The 1985-86 Navy Midshipmen: “The Greatest Service Academy Basketball Team” By Justin Kischefsky

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Navy men’s basketball team advancing to the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Tournament. The Mids compiled a 30-5 record on the year, won the Colonial Athletic Association’s regular season (with a 13-1 mark) and tournament titles and were ranked as high as 17th nationally. The accomplishment is not only the high-water mark for the program, it also is on the short list of the top team athletic achievements in USNA history.

Expectations for the Navy men’s basketball team prior to the start of the 1985-86 season were as high as they had been for the program in a generation, if not more. And with good reason, as the team had been on a steady three-year climb with new standards being set each season.

After back-to-back losing seasons in which Navy had compiled a total of 21 victories in 1980-81 (9-16) and 1981-82 (12-14), the Mids posted an 18-11 record during the 1982-83 campaign. The 18 victories tied the school record for the most wins in a year (1920-21, 1924-25, 1953-54) and was part of an effort that sent the Mids into the semifinal round of the inaugural ECAC South Tournament. Vernon Butler was a freshman on that team. The post player started every game that year and, in the process, leading the Mids in rebounding (10.2 rpg) and ranking third in scoring (11.6 ppg).

The following year, 1983-84, Navy put together a 24-8 record, tied for second place in the ECAC South’s regular season with a 6-4 mark and reached the championship game of the conference tournament. The team’s .750 winning percentage was the best by a Navy team since the 1958-59 team also posted that mark.

Individually, Butler put together team-leading averages of 14.7 points and 8.7 rebounds a game. Fellow sophomore Kylor Whitaker moved into a starting role in the backcourt and averaged 10.0 points and 3.4 assists a game. A freshman named David Robinson also started to become comfortable with the college game as the season went on. He didn’t start a game all season, but averaged 7.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks a game to be named the conference’s rookie of the year.

Despite 24 victories and an appearance in the conference title game, Navy was at home to watch both the NCAA Tournament and the NIT in 1984. Determined to not place their fate in the hands of those sitting around a conference table for a second time, the 1984-85 Mids again set a school –– and service academy –– record for the most wins in a season with a 26-6 mark, shared the conference regular season crown with an 11-3 record and won the ECAC South Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. It was the first appearance by the Mids in the NCAA Tournament since the 1959-60 campaign and was the first postseason appearance of any kind by the program since an NIT trip in 1961-62.

The 13th-seeded Mids did not waste their opportunity in March Madness as they blasted fourth-seeded and 20th-ranked LSU, a team that had four future NBA players on the roster, 78-55, in the opening round to win a game in the event for the first time since the 1958- 59 season. Two days later, Navy led a Len Bias-paced, fourth-seeded Maryland team by as many as nine points in the second half and was up by five with eight minutes to play before falling short in a 64-59 defeat.

Navy’s 1985-86 team returned its entire starting lineup and top-seven scorers from the squad that threw the scare into the Terrapins. Most notably, Robinson decided to forego opportunities to transfer to another school and remain at Navy. Robinson explained being comfortable with his decision in a story that appeared in the Washington Times prior to the start of the season: “It was a pretty hard decision. When the season ended, I definitely thought about it a lot. It was tempting. But the atmosphere here was too good –– and the education. It was just too much to turn down. You never know what’s going to happen in two years of basketball. You get hurt or something, like Nap McCallum did, and it could be worse for me than it was for him. I just found the advantages of staying here more overwhelming than the advantages of maybe leaving and sitting out a year and waiting three years and seeing what happens in the pros.”

Robinson averaged 23.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game as a sophomore to earn conference player-of-the-year honors. Joining him in the frontcourt for the 1985-86 season was Butler, who entered his senior season on the verge of becoming the Navy record holder for career points and rebounds after his 18.4-point, 9.1-rebound per-game averages in 1984-85. Whitaker was the third Mid to average double figures during the prior year (13.6 ppg), with he and Robinson’s classmate, Doug Wojcik, dishing out a combined 398 assists in 1984-85.

Rounding out the quintet of returning starters was sophomore guard Cliff Rees (8.8 ppg). Also on the team were Carl Liebert, a junior forward who had played in 29 games the year before, Tony Wells, a senior forward who played in 26 games in 1984-85, and Derric Turner, a freshman forward who had led the Naval Academy Prep School in scoring and rebounding with averages of 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds a game during the 1984-85 season.

“The potential is there for an excellent season,” said Navy head coach Paul Evans in Soundings Magazine prior to the start of the 1985- 86 campaign, which was his sixth year at the helm of the Mids. “We’ve got three or four recruits who should push the returnees for playing time, so they should offset any complacency or overconfidence that might be present. Our guys still feel there is a lot left to accomplish.”

“Success begets success,” said Whitaker. “We had all of our key players back. We were confident and excited and felt we could do even better than we did in 1985. Now we had some exposure to playing against ranked teams. We were very confident we could build off of that.”

“Our expectation was that we were going to be very competitive,” said Robinson. “We were loaded with returning players, but we still had to go out and prove it. We had great pieces. Making the NCAA Tournament in 1985 was a great experience and boost. At a minimum, we wanted to make the NCAA’s again. You never know how far you can advance in it.”

“Our hopes and goals were to repeat as conference champions and advance to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament,” said Wojcik. “Expectations were extremely high, yet I do not believe we felt it as a team. We were very determined by Vernon Butler and relaxed due to Kylor Whitaker’s confident, easy attitude.”

“You have to look back at winning that first-round game against LSU,” said Liebert as to the reasons why the team had confidence heading into the fall of 1985. “And with 3-4 minutes to go, we had Maryland down. Len Bias and Adrian Branch were on that team and Lefty Driesell was the coach. They were really talented. They were pressing us. We hadn’t played against those types of athletes. We had some turnovers late. Our teams flew back together on the same plane. I remember how crappy we all felt because we felt we could beat them.

“After that season we started to play more. A lot of ball that spring season. Playing pickup ball, working out more in the summer. That led to a summer where we all spent a lot of time getting ready.”

“Expectations were certainly high,” said Rees. “I think our focus was to win the league and get back to the NCAA Tournament. We never discussed much how far we thought we could go in it, just that we wanted to get back. But this team had the mindset that we could compete against anyone.”

Assistant coach Dave Laton had placed a sign in the locker room at the start of each season with goals. The 1982-83 sign read “Winning Season.” In 1983-84, “20-Win Season” was the goal. The following year, 1984-85, the goal was “NCAA Tournament Bid.”

“At the top of our locker room at the start of the 1985-86 season,” said Turner, “coach had a placard that said ‘National Champions’ on it. I kind of looked at it and went, yeah, okay, it is good to reach high, but come on.”

“I truly believe that (the National Champions sign) set the tone for our mindset,” said Liebert. “We didn’t have it then, but I think it started the conversation that we could be fairly good. It was a wakeup call for me personally. I don’t know if we believed it ourselves, but clearly the coaching staff did.”

What Navy had the potential to accomplish was noticed outside of the team locker room as well.

Over 2,700 fans were in Halsey Field House for an exhibition game by the team against the Greek National Team. That attendance figure was higher than the size of the crowds who had turned out for the majority of the team’s home games during the entire 1984-85 season.

Nationally, the team held preseason rankings of 10th (Washington Post), 13th (Sporting News and Sport Magazine), 15th (Inside Sports), 18th (Dick Vitale) and 19th (Associated Press).

“We clearly viewed Navy as the team to beat in the CAA heading into the season,” said UNC Wilmington player Greg Bender. “Richmond and George Mason had quality teams as well, but Navy emerged as a real force in 1984-85, which included a win in the NCAA’s against LSU. Navy returned nearly everyone from that team, which included maybe their two best players of all-time in David Robinson and Vernon Butler. They also had experience at the point guard position in Doug Wojcik, who was the leader on the floor. Anytime you have David Robinson on your team you are going to be great at the college level. I always felt like Kylor Whitaker was very much underrated and really made them a complete team. Whitaker was by far their best outside shooting threat and he made it more difficult to sag your defense around Robinson and Butler. Navy had an excellent coaching staff that had been in place, which led to continuity for the team. It was clearly an inside oriented team with Robinson and Butler, as they had a distinct inside advantage against most teams in the country and certainly against the CAA teams.”

“Expectations for Navy were high going into that 1985-86 season,” recalled Washington Post columnist, accomplished author and college basketball encyclopedia John Feinstein, who covered the team that season. “Robinson had emerged as a real star as a sophomore and the Mids had crushed LSU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament before running out of gas –– and INTO Len Bias –– in the second round.

“David wasn’t close to being the only good player on that team. Every other key guy came back, most notably Vernon Butler and Wojcik, but really the first seven guys. They were experienced and had been through an NCAA Tournament already. They were close knit and played a style they all enjoyed under Paul Evans. Plus, David never acted like he was THE star. I remember in the locker room one day after practice, David was giving Wojcik a hard time and Wojcik said, ‘Careful David; never bite the hand that feeds you.’”

“Dave didn’t walk around like he was the best player,” said Turner, “but we all knew it.”

“Vernon was the team captain and led by example,” said team manager Ian Cassidy. “Kylor was the joker who kept us in good humor. David was a superior athlete. But no one thought they were above anyone else.”

“When they beat LSU and had a chance to beat Maryland,” said Capt. Al Konetzni, the team’s officer representative who would go on to retire from the Navy as a vice admiral, “you could see they were pretty good and close to being great. They just didn’t have at the time that killer instinct they needed, that ability to give the 10-percent more that was needed to take another step.”

November 22 * Hartford, Conn. * Big Apple NIT St. John’s 66, (AP: 19) Navy 58

Navy was not the only team to attain great heights during the 1984-85 campaign. St. John’s had advanced to the Final Four for the first time since reaching the national championship game of the 16-team 1952 NCAA Tournament. However, whereas the Mids returned the nucleus from their run to the second round of the 1985 NCAA Tournament, the Red Storm, as they are now called, had graduated multiple national player-of-the-year award winner Chris Mullin. St. John’s did return four future NBA players in forwards Walter Berry, Ron Rowan and Shelton Jones and guard Mark Jackson (17 NBA seasons, almost 1,300 games), which made for an intriguing pairing in the inaugural Big Apple NIT in Hartford, Conn.

Navy led St. John’s for 18 minutes of the first half, including by as many as eight with less than two minutes remaining before intermission. The Red Storm winnowed that margin in half to 33-29 at the break. The Mids extended their lead out to 38-31 early in the second stanza before St. John’s tied the game at 45 and took a 49-47 lead. A long jumper by Wojcik followed by a steal and layup by Rees boosted Navy back into the lead at 51-49. The teams exchanged baskets (53-51), then Rowan scored five quick points for St. John’s to make the score 56-53 in favor of the Johnnies with 6:27 remaining. Rowan also accounted for the ensuing basket to stretch the advantage out to 58-53, then Rowan soon made a pair of free throws to make it a seven-point game with 2:18 left. The Mids were only able to close to within 62-58 of the Red Storm, and that was followed by Berry and Jackson going a combined 4-4 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the game.

“This certainly was a game that could’ve gone the other way ... if we had lost our composure,” said St. John’s head coach Lou Carnesecca after the game to The (Baltimore) News American. “The second half we did a fairly good job (on Robinson). Thank God we wore him down. He’s going to make a lot of money. And he’s going to have a tough time on a sub. We tried everybody on him.”

Robinson scored 19 first-half points, but was limited to just eight in the last 20 minutes of the game. His 27 points led all players, as did his 18 rebounds. Berry, who would go on to earn several national player-of-the-year accolades in the spring, accounted for 20 points, 13 rebounds and five blocked shots. He tallied 12 points and nine rebounds after halftime.

“We lost a close game in the Preseason NIT to St. John’s, who started two All-Americans in Mark Jackson and Walter Berry,” said Evans. “It was a game we could have won, but I’m not sure the team thought so at the time. I think they were surprised how upset the coaching staff was after the game. I think from that time on, they went into the games thinking they should win.”

“Disappointed,” is how Wojcik described the mood of the team about after the loss to the eventual 31-5 Johnnies, who won the 1986 Big East regular season and tournament crowns and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before being upset in the second round. “We belonged; we knew it and we let one get away.”

“It was a big game, on a big stage, against an excellent team,” said Rees. “We knew a win there would send a message to all future opponents. But I don’t think the loss set us back in terms of motivation. St. John’s was an exceptional team and we competed with them throughout so despite the loss, it gave us confidence knowing we could go head-to-head with some of the best competition in the country.”

“I think we were favored to win that game, and we lost,” said Turner. “I remember the feeling of disappointment being the mood in the locker room. Paul Evans was a very fiery coach and he came in pretty upset. We hadn’t quite jelled together as a team.”

“They could play with the best teams in the Big East,” said Jackson of the Mids to the Washington Post after the game.

“I don’t know if we approached that game with the idea that all of a sudden we had a target on our back,” said Liebert. “It is a little different. When you start to go into games like that and are expected to win against a team with Walter Berry and some of the players they had, that was a tough opener. It was a different mindset that we had to ratchet it up a notch and that we are going to show up and not have teams underestimate us now, and that we are going to have to show up and play hard every night. That was a wakeup call.”

November 26 * Annapolis, Md. Navy 84, Westminster 54

Navy returned to Annapolis to open its home slate against Westminster. A 15-0 run by the Mids gave them a 31-14 lead with 7:11 left in the first half. With the Navy starters on the bench after halftime, Westminster closed to within 51-40 of the Mids with nine minutes remaining. The starters returned and needed all of 80 seconds to push the 11-point lead out to 21 and end any suspense as to the outcome of the contest.

