During the current state of athletics across the country, the Kennesaw State athletic department looks to fill the void by highlighting the amazing stories of select student-athletes both past and present as well as the faculty and staff that help to make KSU the unique and special university that it is. This week we conclude our in-depth look at the 2004 men's basketball Division II National Championship season.
Part One
Part Two
The House Spec Landrum Built
"We knew what we had, we knew we had the talent," said Tommy Thompson. "Great, get that trophy and bring it back to the case, but we all had our sights on Bakersfield and the next level. The goal was like coach said when we sat in the room on day one, we're going to win a national championship. So we weren't thinking about anything less than that."
With a 29-4 record and a conference title in their pocket, the Owls went into the NCAA Tournament riding a 20-game winning streak and earning a No. 6 seed.
The impressive regular season meant KSU would host regionals on its home court at the Spec Landrum Center, or the old basketball courts located in the KSU Rec Center before it was remodeled.
"Man that was amazing," said Justin Thompson. "That was an amazing feeling that we are in our home and we are hosting. It was like one of those dreams come true. This is something we bled, sweat, cried and everything else on. That was the sense that we had, this is our court. Even though it's the tournament, there is no way in the world that we were going to let someone come in here in our house and beat us. It's not going to happen."
A smaller high school style court, the Owls built that gym, and their fan base, over the last two seasons into an atmosphere that rivaled the best at that level.
That year KSU went undefeated at home with a 15-0 record, having only dropped five total games at Spec Landrum over the last three seasons for a 39-5 record.
"I loved the Kennesaw fans, they were amazing," said Rey Luque. "The gym was smaller so it was packed every single game. If you came to our gym, the home court advantage was going to show. Those fans were wild and loud and that really served to hype us up. That home court advantage, you didn't want to come down to KSU, we were going to get you bad. They were tough, they were tough on the players, the coaches, everyone. That community is awesome."
The only problem, in order to host regionals, the arena had to be able to hold at least 1,000 fans. A small issue for the Spec Landrum Center whose capacity sat just below that mark.
So Head Coach Tony Ingle and Athletic Director Dr. Dave Waples lined the floor with chairs, packing as many as possible into the arena.
The NCAA representative came out, counted the available seats, gave the thumbs up and the Owls hosted Catawba in the opening round of the tournament the following week.
KSU handled its business in the opening round trouncing Catawba 78-63, only to run into familiar foes Columbus State in the next round.
"We had a 7 p.m. ballgame with Columbus State and at 5 o'clock you can't get anybody else in there," said assistant coach
Stace Tedford. "It's packed, people are lined up in the parking lot trying to get into a ballgame. Our guys come out, we've always had pretty good crowds, but we come out and it's standing room only, there are people against the walls. It was great for the kids, but it was great for our university. Our student section was phenomenal. It was fun."
Fun being the key word because unlike the last time the two teams met, the Owls, with the crowd at their backs, went out and downed the Cougars for the fourth time.
Despite a low-scoring first half that saw KSU in front 27-23, the Owls came out and lit it up in the second period, pushing their lead to double-figures and not looking back.
KSU reached the regional finals with a 70-55 victory over the Cougars.
Now only one team stood in the way of Kennesaw State and Bakersfield, Francis Marion.
"It was scary in a sense," said Terrence Hill. "Not that we didn't know we were better than them, but once you play someone over and over they start to learn your game plan. We had stuff up our sleeves, but these were the teams that knew us and we knew them so we knew we had to bring something different. Francis Marion had some animals. Francis Marion, on paper were the closest to us than any other team. They mirrored everything about us. It was always hard against them."
Finishing the regular season second in the Peach Belt, FMU's only conference loss that year came at the hands of a last second shot by Kennesaw State, 63-60. The Patriots were 27-3 heading into the regional championships with many people thinking they would take home the Peach Belt crown if not for getting upset by Armstrong Atlantic in the opening round of the conference tournament.
FMU was one of the top three teams in the PBS in nearly every category, in some cases sitting just barely behind the Owls. Both KSU (+14.4) and FMU (+14.2) were the only two teams to average double-digit scoring margins in conference play.
"Francis Marion was a big game and they were good," said coach Ingle. "It was close. They backed off Georgi and let Georgi shoot and he had been working on his threes. He could shoot the eyes off a potato that night."
Georgi Joseph went 5-for-5 from range that game, finishing just shy of a double-double with 19 points and nine rebounds. His performance combined with a stellar showing off the bench from Kevin McDonald who netted 21 points in 18 minutes kept FMU in check.
Leading by 14 points at the half, the Owls held on to down the Patriots 82-73, cutting down the nets and punching a ticket to California.
