MEMPHIS, Tenn. – They sure looked like they belonged up there. Walyn Napper, Michael Christmas, DA Houston facing the national media, along with head coach Griff Aldrich -- preparing to play one of the nation's top teams under the bright lights of March Madness.
 
For decades, it was a dream. In 2022, it finally became real. 
 
Now, with Longwood's 2024 NCAA Division I Basketball Tournament appearance, the country is seeing more than just a team. It's seeing a program that's built itself from the ground up into one of the most accomplished mid-majors in college basketball, one of just 24 mid-major programs to earn a spot on the biggest stage in the game twice in the last three years.
 
Tip-off for the No. 16 seed Lancers against No. 1 seed Houston is scheduled for 9:20 p.m. EDT. The game will air nationally on TNT and on national radio on Westwood One. Longwood's radio call will be on WVHL FM 92.9 Kickin' Country or on the Varsity Network App.
 
The draw against Houston (30-4) is a tall order. But after all the distance this group has traveled together, they want more, and believe they can do it.
 
"We know what we have in our locker room," Napper said. "We know the guys that we have. We know the coaching staff that we have."
 
College basketball is noticing, too.
 
In its sixth season under Aldrich, Longwood (21-13) has enjoyed back-to-back-to-back 20-win seasons, a program first. In addition to 67 wins over the last three seasons, Aldrich has guided this year's team back to March Madness despite nine new scholarship players against only four returners. DA Houston and Jesper Granlund are the only two rotation players who remain from the team that won the Big South title two seasons ago.
 
In Longwood's final nine games, including the Big South Tournament, it went 6-1 against the top four teams in the Big South. Longwood beat High Point, the top seed, UNC Asheville, the second seed, and Winthrop, the fourth seed, twice each.
 
"I think the last month of the season they were really on a mission to be playing the best basketball that they could," Aldrich said.
 
The Lancers arrived in Memphis on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday was a day of preparation, including media questions and an open practice on the floor of the FedEx Forum, where Friday's game is scheduled to tip off at 9:20 p.m.
 
Only twice in men's tournament history has a 16-seed beaten a No. 1. One of the storylines has been Aldrich's role in the first of those games – he was an assistant at UMBC in 2018 when it beat U.Va. Aldrich and the players both said they'd talked that experience only briefly.
 
"We want to write our own story," he said.
 
But he couldn't help but remark that the key to that UMBC's stunning upset was self-belief and connectedness – features of this Longwood team, too.
 
"This is probably the closest, most tight-knit group I've ever been around as a team," said Aldrich, who was named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award earlier in the week.
 
The leadership has come from Napper, who led the team in scoring at 14.6 points per game along with 4.6 assists. His 155 assists this season are the third-most in a single season in program history.
 
Napper earned Second Team All-Big South honors after the regular season before shepherding Longwood to the Big South Championship. The senior was named the Big South Tournament MVP and set the conference record for assists in a championship game with 11. He surpassed 1,000 points earlier in the regular season finale against High Point on senior day – and won the game 74-72 on a driving lay-up with 0.6 seconds remaining.
 
"It's always been a talented team," Aldrich said. "Walyn has really taken hold of the team and led them both through example but also by holding people accountable as a leader. And I think the guys have sensed and seen his purpose and determination and they followed."
 
Meanwhile, three Longwood players averaged double figures in scoring with one more right on the cusp. In addition to Napper, Michael Christmas posts 11.5 points per game while Johnathan Massie chips in 11.4. Szymon Zapala adds 9.9 points per game.
 
The Lancers are voracious on the boards as a team. Longwood is outrebounding opponents by more than nine rebounds per game, the fourth-highest margin in the nation. Christmas leads the team at 6.2 rebounds per game and is one of three players averaging at least five boards per contest (Zapala-5.7, Massie-5.3). They'll face a huge test against a supremely physical and aggressive Houston squad.
 
Napper says the group believes in themselves. They'll certainly leave it all on the floor Friday in their toughest test yet, trying to extend a season that has already been extraordinary.
 
"Honestly, we don't really get caught up into the rankings, the numbers of who is 16 and who is 1," Napper said. "At the end of the day, we're all college athletes. We all play D-1. We earned this opportunity."
 
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