Westminster head coach Ran Galbreath, in a story that appeared in the Baltimore Evening Sun, said he tried to simulate facing Robinson by giving his taller players –– who stood no more than 6-foot-3 –– tennis racquets in practice. The tactic didn’t work as Robinson and Butler combined for 19-26 shooting, 46 points and 18 rebounds. Robinson also scored the 1,000th point of his career in what was his 62nd game at Navy (tied for the fourth-fewest number of games a Mid needed to reach the milestone).

“We had to redeem ourselves (after the St. John’s game),” said Butler in the Sun. “The intensity built and built; we exploded. It was the most fun we’ve had in two weeks.”

December 2 * Annapolis, Md. Navy 105, Case Western 55

Whereas in the Westminster game Evans placed his starters on the bench because of how happy he was with the way they were playing, in the next game against Case Western he benched them after just four minutes because of how unhappy he was with them. Included among the subs who entered the game was Liebert, who would score 16 points in the final 16 minutes of the first half to better his previous career high for points in an entire game.

“Coach told us before the game he was going to do something drastic if the starters didn’t produce right away,” said Liebert to the Baltimore Evening Sun. “I thought he’d just wake up the first five by leaving us in for five minutes.”

That “five minutes” turned out to be the rest of the first half as the Mids eventually took a 35-20 lead before holding a 51-30 advantage at the break.

“I told them to be ready to play, but the first group wasn’t,” said Evans in the same Sun story. “They weren’t running and rebounding. They made turnovers. Once I took them out, I prayed the second team would play well enough so that I wouldn’t have to take them out.”

Robinson produced 21 points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes of playing time to narrowly edge his roommate, Liebert (20 points and 11 rebounds in 22 minutes), for the game’s scoring honors.

December 4 * Annapolis, Md. Navy 103, Penn State 50

Navy’s third rout in a row took place two days later as the Mids handed Penn State what remains the largest margin of defeat for the Nittany Lions in program history. It was quite a turnaround from the result of the game between the teams one year earlier when Penn State defeated Navy, 66-63.

The Mids broke open the game by going on a 20-0 run over a seven-minute span of the first half to build a 31-6 lead. Guards Wojcik and Whitaker combined for 15 of those 20 points. The Mids shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the first half to build a 52-16 lead at intermission against the Penn State team that included eventual NBA player Tom Hovasse.

Evans told the assembled media after the game that Wojcik played “maybe his best game ever” as he recorded five steals and impacted an estimated six other Penn State passes.

December 6 * Syracuse, N.Y. * Carrier Classic Navy 73, Ohio 62

The Mids began a stretch of three-straight tournaments with a trip to Upstate New York and the Carrier Classic in Syracuse, N.Y. First up for Navy was a game against an Ohio team that had reached the 1985 NCAA Tournament and would go on to post a 22-8 record and make the NIT in 1986. The lineup for the Bobcats also featured future NBA players Paul Graham and Dave Jamerson.

Navy held a 53%-36% shooting advantage over Ohio in the first half, but the Mids led the Bobcats by the close score of 34-29. Butler paced the Mids with 12 points in the first half as Robinson was limited to just four points on 2-4 shooting from the floor and did not make a journey to the foul line. But seeing as how Ohio held leads of 16-8 and 18-11, Navy had to feel fortunate holding the lead midway through the game.

“We were expecting them to pressure us,” said Evans after the game to the Annapolis Capital, “but I was surprised it bothered us so much.”

The Mids took several seven-point leads early in the second half only to see the Bobcats regain the advantage at 48-42 with just over 13 minutes left on the clock. Robinson then made a pair of free throws to make the score 48-44. After Ohio took a 50-44 lead, Butler started to take over.

“That was when we had to turn it around,” Butler was quoted as saying in the next day’s Syracuse Herald-Journal. “This was not a game we could afford to lose.”

In order, he scored after grabbing an offensive rebound, made one of two free throw attempts, hit a short jumper, scored on a layup and made another inside shot that gave the Mids a 53-52 lead with just under seven minutes still to play. Liebert soon followed with a jumper, Rees made one free throw and Robinson scored from five feet. Those efforts allowed Navy to take a 58-52 lead with four minutes left on the clock. The Mids slowly expanded their lead out to 64-56 with 100 seconds remaining to salt the game away.

Butler played all 40 minutes and ended the game with a career-high 29 points to go along with 14 caroms.

“They spanked us like we hadn’t been spanked before,” said Billy Hahn, who was an assistant coach on the Ohio team before lengthy stints as an assistant at both Maryland and West Virginia. “Besides David Robinson, who was unbelievable, they had Vernon Butler. Oh my God; he whipped our butt. That Navy team had a toughness to it. They never stopped. And they were very good.”

“We approached the game in that Ohio was a lot like us,” said Liebert. “They were from the Ohio Valley Conference and a really good, sound team. They were junior and senior led. They had experience. It was a good win early in a season against a very solid team that we felt would go back to the NCAA Tournament. It was a confidence building win.”

December 7 * Syracuse, N.Y. * Carrier Classic (AP: 4 / UPI: 5) Syracuse 89, Navy 67

The win over Ohio advanced Navy into the title game of the Carrier Classic against tournament-host Syracuse. The Orangemen boasted four future NBA players on their roster in a dynamic backcourt of Dwayne “Pearl” Washington and Sherman Douglas plus post players Rafael Addison and Rony Seikaly. After starting the year with decisive victories over Utica, Cornell, USC and La Salle, this was expected to be the first real test of the season for the home team.

The Mids were 15-30 (50%) from the field in the first half –– Robinson was 5-7 –– but the Orange were 18-40 (45%) to take a 41-33 lead at halftime. The score was tied at 31 with 4:50 remaining before Syracuse closed the half on a 10-2 run. Washington accounted for five of those 10 points.

“Syracuse has so much depth and talent that we can’t afford to rest anybody,” said Evans in the next day’s Annapolis Capital. “If you let up at all against a team like this, they’ll run off eight to 10 points on you.”

The Orange then took a 10-point lead early in the second half and led by double figures for the final 16 minutes.

Robinson tallied 22 points and 11 boards to join Butler on the all-tournament team.

“We made a lot of stupid mistakes,” said Robinson in the Capital story. “We were giving them the ball too much with stupid turnovers, and we didn’t keep them off the offensive boards. I don’t think we are 25 points worse than Syracuse.”

“We were disappointed in the outcome,” said Wojcik, “but the Carrier Dome was an unusual venue with its size and depth. Playing there in December really prepared us for March.”

“A win over Ohio is on one level,” said Liebert. “Beating a Syracuse is on another higher level. We had to believe that we could do it. And a second piece is that we were going to have to make some adjustments and do some things differently to play our game and not their game. I don’t know if we were ready to do that. It was another eye-opening experience.”

December 21 * Osaka, Japan * Suntory Ball Navy 70, Air Force 53

If traffic is light and there is good weather, it is about a seven-hour bus ride from Annapolis to Syracuse. That trip would seem like a breeze compared to where Navy would go for its next pair of games. The Mids would travel 7,000 miles to Japan to take part in a round-robin series of games against fellow service academy teams Air Force and Army during the sixth edition of the annual Suntory Ball. First on the docket for Navy was a game against the Falcons at Osakajo Hall in Osaka.

“Navy was a very solid team,” remembered Reggie Minton, who was the Air Force head coach that season and recently retired after 16 seasons as the deputy executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. “They were strong at the four and five positions with Butler and Robinson and were solid at the point with Wojcik. When you have that combination going for you, especially with the way we played back then, you were a good team.

“We had some obvious matchup problems. We knew going in we had to shoot the ball as well if not better than we normally did and we had to keep Robinson and Butler from killing us on the boards and getting to the basket.”

The teams would be facing each other for the first time in nine seasons, and the Falcons were coming off of a 10-19 campaign the year before. Navy took an early 17-4 lead and soon went on a 14-0 run in the second half to build a 48-21 cushion and cruise to the victory.

Robinson recorded 19 points on 8-11 shooting, 13 rebounds and seven blocked shots.

December 23 * Tokyo, Japan * Suntory Ball Navy 93, Army 63

Two days later, Navy squared off against Army at Ryogoku Stadium in Tokyo.

The Mids had defeated the Black Knights in five-straight games, but the previous two meetings were decided by a total of three points. This game started off similar to those recent ones in that Navy held a 13-12 lead nine minutes into the contest.

From there, however, the Mids closed the first half on a 33-13 run and eventually posted what was at the time the largest margin of victory by either team in the series (is now the third-largest margin).

“Army games are always interesting, to say the least,” said Liebert. “Army had kind of taken on this approach that they were just going to try and take us out of our game by being, in my mind, thuggish. It was brutal early. We just kind of got mad early, and then we started pouring it on. It became fun, but for the first four or five minutes it was forearm shivers coming around from everywhere.”

The trio of Robinson, Butler and Whitaker combined for 52 of Navy’s 93 points. Robinson, Whitaker and Wojcik (21 assists over the two games) were named to the all-tournament team.

December 27 * Atlanta, Ga. * Cotton States Classic Navy 67, (AP: 20 / UPI: 18) DePaul 64

There was no rest for the weary as just four days after finishing its game against Army in the Far East Navy was back on the court for competition, this time in Atlanta, Ga., against nationally-ranked DePaul as part of the Cotton States Classic hosted by Georgia Tech.

“I remember leaving Tokyo on Christmas Eve and landing at JFK Airport in New York on Christmas Eve,” said Liebert. “Wojcik and I shared a taxi to LaGuardia Airport. We got on a plane to Pittsburgh. He got off in Pittsburgh and I flew on to Louisville. I arrived home at 9 p.m. We stopped by White Castle on the way home. I went to bed, got up Christmas morning, we opened presents, and then I got on a plane at noon to go back to BWI for practice. Then the next day we flew to Atlanta for the Cotton States Classic.”

The Blue Demons, who would end 1985-86 with an 18-13 record and in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, featured three future NBA players on their roster in Rod Strickland, Dallas Comegys and Stanley Brundy. After having compiled a 19-10 record and reaching the 1985 NCAA Tournament, the lone two losses for the 1985-86 team to date had been setbacks to No. 5 Georgetown and at Purdue.

Perhaps the jet lag had caught up with the Mids early on as they fell behind by as many 12 points in the first half, went into the locker room trailing, 40-30, and were down, 44-38, in the second half when Robinson picked up his fourth foul of the game.

“The halftime conversation coach Evans had with us was robust, as only coach Evans could do,” said Liebert. “We were flat; we were spent. Coach had some really choice words for all of us at halftime. Still, we didn’t come out at halftime with that instinct. Around the 12-minute mark we just woke up. It was like we made it through that Ambien fog.”

Navy closed to within 46-43 with 13 minutes left to play only to have DePaul go on a 10-0 run and open up its largest lead of the game at 56-43 with nine minutes remaining.

Navy responded just as quickly. Six different Mids scored during a run that winnowed the gap down to 57-54. DePaul was able to double the margin out to 60-54 with four minutes still to play, but from there Navy closed the game on a 13-4 run to come away with the win. Butler accounted for nine of those points –– including the final eight –– to finish with 23 in the game. The Mids held the Blue Demons to three made field goals in the last 10:07 of the game.

“We just hung in there in the second half. I thought we were extremely tough,” said Evans after the game in a story published in the Washington Post.

“We just stopped playing in the last five minutes,” DePaul head coach Joey Meyer said afterward to the Associated Press. “We were trying to hang on instead of being aggressive. We couldn’t pull the defensive board with all our size.”

“Rod Strickland got in early foul trouble and had to sit some and then again in the second half,” said Rees. “If I recall correctly, we made both of our runs when he was out. He was such a dominant point guard and was a critical piece for that team. But in addition to that, it was our seniors who really got it done in that game. Vernon Butler was a total beast which wasn’t unusual for him, that’s for sure.”

“DePaul was really long and lean and really athletic,” said Liebert. “Myself, David, Vernon and Derric, we just started not allowing them to create space. We played zone. We started putting bodies on them. And then between Doug and Kylor and Cliff up front on Rod, we started to contain them. If you look at the number of lobs Rod threw in the first half, we just started to close out better. When that started to happen, DePaul really didn’t have the scorers to beat us off the dribble. They had Rod creating plays for their bigs, then when we started close out better in the paint we were able to claw back and get in front of them.”

The DePaul players also made several inquiries of the Navy players during the course of the game.

“I remember some of the DePaul players kept asking our guys how they went to school and played basketball when they were at sea all of the time,” said Cassidy. “Our players had to explain to them that we were attending a regular school and were not based on a ship.”

December 28 * Atlanta, Ga. * Cotton States Classic (AP: 7 / UPI: 6) Georgia Tech 82, Navy 64

The win over the Blue Demons advanced Navy into the tournament’s title game against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets were in the early days of their rise under head coach Bobby Cremins and had reached the regional final of the previous year’s NCAA Tournament. The team had five future NBA players on it, including seniors Mark Price and John Salley, had started the 1985-86 season as the top- ranked team in the country and entered the night having won seven-straight games.

“The rise of Navy and David Robinson that year caught everyone’s attention,” said Price. “His size, athleticism and things he could do made him one of the all-time greats in the NBA. But Navy also had good pieces around him and that allowed David to be special.”

