CHARLOTTE, N.C. — So, Wagner goes and wins its conference title by winning three games on the road, then plays in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four on Tuesday night in Dayton, Ohio, and advances with a win over Howard despite playing with just seven players.
The reward for all that accomplishment?
A date with No. 1 seeded North Carolina at 2:45 p.m. Thursday inside the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, which is essentially a home game for the stacked, 27-7 Tar Heels.
“It’s great to be able to have two home games in a place that we all love and are familiar with,’’ North Carolina big man Armando Bacot said.
Um, last we checked North Carolina is guaranteed only one game this week — pending the outcome of Thursday’s game, in which they’re favored by 24.5 points.
Obviously, Bacot is thinking the way most of the nation is — that Wagner is a pushover for the Tar Heels.
Everyone except 17-15 Wagner and UNC coach Hubert Davis.
“The challenge is the same challenge like it’s always been: underdogs,’’ said Wagner’s Melvin Council Jr., who was the star of the win over Howard. “We’re all the same at the end of the day. They [have] a good school program, and we have a little school. But we preach toughness every day, so that’s what we’re going to carry on with.
“We’re very confident. Regardless of the name, regardless of who we play, we’re going to go out there and put our brand of basketball on display. It really doesn’t matter who we play. Of course, give credit to them. They’re a great team, but we’re also a great team. So we’re going to come out there and put our brand on display.’’
The word “toughness’’ is printed vertically on the back of the Wagner players’ practice jerseys.
“We preach every day what’s on the back of our jersey, what we do in the huddle: toughness,’’ Wagner’s Tahron Allen said. “When we get between those four lines, we’re here to compete. Everything is fun, but we’re not here just to have fun. We’re here to compete, no matter who we’re playing against.’’
The Seahawks are so depleted with a lack of manpower that coach Donald Copeland Jr. hasn’t conducted a full-team practice since Dec. 27 for fear of one of his players getting injured or gassing the team.
“We’ve been going against our coaches,’’ Allen said. “We’re thankful to have a good coaching staff that has previous records of playing basketball and a good history of playing basketball. So they give us challenge every day.’’
Copeland wanted to make something clear.
“I won’t ever talk about myself being a good coach, but I’m still a very good player,’’ he said with a smile. “I want that to be known. I’m still very good.
“I think everyone starts their season with certain level of expectations, and I expected to have 13 players, but we always don’t get what we want. You kind of just got to roll with it right now. The main thing I tried to focus on and coach daily was the culture. Never let us fall into doubt. I never dumb down our expectations.
“We never focused on just having seven [players]. We focused on what we needed to do in practice. We focused on what the next opponent was going to do to try and win a game. Then now, if you do it the right way, which we believe we’re trying to, it gives you a chance to have success.’’
Allen said, “Nothing’s promised. Losing guys weren’t promised. We didn’t know what was in store for us this whole season, but what we did know is we were going to face some type of adversity, and I feel like that prepared us for this moment, no matter what team we’re playing.
“Yes, we are going against a great team, but our preparation is still the same. Our intensity is still the same. How we approach the game is still the same.’’
Said Davis, taking a different tack than Bacot’s casual reference to two home games this week: “Wagner has our full attention, because they are deserving of having our full attention.
“They’re a basketball team that’s extremely well-coached. Just for their conference tournament, just to get to the NCAA Tournament, they had to win three games on the road. That’s real [impressive] to be able to do that. And then to beat a very good Howard team on a neutral site, it’s a team that’s very confident, a team that can really shoot. They’re outstanding defensively.
“They’re excited about the opportunity about playing us.’’
Maybe Wagner is simply whistling past the graveyard, but they’re unafraid.
“This is a big, big challenge for our team, our program,’’ Copeland said. “We understand our path, our journey is different. We can’t really hang on that right now. We’ve got to try to find our niche in this game to compete. We’re going to be ready to play.’’
