By Rohn Brown '84
Special to LongwoodLancers.com
A 20-win season is a special benchmark in college basketball. For some programs, it is the established plateau that defines a season's success. For those who have yet to reach it, it is a distant but surmountable apex and a season-long fixture on locker room white boards. For the select few elite and blue blood programs of the NCAA, it is merely the expectation.
But what are the odds of a college basketball team, at any level, winning 20 games not in a full season, but in succession?
The 1993-94 Longwood men's basketball team did exactly that.
As an NCAA Division II Independent with no conference affiliation, Longwood needed an outstanding record for postseason consideration. Coming off a 17-10 performance the year prior and returning a deep and experienced roster from that group, the prospects were good.
But even fourth-year head coach Ron Carr did not think 20 games in a row was possible.
"Never, never, never did I feel like we could win that many (20) back to back," said Carr.
However, they did, cementing their legacy as one of the most successful teams in program history and one of only four – joining the 1979-80 Division III Final Four team (28-3), the 1988-89 squad (20-7) and the 2000-01 D-II NCAA qualifiers (23-8) – to hit that 20-win benchmark.
Propelled by that streak, the 1993-94 team reached as high as No. 19 in the national rankings and reached the NCAA Division II Championship tournament. It was a historic season by any standard, as Longwood had never made it to the D-II "Big Dance" even during the Jerome Kersey era of 1980 to 1984. But what ultimately concluded as a legendary season in the context of Longwood's 44-year men's basketball history began with a debacle of a start that saw the Lancers stumble out of the gate with a 3-4 record and fall under .500 following a loss to Division III Averett.
"I think that might have been my worst game ever," said guard Michael Druitt with a laugh.
Druitt, who majored in Biology, was the primary point guard and one of three senior captains on that squad. He is now an assistant professor in Biological Sciences at Hampton University, whom Longwood will face this Saturday in Hampton, Va. Druitt, also serves as the assistant to the dean in the School of Sciences and is the pre-med and medical sciences coordinator.
"After that Averett loss, I think we as a team kind of looked at each other and said 'Hey, we know we're way better than this. We can't lose any more home games,'" he said. "That was the actual start of coming back home and starting that winning streak."
The streak started with home wins over Lynchburg, Pfeiffer – an NAIA power – and Division II Elon.
According to Druitt and senior captain Charles Brown, the Lancers really hit their stride with an 88-63 win at Virginia State on January 12.
"At that moment, we became a machine," remembers Brown. "We executed everything to a T. We could counter anything that came at us. We were eighth in the county in defense. We realized that we had arrived."
Brown teamed with Druitt at Bruton High School in Williamsburg before coming to Longwood. The social work major is now the Head Boys' Varsity Basketball Coach and Instructional Para-Educator in Special Education at York County High School.
"When we walked into that gym, we literally got laughed at," said Druitt. "And, by (early in the second half) when we were winning by 25 points, you could hear a pin drop in that gym. What a testament to our chemistry. We could go on the road anywhere in a hostile environment and we would meld together. We would come together as one. "
The team was balanced and unselfish. No player averaged more than 12.6 points or 6.3 rebounds per game, and as a group the Lancers ranked eighth in the nation in scoring defense while also nearing a school record with 16.6 assists per game.
"It became a habit for everyone to rebound, and it became a habit for everyone to play defense," said Brown, who averaged a team-high 12.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game that year. "When you look at the balance of scoring, we did not care who scored the points. We were our teammates' biggest fans. When a guy had a good scoring night, everyone else was happy for him."
The chemistry reflected the unique personalities and leadership styles of the team captains, Druitt, Brown and senior Adam Huffman.
"Whenever we traveled, we had a blast," remembers Druitt. "All we did was laugh and joke the entire trip. Not only did we get along, we played hard. Every man left everything on the floor. If you think about it, when people play hard in a game, they practice hard as well. That is what we did. We practiced as hard as we played."
The tenacious defense, the team play, and those competitive practices showed results in the NCAA tournament. After beating Carson-Newman 76-63 at home, the Lancers advanced to the South Atlantic Regionals in Fayetteville, N.C.
While they lost to Norfolk State 61-59 in the semifinals and to Elizabeth City State 88-87 in the consolation, Longwood basketball made a statement.
"When you looked at our team, you weren't expecting what we were bringing," said Brown.
"As we exited, fans were saying 'You got our respect Longwood.' Nobody really knew about Longwood, knew who Longwood was or knew that Longwood had a basketball team."
Players and coaches from the 1993-94 Longwood Men's Basketball team:
Melvin Bellamy '97, Charles Brown '94, Junior Burr '97, Michael Druitt '94, William Foxx '96, Adam Huffman '94, DeVonne Johnson '96, Joe Jones '96, J.B. Neil '95, Eddie Shelburne '96, Matt Watkins '95, Benji Webb '96. Head Coach Ron Carr, Assistant Coach Scott Davis.
#GoWood
