Ten years ago, the 2013-2014 Cal Poly Men’s Basketball team took the country by storm reaching the NCAA Tournament against all odds.
On Saturday, Feb. 3, a reunion and celebration took center stage in front of the Mustang faithful as they were honored at the Mott Athletic Center at halftime.
It was a team that was supposed to lose but refused to when it mattered most.
“We were here to play for each other and at the end of day, we were committed to each other and that's why we've achieved something great,” Former Mustang captain Chris Eversley said who was a senior when the team made it's run.
Players like Eversley, Brian Bennett and Ridge Shipley made their return to the Mott, picking up right where they left off with their old teammates some of whom hadn't seen each other since graduation.
So as they watched this year’s Cal Poly team play U.C. Irvine, they were brought back a decade before on the same court, trying to make their way through an up and down season.
“Once you bleed and you sweat and you cry and go through a lot with some guys, that bond will always be there,” Shipley explained.
The season, until the Big West Tournament, was a forgettable one. After a devastating loss on senior night to rival U.C. Santa Barbara, Cal Poly would enter the Big West tournament as a team no one thought would make it past the first round, no one except them.
“We knew we had it in us," Bennett said. "We knew we had better basketball in us and we were on a mission."
They did. In the first round of the Big West Tournament, they faced UCSB again but this time would turn the tables winning big, 69-38.
Another win against U.C. Irvine in the semifnals and the Mustangs would advance to the Big West championship against Cal State Northridge, where freshman Ridge Shipley would make the game defining shot to send them to the NCAA Tournament.
“For the last shot to win the game, to give it to me a freshman, I mean, I'll always see that as kind of the biggest highlight," Shipley recalled. "Instead of me hitting the shot, it's more, I think a senior passing a freshman to take a shot.”
From there, it was about enjoying the moment as the Mustangs went on to defeat Texas Southern in a play-in game as the 16-seed before a first round exit to one seed Wichita State that featured three NBA players.
“It was something that I think anybody ever dreamed of, especially being a mid-major school that had that experience, especially in our position that season," Eversley explained. "Being able to take charter flights, have best meals, police escorts like all of us, it was a blur.”
The best part of it all, ten years later, they know they played for each other and went on to have success in their own lives, something that goes beyond basketball.
“One thing that I really appreciate the most about that moment of walking out to half court with the team is realizing that we're all okay. We're all doing great things beyond basketball,” Eversley said.
“We never got down on each other and that's what helped us like really stick together and make the tournament run happen,” Bennett added.
Some of the players from that year's team like David Nwaba, who had a stint in the NBA, were not in attendance for the celebration. In total, nine players from that year's team went on to play professional basketball in some capacity.
The Mustangs finished 14-20 that season making the tournament as one of the lowest winning percentage teams in NCAA Tournament history. Regardless, they got to experience something very few mid-major schools get to.