An early 10-0 run gave Georgia Tech a 22-12 lead. Navy was able to slice the margin down to four points, but it ballooned back to 45- 29 at halftime. The Yellow Jackets shot almost 60 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes of the game. The Mids were only able to shave a few points off of the difference over the remainder of the night as all five Georgia Tech starters scored in double figures, with Price totaling 23 points to go along with seven assists.

“Like playing Syracuse on its home floor with an extremely talented team,” said Wojcik, “Georgia Tech was very good in an arena (The Omni) that was similar to the Carrier Dome. Looking back at our travel, that was insane. We ran out of gas, but they (Georgia Tech) were more talented.”

“We had guys with a lot of size and that made it a tough matchup for Navy,” said Price. “They were definitely a good team and we knew what they were capable of. I think that is why we came in so ready for the game. We were able to get them on their heels early.”

“We were loaded that year,” said Cremins. “We just jumped out early on Navy.

“I coached David that summer as an assistant to Lute Olson in the FIBA World Championship in Italy. We were waiting after practice for our van to arrive, and the two of us started talking. He told me basketball was not his number one goal; his top goal was to become an engineer. Then he grew and started to understand how good of a player he could be, and that basketball could make him a nice living. He said he had to change his thinking. He wasn’t there, yet, but he was getting closer to it. He was one of my favorite opposing players that I had the chance to get to know.”

Butler posted 22 points and 11 rebounds in the loss to the Yellow Jackets, who compiled a 27-7 record and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

January 4 * Wilmington, N.C. * CAA Navy 76, UNCW 61

The 1985-86 season marked the first year for the Colonial Athletic Association. Navy and fellow ECAC South Conference members American, East Carolina, George Mason, James Madison, Richmond, UNC Wilmington and William & Mary were part of the newly- named affiliation. Navy and Richmond shared the 1984-85 ECAC South regular season crown with identical 11-3 records, with each finishing one game ahead of third-place George Mason. The Mids defeated the Spiders in the 1985 conference tournament final to earn their first trip to the NCAA Tournament in a quarter century.

Navy traveled to UNCW for the first game of the calendar and conference year. The Mids took a 27-13 lead late in the first half, but went into halftime with a 39-34 lead. Butler accounted for six of Navy’s first 10 points of the second stanza to increase the advantage out to 47-34. From there, the lead never dipped below seven points and grew to as many as 19.

“We were an improving team in the CAA,” said Bender, “but we were fairly young with only one senior seeing much playing time and several first-year players (myself and a couple of junior college transfers) playing major roles. Navy’s experience and discipline simply over-matched us at that point in the season. Navy played solid basketball and didn’t beat itself, which is really all they had to do at that point in the year.”

Butler (24 and 11) and Robinson (21 and 14) both notched double-doubles –– with Robinson also adding a Navy-record 14 blocks for his first triple-double of the season –– as Navy shot 56 percent from the field for the game. Robinson accounted for nine blocks in his 11 minutes of playing time in the first half. That intimidation helped force his UNCW counterpart, Brian Rowsom, into a 3-23 shooting night after he entered the game averaging 20.4 points a game.

“Those numbers pretty much tell the story of the game,” said Bender. “Once David started blocking everything that we put up in the paint, we got timid and it got us out of our offensive system.”

January 6 * Greenville, N.C. * CAA Navy 67, East Carolina 62

Navy started its northern trek home with a two-hour drive to the East Carolina campus. The Mids led for the last 32 minutes of the game, but were never able to comfortably put away the Pirates. Navy took a 10-point first-half lead only to see half of that erased by intermission. The Mids then held a double-digit lead –– including by as many as 18 –– for 10 minutes of the second half before ECU climbed back to within three points with 75 seconds left. Each team came away with back-to-back empty possessions before Cliff Rees scored on a layup with 21 seconds remaining to account for the final points of the decision.

Robinson tallied 23 points, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots, and Butler added 11 points and 10 caroms.

“Their guards were often overlooked, but they were all very good,” said East Carolina player Keith Sledge. “Kylor (Whitaker) and Cliff could really shoot it and Dougie (Wojcik) was the energizer bunny who never got tired. Doug ran that team so efficiently and even when he was off offensively he had Vernon and David crashing the boards. Coach Paul Evans also was a very good coach. I loved competing against that team.”

January 9 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 85, James Madison 54

Finally, after eight-straight games on the road that were played in three different states and on the other side of the world, the Mids were back home for what would be their first game on The Yard in 36 days when they welcomed James Madison to Halsey Field House.

It was a high-scoring first half for both teams as Navy shot a sizzling 58 percent from the floor to hold a 45-33 lead at the break. Whitaker was 7-9 from the floor to finish one-point shy of Robinson –– who also snared nine rebounds –– for the first-half scoring lead.

“Whitaker’s been the big difference all year for us,” said Evans after the game to the Baltimore Evening Sun. “Teams keep packing those zones inside to stop David and Vernon, and Whitaker keeps killing them from the outside.”

Navy began the second half on a 27-2 run to quickly leave no doubt as to the outcome.

Robinson ended the game with 26 points, 18 rebounds, 12 blocked shots and four steals.

“We just didn’t have anybody to stop him,” said James Madison head coach John Thurston in the Sun. “He must have set an NCAA record for blocks in a week, and we contributed a lot to it tonight.”

January 11 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 88, George Mason 74

Navy lost just six games in all and three to ECAC South foes during the 1984-85 season, with two of those defeats coming to George Mason. Rob Rose and Ricky Wilson, both future NBA players, returned from the GMU team that handed Navy 78-74 and 93-77 losses.

On this night, the Mids slowly built up a 34-18 lead late in the first half, with the Patriots slightly narrowing it down to a 39-29 game at halftime. Robinson picked up two fouls in the first half, which resulted in him going just 2-4 from the field and without a free throw attempt. Whitaker and Butler combined for 25 first-half points to pace the Mids.

Robinson opened the second half by scoring after he grabbed an offensive rebound to start a 5-0 run for the Mids. The lead grew to 18-points early in the frame and never dwindled below 14 points over the remainder of the contest.

Whitaker ended the game with a career-best 26 points, an effort that made him the first Mid besides Robinson and Butler to lead Navy in scoring in a game on the year and raise his career scoring tally to 999.

“Kylor just took over for us,” said Butler afterward to the Baltimore Evening Sun. “They were concentrating on David so much inside that it left Kylor free.”

“When the shots were there, I took them,” said Whitaker to the Annapolis Capital.

Rose totaled 20 second-half points and 32 for the game, but he was the lone visiting player to score in double figures.

The outcome gave Evans his 100th win as the mentor of the program.

January 16 * Annapolis, Md. Navy 71, Lafayette 56

Navy took a break from its CAA slate to play host to Lafayette. Two of the previous three games in the series had been extended into overtime, a span that included the Mids edging the Leopards, 74-71 in double overtime, the year before.

There would be no extra periods in this game as Navy went on a 16-2 run to take a 21-6 lead less than 10 minutes after the game tipped. The five Navy starters were a combined 12-17 (70.6%) from the floor –– Lafayette as a team was 10-24 –– in boosting the Mids to a 39-22 lead midway through the game. However, the Leopards were able to close to within nine points at 45-36 in the early part of the second half.

“We came out pretty slowly in the second half,” said Robinson to the Annapolis Capital. “We changed our defense a little and we didn’t execute it very well. We let them come back on us.”

An 8-2 Navy run gave the Mids the breathing room they needed to secure the victory.

“We were there, that’s all,” said Evans to the Washington Post. “No one was intense out there. Maybe it was because we had played four-straight tough games. But I guess if you have to have a bad game, this was it.”

Butler made eight of his nine field goal attempts and seven of his nine free throw attempts to score a game-high 21 points.

“Everyone –– for good reason –– remembers David and as the cornerstone of that great run, but I was told recently that the true ‘enforcer’ of the group was Vernon Butler,” said John Leone, who was an assistant coach at Lafayette that year and went on to become the program’s head coach. “Navy would’ve been a very good team without David, but his presence –– in combination with Kyler Whitaker, Doug Wocik and Vernon –– got them to a national level.

“I always had a ton of respect for that group. They had tremendous chemistry and the pieces fit together so well. As (former Princeton head) coach Pete Carril likes to say, ‘The smart take from the strong.’ Those Navy teams had both.”

January 18 * Arlington, Va. * CAA Navy 97, American 68

Navy’s three-game homestand was over, but the Mids only had to make a short drive to Arlington, Va., and the Fort Myer Ceremonial Hall for its next game against American.

The Mids scored 12 of the first 13 points of the game, saw their advantage grow to 15 points and hold a 39-30 lead at the break. Navy made only one more field goal than American in the opening half, but the Mids were 9-17 from the foul line in contrast to the 3-4 effort from the charity stripe by the Eagles.

“It was hard to sustain (their level of play),” said American head coach Ed Tapscott to the Washington Post. “They’re (Navy) just very balanced. You shut down some of their guys, and pretty soon other ones come along.”

“Coach Evans told us at halftime that if we didn’t put it together we’d be practicing for three or four hours tomorrow morning,” said Butler to the Baltimore Evening Sun. “If we would have had to practice that early, our night out in Washington with our girlfriends would have been taken away.”

Navy quickly expanded its lead out to 20 points at 55-35 and led by at least 20 points for the final 13 minutes.

The entire starting five for the Mids scored in double figures, with no player tallying more than 17 points (Robinson). Butler also snared the 1,000th rebound of his career, making him the first 1,000-point, 1,000-rebound player in school history.

“David is going to come by and pass me with a bang,” said Butler to the Sun. “But I’m glad God gave me the ability to be the first to accomplish the 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. It’s always special to be the first.”

On the other side of the court, Frank Ross needed 25 field goal attempts and a 7-8 effort from the foul line to score a game-best 25 points.

“It was such an uphill battle playing Navy,” said American player Billy Stone. “David Robinson was fantastic, but they had a power forward in Vernon Butler who got every rebound and was as much of an issue for us as Robinson. Their guards would wait for those two to come down the court and then either dump it in or take very easy shots over our packed-in zone. Our coach, Ed Tapscott, did a great job of game planning, but he didn’t have the chess pieces outside of Frank Ross, Eric White and Mike Sampson to compete with them. Frank was a great scorer, Mike was quicker than anyone they had, and Eric was really, really good, but Eric was 6-foot-6.”

January 20 * Newark, Del Navy 108, Delaware 63

A trip to Delaware and a non-conference game against the Blue Hens was next on the docket for the Mids. With the arena hosting its first sell-out crowd since Ralph Sampson and Virginia played there in 1981, excitement could be found everywhere. This was despite Navy defeating the Blue Hens by 34 points the year before.

“The Delaware players and fans were a little overconfident heading into the game because they had beaten us in football in the fall,” said Cassidy. “They all kept saying how they were going to do the same thing to us in basketball.

“Coach Evans told the guys in the locker room before the game to go out there and shut them up.”

The crowd was quiet not long after the opening tip as the score was 20-2 in favor of Navy less than six minutes into the game and the Mids led by as many as 33 points in the first half.

“I thought those first six minutes were the best we’ve ever played,” said Evans to the Delaware State News.

Robinson totaled 22 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks and five dunks in the first half alone.

“David seems to get fired up in front of a full house, whether it’s hostile or friendly,” said Evans to the Baltimore Evening Sun.

The crowd may have been hostile at the start of the night, but Robinson received a standing ovation from them when he left the court at the end of the game after posting 37 points (17-21 shooting with eight dunks), 14 rebounds and six blocks in 30 minutes of playing time.

“I was so glad we only had to play against him (Robinson) once!” recalled Steve Steinwedel, who was in his first season as the Delaware head coach that year. “I had been an assistant at South Carolina and Duke (we won two ACC Championships in my two years at Duke) and he was one of the best players I had ever faced or had the opportunity to coach, for sure.”

“Well, the game against Navy was a test!” remembered Delaware’s George Dragonetti. “I attempted to guard David in many plays of this game. My fellow teammates can attest to how difficult a task this was and just how many slam dunks Mr. Robinson performed on top of all us. The real problem guarding him, though, was that his back resembled the broad side of a barn. It was nearly impossible to stop ANY of his moves.”

“I was 'Vernon Butler' on our scouting team,” said Delaware’s Philip Carr. “We had two very good practices leading into the game and were excited about our chances. I knew David Robinson was a special talent, but nothing compares to seeing him up close. He moved so well, even gracefully, for a 7-footer. So, alley-oop after alley-oop and rebound after rebound, we lost 108-63 and David had 37 points and 14 rebounds.

“To me that is the best thing about sports; no matter if the odds are stacked against you or if you are playing a future hall of famer, you always have a chance. Even if it is against the likes of David Robinson.”

Additionally, Butler scored 26 points against the Blue Hens to become Navy’s all-time leading scorer. He surpassed the total of 1,687 points attained by Kevin Sinnett.

January 23 * Richmond, Va. * CAA Richmond 67, Navy 61

The Spiders defeated the Mids three times during the 1983-84 season before Navy returned the effort and beat Richmond three times during the 1984-85 season. This included a 67-63 win by Navy in its 1985 trip to Richmond.

Led by Johnny Newman, who would go on to play over 1,100 games during an 18-year NBA career, Richmond entered the game with a 14-1 record and victories over Providence, Wake Forest, Stanford and Virginia. The only loss to date for the Spiders was a 90-64 defeat at Georgia Tech.

