Savannah State University

[1st Born Second]

Savannah State finishes season 0-28

By MIKE KNOBLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/15/05
SAVANNAH — The baseball coach sued his school for racial discrimination. A student-assistant football coach allegedly sold steroids to players. The men's basketball team forfeited all four of last season's victories because its star player --- the coach's son --- wasn't enrolled.

Monday night, Savannah State achieved another dubious distinction: The Tigers gained a share of the NCAA record for the worst Division I men's basketball season ever played.

The 28th and final loss of a winless season came 49-44 to Florida A&M. Savannah State joined the 1991-92 Prairie View A&M team as the only 0-28 squads in Division I men's history; they're also the only two winless teams in the past 50 years.

A season that opened on Veterans' Day with a 62-point loss at Memphis ended on Valentine's Day with a five-point loss, the closest margin of the season. The margin provided no consolation.

"That's like almost eating when you're starving to death," coach Edward Daniels said.

Only a victory could have lessened the sting of the past four months.

"People sometimes make jokes about us," forward Sherrard Reddick said after leading the Tigers with 12 points and 17 rebounds in the final game of his college career. "Love for the game" kept him going, he said. "Even though we were losing, I was always praying and hoping."

A season-high crowd of 1,357 prayed and hoped, too. Tiger Arena fans roared when senior Donald Carson hit two free throws to tie the game with 1 minute, 57 seconds left.

The Tigers had rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit. Now, they were on a 10-1 run. Would this be the night?

No. Florida A&M went 6-of-6 from the free-throw line the rest of the way. Savannah State started missing shots. With three seconds left, Carson tried what could have been a game-tying 3-pointer. The shot was deflected and fell four feet short of the basket.

Former New York Giants football star Harry Carson patted his son on the neck as Donald Carson walked off the court after the game. Freshman guard Mark Williams cried as he and three teammates got a group hug from athletics director Tony O'Neal.

"It's still unbelievable," Reddick said later. "It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel like we lost 28 games this season. God's just testing us."

People nationwide heard about it.

Daniels appeared on Monday's edition of the ESPN morning show "Cold Pizza." The Associated Press and SI.com sent reporters to the Florida A&M game. ESPN was on campus last week, USA Today published an in-depth story Feb. 4 and ESPN.com wrote about the Tigers a couple of days before that.

That put a lot of pressure on Savannah State, but it put a lot of pressure on Florida A&M, too. Who wants to be known as the one team the 0-27 squad beat?

"We talked about that coming into the game," said Rattlers coach Mike Gillespie, whose team is 9-13 this season after winning the NCAA tournament play-in game last season. "Even on the [national sports radio] Jim Rome Show today, they picked Savannah State to win."

Reddick made 6 of 8 shots. The rest of the Tigers shot 15 percent.

Savannah State has struggled in almost every sport but baseball since completing the jump from Division II to Div. I three years ago. The football team has gone 3-29 since stepping up in classification. The women's basketball team scored an NCAA-record low three points in the first half of a game last season at Florida State. The softball team went winless last season. One reason for the men's basketball team's struggles: It had only eight scholarship players, five below what the NCAA allows.

Off the field, things haven't been any better. The Savannah Morning News reported that the NCAA is investigating allegations a former student-assistant football coach sold steroids to players, and 11 players quit the team in December. In August, the winningest baseball coach in Savannah State history, who is white, filed a federal racial discrimination suit against his alma mater, its president and its former athletics director.

Nothing, however, has drawn nationwide attention like the winless men's basketball team. The school with the slogan "You can get anywhere from here" kept trying to reach victory.

"It's hard, but you've got to keep hope alive," said Randolph Samuel, a student from New Orleans sitting in the front row Monday night.

Samuel said he comes to all the home games. He's a freshman. He'll have other chances to cheer on the Tigers. Someday, before he graduates, he'd like to celebrate a victory.

"At least one game," Samuel said. "You know what I'm saying?"

ABOUT SAVANNAH STATE

Fast facts on Savannah State, which made NCAA basketball history Monday:


Founded in 1890, it's the oldest public historically black college in Georgia. Enrollment: 1,802

The campus is located about five miles southeast of the center of historic Savannah.

Since joining the Division I basketball ranks three years ago as an independent, the Tigers are 2-79.

The football team is 2-19 over the past two years but had some star power in 2004 --- running back Tahj Mowry is better known for his acting role in the WB's "Smart Guy" and as the voice of Wade in Disney's "Kim Possible."


sorry that's a damn shame that the only teams to go undefeated in the NCAA Div. I was a HBCU!!

you mean to tell me that Wyoming is better than them?? :roll:

[Princess LaRonda]

man they'd have to pay me a couple mil to attend that school


no way in hell i could just......pay to go there

[Isaac Haze]

Originally Posted by Nahd

man they'd have to pay me a couple mil to attend that school


no way in hell i could just......pay to go there

Same thing here. Talkin' bout they want to be in Division I. If they stayed in the SIAC, instead of losing 1,000,000-0 to schools like Hampton and FAMU, they'll be free from national embarassment and lose 999,999-3 to schools like, say, uh, CAU or Benedict and maybe even Avondale High :lol: .

B.T.W., Mr. Smart Guy is THAT old???

[1st Born Second]

Originally Posted by Sheff

Same thing here. Talkin' bout they want to be in Division I. If they stayed in the SIAC, instead of losing 1,000,000-0 to schools like Hampton and FAMU, they'll be free from national embarassment and lose 999,999-3 to schools like, say, uh, CAU or Benedict and maybe even Avondale High :lol: .

B.T.W., Mr. Smart Guy is THAT old???

NO HE DIDN'T say Avondale...::dies::!!! :lol:

[Isaac Haze]

Just received breaking news that SSU's head basketball coach was fired. Things get more interesting by the day. I'll post the story if y'all don't beat me to it.

[ThatClassyGirl216]

Damn, I remember reading this in tha newspaper...I wouldn't even claim that school if I went there...

[oOoDazzlingDanceroOo]

Originally Posted by Nahd

man they'd have to pay me a couple mil to attend that school


no way in hell i could just......pay to go there

cosign