From the time he was a kid, Bud Thomas always made a point of watching Duke and North Carolina play in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Now a senior in college, the former Regis Jesuit High School star and senior starter for the Mercer University men’s basketball team will get a chance to share the floor with legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski and Duke live during March Madness.
Thomas’ Atlantic Sun Conference champion Bears — appearing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1985 — received a No. 14 seed in Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show and drew a game against the third-seeded Blue Devils, scheduled for 10:15 a.m. MT Friday at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.
“Growing up, every year I would watch Duke and North Carolina; now I’ve made it to the ‘Big Dance,’” Thomas said in a phone interview Monday from Mercer’s campus in Macon, Ga.
“It’s everything I’ve wanted for sure; just to hear your name called in the tournament is a blessing, but there’s some chance you might be playing a San Diego State or another team that is great, but doesn’t have the basketball reputation of a Duke.
“We’re all just so excited. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and obviously Coach K is one of the best to ever coach in the NCAA, so just to be going against such history of the game, I’m speechless.”
Seventeen times, a No. 14 seed has knocked off a No. 3 seed during March Madness — including Harvard taking out New Mexico last year — and Thomas hopes his Bears can pull the latest stunner.
Considering Mercer has a starting lineup of five seniors — a rarity around the country — who have all been working hard for this chance and can succeed playing both an execution-heavy style of play as well as an uptempo one, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
A diverse offense that seems to have a different leading scorer on most nights — sometimes Thomas, who is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3-point range this season and had a game in which he made a school-record nine triples and another when he connected on eight — and the thorough manner in which A-Sun Coach of the Year Bob Hoffman and his coaching staff prepare their team makes the Bears formidable.
“We’ve got some pretty big wins for our program this year, so we’re pretty confident,” said Thomas, who is third on the team with an average of 9.1 points per game.
“We’ve got our hands full for sure, but our coaches work so hard on scouting and getting us ready, so we’re going to go in with the mindset we can win,” he added.
Win or lose, Mercer’s presence in the NCAA Tournament has generated some significant buzz in the area, as the only school from the football-crazed state of Georgia to make it to the Big Dance.
The school held a Selection Show watch party at its arena — filled with students and team supporters despite the fact the school was on Spring Break the previous week — and got some time on CBS’ national broadcast when the Midwest Region was revealed.
“It’s pretty special, everybody here is rallying around us,” Thomas said.
Everything associated with making the NCAA Tournament just further reinforces to Thomas that he made the right choice when he picked Mercer. Coming out of Regis Jesuit as a two-time Class 5A state champion and back-to-back Gatorade Colorado Player of Year, Thomas — aka ‘Big Shot Bud’ — could have gone to schools with bigger names and reputations.
But knowing he would have an uphill battle for playing time at some schools, Thomas chose a Mercer situation that seemed ideal for him to get on the floor right away and help a hungry program move to the next level.
Thomas has done both things over his outstanding career with the Bears, as he’s piled up more than 1,000 career points — the 38th player in program history to reach the milestone — and come away with a priceless bond with his teammates.
“I’ve been pretty fortunate throughout my whole career to have coaches and teammates that are so close and love playing for one another like at Regis,” he said. “It’s the exact same way out here. We’ve got seven seniors and all but one have been here for four years. We’re all so close and our coach just works so hard, it’s definitely been an amazing experience.
“We’re not done yet, we’re going to try to make some noise against Duke, but it’s been a satisfying feeling for the past four years. It’s more than I could have dreamt of even as far back as Regis and middle school.”
Coincidentally, Mercer is in the Midwest Region along with 15th-seeded Wofford, which also has a former Aurora prep star on its roster in Grandview graduate and freshman point guard Eric Garcia. The two could meet in the Sweet 16 if both teams pull off first round upsets — Wofford plays Michigan — and win again in the second round.
Courtney Oakes is Sports Editor of the Aurora Sentinel. Reach him at 303-750-7555 or sports@aurorasentinel.com. Twitter: @aurorasports. Facebook: Aurora Prep Sentinel
NO. 14 MERCER (26-8) VS. NO. 3 DUKE (26-8) AT A GLANCE
By the Associated Press
MERCER (26-8)
Nickname: Bears. Coach: Bob Hoffman.
Conference: Atlantic Sun. Bid: Atlantic Sun champion.
Region: Midwest. Seed: No. 14.
Tournament Record: 0-2, 2 years. Last appearance: 1985.
Scoring: Team (79.3); Langston Hall 14.7; Daniel Coursey 9.9; BUD THOMAS 9.1.
Rebounds: Team (38.0); Daniel Coursey 6.6; Jakob Gollon 4.5; BUD THOMAS 4.1.
Assists/Turnovers: Team (16.4/11.9); Langston Hall 5.6/2.4; Jakob Gollon 2.6/1.8.
3-pointers: Team (.384); Langston Hall 82; BUD THOMAS 66; Anthony White Jr. 44.
Last Ten: 8-2.
The Skinny: The Bears score nearly 80 points a game and have just one player averaging in double figures. Langston Hall won the 2014 A-Sun Player of the Year and Bob Hoffman was tabbed as the A-Sun Coach of the Year. Hoffman is the first head coach since College of Charleston’s John Kresse in 1998 to win the award in back-to-back seasons.
DUKE (26-8)
Nickname: Blue Devils. Coach: Mike Krzyzewski.
Conference: Atlantic Coast. Bid: At large.
Region: Midwest. Seed: No. 3.
Tournament Record: 99-33, 37 years. Last appearance: 2013.
Scoring: Team (78.6); Jabari Parker 19.3; Ronald Hood 16.4; Quinn Cook 11.3; Rasheed Sulaimon 9.6.
Rebounds: Team (34.5); Jabari Parker 8.8; Amile Jefferson 6.7.
Assists/Turnovers: Team (14.5/9.5); Quinn Cook 4.4/1.6; Rasheed Sulaimon 2.4/1.1; Tyler Thornton 2.4/0.7; Rodney Hood 2.1/1.5.
3-pointers: Team (.394); Rodney Hood 69; Andre Dawkins 64; Quinn Cook 58; Rasheed Sulaimon 38; Jabari Parker 38.
Last Ten: 7-3.
The Skinny: Only one of Duke’s Final Four runs came as a No. 3 seed. That was in 1990, when the Blue Devils lost to UNLV in the title game. The Blue Devils are 32-5 in NCAA tournament games in the state of North Carolina.