How big of a game was it? Richmond students started lining up at 10 a.m. for the 8 p.m. game.

“Richmond was a huge bar for us,” said Robinson. “They were a very, very good team, and not just in the CAA. (The game at Richmond) was one of the best tests for us all year. That was priceless in preparing us for what was to come.”

The start of the game was close with five ties and multiple lead changes in early going. The Mids held a 25-23 lead with 6:35 left before halftime when Whitaker hit a jumper to spark a 10-0 run that made the score 35-23 with 3:40 remaining. The margin would be eight –– 37-29 –– at halftime as Robinson and Whitaker were each 5-6 from the field in the stanza.

“If I recall,” said Richmond player Greg Beckwith, “we came out a little too hyped up for the game as the atmosphere was unbelievable. Our shots were not falling in the first half, so in the second we changed the tempo of the game with more full-court pressure and that seemed to work.”

The second half saw Richmond answer with an 8-0 run to take a 45-44 lead. The lead kept changing hands and neither team held a cushion of more than three points for the next 10 minutes. Robinson tied the game at 61 when he made two free throws with 1:57 remaining. Peter Woolfolk broke the tie on a jumper for Richmond with 1:43 remaining, then Nathan Bailey missed two free throws on the next Navy possession. Rodney Rice made a long jumper just before the 45-second shot clock expired for Richmond to stretch the margin to 65-61 with 24 seconds left. A missed shot by the Mids was followed by a quick foul of Newman. He walked to the free throw line and made both shots to close out the decision.

“We just didn’t play very well,” said Evans in the Annapolis Capital. “We didn’t get a good game from anyone.”

Navy shot over 60 percent from the field in the first half, but connected on only 39 percent of its shots after halftime. Part of that was due to Richmond changing from a 2-3 zone in the first half to a box-and-one defense (Whitaker was played straight up) in the second. The Mids made just one field goal over the last 7:54 of the game. Conversely, Richmond went from a 45-percent shooting effort in the first half to a 60-percent success rate in the second. The Spiders also forced 10 second-half turnovers and committed just three turnovers of their own. Individually, Robinson accounted for 10 of Navy’s 24 second-half points to finish with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

“Richmond was always a big game, so, yes, we knew it was big,” said Wojcik. “I give Richmond credit as they won their home game after we swept them the year before. We went cold in the second half. The rivalry was established and we quickly realized how important our Richmond home game would be.”

“Disappointment,” was the word Liebert used to describe the mood of the Mids after the game. “We knew between Johnny Newman and Pete Woolfolk, they had a really nice team. When you play them that many times you actually know them. We respected them. But we obviously were disappointed. I don’t believe we approached it with the killer instinct that coach wanted us to have. In some ways, I think it was a sounding board for us for the rest of the year. We were not going to breeze through conference. We still felt we were going to go undefeated in conference. But now we knew we had to do more than just show up because everyone was going to bring it against us.”

January 25 * Williamsburg, Va. * CAA Navy 76, William & Mary 68

Navy didn’t have much time to wallow over the defeat and the end of a seven-game winning streak as the Mids took to the court again two days later at William & Mary. The Tribe had just ended a seven-game losing streak by posting a victory over VMI in their last game.

Navy held a 13-point lead with four minutes left in the first half, but had to settle for a 35-28 lead at intermission.

“In the first half, we got off to a very slow start,” said Turner. “I remember Paul’s reaction at halftime. He really got on us. I think his quote was something like, ‘If we don’t end up beating these guys by 14 or 15 points, I don’t care whose parents are in the stands; we will practice here right after the game.’”

“We were dragging and didn’t have that momentum that we should have had,” said Liebert. “I think we still were in those doldrums of January. Coach Evans willed us through January. He said, ‘I’m going to get you guys through this and help you navigate it.’ But he had to be utterly personal and ruthless to us at times. We loved him; we loved playing for him. His game coaching situations were fabulous and his ability to get inside our head was really helpful. At times David hated him or Vernon hated him. I was a student of the game and overthought it and he used those type of tactics to get inside our head and get us turned around. I don’t think, still, we had grasped just how good we could be. I think we thought we could be good, but I don’t think we thought we could be great. Thanks to coach Evans, he didn’t let us just ride on our laurels.”

Similar to what Richmond had done 48 hours earlier, William & Mary made a run at the Mids in the early part of the second half. The Tribe rallied and closed to within three points at both 45-42 and 47-44. Navy answered by scoring each of the next 11 and 18 of the next 22 points to take a 65-48 lead with just under three minutes remaining. The triumvirate of Robinson (five), Rees (six) and Carl Liebert (seven) points accounted for the 18 points scored during that span.

Robinson never left the court during the 40-minute contest. He totaled 31 points, 10 blocked shots and eight rebounds. Rees made all but one of his 10 field goal attempts to end the game with 19 points in 28 minutes.

“Wojcik (5-7 shooting, 12 points, 12 assists) was definitely the key to the game tonight,” said William & Mary head coach Barry Parkhill to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “He was the difference. He had 12 big points. His ability to hit the jumper from outside when he was open helped them.”

“It was a huge win, but the good thing was that we had to move on,” said Wojcik. “Back then we had travel partners and we played Saturday-Monday. We had to prepare but rest on a one-day prep. We were accustomed to it.”

“It was good that we didn’t have too much time to think about the Richmond loss and were able to play just a couple nights later,” said Rees. “It’s always good to get back on the court quickly and get the taste of winning again after a tough loss. We were confident going into the game we could win this one. It was a good boost for the team to go on the road and get the win.”

February 1 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 95, UNCW 68

As February began, so too did the second half of the CAA regular season. The conference standings through the first half of the campaign looked like this:

7-0 Richmond 6-1 Navy 4-3 East Carolina 4-3 George Mason 3-4 UNCW 2-5 James Madison 1-6 American 1-6 William & Mary

UNC Wilmington had split its six CAA games following its January loss to Navy. The Mids did a very good job of containing Rowsom in that initial 76-61 decision. The future NBA player was 3-23 from the floor in scoring eight points in that game. He was 5-12 from the field and scored 13 points in the first half of the February rematch. Despite Navy taking leads of 25-10 and 30-12, Rowsom, who in this game was moved away from David Robinson in UNCW’s offensive game plan, helped the Seahawks close to within 39-35 at halftime.

The loss of another comfortable lead was a trend noticed by all inside and outside of the program.

“I think they thought this was going to be easy,” said Evans after the game to the Baltimore Sun. “All of a sudden we weren’t scoring, we weren’t getting second shots and we weren’t doing anything on defense.”

After another halftime promise by Evans to practice immediately after the game if things didn’t improve, the Mids began the second half by scoring the first 10 points of the stanza to build a 49-35 lead. Robinson scored six of those points, then added four more as the lead ballooned to 55-37 with 13:31 left on the clock. The margin would remain at least 16 points over the rest of the game.

“We played pretty well in the first half of this game,” said Bender. “We had changed up some things offensively and defensively from the first meeting of the season. The Navy coaching staff made some adjustments in the second half and we didn’t respond very well.”

Robinson tallied 31 points and nine boards to better the 25 points and 10 caroms amassed by Rowson. Robinson was one of five Mids to score at least 10 points in the game as Navy shot 60-percent from the field on the afternoon.

February 3 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 71, East Carolina 56

East Carolina was on a modest three-game winning streak when it traveled to Annapolis to face Navy. In the first game of the year between the teams, Navy held a 10-point first-half lead before going into halftime leading by five points. In Halsey Field House, the Mids took a nine-point lead (19-10) with 10 minutes left in the first half but went into halftime leading by just one point, 29-28.

Butler was only 1-3 from the field in scoring four first-half points. He opened the second half with an offensive rebound and putback before he scored on a jumper. Robinson added a layup with Butler receiving the assist, then Butler scored on a basket and ensuing foul shot to have a hand in each of Navy’s first nine points of the frame and boost the team’s advantage out to 38-32. After an East Carolina steal and layup, Butler bookended an ensuing 9-0 Navy run with baskets to extend the cushion out to 47-34 with 11 minutes left on the clock. The lead remained in double digits over the remainder of the game.

“David and Vernon controlled the paint both on offense and defense,” said Sledge. “Vernon had such a wide base when he posted you up and he was so strong. He had really soft hands and a feathery touch on the low block. David blocked five shots on one of our possessions. Coach (Charlie) Harrison instructed us to attack him, but he was so good at blocking shots and avoiding body contact. Our assistant coach would stand in the paint with a broom attempting to block our shots during layup drills.”

Butler, who had lost nearly 20 pounds in two weeks due to being sick with a virus, scored 22 points after intermission on 9-12 shooting from the floor.

“He didn’t play sick,” said Harrison to The (Baltimore) News-American.

“I wasn’t being aggressive in the first half,” said Butler in the same postgame article. “Their team was being aggressive, we weren’t. And with the way the refs were calling it we had to come out strong.”

Robinson was held to just 11 points –– his lowest scoring output in 42 games –– but contributed 10 rebounds and 10 blocks for his third triple-double of the season and the fourth of his career (he ended his career with five). Liebert, who had totaled 11 points in making the first start of his career two days earlier, totaled 10 points and nine rebounds in his second start.

February 6 * Fairfax, Va. * CAA Navy 81, George Mason 68

George Mason had won three games in a row and climbed to within shouting distance of the Spiders (9-0) and Mids (8-1) with a 6-3 record when the Patriots played host to Navy. The Mids had left Fairfax with losses to George Mason in each of its last three trips there, with those defeats coming by 10 points (in 1981-82), six points (1983-84) and four points (1984-85).

Navy had allowed an individual to score more than 30 points just once all season, and that player was George Mason’s Rose who poured in 32 points on 12-15 shooting from the field when the teams first met in Annapolis. Slowing him down in the Patriot Center was key for the Mids in the second game.

The Mids took an early 8-2 lead in the rematch. The Patriots promptly took a 13-8 advantage. Back came Navy and it soon took a 22- 17 lead before heading to the locker rooms with a 33-29 cushion. Rose was 0-3 from the floor in the first half, but teammate Wilson was 5-5 in scoring 11 points. Meanwhile, Robinson rested during the break after having produced 14 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks during the opening 20 minutes of play.

The scoring at the beginning of the second half was as follows: Butler layup, Butler layup, Robinson dunk, Butler layup. Combined, that pushed the Navy advantage out to 41-29 after just three minutes of playing time. The margin soon grew to as many as 15 points and it remained at least 10 points for all but 90 seconds of the rest of the contest.

Rose ended the game with just nine points and Wilson added only eight more points to his stats line in the second half. The Navy side of the box score showed an inspired Robinson with 33 points, 20 rebounds and six blocks. He was one of four Mids to score in double figures.

“They really tried hard to get me mad tonight, but I didn’t let them get to me,” said Robinson in The (Baltimore) News-American. “We just feel they’re a pretty nasty, dirty team.”

February 8 * Harrisonburg, Va. * CAA Navy 63, James Madison 51

For the second game in a row, Navy ventured to a city in which it had been winless. This time, the Mids took an all-time record of 0-4 with them into the JMU Convocation Center after having suffered road losses to the Dukes during the 1980-81 (18 points), 1982-83 (10), 1983-84 (six) and 1984-85 (three) seasons. This James Madison team, however, entered the game with a 4-17 record and was winless in each of its last six games.

Navy led for the final 38 minutes of its game against James Madison when the teams met a few weeks earlier in Annapolis. The Mids started the game in Harrisonburg by taking a 10-4 lead, but soon the Dukes took a 16-15 advantage. The lead changed hands several more times, including when James Madison took a 22-21 lead. The Mids closed the half on a 10-0 run to take a 31-22 lead at the break.

Navy seemingly was in control of the game as it stretched the lead out to as many as 16 points (44-28) early in the second half. James Madison rallied and winnowed the difference down to as few as five points (50-45) with 2:37 remaining. It soon was a 53-47 Navy lead when Robinson scored on a dunk while being fouled to push the lead out to 56-47 with 1:36 showing on the clock. That was enough for the Mids to hang on for the victory.

With Robinson limited to 24 minutes of playing time because of fouls, Whitaker scored 17 points, Butler added 11 points and seven rebounds and Doug Wojcik dished out seven assists.

“Our kids played well without David,” said Evans in The Baltimore Sun. “We were ahead 17-16 when he went out in the first half and they increased our lead to nine points. Doug Wojcik and Kylor Whitaker each did outstanding jobs.”

February 12 * East Rutherford, N.J. Navy 78, Fairfield 53

The Mids next stepped out of conference play to make a trip to Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, N.J., to play a Fairfield team that was 10-1 in Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference play and 17-5 on the year. Making the challenge even more difficult for Navy was the absence of Butler. Injured late in the game at James Madison, Butler did not make the trip to the Garden State and thus ended his streak of 116-straight games in the starting lineup. Navy had not taken to the court without Butler among the starting five since he arrived on The Yard as a freshman. During those 116 games he set Navy career records with 1,779 points and 1,057 rebounds.

With Butler’s absence, the bench was a little shorter for the Mids against the Stags as four starters –– Robinson, Liebert, Whitaker and Wojcik –– played all 20 minutes of the first half that saw them close the frame on a 24-9 run to take a 34-20 lead at intermission. The advantage would range between 14 and 32 points in the second half to secure the Mids their 20th win in 24 games on the year.