"As a kid growing up playing basketball, you're watching guys cutting nets off, it's what you dream about," said Kenan Knight. "To do it in an NCAA Tournament and to do it on your home floor with your parents there and your friends sitting there watching you, it's surreal."
Walking In The Front Door
"It was a great milestone to get past the regional and make it to the Elite Eight, but we weren't satisfied," said Hill. "No one was content with just making it to the Elite Eight."
The ultimate goal was in sight as the Owls took the trip across the U.S. for their final three-game tournament in Bakersfield.
But they learned quickly, just because you earned a spot in the Elite Eight, doesn't mean you earned the respect.
"I was excited, we felt like we made it," said Reggie McKoy. "We finally did the job and got where we needed to go, but they didn't respect us there. The other schools, they all had names. We didn't have a name, no one knew who we were, they were like Kennesaw State, who are those guys? They looked down on us and we didn't take that lightly."
Sitting among former champions Metro State and Southern Indiana, powerhouses Pfieffer, Humboldt State and UMass-Lowell, KSU was overlooked.
"When we got to Bakersfield the disrespect was real," said Justin Thompson. "Even though our record was what it was, no one knew who Kennesaw State was. A lot of those other schools that were there, they were already celebrating. Oh we got them, who are those guys? Even though what we accomplished in the Peach Belt and running through it the way we did, it didn't give us the respect. That only put a chip on our shoulders."
That disrespect didn't sit well with the team, or coach Ingle and he let everyone know.
The first night there, the NCAA held a banquet for all the teams and administrators, introducing each school and allowing each coach to say a few words.
After going down the line the emcee finally reached Ingle.
"This is Coach Tony Ingle of Kennesaw State. This is the first time Kennesaw has reached the Elite Eight, coach do you think that you can come out here and sort of slip in the back door?"
Well coach Ingle took that moment to send a message to everyone in that room.
"Well just like these gentlemen up here, everyone is happy to be here, but I want everybody to listen and everybody to hear the sound of my voice, we're here to win a National Championship … And we're from Georgia, we don't walk through back doors, we'll walk in the front door and we'll walk out the front door, but we are here to win a national championship."
If the Owls weren't motivated for the Elite Eight, that banquet did the job.
"We always took a piece of something to have chips on our shoulder," said Hill. "During the introduction of our team, one thing that we hated was if you're going to pronounce our name make sure you do it right and say it right. We took pride in our name, we took pride in Kennesaw State. The announcer called us up and said, 'the team from Kenne
shaw' and that infuriated all of us. We just took that chip and we were like ok we're ready. After that introduction we were ready to play. We could've tipped off that night."
The Owls were fired up and came out to prove something in that opening game, unluckily for KSU's quarterfinal opponent Pfieffer.
Heading into that game Pfieffer had won a program best 31 games while leading the nation averaging 96.4 points per game, averaging 108.7 points per game over its last six games.
But that game the Falcons hit a wall, literally.
"They started pressing us full court and Terrence was dribbling the ball up and him and the guy that was guarding him were flying up court and Cardale Talley was standing at about half court and set a screen that this guy did not see coming," said Knight. "And Cardale is 6-11 probably all of 300 pounds and the dude hit him, it was like watching one of those crash test dummies. He went out of the game literally crying yelling at his teammate for not calling the screen out and we were just dying. At that point we were just having a good time."
The KSU defense locked down Pfeiffer's quick guards, leading 51-35 at the half.
The Owls out-rebounded Pfieffer 48-32, adding 13 steals and four blocks to stifle the Falcon's electric scoring. Despite pulling it close in the second half, KSU cruised to an 86-79 victory.
"We knew defensively we had it together," said Tommy Thompson. "We had it figured out, where to be, how to help. We knew all the guys could score, but I don't think they had played anybody defensively like the team we had, the length we had and the rebounding we had. They weren't accustomed to getting somebody up in them like we did and frustrating them all night."
It was only the third time that season Pfieffer was held to less than 80 points.
"After that game I thought everybody would be jumping up and down in the locker room going nuts, we walk in and they're like 'good job coach, good scout on that guy. Who we got next?' It was all business, every bit of it," said coach Tedford.
KSU kept that momentum going against Humboldt State in the Final Four.
Playing in what was essentially a road game against the California school, the Owls once again would not be denied, taking a four-point lead and pushing it to 14 with a big second half.
Despite good showings from HSU's All-American Austin Nichols and Fred Hooks, both career 2,000-point scorers with Hooks the Jacks' all-time leading rebounder as well, KSU downed the Humboldt State 81-67, earning themselves a spot on the biggest stage of all.
"That was some of the easiest games of the year," said Darrell Fisher. "You're playing the best of the best and you go out there and we'd smash them. We were just clicking on all cylinders and there wasn't too much anybody could do at that point. And we didn't get big headed about it, because every time we won we were like 'hey we didn't come here for that.'"
