Big dance invite allows Gansey to come home
By Zachary Dzurick
Sports
Published March 16, 2005

Mike Gansey

Every young basketball player dreams of March Madness. Out in the brisk cold that is March in Cleveland, young hoopsters imagine their outdoor concrete court is packed arena of crazed basketball fans as part of the best sporting event on earth — the NCAA basketball tournament.

Never in Olmsted Falls High School graduate Mike Gansey's wildest dreams could he have ever imagined that he would get to do it at home. Thanks to a excellent Big East tournament, West Virginia earned a seventh seed and will open the tournament tomorrow against Creighton at Cleveland State's Wolstein Center.

"It is a dream come true," Gansey said. "It has been amazing. It will be a lot of fun to play at home."

CBS had a TV crew on hand as the West Virginia players gathered in a club room to see where they would play.

Gansey's college career has been a roller coaster ride. He begin his college career at St. Bonaventure scoring 17 points against the hometown Cleveland State Vikings. He was named to the Atlantic-10 all-freshman team and then ranked in the A-10's top 20 in four categories as a sophomore. However, sanctions leveled against the Bonnies resulted with St. Bonaventure electing not to play their final games. Gansey transferred to West Virginia but had to sit out last season due to NCAA regulations.

The Mountaineers won their first 10 games this season. Gansey won Big East player of the week honors and then the bottom dropped out as they lost seven of their next nine. They won their next four games, but a regular season loss to lowly Seton Hall had West Virginia firmly on the NCAA bubble.

Gansey said the team felt the pressure heading into the Big East tournament. The Mountaineers were the eighth seed in the tournament.

"We were told we had to win the first game to get in, but we just kept winning," Gansey said.

The Mountaineers played four games in four days. They defeated Providence 82-59, then cemented their ticket to the big dance with a 78-72 over 7th-ranked Boston College. Next up was a thrilling 78-76 win over 19th-ranked Villanova. Gansey scored a team-high 21 against BC and a team-high 22 over the Wildcats. West Virginia trailed for most of the Big East championship game against 16th-ranked Syracuse but made a late run to make it interesting before falling 68-59. The loss did not diminish the fun of playing in Madison Square Garden and the joy of making the Big Dance.

"It shows our confidence as a team," Gansey said. "We had a bad slump, but it is a credit to the coaching staff and the players that we kept at it. We have been playing really well the last week."