Robinson scored 19 points and snared a Navy and arena (including NCAA, ABA and NBA games) record 25 rebounds, Whitaker posted 16 points and six assists, Liebert contributed 14 points and three steals and Wojcik added 11 assists, eight points and three thefts.

“It was good for the team to know it can win without Vernon,” said Wojcik in the Baltimore Evening Sun. “We weren’t down before the game. Concerned, but not panicky.”

Fairfield ended the 1986 season with an overall record of 24-7, won the MAAC regular season (13-1) and tournament and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The Mids held eventual NBA player A.J. Wynder to six points in 32 minutes of playing time.

February 15 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 74, American 53

American had posted a 1-9 record in its last 10 games prior to making the drive from our nation’s current capital to the one-time capital of the U.S. The Mids would make that 10 losses in 11 games for the Eagles as Navy never trailed in the game.

Navy slowly built a 30-20 lead at halftime thanks to holding American to 33-percent shooting in the first half. The Mids opened the second half on an 8-2 and 15-4 run to fully separate from the Eagles. Liebert (nine) and Whitaker (six) accounted for all 15 points during the run.

Butler played 12 minutes in a reserve role for the Mids, who were led by Robinson’s 16 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks. Whitaker posted 12 points and six assists and Derric Turner, who had played in the plebe game earlier in the day, added 11 points and an equal number of rebounds.

An equally important event was taking place two hours southwest of Annapolis as Richmond lost a 73-58 decision at home to George Mason. That meant with one more conference win by each team, an outright CAA regular season title would be decided in Annapolis in 10 days when the Mids played host to the Spiders.

February 17 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Navy 66, William & Mary 51

The Mids learned in the locker room before their game against William & Mary that Navy would be ranked 17th in the Associated Press poll slated to be released the next day. Buoyed by that news, Navy went on a 17-0 first-half run to build a 31-12 lead. The Mids held the Tribe to 21-percent shooting from the field during the opening 20 minutes of play. Navy remained firmly in control of the game throughout the second half despite being outscored, 33-31, in the last 20 minutes.

It was an uneven performance by the Mids against a Tribe team that was 3-10 in CAA player after the defeat.

“We went out and played like we could turn ourselves on and off,” said Wojcik in the Annapolis Capital. “Coach was really upset with us. I could tell he was when he got the technical called on himself. I think he did it just to let us know he was upset.”

Whitaker was held scoreless in the first game against William & Mary, but was 8-13 from the field in scoring 16 points in the second game. Robinson played all but one minute of the game and totaled 19 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocked shots.

February 22 * West Point, N.Y. * Star Game (AP: 17) Navy 55, Army 52 / OT

Army had incentive galore when it prepared to play host to Navy. The game was to be played at West Point, this was the Star Game, the Cadets had lost six-straight games in the series including their losing in a walkover in Japan two months earlier and Navy entered the game holding a national in-season ranking for the first time in 32 years.

After the rout in Japan, Army tried the tactics in this game of milking every second it could off of the 45-second shot clock and double- teaming Robinson, “Everywhere he went,” said Army player Ron Steptoe to The Washington Post. “And we wanted to control the game, not let them get us into a running contest like they wanted to.”

The game was a defensive battle from the start as through 10 minutes of play the teams had combined for just 16 points with each scoring eight. The Cadets would hold leads of 14-13 and 18-15 before ending the half with a 24-17 lead. It was just the fourth time all season the Mids found themselves in the locker room at halftime behind on the scoreboard.

Each team attempted 26 shots in the first half, with Army sinking 12 attempts and Navy eight. There were only two free throws attempted in the half, both by the Mids. Individually, Butler, who was back among the starting five, scored 11 points and was the only Mid to score more than two points in the first half. In the other locker room sat Kevin Houston and Scott Whipp, each of whom had scored eight points.

“We were really tight,” said Whitaker. “All of the Star Games were like that, in every sport. We beat them in each of my four years, but they were all, two, three, four-point games.

“It is difficult if you let a team hang around long enough and you are having difficulty on offense. Every possession was critical.”

“At halftime, there was a little bit of a switch that came on,” said Liebert.

Navy held Army without a made field goal for the first five minutes of the second half. In that same span, Robinson made two baskets and two free throws, Whitaker scored on a layup and Liebert added a field goal to give the Mids a 27-26 advantage.

An Army basket followed, then the Mids took a 31-30 lead. Houston scored on the next possession for the Black Knights to start a 6-0 run that gave the home team a 36-31 lead with 8:29 remaining. It took exactly six minutes of play before Navy took the lead back at 41- 40 on a jump shot by Rees with 2:29 left, but Houston responded 40 seconds later with a jumper of his own to make the score 42-41 in favor of Army. Back came Navy and Robinson scored off of a pass from Butler while being fouled with 56 seconds left. His basket gave the Mids a 43-42 lead, but he missed the free throw and it was gathered in by the Cadets. Houston would miss a go-ahead field goal attempt for the Cadets, but Mark Michaelson snared the offensive board and scored to make the score 44-43 Army with 11 seconds remaining.

Navy immediately called timeout, then Army called one of its own before the Mids could inbound the ball. There was no surprise to anyone when the ball went in to Robinson. He was fouled by Houston with two seconds remaining and went to the line. Robinson made the first free throw, then Army called a timeout. The attempt at icing Robinson worked as he would miss the second. That meant the teams were headed for overtime for just the second time in the 66-year series.

Army took the first lead of the extra frame when Houston was fouled a few seconds after the jump ball and made both free throws. Navy answered when Butler scored on a layup 15 seconds later. Houston again went to the charity stripe on the next Army possession, and he again made both free throws to give Army a 48-46 lead. Navy promptly sent the ball into Robinson and he was fouled. He made just one free throw to keep the Mids one-point shy of the Cadets.

For the third time in three possessions of overtime, an Army player went to the foul line. This time it was Steptoe. Making matters worse for Navy was that Butler was the one who committed the foul, which was his fifth of the game. Steptoe made both free throws to make the score Army 50, Navy 47 with 3:28 showing on the clock.

Navy drew to within one point when Robinson scored on a layup with 3:15 left. Neither team scored for over a minute, with that drought stopped when Rees gathered in his own missed shot and scored on the putback to make the score 51-50 Navy with 2:04 still to play. The Navy defense successfully continued its efforts, but the Mids couldn’t score themselves until Robinson hit a jumper with three seconds left on the shot clock and 34 seconds remaining in the game. Those two points gave Navy a 53-50 lead. After the Black Knights came away empty on their next opportunity with the ball, Robinson was fouled with 21 seconds remaining. He made one of his two efforts, but that was enough to push the lead out to 54-50.

Army finally scored its first field goal of overtime with 14 seconds left to slice the margin in half, then quickly called timeout. The Cadets were able to force a jump ball with seven seconds remaining, but the possession arrow pointed toward the Mids. After Navy successfully inbounded the ball, Army fouled Robinson with three seconds left as he was trying to dunk the ball. He missed the first attempt but made the second to essentially clinch the victory for the Mids as this was the last season before the introduction of the three-point shot.

“I just remember playing the Army game very uptight with no transition, no push of the ball, yet having the confidence that we were not going to lose,” said Wojcik. “Army deserves credit, and Kevin Houston was a very good player.”

Five players between the teams never left the court in the instant classic. Robinson scored two points in the first half, 14 in the second and seven (of Navy’s 11) in overtime to end the game with 23 points along with 11 rebounds. Butler added 16 points and eight boards and Houston –– who was one year away from leading the NCAA in scoring average for a season –– led Army with 20 points and six assists.

“They were well prepared for us,” said Robinson of Army. “They wanted to slow it down and make it an ugly game. They collapsed their defense and made it tough on us. And they had one of the best scorers in the country.”

“Kevin Houston was tremendous and they had a great game plan against us,” said Whitaker, “but we would still be crying if we had lost that game.”

February 25 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA (AP: 19) Navy 85, Richmond 72

While the Mids were edging the Cadets, Richmond was defeating American to create the winner-take-all showdown for the conference regular season title in the finale of the campaign for both teams. Each team had won 12 of 13 CAA games, Navy entered the game with an overall record of 23-4 and Richmond brought a 22-4 record with it to The Yard.

Memories of the first meeting of the season were not lost on anyone.

“The turning point in the season was that close loss to Richmond down there,” said Butler in the 1986-87 team media guide. “We were in shock –– reality set in that they (Richmond) could win the league. It really opened everyone’s eyes.”

“It was just an absolutely huge game,” said Wojcik. “The Academy and Annapolis were buzzing. Huge memory maker for us and also the Mids who attended. We knew we had to win.”

“We were ready for them when they came here,” said Turner. “The fire marshal had to kick people out of Halsey. There were people standing in the hallway. Halsey is a tough place for kids to play in. It was crazy. We were rock stars.”

“I remember my sophomore year,” said Liebert, “coach Evans couldn’t holler at us in the huddle during timeouts because the other team could hear him due to their not being a lot of fans. That Richmond game was the first time when we had a home crowd almost like a (Duke) Cameron crazy atmosphere. Sheet posters everywhere. Halsey was packed. They were scalping tickets. Not all of the Midshipmen could get in. You walk out there and holy cow, this is a giant game. From that standpoint, it was great because I think we all felt appreciated for our work from that season by the Mids, the town, the families. Everybody showed up. It finally felt like we were a nationally-ranked team playing a home game. It was really inspiring. At shootaround we knew it was going to be big. But then we go in the locker room and wait to come back out for the 20-minute warmup. When we came back, the place was packed.”

“Before the game, I told them, ‘If you need a psych-up speech, you don’t have a pulse,’” said Evans to the Washington Post.

“I saw all of these people standing up and crowding into the corners and then they gave us a loud cheer,” said Butler in the Baltimore Sun. “I admit I got caught up in the moment. I remembered where Navy basketball had been and where it was now and then I suddenly remembered I had a game to play.”

Navy jumped out to a 10-4 lead only to see Richmond close to within one point at 24-23 with eight minutes left in the first half. It again was a one-point Navy lead at 28-27 when Whitaker, Robinson and Whitaker again scored field goals to stretch the advantage out to 34- 27. Another late 5-0 run by the Mids gave them a 44-39 lead at the break.

Army and Navy each made 21 field goals during the 45-minute game at West Point; Navy made 19 field goals and Richmond 18 in the first 20 minutes of this game. The Spiders shot 58.1 percent from the field, but that lofty figure was outdone by the Mids connecting on 70.4 percent of their shots. Whitaker alone was 9-10 from the field in scoring 20 first-half points.

The Navy lead was eight points at halftime of the first game against Richmond before it evaporated. This time, Navy’s seven-point halftime edge was quickly extended to 49-40 and 52-42 just two minutes into the second half. After a Richmond basket, a 7-0 Navy run pushed the lead out to 59-44 with 15 minutes still to play. It remained a double-digit gap between the teams until Richmond used an 8- 0 run to close to within 70-64 with five minutes remaining. It was then a five-point game at 71-66 when Robinson scored on a layup with 4:22 remaining. Wojcik soon scored on a jumper and Robinson registered a steal and fed Butler for a layup to make the score 77- 68 with 2:43 left and force the Spiders to call timeout.

It wasn’t long before what would be the third-largest crowd in Halsey Field House history (6,315) started to celebrate the victory and an outright conference regular season title.

“That game was a turning point for Navy basketball,” reflected Robinson, “because of the excitement and energy it brought. When I arrived (as a plebe) we were considered one of the ‘other sports’ besides football. But it was different after that. We were able to rise to the occasion and validate what we were doing.”

The trio of Butler, Robinson and Whitaker combined to play all but four minutes of the game and score 70 of Navy’s 85 points. Butler paced the Mids with 27 points, Whitaker tallied 24 points and Robinson recorded 19 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and five steals. Additionally, Wojcik dished out 10 assists. It was the eighth game of the year in which he handed out at least 10 assists.

“We always had two (players) on Robinson,” said Richmond head coach Dick Tarrant in USA Today. “Of course, you leave gaping holes elsewhere.”

“We played real smart,” said Evans in the Washington Times. “We took the open shot when it was there and went inside when we needed to do that.”

“Of course, the game plan was always to make David work on both ends of the floor,” said Beckwith. “However, Navy had a really nice team and complimentary players. I thought Kylor Whitaker and Cliff Rees kept teams and us honest on the perimeter as both were really good outside shooters. Butler was the unsung hero because he was the person who would get key rebounds and stick-backs for their team. He was a tough, rugged big that was a finisher around the basket and seemed to make all of the plays when needed. Doug Wojcik controlled the tempo in the second game, and they had all of their classmates cheering, as well.”

“We weren’t happy about losing to them the first time around,” said Rees. “We really wanted to go undefeated in the league. But we were a competitive group. Vernon, Whit, Dave, Woj and everyone had a major chip on their shoulder after losing to them. We were pretty intense in prep for that game and wanted to send a message leading up to the conference tournament. And when you have those guys playing with a chip on their shoulder and wanting to make a statement, I liked our chances.”

March 1 * Annapolis, Md. * CAA Tournament / Quarterfinal (AP: 19 / Seed: 1) Navy 81, (Seed: 8) James Madison 67

CAA Final Standings (Tournament Seed) 13-1 Navy (1) 12-2 Richmond (2) 10-4 George Mason (3) 6-8 UNCW (4) 6-8 East Carolina (5) 3-11 American (6) 3-11 William & Mary (7) 3-11 James Madison (8)

Evans gave the players some advice heading into March, as he later relayed to the Baltimore Sun.

