HARTFORD, Conn.—Who would have guessed the Cal-Irvine Anteaters would be the poster child for the great state of California in this year’s March Madness?
For more than 50 years, the Orange County program had existed in anonymity with just one win in the NIT 30 years ago and none in the NCAA tournament. But suddenly, the 13th seeded Anteaters have become Hollywood stars after upsetting fourth seeded, Big 12 regular season co-champions Kansas State, 70-64, in the first round of the NCAA tournament South sub-regional at San Jose, Calif.
In a year where UCLA fired its coach and barely scrapped .500, USC had an uncharacteristic down year and Cal-Berkeley was a total train wreck, Irvine (31-5) has filled the void, reeling off 13 straight victories.
“We could have easily come out here tonight against a Big 12 team like a lot of other lower seeds did and get blown out,’’ Irvine coach Russell Turner said. “But we seemed to gain momentum with this off of our confidence, and I think that’s because we’ve earned it. And so that’s fun, you know.’’
Irvine showed it deserved its’ moment in the sun. “UC Irvine folks live in the shadows live like little brothers to UCLA and SC and maybe some others—Cal, Stanford, San Diego State,’’ Turner said. “Well little brother had been in the weight room, getting better, getting ready for a chance like this. So, I’m really happy for these players had worked so hard for something everybody can see and then achieve it. I’m really happy for the fans of this program who also seem to have endured feeling like little brothers. We need to stick our chests out a little bit right now.’’
Irvine is one of eight double-digit seeds to advance. The others are 10th seeded Iowa, which defeated seventh seed American power Cincinnati, 79-72, in Columbus; 10th seed Florida, which defeated seventh seed Nevada, 70-61, in Des Moines; 10th seed Minnesota, which defeated Louisville, 86-76, in Des Moines; 11th seed Ohio State, which defeated sixth seed Iowa State in Tulsa; and three 12th seeds Oregon, which defeated Wisconsin, 62-59, in San Jose; Murray State, which defeated Marquette, 83-64, in Hartford Thursday; and Liberty, which defeated Mississippi State, 80-76, in San Jose.
Irvine’s breakthrough came in a season when UCLA didn’t qualify for the tournament and was especially satisfying for its leading scorer Max Hazzard. His grandfather, the late Walt Hazzard, was the NCAA tournament MVP in 1964 when he led the Bruins to the first of ten national championships under iconic coach John Wooden.
If the Bruins had extended a scholarship offer to Hazzard, he said he would have accepted it. “They were recruiting a lot of my teammates in high school, so obviously they would always talk to me,’’ he said. “But I wasn’t sure they really wanted me or if that was just kind of a respect thing for my name.’’
Hazzard made his own name on national TV against the Wildcats, making five three pointer and tying with teammate Evan Leonard with a game high 19 points. Leonard made back to back threes to spark the deciding run as the Anteaters took a 59-51 lead. K-State was never able to figure out the riddle of Irvine’s zone defense and missed star forward Dean Wade, who was out with a foot injury.
“We’ve had three goals all year, and that was to win the regular season championship, the tournament championship and advance to the NCAA tournament,’’ Hazzard said. “And that doesn’t mean just one game. We have another game on Sunday and we’re planning to put ourselves in position to win again so we can play in the second weekend.’’
The Anteaters will play 12th seeded Oregon (24-2), a 72-54 first round winner against Wisconsin.
