"Kai Robinson skips to the corner for the lead," shouts an excited announcer of division III basketball. "Yes! The Eagles have taken a 63-61 lead!"
The Eagles have had a spectacular season in spite of the disadvantages they faced at the outset. As a division III school, Mary Washington is not allowed to offer athletic scholarships, and coach Marcus Kahn says that hurts when it comes to recruiting.
“When it comes down to dollars and cents, every little bit helps, and if we were able to offer that, it certainly would sweeten the pot.”
And it’s easier now for players to transfer if another school sees them playing well and offers payment.
“When it gets to that bottom line, if they have opportunities to play at a higher level and get some financial help because of their abilities then they usually do end up taking that,” Kahn explains.
At UMW, this year’s team has not a single senior, but there are two starters who have been playing together in Northern Virginia since they were nine – Jay Randall and Kaden Bates.
“Once Kaden made his decision to come play for us, we used him to help us get Jay to join us as well,” he says with a chuckle.
Coach Kahn, who’s racked up more than 400 wins in his career, doesn’t take much credit for what happened next.
“It really is the bond that they’ve created with each other and their individual talents that have made them successful this year.”
In the semi-finals against Trinity, the Eagles were down by as much as 16 points, but Bates says they battled their way back in the second half.
"To our credit, we didn’t panic. We just maintained composure, listened to our coaches and executed," he recalls.
“It was a back-and-forth game against the number one team in the country, so to knock off them was a really big confidence booster," Coach Kahn adds.
And now they’re preparing for the March Madness finals on April 5th. Kahn cautions the players to stay cool.
“They’re with it enough to know how important this game is. I think my job is to keep them really focused on the moment and not make it too big.”
But Randall says that isn’t easy.
"Everybody is congratulating us. Our professors are saying, ‘You’ve got this!” Some of our teammates have seen signs downtown, and one of our teammates actually said someone offered to pay for his groceries.”
Kahn says local fans have packed home games – shouting a clever cheer to inspire the Mary Washington team. GET DIRTY they shout – GO WASH!
And then there are the parents. Bates and Randall expect some serious pressure and encouragement from the stands.
“Oh my gosh – if you know my family, they’re like the biggest UMW fans there are,” says Bates.
“My mom was as excited as I’ve ever seen her in a long time,” Randall adds.
“My dad is always the loudest one at the games. My mom is always screaming rebound every chance she gets. I feel like my parents are even more excited than I am,” Bates concludes.
Regardless of what happens Sunday, both young men are aiming for careers in athletics – majoring in business administration and minoring in sports management. Their coach is confident the experience of competing – even in division III – will be a rich reward for the team.
“How they feel in the moment is no different than the guys getting paid a lot of money in division one – the feeling the kids have that win that game or lose it will be no different than at our level. I’ve been on tournament runs like this at previous schools years ago, and I still hear from players on those teams of how it changed their outlook on a lot of things. It’s a lifelong memory that will be with these guys forever.”
The Eagles play Emory Sunday night at 4:30 with a livestream at Rosner Arena in Fredericksburg. The game will also be available on ESPN plus and the NCAA website.