“The next few weeks will be some of the most important times in your life. Don’t waste them, because you might never have an opportunity like this again. You should dedicate yourself to the game of basketball for three or four weeks, and give it (NCAA Tournament) your best shot. There will be plenty of time for fun after that.”

The quarterfinal round games in the CAA Tournament were played at the home of the higher-seeded team in each of the four games. That meant the top-seeded Mids, winners of 16-straight and 51 of 54 home games, would play host to eighth-seeded James Madison in the tournament opener.

Whereas the Mids were on a 10-game winning streak, the Dukes had lost 11-straight games until closing the regular season with a win over East Carolina.

Navy took first-half leads of 12-6, 16-8, 22-12 and 29-14 before the score was 33-18 at halftime. Robinson neared a double-double (12 points, nine rebounds) in the first half. The Mids never let their lead dip below 10 points in the second half as they advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament behind 32 points, 19 rebounds and seven blocks by Robinson.

But that team effort wasn’t satisfying to anyone.

It was as, “Poor of a performance as it had all season,” according to reporter Joe Gross of the Annapolis Capital.

“If we had to have a poor game, I guess you might as well get it over with now,” said Evans in the Baltimore Sun. “Our passing was horrendous, our free-throw shooting was horrendous, our offense was bad, and we were decent on defense.”

“We all played pretty stupidly,” said Wojcik in the same article as Evans.

March 3 * Fairfax, Va. * CAA Tournament / Semifinal (AP: 19 / Seed: 1) Navy 62, (Seed: 4) UNCW 60

The pairings for the two semifinal round games featured No. 1 Navy vs. No. 4 UNC Wilmington followed by No. 2 Richmond vs. No. 3 and tournament-host George Mason. The Mids had defeated the Seahawks by scores of 76-61 and 95-68 during the regular season, led those games for a combined 74 of 80 minutes and trailed for just 75 seconds. This game would be much, much different.

“We played very well in the semifinal game,” said Bender. “Having played Navy twice, we were no longer intimidated by Robinson and we figured out that we had to slow the game down if we were going to beat Navy. We were only going to have a chance if we kept it in the 60s. We also had the one player in the conference in Brian Rowsom who could at least compete on the interior with Robinson. Brian had improved dramatically and he gained more and more confidence each time he faced Robinson.”

Navy held a 6-0 lead 95 seconds into the game and took eight-point leads at both 14-6 and 16-8. The Seahawks fought back to tie the score at 22 and take their first lead of the evening at 26-25. UNCW eventually took a 35-30 lead before it held a 35-31 advantage at halftime.

The Mids shot almost 47 percent from the field in the first half, but allowed the Seahawks to shoot just under 60 percent. Rowsom was again a thorn in the side for Navy as he alone was 7-11 from the floor and scored 14 points.

“I think our guys played pretty good,” said Evans of Navy’s first half in the News American. “We haven’t played a team that’s played a better half than Wilmington did in the first half all year.”

Just as the Mids had done at the start of the game, Navy began the second half on a 6-0 run to take a 37-35 lead. The score would go on to be tied at 37, 42, 45, 47 and 49. Navy held a 51-50 lead when Butler grabbed an offensive carom and scored on the putback. Robinson followed with a jumper and Butler made one free throw to make the score 56-50 with five minutes remaining. Butler soon scored on back-to-back tip-ins to increase the lead out to 60-52 with three minutes left. UNCW notched each of the next five points (60- 57) then, after Rees made just one of two free throw attempts, scored the next three points to close to within 61-60 with 1:26 still to play.

The Seahawks fouled Butler with 43 seconds left. He missed the foul shot but Robinson grabbed the offensive rebound and was fouled with 41 seconds remaining. He would make the first attempt and miss the second to keep it a one-possession game at 62-60. UNCW had three chances to tie the game in the last 10 seconds, but each missed their mark.

“I just remember we couldn’t get our transition game going and it was another game where we really had to grind out our offensive possessions and knew defensively we needed to get stops,” said Rees.

“It was a slow, halfcourt game,” said Wojcik. “We were fortunate to survive, but it was tournament play; survive and advance, and we did!”

“Navy was clearly frustrated at times,” said Bender, “as we held them to one of their lowest point totals of the season, but in the end they hung on to win the game.

“I always had great respect for the Navy players, not only for how they performed on the court but also for how they carried themselves off the court. They obviously have a different regiment than most Division I athletes and you know they may be tasked with protecting America and our freedoms. They always played hard and represented the Naval Academy to its high standards. Even though there have been two CAA teams to make it to the Final Four, there is no doubt in my mind that the 1985-86 Navy team was the best team in CAA history.”

March 4 * Fairfax, Va. * CAA Tournament / Final (AP: 18 / Seed: 10) Navy 72, (Seed: 3) George Mason 61

As the Mids were winding down after their win over UNCW, their thoughts may have been focused on a third meeting with Richmond. Nobody told George Mason that, however, as in the second semifinal the Patriots defeated the Spiders by the same score the Mids had defeated the Seahawks (Richmond would receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament).

The lack of a rubber game against Richmond did not deter the Mids from being emotionally ready for the game against the Patriots. There was some bad blood between the teams dating back to the previous season when George Mason’s Carlton Yates did some screaming and finger pointing at the Navy bench toward the end of a victory by the Patriots in Halsey Field House. The teams combined for 83 fouls in the two games played during the 1986 CAA regular season, with numerous writers who covered the games discussing the “physical” nature they witnessed in their respective stories on the pair of early season encounters.

Before the title game even got started, players from the two teams had an on-court “discussion” that had to be settled by CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager in an emergency meeting as each started to shoot at the same basket. After that was decided and the game began, a technical foul was administered to George Mason two minutes into the game when the home team’s fans wouldn’t stop throwing items onto the court. More trash was talked throughout the game by the players and even the coaches, some arms were swung, benches cleared once and 51 fouls were called, but no more technical fouls were handed out.

“I told one of their players, ‘The final word will be on the scoreboard,’” said Whitaker in the Annapolis Capital. “I didn’t let it get to me. We all expect that kind of thing when we play Mason.”

Robinson scored the first three Navy baskets of the championship game on two dunks and a layup. Butler soon scored seven-straight Navy points, with his last basket of that span boosting the Mids to a 24-14 lead at the midway point of the first half. It was still a double- digit margin at 27-17 when George Mason started to come to life. The Patriots came almost all of the way back as they closed to within one point at 34-33 and 36-35. A Robinson jumper with five seconds left gave the Mids a 38-35 lead at the break.

Another Robinson dunk started the second-half scoring and Navy would slowly expand its lead back out to double figures at 53-43. It also was a 10-point game at 57-47 when the Patriots made another run at the Mids. A 6-0 spurt by George Mason made the score 57- 53 with 6:14 showing on the clock. The Mids would connect on five of six free throw attempts over the next two minutes, then Robinson threw down another dunk to take the Navy lead out to 64-53 with four minutes remaining. The lead never fell below nine points as Navy celebrated its second-straight CAA Tournament title and trip to the NCAA Tournament.

“I don’t think we could have beaten Navy with the Marines, Air Force and Army all in one,” said George Mason head coach Joe Harrington in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Leading the way for Navy were the (at the time) Nos. 1 and 3 career scorers in school history. Butler was 7-11 from the floor and 10-12 from the foul line in scoring 24 points and Robinson was 8-12 from the field and 10-18 from the charity stripe in scoring 26 points. He also added 12 rebounds and two blocked shots. Both players were named to the all-tournament team, with Robinson (80 points, 47 rebounds, 16 blocked shots) being tabbed the MVP of the event.

“That game, and maybe some of the game before, rather than playing to win, we were playing not to lose,” said Liebert. “We just wanted to win the (CAA) tournament and get into the NCAA’s and do our thing. For us, coach would remind us that we were not gifted enough to win on just athletic ability. You have to show up physically and mentally to win.”

March 14 * Syracuse, N.Y. * NCAA Tournament / First Round (AP: 17 / Seed: 7) Navy 87, (Seed: 10) Tulsa 68

Navy garnered the No. 7 seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and was slated to face the region’s No. 10 team, Tulsa, in a first-round game at Syracuse.

Tulsa was in the tournament for the third year in a row and the fourth time in five seasons. The 23-8 Golden Hurricanes tied for second place in the Missouri Valley Conference and earned their golden ticket by winning the conference tournament. They had won six games in a row, which included a 74-58 win over ninth-ranked Bradley in the championship game of the MVC Tournament. This would be the first and, to date, only time the two teams have squared off.

Navy was able to build an eight-point lead at 40-32, but went into halftime holding a 41-38 advantage. The tandem of Robinson (17 points) and Butler (14) combined for all but 10 of Navy’s first-half points. More balance was displayed on the Tulsa half of the box score as five players totaled between six and eight points. Each team utilized a sparse number of players as four from each squad played all 20 minutes of the first half.

Tulsa shot 58 percent from the floor in the first half, but quickly cooled off after halftime.

The second half began with a 7-0 Navy run that pushed the lead out to 48-38. After the teams traded the ensuing four baskets (50-42), Robinson and Liebert scored for the Mids to start what was a run that increased the margin out to 60-44 with 11 minutes remaining. The advantage would grow to as many as 21 points over the rest of the contest.

“We’ve never been close to being humiliated like that,” said Tulsa head coach J.D. Barnett to the Syracuse Herald-Journal. “And that’s what it was –– humiliation.”

“We know we have to come out and play with a lot of emotion in every game,” said Robinson to The Washington Post. “In the second half when Vernon and I really got on the boards and we got our break going, we really picked it up emotionally.”

“When we went into the Tulsa game, that’s when we started to play angry and with some swagger,” said Liebert. “They (Tulsa) had underrated us, the same way everybody had done. That game was so much fun. We didn’t have to expend a ton of energy down the stretch. It was a great momentum builder.”

Navy totaled 26 assists on its 32 made field goals in the game, which allowed the Mids to shoot 64 percent from the field in each half. Whitaker dished out 11 assists and Wojcik accounted for eight helpers. Tulsa also made 32 field goals, but needed 17 more attempts than Navy to tally that total. The Mids also dominated at the free throw line as Navy was 23-36 from the line and Tulsa was 4-5. Robinson and Butler combined for 25 foul shots and ended the game with 30 and 25 points, respectively. The pair also recorded double-doubles with Robinson snaring 12 boards and Butler 11.

Tracy Moore, who would play in the NBA, scored 16 points for Tulsa but was just 8-20 from the field.

March 16 * Syracuse, N.Y. * NCAA Tournament / Second Round (AP: 17 / Seed: 7) Navy 97, (AP: 9 / UPI: 9 / Seed: 2) Syracuse 85

The win over Tulsa sent Navy into a second-round game against weekend-host Syracuse. The Orangemen entered the game with a 22-9 record after it shared the regular season title in the Big East and advanced to the championship game of the conference tournament. Syracuse, seeded second in the region and ninth in the country, opened the NCAA Tournament with a convincing 101-52 win over Brown.

It was just under 100 days since Syracuse had defeated Navy in the same venue, a fact prominently noted to this day by everyone.

“To be honest, I was (not happy),” said Feinstein of Navy being sent to play at Syracuse. “In those days, teams were allowed to play on their home court. Navy had played up there in December and lost badly. Pearl Washington was Syracuse’s star and you knew the crowd would be 99 percent for Syracuse.”

“We were like, you have got to be kidding,” said Turner of being sent back to Syracuse. “I think Paul Evans sent a note to the NCAA about it.”

“We felt we had reached our low point of the season about a week before when they (NCAA) seeded us seventh in the region, meaning we would have to play Syracuse up there in the second round,” Wojcik was quoted in the team’s 1986-87 media guide. “But after we beat Tulsa, we felt that we were playing very well and that the pressure was on Syracuse.”

“At the time we felt like we were an afterthought,” said Robinson. “Sometimes it is nice to go into a game with a chip on your shoulders, but we still had to go out and perform in a place we did not have success in the first time we were there.”

If the perceived slight by the NCAA wasn’t enough to fuel the Mids, comments in the local newspaper did the trick.

“A Syracuse writer called us a bunch of shorthairs –– (‘Will the masses, 30,000 strong and in full battle array, descend, as previously advertised, upon the great bubble at $17 a pop to watch the Orangemen play a bunch of shorthairs they beat by 22 points 98 days ago?,’ was the comment in an article written by Syracuse Herald-American executive sports editor Bud Poliquin) –– who had no chance at beating a team which had easily beat us a couple of months ago,” said Cliff Rees in the same publication as Wojcik’s comments.

‘’I took that clipping into the locker room,’’ said Robinson, in postgame comments that appeared in the Chicago Tribune. ‘’I thought it was kind of funny. Coach (Evans) said we did pretty well for a bunch of shorthairs.

‘’I told all the people around the hotel we were going to win. But they didn’t believe me. They believed the column.’’

“The game was played on St. Patrick’s Day Weekend,” said Liebert. “My mom and dad and brother and grandmother had driven from Indiana to Syracuse. I went to see them after pregame meal. My mom said, ‘We are so proud of you, we can’t wait for your senior year, you guys have had such a wonderful year, it was so much fun watching you on television.’ She was like, this is over. I said, ‘Mom, I don’t know what the heck you are talking about.’ My dad is going, ‘Peggy, they are going to win today,’ and my mom is going, ‘I know, I know,’ and patting me on the back. They were already planning to drive back that night. I told them we are going to win this game and we are going to the Meadowlands.”