The Mountain Top
"When you're prepared, you're not afraid," said coach Ingle. "We were on a mission. We were going to win the National Championship and we didn't care. The preparation we'd already done. You could throw anything you want at us and we were going to beat you, we'd just won 26 in a row. We had a team."
The Owls had finally reached the pinnacle, in less than 24 hours at 10 a.m. PST their season would finally come to a head against Southern Indiana.
Everything coach Ingle had preached since day one, a dream 31 years in the making and a hope of everyone on that team who grew up watching basketball would either be achieved or shattered.
"Everything was just overwhelming, you had to take it all in," said Fisher. "People play their whole lives and can't get to that moment, won't know how that moment feels just being there. It was just a lot of emotions. These are things you dream about, we're playing for a national championship, we're playing for everything."
It's safe to say no one slept that night. Especially assistant coaches Tedford,
Jeff Jones and Greg Matta who all hunkered down in the hotel hallway to make sure no one left their rooms.
The next morning the team did their best to get up and get going, eating an early breakfast, getting shots up and getting ready for the early game. A tall task for 8 a.m., but once they hit the court they were focused.
"I just remember walking into that stadium, into the tunnel, I look around and everyone is locked in," said Hill. "There was not one guy who wasn't locked in. You look in their eyes, and you can tell with their body language. I didn't feel like any of my teammates or the coaching staff had a doubt in their minds that we're not going to win this. We made it this far, we've overcome and probably exceeded a lot of people's expectations for us, we're not nervous at this point."
But the Owls still had a daunting obstacle ahead of them in Southern Indiana, one of just six teams to win over 125 games over the previous four seasons.
The Screaming Eagles had five players averaging double-figures and four DI transfers. They had already beaten perennial powerhouses Kentucky Wesleyan and Metro State on their way to the championship game.
All of that didn't mean anything to the Owls as they were only focused on themselves.
"We got a really good talk before the game," said Luque. "It had more so to do with everything we had done all year, how hard we had worked, how we are now faced up with all of our dreams and all of our goals and everything we have accomplished and here it is. All we have to do is finish it off. We were extremely hyped and ready to roll."
The hype might've been too much though as KSU faltered out of the gates, trailing 10-2 less than four minutes in.
"I had too much nervous energy," said McKoy. "I couldn't calm down, I couldn't calm down until the second half. I wanted to win the game in one play. I was too anxious, and I was missing layups. I think we were like that too as a team, we were all anxious."
After that run by SIU the nerves settled and the Owls responded, or Joseph responded.
Joseph, who had scored the only bucket for KSU up to that point, rattled in a three-pointer and then proceeded to score the next eight straight points to pull the Owls within two.
Hill and Tommy Thompson followed with back-to-back three-pointers to put KSU on top 16-12, and the Owls never looked back.
"We were never out of a game, ever, never got rattled and never got shook," said Izzy Ingle. "I think there may have been a little bit of jitters because we were on national TV for the first time ever. We started the game a little like trying not to make mistakes instead of playing the way we played. Taking that punch was fine, it didn't knock us out it just kind of made us mad. Once we evened it out, we knew that it was probably going to get ugly for them."
After a back-and-forth period, the Owls went into the locker room up 30-24, but not satisfied.
"I remember going into the locker room and we're talking about it's not over," said Hill. "We had our run and we reiterated that it's a game of runs, they're going to go on their run in the second half. We have to go on ours, but never in a million years did I think our run was going to go so smooth in the second half that it would just push the lead up so much."
KSU came out re-invigorated, using a 9-3 run in the opening minutes to push the lead to double-figures, 39-27.
And it never fell back within 10.
"That second half coming out and really stretching it out, starting to really open it up, seeing guys on the bench, we are hitting each other like 'we're about to get it!'" said Fisher. "I think there was probably about 10 minutes left in the game and we knew it was over with. We're not being arrogant about it, but you got that tingle going through your body, like man we are 10 minutes away from winning the National Championship."
The Owls didn't let up, pushing the lead to 18 points, 20 points, 24 points and before you know it, coach Ingle starts emptying his bench.
"It was comforting not having a tied game or overtime worries, to be able to have it in the bag was cool," said Tommy Thompson. "To be able to walk off the floor and tag in somebody, for all those guys to get to jump on the floor and be out there and play in a championship game as well. That was probably the coolest spot that everybody on the team got to get out on the floor that day."
All 14 members of the team touched the floor that morning as KSU outscored SIU 54-35 in the second half.
"I remember grabbing coach Jones' leg and being like 'we're going to win this thing' and he's like 'shut up it ain't over!'" said coach Tedford. "You could see as that game progressed, you could see our guys waking up and being like yeah we deserve to be here and the better we played the more frustrated Southern Indiana got. It just got to a point halfway through the second half, it doesn't matter what y'all do, you call whatever you want to call it doesn't matter we're fixing to beat your brains in."
