Basketball win propels UMBC into national spotlight

By Anthony Petro
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer

For years the University of Maryland, Baltimore County has celebrated a reputation for academics but now has captured the sports world’s attention too after making history at the NCAA March Madness tournament.

“Many people around the country and the world ask, ‘Who is UMBC?’” President Freeman Hrabowski said in an interview. “Places like MIT and Harvard know who we are, but nobody else did. Now they do.”

March 16 was a day that UMBC and the rest of the sports world will never forget. The NCAA tournament opened. The Retrievers basketball team from this relatively unheard of school with a student body of just over 13,000 defeated the No. 1 overall seeded University of Virginia team. The Cavaliers had been favored to win the entire tournament.

UMBC had entered the tournament with the lowest seed allotted to teams – 16. The Retrievers had earned its first tournament spot since 2008 with a buzzer beating shot to defeat the University of Vermont in the American East Conference tournament. UMBC had lost the previous 23 games to Vermont.

A 16-seed had never won a game over a one seed in tournament history. Enter the 2018 UMBC Retrievers who not only won and made history, but they routed the top ranked Cavaliers, 74-54. The school has even adopted the fun nickname: U Must Be Cinderella.

Hrabowski said the victory brought more light to the college than any other event in history.

“We were never known as a sports school, but now millions know us and are looking at us,” said Hrabowski, who has headed the school since May 1992. “They are looking at us because of the basketball win, but they are seeing the academics too.”

UMBC has nine graduate programs in the top 100 nationwide. They are ranked in the top 2 percent of higher education institutions worldwide, and The Princeton Review named the school one of the nation’s top universities of 2018. The list goes on.

“We take pride in our academics, but there’s a reason so few had heard of us before that game,” Hrabowski said. “There are three ways colleges get recognized: money, being around for 100s of years, and sports.”

UMBC was established in 1966, making it the baby of the university system around the nation. Its historic victory has put the school on the map, and Assistant Basketball Coach Nate Dixon said he fully expects applications and recognition to go way up.

“Applications will go out the wazoo this time next year,” Dixon said. “Tournament teams always see a rise in their applications, but because we won and because of how we won, there will be even more than usual.”

Dixon said the UMBC athletic store’s website crashed the night of the game. There were over 3,000 online orders for UMBC basketball apparel.

“When I first got here two years ago, there was practically no basketball gear in the bookstore,” Dixon said. “Now, you see it everywhere.”

Dixon and head coach Ryan Odom wrapped up their second season with the Retrievers this year. Before this, they coached the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears in Hickory, North Carolina.

“UMBC had seven straight 20 plus loss seasons before we got here,” Dixon said. “Last year we won 21 games and this year we won 25 and broke the school record.”

Dixon said recruiting for the team has improved because the win put them out there. However, Dixon and Odom said they look for intelligent players; keeping UMBC’s focus on academics at the forefront.

“It is different because everyone thinks they can play here now,” Dixon said. “We are currently in discussions with a student who is choosing between us, Ohio State, and UVA.”

For those who don’t know, UVA and OSU have historically good basketball programs, so for UMBC to be in that discussion is unprecedented. This is a perk of being the only 16-seed to win a tournament game.

Odom and Dixon have completely turned around the program, and the confidence in the players, students, and the university is showing.

“I think the basketball team making it to the second round of March Madness really helped the schools confidence as a whole and especially their sports teams,” Senior Biology major Sarah Marcum said.
“For the future, I think it will help put UMBC basketball more on the map and hopefully we can beat UMD (College Park) next year with this newfound confidence.”

Hrabowski said the victory is a source of great pride for students, alumni and faculty. He also said the coaches’ focus on smart students shows.

“That win was amazing, but we want to focus on a balance between sports and academics, and our players show that,” Hrabowski said. “Two of the basketball players are sporting 4.0 GPAs and the rest of the team isn’t far behind. You can see their smarts in their play, in their preparation, and in their determination.”

Hrabowski said the university has received more than $20 million in free publicity, which has created more applications and more opportunities for prospective students to come see the campus. The free publicity also has given UMBC a chance to talk about their other accomplishments.

“We were the 2017 Cyber Security National Champions, but that’s only known now because of the basketball team,” Hrabowski said. “One player said ‘we stand on the shoulders of our chess team,’ and he’s right. Our chess team has made it to the final four more times than any other team in the country.”

Hrabowski said academics and athletics are “on a roll” right now and coach Dixon agreed.

“We have to keep going and keep plugging away,” Dixon said. “We have to keep the momentum up and prove this wasn’t just a one-time thing.”

Hrabowski added, “I am very proud of the students, faculty, players and coaches here. You know who we are now and you know how good we are. Watch out; we make history.”