh-doh - on Tuesday, the team bus was headed for the New Orleans airport for its flight here behind a sheriff's escort.
Suddenly, heading toward the Colonels was something more fearful than a Deane drive. A pickup truck was barreling down the center of the road. The sheriff swerved. The bus careened to the berm.
``It was a drunk driver, at 8 a.m.'' said Nicholls sports information director Ron Mears. ``The sheriff radioed back and they picked him up.''
Getting here hasn't been easy for Nicholls, one of 13 Louisiana schools that play Division I hoops in six different leagues. In Thibodaux, the populace of 17,000 has had something to cheer about besides the unbeaten Nicholls State women's softball team - which is ranked 21st, three spots in front of UVa in the national poll.
``This is the biggest thing to ever happen to Nicholls State, and probably Thibodaux, too,'' Mears said. ``As the people in our part of the country say, this is `Lagniappe.'''
That's not just a restaurant on Kirk Avenue in Roanoke. It's French for something extra, something special. When Nicholls hits 100 points in a game, the Thibodaux McDonald's gives away French fries.
Would you expect any other nationality of fries in Cajun country?
The John Folse Culinary Institute recently opened at Nicholls. Folse, the noted Cajun chef, is probably Nicholls' most prominent alumnus. Then, the school hasn't had much time to build a list of notables.
Nicholls was founded in 1948, about 130 years after UVa. It was a junior college until 1952. It didn't play basketball until 1958-59.
It plays in 3,800-seat Stopher Gym, a facility that a national magazine called ``the Bates Motel of college hoops'' two years ago. ``If we put 3,800 in there, the fire marshal would shut us down,'' Mears said.
``There are no acoustics,'' said Nicholls coach Rickey Broussard. ``The sound bounces off the steel beams, so it's rather deafening.''
Located on Bayou Lafourche - ``the fork'' of the Mississippi River - Thibodaux is surrounded by sugar cane fields. The city's work force primarily works in those fields, at the school, or on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
No Southland team has won an NCAA game since Karl Malone delivered Louisiana Tech into the second round in 1984, but the Mailman's alma mater has since left the league.
The most prominent name among the Colonels is Reggie Jackson, and Nicholls is hoping his turf toe won't keep him from playing like Mr. March today. You may have heard of the last four-time all-Southland player before Jackson - Joe Dumars.
Broussard is trying to grasp what an NCAA bid will mean to his program and beyond, much less consider what an upset victory could do.
``I don't think I can understand the implications on our program, or on our university as a whole,'' said Broussard, in his fifth year as the Nicholls coach. ``I think it will change the complexion of the university.''
It probably will make Broussard the most historical figure in Thibodaux behind Francis Toulouse Nicholls, a name that is familiar in Virginia.
Nicholls, for whom the school is named, was a Confederate general. The Battle of Shiloh literally cost him an arm and a leg. After the war, Nicholls ran for governor of Louisiana during Reconstruction.
His campaign slogan was: ``Vote for the Rest of Me.''
Honest. And he won.
That's still the biggest Nicholls victory. The Colonels hope to change that today, but, like most NCAA rookies, they may only be living a dream.
by CNB