Some are featured in primetime as to solidify their at-large seeding, but the most entertaining are those where only one school will be advancing to the field of 68.
Dan Monson was fired by Long Beach State on Monday after 17 seasons as head coach. The Beach responded in kind by stringing together an improbable trio of wins to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 12 years.
Monsoon, 62, has been the head coach at Long Beach State since 2007. While his 275-272 record is nothing to write home about, his 166-112 record in Big West Conference play led to five regular season conference championships, and now a second trip to “The Big Dance.”
Long Beach State last made the NCAA field in 2012, losing in the first round to New Mexico as a 12-seed. While the dreaded 12- and 11-seeds are the final at-large bids handed out, to be a one-bid conference earning a number that high automatically puts the higher seed on upset alert. Monson is no stranger to upsets, having guided Gonzaga to the Elite Eight during his second and final year in 1999. The following season, Monson took over as head coach in Minnesota, while Gonzaga promoted assistant Mark Few to the big chair, where he has been ever since.
Unfortunately, Monson only got the Golden Gophers to the NCAA Tournament once (2005), while Few has been every season since 1999. Few’s trips include two trips to the Final Four, being the National Runner-Up in 2021, where Gonzaga was looking for the first undefeated season in men’s college basketball since Indiana in 1975-75.
The Beach entered the Big West Tournament as the #4-seed, sporting an 18-14 record, 10-10 in conference play. The Beach topped #5 UC-Riverside 86-67 in the quarterfinals to set up a matchup with top-seeded UC-Irvine. The Anteaters had toppled Long Beach in both regular season matchups, with an average margin of victory of 16 points. The Beach stunned the favored UC-Irvine 83-79, and advanced to the finals against #2 UC-Davis.
For Monson to get the Beach ready for this run is even more improbable when you realize the Beach lost their last five to close the regular season, which included double-digit losses to both UC-Davis and UC-Irvine. The university and Monson agreed to mutually part ways, but allowed Monson to continue coaching until the end of the season. When Ohio State fired Chris Holtmann back on Valentine’s Day, there was no caveat that the Buckeyes would find similar momentum enough to finish their season in the Big 10 Tournament semifinals.
The Buckeyes are predicted to be left out of the field of 68 on Sunday, but should be a top seed in the NIT Tournament. The Beach however are predicted to be a 15-seed by both ESPN and CBS, and both predict a first-round matchup with Arizona.
As a program, Long Beach State’s deepest run in the NCAA Tournament were four consecutive trips between 1970-1973. The 49ers, as they were previously known, advanced to the Elite EIght in 1971 and 1972. However, the 1971-73 seasons were vacated by the NCAA for rules violations.
The head coach during those three years was future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, Jerry Tarkanian, who would later have additional games vacated at the final stop of his coaching career at Fresno State.
Since the field expanded past 32 teams in 1985, Long Beach State’s closest opening round game was a 75-72 loss to Illinois in 1993. Their three trips since have resulted in an average loss of 18 points. Regardless of who the Beach draws, a respectable showing will send Monson out a winner.
-JC24