“I also remember after coach Evans read some of that article, David said something like he would take it as a personal failure if Rony Seikaly scored more than four points in this game,” said Rees. “David really wanted this one.”

The first nine minutes of the March game were a continuation of the December game as Syracuse took a 17-8 lead. The official play- by-play from the game shows the Orangemen totaling five layups or dunks among their eight made baskets during that game-opening stretch. The Mids were still trailing by seven points at 21-14 when they started to make their move. Navy scored 10 of the next 12 points to take a 24-23 on a Butler layup with just under five minutes left in the half. The lead changed hands eight times over the remainder of the stanza, which ended with the Mids leading by the score of 32-31.

Syracuse totaled more field goals in the half, 14-11, but Navy was 10-14 from the foul line while the Orangemen were just 3-3 from the charity stripe.

The lead was exchanged five times in the opening three minutes of the second half before a Butler layup tied the game at 39. Robinson accounted for each of the next seven Navy points –– two dunks, 3-3 from the foul line –– as the Mids took a 46-41 lead.

Syracuse may have had trouble in the frontcourt with Robinson, but Navy started to struggle to contain Washington in the backcourt. Limited to just four points in the first half, Washington began to heat up in the second and drew the Orangemen to within three points at 49-46. Undaunted, Navy scored the next six points to take a 57-46 advantage with over 10 minutes showing on the clock. Soon, an 8- 0 Navy run gave it a 67-51 cushion with 7:11 still to play. The Mids led by at least 13 points the rest of the way.

“I think they (Navy) led by 20 at one point –– the final margin was 12 as I recall –– and it wasn’t nearly that close,” said Feinstein. “I vividly remember enjoying that afternoon as much as any I can remember. They shut the crowd down completely. I remember when the players shook hands afterwards some of the Syracuse fans were applauding –– how could they not respect a bunch of academy kids hammering their team like that?”

“We felt we made a statement,” said Robinson. “I can’t begin to tell you how incredibly good it felt. It is one thing to do that when you are playing LSU or Maryland in Dayton on a neutral court; it was a different level doing it with 33,000 people cheering against you.”

“From my basketball memory, that’s the best memory I have ever had,” said Turner. “There was something like 30,000 people in the Carrier Dome. There was a lot of orange, and in the very top of the stands there were a bunch of mids in black SDB uniforms, just going crazy with about a minute in the game left. I will never forget that feeling.”

“We handled Syracuse’s press; that was the key,” said Wojcik. “David was absolutely incredible. The combination of the two allowed us to win. I remember Kylor’s poise and Vernon’s toughness.”

Statistically, the difference in the game was the foul line. Syracuse made 36 field goals to Navy’s 28, but the Mids were 41-52 from the foul line and the Orangemen were 13-20. Navy’s 41 made free throws tied an NCAA Tournament record (remains tied for second). Four Syracuse players fouled out –– including Seikaly after he went 2-8 from the floor and scored just the four points Robinson wanted to hold him to. Robinson was 21-27 from the charity stripe in totaling 35 points in 35 minutes before fouling out himself. The 27 attempts set an NCAA Tournament record for the most by an individual in a game (remains tied for the record). Additionally, Butler scored 23 points on 11-15 shooting from the field, Rees was 10-10 from the foul line and Wojcik was 6-6 from the free throw line as Navy won its 15th game in a row.

“Free throws were not a factor,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said to the media after the game. “We had to foul.

“The key to the game was Butler. We contained him earlier this season, but with Robinson going the way he was, we had to pay too much attention to him.”

“This was one of the Navy’s greatest victories since the Battle of Midway,” wrote Bill Koenig in the (Albany) Times-Union.

But that was not the end of the Navy celebration.

“It was late at night when we returned and T Court was packed,” said Whitaker. “We drove right up to it. It was really special for the Academy and Annapolis. The whole town got behind us.”

“We arrived back in Annapolis at around 1:30 or 2 in the morning,” said Turner. “The Mids had an impromptu pep rally. We pulled into gate three and they rocked the bus all of the way to T Court. They carried us off on the shoulders of the plebes, and we addressed everybody. It was unbelievable.”

“We’re flying back and all of us are in shock that we’re going to the Sweet 16,” said Liebert. “We show up and T Court is full. They pulled the bus right up to Tecumseh, and every Mid carried us all of the way to the steps. Nobody walked. It was a giant pep rally. It was a great night. That night with the Brigade, I will never forget it. And I can’t tell you how many classmates, teammates or even other people who were there that night, when I run into them that’s the one thing they talk about.”

March 21 * East Rutherford, N.J. * NCAA Tournament / Regional Semifinal (AP: 17 / Seed: 7) Navy 71, (Seed: 14) Cleveland State 70

The only other time a Navy team had won its first and second-round games in the NCAA Tournament was in 1954 when the Mids defeated Connecticut and Cornell to advance to the regional final of the 24-team tournament. This year, Navy would face upstart Cleveland State, a team that was in the NCAA Tournament for the first time, for the right to play in the regional final of the 64-team tournament.

The Vikings took a 14-game winning streak with them to Brendan Byrne Arena in New Jersey. Cleveland State had won the Association of Mid-Continent Universities regular season (13-1) and tournament titles and had compiled a 29-3 record on the season. The No. 14 seed had upended No. 3 Indiana, 83-79, in the first round and No. 6 Saint Joseph’s, 60-59, in the second round. At the time, Cleveland State was the lowest-seeded team to reach the Sweet 16 since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1979. In the years following Cleveland State’s run in 1986, only one other 14 seed (Chattanooga, 1997) and just one 15 seed (Florida Gulf Coast, 2013) has advanced to the regional semifinal.

“We knew Cleveland State was going to be tough for us because they were a tough, athletic, guard-oriented pressing team,” said Liebert. “They were going to show us some looks we had not seen before. Coach had seven or eight guys up against the starting five at every practice leading up to the game. That’s the kind of pressure we were going to be up against.”

“Heading into the game,” said Cleveland State player Clinton Ransey, “we had the sense to think it was David Robinson and others rather than them being a team. We felt if Navy was going to beat us, then somebody other than Robinson was going to do it and we felt that wasn’t going to happen. As players, we looked more at players than coaches because the players are the ones who have to execute what is implemented by the coaches. Looking back now, the coaches had a great game plan against us.”

The first possession of the contest took place on the Cleveland State end of the court. Robinson thwarted the first shot of the game by the Vikings with a block. Navy proceeded to score the first six points of the game, soon led 14-7, and opened up a 23-14 lead. That margin was pretty much maintained over the rest of the first half that ended with the Mids in front, 39-30.

Butler and Whitaker were a combined 11-20 from the floor and accounted for 26 points as Navy shot 50 percent from the field. Robinson picked up three first-half fouls and was limited to 14 minutes of playing time. He tallied seven rebounds, six blocks and five points during the opening half.

“In the first half,” said Ransey, “we may have taken them for granted believing that if we could somehow contain the Admiral (Robinson), this game wouldn’t be as hard as others believed it would be. Our mindset changed after halftime to we must defend everyone in order to gain momentum. We became more of ourselves in the second half in that we played our game like we were used to playing and let the other team adjust to us.”

Cleveland State picked up the pace in the second half and sliced the deficit down to three points at 41-38. It soon became a one-point game at 49-48.

“We did a nice job in the first four minutes of the game when they started executing what we had practiced against,” said Liebert. “The adjustment they made at halftime was pressuring the inbounds passer instead of the guards that were going to receive it. They put a long player on that person, who was me. If I got it into Doug, it was a jump trap right away so Doug would have to look up the court. Once they did that, it was a track meet. They made that one small adjustment and we had not practiced for it. That’s when the turnovers started to get them back into the game.”

“The idea was that we couldn’t handle athletic, quick pressing teams,” said Whitaker. “But we handled it well (against Cleveland State). However, they just kept grinding it down and to their credit they pulled even with us.”

Navy took a modest 54-50 advantage, but the Vikings went on a 10-1 run that gave them a 60-55 lead with seven minutes remaining. The teams started alternating baskets until Cleveland State held a 68-65 lead with three minutes left. Robinson scored on a short jumper to pull Navy to within one point for the fifth time since the Vikings last took the lead. Each team committed a turnover, then Butler scored on a three-on-one fast break to give Navy a 69-68 lead with 75 seconds remaining.

A Cleveland State offensive foul gave the ball back to Navy, but a steal and layup by Ransey –– “I do remember my turnover at halfcourt,” said Wojcik. “Thank goodness David bailed me out.” –– gave the Vikings a 70-69 advantage with 27 seconds left. That led to a Navy timeout being called three seconds later. Just as toward the end of the Army game, pretty much everyone knew Robinson was going to be involved in the final play against the Vikings. The Mids tried to get the ball into him, but Paul Stewart intercepted it. Butler immediately tied up Stewart, and all eyes turned to the possession arrow. Just as in the Army game, it was in favor of the Mids.

With a scant eight seconds remaining, Cleveland State called timeout.

“We had an out of bounds play we ran called variation,” said Liebert. “I am at the elbow, Doug sets a pick for me, I come around. Vernon posts strong. David, it looks like he is going up to the free throw line but then he turns around and it becomes like an alley-oop at that point. Kylor is the inbounds player. Coach draws that play in the timeout. I remember it vividly. I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, I could be open.’ Then Kylor says, ‘David, the ball is coming to you.’ At that moment my mindset changed to I have to be ready to rebound.”

“It was a Jimmy Chitwood moment from Hoosiers where the coach is drawing a play at the very end of the game and everyone in the huddle stands up (because they don’t like the play). We didn’t stand up, though.”

“I remember during the timeout, coach was drawing up a play,” said Turner. “Coach said, ‘Kylor look for Dave on the cutback. Dave if you are not there, cutback again and do something else.’ Kylor looks at Dave, grabs Dave by his jersey and says, ‘The ball is coming to YOU.’”

“I remember this very well,” said Rees. “Coach Evans drew up his play to get Dave the shot he took to win it, but in the huddle he told Kylor if he couldn’t get the lob over the middle to Dave then he should look for me coming to the corner on the ball side as a secondary option. At that moment, Kylor looked at coach and told him basically that he didn’t need a second option; he was throwing the ball to David. Classic Whit! And obviously he was right.”

“When I stood up to leave the huddle with my teammates, I know I looked him in the eye and said it loudly enough for all to hear, ‘Dave be ready; I am passing the ball to you. There are no options,’” recalled Whitaker. “It was not bravado; it was shear logic.”

“I embraced it,” said Robinson of being told he was getting the ball at the most important time of the game. “It is incredible confidence when your team trusts you like that.”

When play resumed, Navy again tried to send the ball into Robinson off of Whitaker’s inbounds pass from the baseline. It was a pass Whitaker estimated he had made “1,000” times in either practices or games as the team’s designated inbounder throughout his four years. This time, the ball successfully reached Robinson who had started on the lower left block, before rolling back to the middle of lane. The leaning half-jumper, half-layup attempt he released as soon as he caught the lofted pass banked in to give Navy the lead with five second still to play.

“It was not an easy shot that David took,” said Whitaker.

“I believe he (Robinson) got to the point in that he believed that, ‘I can do what I want and no one was going to tell me different,’” said Ransey. “When you have the mind and the ability to carry out what your mind believes, you can impose your will upon anyone.”

The Vikings immediately called their final timeout. Cleveland State would quickly advance the ball down the court. Clinton Smith, who would go on to play 46 games in the NBA, launched a desperation shot as the buzzer sounded. His 25-foot effort under pressure from the right side of the court hit the back of the rim and bounced off.

The foul line again proved to be a key difference in the game. Navy was 15-21 from the foul line (Robinson alone was 8-10) and Cleveland State was 6-12. That helped balance out the Vikings holding a 32-28 advantage over the Mids in made field goals.

Robinson was 5-6 from the floor and 7-8 from the foul line in the second half to total 22 points, 14 rebounds and nine blocks for the game. He accounted for 12 of Navy’s final 14 points. Whitaker paced the Mids with both 23 points and 10 assists.

“We did a good job on Robinson in the first half,” said Cleveland State head coach Kevin Mackey to the assembled media after the game, “but Navy’s not going to the final eight because of one great player. That Kylor Whitaker is a big-league shooter.”

March 23 * East Rutherford, N.J. * NCAA Tournament / Regional Final (AP: 1 / UPI: 1 / Seed: 1) Duke 71, (AP: 17 / Seed: 7) Navy 50

That left Navy to face Duke for the right to go to the Final Four.

“I remember there were people back in Annapolis trying to figure out how to get the entire Brigade to Dallas and the Final Four if we won,” said Turner.

Duke had not yet turned into the juggernaut it is today when the teams met in 1986. Mike Krzyzewski was in his sixth season as the head coach in Durham, N.C., following a five-year stint as the head coach at his alma mater, Army. Duke had posted losing seasons in each of his first three years before it advanced to the NCAA Tournament and reached the second round in both 1984 and ‘85. This year’s team was his first great one.

Duke entered the game as the consensus top-ranked team in the country, had won the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season (12- 2) and tournament titles, posted a 35-2 record and was on a 19-game winning streak. The roster featured six Parade High School All- Americans, five future NBA players in Mark Alarie, Tommy Amaker, Danny Ferry, Johnny Dawkins and Martin Nessley, plus recognizable players in (future ESPN analyst) Jay Bilas, (future NBA general manager) Billy King and (future NBA head coach) Quin Snyder.