Then it came, the final buzzer sounded.
The Owls had done it. They had reached the mountain top and had done it in spectacular fashion, downing SIU 84-59.
"31 years it balled up," said coach Ingle. "When we won that National Championship and that buzzer sounds, it's hard to explain. Everything was going crazy, players were running around out on the court and I turn around and there's Israel and I hug Israel and I'm hearing coach you have cut down the nets and this and that and everybody's hugging. I'm hugging Terrence and I'm hugging my assistants and hugging, hugging, hugging."
Pandemonium broke out.
"When the buzzer rang it was just like surreal," said Luque. "It was like that's it, the balloon popped, boom there it is. The emotion was through the roof, people crying, people running, people smiling. I just remember my face hurt from as much as I was smiling. It was just surreal."
Players, coaches, family and friends that made the trip all running around screaming in triumph. Finding each other at half court and hugging one another.
"Your jaw drops, your heart is racing, you're running around looking for somebody to hug, you're just doing everything, you're dancing, there's so many different things," said Fisher. "You can just imagine the looks on everyone's faces when that buzzer went off, we're national champions."
We Are The Champions starts playing over the speakers.
"It was every emotion," said Tommy Thompson. "Not knowing what we really just did. Not many in a year get to experience that, I certainly had never. To be able to do it with those guys that you battled with and been through everything with the whole year, that we put a championship together for our town, the community, the school. There was a ton of emotions. It was definitely amazing."
Coach Ingle is handed the trophy.
"I was happier for my dad that he did what he told everyone he was going to do which was win a National Championship," said Izzy Ingle. "So I was happy, I was fired up for the team, but it felt really good for me as his son to see him win that National Championship. Right when the buzzer sounds me and him are hugging right at half court so that was my favorite thing. So it was kind of like a family thing for me right at that moment."
The banner is raised.
'2004 National Champions Kennesaw State'
"Once that buzzer went off, you think about long term," said Hill. "I will forever be a champion. That goes through your mind when you get that trophy, I am a champion. There's nothing like it. It's something you can't explain, it's hard to explain."
With the postgame interviews over, the team gathered around coach Ingle as he busted out the A-Town Stomp, the first of many victory dances by the Owls that day.
Etched In History
The Owls celebrated the rest of the day with their family, returning to Kennesaw the following day to a hero's welcome greeted by the KSU faithful upon arrival at the airport.
"Honestly it was one of the best experiences I've had in my life," said Luque. "That team was extremely special, the coaching staff was great, the school was amazing I'm just very happy to be a part of that team. To this day I talk to my kids about that team."
KSU's 25-point margin of victory was one-point shy of the all-time championship record.
The Owls ended the year on a 26-game winning streak, finishing the year 35-4 to mark the program's only 30-win season.
"It's priceless," said Fisher. "It's what you put in all that work for your whole life, to capture that moment. No one can take those moments and that feeling away. At that point those were some of the best times of my life playing basketball. Those feelings, you can't recapture them but they are always there."
After that fateful season, key players like Hill and McKoy moved into the professional ranks with Hill joining the G-League and McKoy playing internationally.
The Owls finished the following season 24-6 and tied for first in the PBC before falling short in the conference tournament semifinals. The next year KSU made the transition to Division I with only Izzy Ingle and Knight left from the 2003-04 season.
Nearly every player from that championship run continued their career at the next level in one league or another with Joseph still playing overseas in France to this day, joining Levallois Metropolitans in 2019 for his 15th season.
Coach Ingle remained with the Owls for seven years after taking home the NCAA crown. He remains KSU's all-time winningest coach, finishing 178-166 over his 11 seasons. In 2013, he returned to his alma mater, Dalton State College, to revive the basketball program. He led them to an NAIA National Championship in just his second season. Ingle led the Roadrunners to two conference championships and a 134-33 record in his five seasons at the helm before retiring from coaching in 2018.
But even though the years have passed since that season, coach Ingle still hangs on to the memory of that first championship.
Like the 2004 championship banner that can still be seen in the rafters during the DII Championship, the memories of that year still hang high for Ingle and the entire team.
Memories of a remarkable season, of a family born on the court and of a dream reached.
"The year I retired," said coach Ingle. "They have the [NCAA DII NABC] all-star game the same day they have the national championship and I coached the east team. I looked up [at the banner] sitting in the bleachers and I couldn't help it. Tears coming down my eyes thinking about those players. Thinking about how hard they worked and how much they loved each other. I looked up there and think, Kennesaw State and Georgia we're up there with all those other schools. We did it and you're just so thankful and grateful."