“Navy had the most unique, dominant and classiest player in David Robinson,” said Amaker. “We respected him and their team greatly.”

“We had a great deal of respect for Navy,” said Bilas. “They were a great basketball team. They were far more than David Robinson. He was one of the best big men in the country. I had to guard him, and that’s beyond a challenge. I had watched a lot of film and the only things I tried to do were not let him dunk and not send him to the free throw line. He had torched Syracuse doing both.”

“Remember, Krzyzewski hadn’t been to a Final Four yet; he still wasn’t ‘COACH K,” said Feinstein. “This is pretty close to exactly what he said in his pregame speech: ‘I want to tell you guys something; you can’t begin to understand what that team down the hall has accomplished to be here today. I DO understand it. They’re amazing and I’d like to hug every one of them. There’s no team in the country I respect more than I respect them.’ A pause. ‘But I want to tell you something; they’re Navy. I’M ARMY. I don’t lose to Navy (he was 3-0 in the Army-Navy series as a player and 4-1 as the head coach). So, let me put this simply … if you don’t go out there and kick their butts, don’t even bother coming back in here because I won’t be speaking to any of you.’”

The Blue Devils took an early 10-5 lead, but the Mids answered and took a 20-16 advantage at the 8:11 mark. From there, Duke would score each of the next 12 points and end the half on an 18-2 run that gave it a 34-22 lead at the break.

Several things jump out when looking at the halftime box score: Duke held a 34-15 lead on the glass, many of which were gathered in on the offensive end for the Blue Devils. Of Duke’s 16 made field goals in the first half, 11 came following offensive rebounds and the Blue Devils would accrue 21 more field goal attempts than Navy. Additionally, the Mids took only six free throw attempts.

Individually, Robinson was 7-10 from the floor and scored 15 of Navy’s 22 points.

“Early on,” said Liebert, “we matched up extraordinarily well. The first 14 minutes or so, we played very tough. They were really good. David was as sensational as ever. As we looked around with seven or eight minutes to go in the half, we were winning. It was one of those moments where we thought, ‘Can we really do this?’ And then of course Duke pulled away and went into the locker room with a pretty good lead.”

Navy was able to make it a 10-point game at both 36-26 and 38-28 in the second half, but Duke extended its advantage out to as many as 23 points to make the program’s first trip to the Final Four in eight years and an eventual appearance in the championship game (lost, 72-69 to Louisville).

Duke led Navy in rebounds (49-29), field goals made (31-19) and field goals attempted (71-48). Dawkins, who was later named the 1986 National Player of the Year, scored 20 of his 28 points in the second half. Alarie added 18 points and four steals and Bilas snared 10 rebounds.

For Navy, Robinson was 10-17 from the floor and 3-4 from the foul line, scored 23 points, grabbed 10 boards, recorded three steals and blocked two shots in 39 minutes of playing time. Butler ended his career with eight points, and Whitaker posted 10 points and seven assists in his last game as a Mid.

“It was a quick turnaround (from Cleveland State) with an amazing amount of attention,” said Wojcik. “Duke was extremely talented. Most importantly, they were led by a West Point graduate in Coach K and they were not going to overlook us. I truly believe had we played anyone else, including Louisville, we would have advanced.”

“Our balance was probably the difference for us,” said Amaker.

“They were just so athletic and big and disciplined,” said Rees. “Dawkins and Amaker were such spectacular guards and really controlled the game on both ends of the floor in this game. I’d like to blame it on fatigue for us, but the fact of the matter is they were just so good and their defense was stifling to us.”

“The difference in the game was our guard play,” said Bilas. “Tommy Amaker, Johnny Dawkins, David Henderson; teams may have matched up with us in the frontcourt, but we never went into a game in which our guards weren’t better. Mark Alarie also did a really good job on Vernon Butler.”

“Duke won easily, 71-50, but Krzyzewski DID hug every Navy player at game’s end,” said Feinstein.

“What those guys accomplished this season is incredible,” said Krzyzewski of Navy in the Richmond News-Leader. “To have come this far and beaten the teams they beat is really hard to believe. I know they had David Robinson, and I know some of the other guys on that team are very good players, but there’s no question they beat teams with more overall talent.”

“The moment I remember most about the Duke game was Coach K coming into the locker room after the game,” said Liebert. “He said, ‘I know you are sad and I know you don’t feel good now. But let me tell you, no service academy team will ever do what you did this year. I for one know. You will be the greatest team to ever play at not just the Naval Academy, but the greatest team to play at a service academy. You need to get your heads up and that you have a bright future ahead. I want you to know that.’”

Epilogue

Accolades rolled in for the Navy players in 1986. Robinson was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Player of the Year and the trio of Robinson (first team), Butler (first) and Whitaker (second) received All-CAA honors. Robinson (first) and Butler (second) also were named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District Team, and Robinson’s name appeared on All- America Teams announced by the USBWA (second), NABC (second), AP (third) and UPI (third).

Statistically, Navy as a team ranked first in the country in blocked shots (233) and blocks per game (6.6 bpg), fifth in defensive field goal percentage (42.1%), sixth in scoring margin (+13.5 ppg), 15th in rebound margin (+5.7 rpg), 16th in offensive field goal percentage (52.3%) and 29th in scoring offense (77.2 ppg).

Robinson led the nation with 207 blocks (only one TEAM, Louisville, the 1986 national champions, with 213, blocked more shots than Robinson did individually, and the second-place individual swatted 123 shots) and averages of 5.91 blocks and 13.0 rebounds a game. He also stood 14th nationally in scoring (22.7 ppg) and 16th in field goal percentage (60.7%). Robinson’s blocked shot total and his 31 double-doubles on the year remain NCAA single-season records. Additionally, Wojcik ranked 21st in the country with an average of 7.2 assists per game.

As a team, the 1985-86 season ended with the Mids one victory away from the Final Four and halfway to the six wins needed to accomplish the goal of the National Champions sign Paul Evans placed in the locker room before the start of the year. In terms of where to place the accomplishments of the 1986 squad among other Navy basketball teams, consider:

** The 30 victories on the year is a Navy and service academy record.

** Navy played 15 games against the 11 teams that would advance to the postseason, including 11 games against NCAA Tournament qualifiers. The Mids posted a record of 10-5 in those 15 games.

** Of the 23 teams Navy faced on the year, 13 of them had at least one player on their roster who would go on to play in the NBA. The Mids faced 31 different future NBA players on the season.

** In the now 39 seasons in which Navy has played in a conference, it was the first of only three times in which the Mids have won both an outright regular season title and the ensuing tournament (CAA: 1987, Patriot League: 1997).

** Navy has made 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament in program history to date and totaled eight wins in those appearances (one of which was a consolation bracket win in 1959). Three of the eight victories came during the 1986 team’s run. That team also joined the 1954 squad as the lone ones to record multiple main draw victories in a single tournament.

** When comparing Navy’s 1985-86 squad to the other two service academy programs, Army has never been to the NCAA Tournament and Air Force is winless in four trips (1960, 1962, 2004, 2006) to the event.

** Conference wise, Navy in 1986, Richmond in 1988 (Sweet 16), George Mason in 2006 (Final Four) and VCU in 2011 (Final Four) are the only Colonial Athletic Association teams to advance to at least the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament. Patriot League teams –– which Navy has competed in since the 1991-92 campaign –– have combined for three total wins in the tournament’s 64-team field, with no squad tallying more than one victory in a single edition of March Madness.

“I’m not sure people appreciated how much Navy had accomplished,” said Feinstein. “The tournament wasn’t covered in those days the way it is now. The mid-majors who have made the Final Four this century –– George Mason, VCU, Butler (twice), Loyola-Chicago – – all became national heroes. If a military academy team did that, or came close in today’s era, someone might build a statue to them. Throw in the fact that, basketball aside, they were about as appealing as any group of young men you’d ever want to meet and there would be an HBO documentary on them.”

“We realize it has bonded us together in a real special way,” said Robinson. “We all feel a real special connection.”

“It was incredible to have a service academy team get to that level,” said ESPN’s Dick Vitale. “Number one, you had David Robinson. He was just another kid when he first arrived at the Naval Academy and turned into the best player in the country when he left. Then you had Wojcik, who was a savvy, heady, very cerebral player. Carl Liebert was a guy I call a blender in that he would do all of the hard work. And they were well coached.”

As for the reasons behind the team’s success, the logical answer is having the eventual number one draft pick in the NBA on its roster. But to a man, each member of the squad went beyond the obvious when explaining why team accomplished what it did.

“The biggest thing about this team was that they were very unselfish and everyone played within their role,” said Evans. “It was not a one-man show as many remember it. Doug Wojcik was an excellent point guard who gave up many shots to distribute the ball to Vernon, David, and Kylor. David and Vernon made more foul shots than our opponents shot. We played a lot of zone defense! David blocked almost as many shots as Louisville, who was second in the NCAA in blocked shots. Kylor Whitaker was a great outside shooter and would have been unbelievable if the three-point line existed! Carl Liebert was a student of the game being from Kentucky and gave big efforts every night. Cliff Rees was a part-time starter and played both the two and the three (positions). Vernon and David were a great tandem inside. Vernon played the middle of our zone, which enabled David to come from off the ball to get so many blocks. We got a lot of minutes from Derric Turner, Tony Wells, Nate Baily and Neil Fenton.

“It was truly a great group of guys who to this day keep in touch and meet somewhere every couple of years.”

“The coaches and team were close,” said Whitaker. “There were no cliques. It was a TEAM. That’s rare to find in college athletics and I realize it more so now. From the starters to the 12th man, we were a team. We didn’t bicker off the court. I am still in touch with those guys 35 years later.”

“Everyone on that team knew their roles and accepted them,” said Konetzni. “There was no selfishness, they helped each other, they got the ball to David at the right time –– he was a great player and not a ball hog –– and worked together very well. Other than a couple of the guys coming back after break with permanent hairstyles and Ian Cassidy throwing a dirty jockstrap at the feet of the CNO –– ‘I didn’t hear that the CNO and the Secretary of the Navy were coming in the locker room after a game,’ said Cassidy –– there never was a problem with the guys off the court.”

“I think we knew even going into the Duke game that we had already accomplished something pretty special,” said Rees. “A service academy team reaching the Elite Eight was something most would say could never happen. I also remember even after the Duke loss and getting back to the Academy very late at night, I think half the Brigade of Midshipmen and a ton of fans were out on campus to welcome us back and cheer for us when we got off the bus. That was such a cool experience. We were still down from losing but man, that was an amazing feeling to have so many people there for us when we arrived.”

“I do not believe that I realized how special it was until I started coaching,” said Wojcik. “Keep in mind, 1985 was the first year of a 64- team NCAA Tournament and we had won a game in ‘85, so we had personal expectations. A player must have confidence and swagger, but once I started to coach, I truly recognized the variables and the difficulty.

“The legacy of the accomplishment is very special. I just remember through Plebe Summer hearing all about Roger Staubach’s football team as the greatest in school history. Little did I know that our basketball team led by David and Vernon would create our own legacy in our sport. Very cool!”

“It was a special team, that’s for sure,” said Turner. “David was the centerpiece of everything, but everyone knew their role. That’s what made us so special.

“At the end of the season we had our final meeting of the year in our locker room and coach Evans said, ‘You guys took a heck of a chunk out of that National Champions sign.’”

“It didn’t hit me (the accomplishment of the team) until after I graduated, got to the fleet, (and hearing) people talk about that team, and then after I got into my civilian career,” said Liebert. “The number of people who followed that team through the process and remembered the games and started to talk about it, then it started to hit me. I remember going out on the Navy football field with the team after 10 years. Maybe it started to feel special after 10 years. It really became special when we all started to have time to come back and celebrate together.

“To have a 1986 moment, it takes on-campus visits of people going, ‘Hey, I know you have other Division I scholarships, but you should come to the Naval Academy because we have something special going on here.’ I really thank Rob Romaine, Dave Brooks, Cliff Mauer, Jim Kuzma, and all of those guys who convinced us at 17 years old that the Naval Academy is building something special. I get chills just thinking of it. I really believe it wasn’t until that moment when all of us came together as a unit of about seven or eight class years (the players in the Classes of 1983 through 1989 and coaches gathered at a 2018 reunion) to celebrate. I remember the words of coach Evans that night when he said it took all of you to create what happened in 1986. It is pretty freaking special.”

Acknowledgments

All quotes for this story were provided in interviews conducted during the summer and fall of 2020 by the following unless noted in the story by their comments. Thanks to all for taking the time to provide their recollections:

Navy Players, Coaches and Staff Ian Cassidy, Paul Evans, Al Konetzni, Carl Liebert, Cliff Rees, David Robinson, Derric Turner, Kylor Whitaker, Doug Wojcik

Opposing Players and Coaches Air Force – Reggie Minton; American – Billy Stone; Cleveland State – Clinton Ransey; Delaware – Philip Carr, George Dragonetti, Steve Steinwedel; Duke – Tommy Amaker, Jay Bilas; East Carolina – Keith Sledge; Georgia Tech – Bobby Cremins, Mark Price; Lafayette –– John Leone; Ohio –– Billy Hahn; Richmond – Greg Beckwith; UNCW – Greg Bender

Media John Feinstein, Dick Vitale