My School: William & Mary

The College of William & Mary is known for many things across the country. Unfortunately, basketball is not one of them. Founded in 1693, this school located in the old-folks hideaway of Williamsburg, Virginia is the second oldest institution of higher learning in the United States -- second only to Harvard (against whom the Tribe have split their only games within the last two seasons 1-1). It's also home to the longest continuously used academic building in the United States, the historic Sir Christopher Wren Building.

Furthermore, the College is known for being the alma mater of four presidents, along with the author and many signers of the Declaration of Independence. Historical ties to our nation's founding, along with being known as a member of both the 'Public' and 'Southern' Ivies, solidify William & Mary's rank among the academically elite schools in the nation. All of that hasn't helped the basketball team in the slightest, though.

W&M has participated in collegiate basketball since 1905 (finishing that season at an impressive 4-1 with victories over the prestigious likes of Hampton Agricultural, Virginia {by forfeit}, Hampton Industrial, and the Newport News YMCA), There are two main things for which the College's 104-year basketball history are known. With much pride, we boast the NCAA record holder in rebounds within a single game. Bill Chambers, one of five Tribe men's basketball players in school history with their jersey retired, picked up 51 rebounds in a game against Virginia way back on Valentine's Day, 1953. It's a record that stands to this day in the NCAA books.

The second fact is less flattering. Along with only four other NCAA Division I institutions, William & Mary has never made the NCAA tournament, despite being an original D-I team when the classification was created (prior to the 1947-48 season). We're in a club with The Citadel, Army, Northwestern, and St. Joseph's (N.Y.), and this has become by what Tribe basketball is known. Every March around conference tourney time, this little tidbit is updated and refreshed in the minds of the country, via both national and regional media outlets.

That, however, is just a brief intro into Tribe basketball, and the school that roots for its infamously less-than-mediocre team. Now, it is time to get into the full breadth and scope of what it is that makes The College of William & Mary the Tribe.

Established in 1693 by royal charter to create a school of higher learning for both Native Americans and young colonial men, the school was named for the current British monarchs King William III and Queen Mary II. For this reason, it's the only college or university in the United States that possesses an official coat of arms from the College of Arms in London. From this tradition, the College initiated many firsts for institutions of higher learning -- including the first law school, honour system, secret organization, student-chosen curricula, and fraternity organization (you're welcome, frat folk!).

The royal connection has also brought about two visits of Queen Elizabeth II. The first came on October 16, 1957, and she also arrived on May 4, 2007 (an event that I was able to attend) to help celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia.

The home to William & Mary is the relatively sleepy, tourist and retiree town of Williamsburg. It's small enough that the city's population doubles when classes are in session. A large part of Williamsburg proper is made up of William & Mary's 1,200 acre "suburban" campus. It's a school where about ninety percent of students live in on-campus housing; most of the other ten percent live within a few blocks of the school. The William & Mary community is known for being very tight-knit and insular.

There are 5,500 undergraduate students, but available land restrictions limit car parking to junior and senior class members -- thus creating what many call the 'William & Mary Bubble.' Trapped on campus with little non-tourist-related activity in the immediate vicinity of campus, nearly everything of interest for under- (and upper-) classmen happens within the boundaries of the school's 1,200 acres.

William & Mary is also known within the Virginia community of college students for two other things. First, W&M is not known for a partying lifestyle. Conservative housing rules in Williamsburg prohibit more than three non-related people from occupying a single home. So that tampers what most schools would call frat or sorority houses. This colloquially-known "brothel law," along with stringent neighborhood noise ordinances, force nearly all partying activities to take place within the on-campus frat and sorority houses. That really limits the amount of actual partying that takes place. With firsthand experience, this is something to which I can attest wholeheartedly.

William & Mary's other claim to fame among Virginians is the myth of a ridiculously high suicide rate. Most W & M students have to spend a fair amount of time studying to receive average grades, but the few traumatic stories of suicide (and the general nerdy view of the Tribe) leads to a belief across the state that people kill themselves all the time because of stress. For the record, this is not true.

My four years that culminated in my being graduated on Mother's Day 2008 (featuring a stirring speech from W & M alum and Super Bowl winning Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. Sorry, Kyle. ('Sokay - ed.) Since then, I maintain my vociferous support of all things related to the William & Mary Tribe. I hope to attend grad school there in the near future, I hope to be married in the historic Wren Chapel, and I hope to have children that attend my alma mater of which I am obviously proud.

All of that said, however, there's the matter of out historically abysmal basketball program.

William & Mary men's basketball history can be broken up into four distinct eras. Epoch the first was the unaffiliated age from 1905 until 1936. Throughout that time, college basketball, and the quality of opponents, evolved greatly. Featuring early challengers such as nearly every YMCA in the Virginia tidewater area, semi-professional teams, and military teams from nearby Fort Monroe and the U.S.S. Utah, early seasons involved several repeat matchups, scores that likened to chucking balls into peach baskets that still had a bottom, and victories against present-day college basketball powerhouses.

As time moved on, though, scores in wins leveled out in the high thirties and forties (despite the occasional foray into the fifty point range) and opponents became more uniform and regulated to actual institutions of higher learning. Gone were the days of technical schools and YMCAs, and William & Mary basketball was putting together win totals in the mid to high teens during seasons that featured less than or right around twenty games each.

Carefree and cocksure, William & Mary basketball entered the pre-WWII era and joined the new Southern Conference for the 1936-37 season. That league featured current ACC, A-14, Big South, and D-II and III schools. Coming off of six of seven ten-plus win seasons, the Tribe exited their first SoCon season a ridiculous 0-18. Yep, 0-18.

Over the course of the next 41 seasons in the Southern Conference (until 1976-77), a time which included the development of the D-I classification and the introduction of black players to the Tribe ranks, the team pulled out an overall .480 (.512) record. Despite several second place conference finishes, they were never able to win the SoCon. Highlights of this era included five conference final appearances -- they all resulted in losses (1958, 61, 65, 75). But in 1977, between a 7-4 conference campaign and a coaching change from George Balanis to Bruce Parkhill, the Tribe left the Southern Conference and started a brief, third era in the ECAC South.

Although participation in the ECAC South tournament did not begin until the 1979-80 season, that intermediary period featured perhaps the greatest on-court victory in the entire century-plus history of Tribe basketball. National #2 team UNC visited William & Mary Hall on December 7th, 1977 and left Williamsburg with a 78-75 loss.

There were first-round victories over Richmond, Robert Morris, and Navy, but there were also quick, second round losses -- all leading up to the historic 1982-83 ECAC South season. The Tribe were 20-9 (9-0) at the end of the regular season, but W&M lost in the ECAC South Championship 38-41 to James Madison University. Despite the loss (the fifth of six conference championship game losses in Tribe history), this season featured William & Mary's first journey into postseason play: the 1983 NIT.

It was a short-lived trip. The Tribe was ousted 79-85 in Blacksburg, Virginia against Virginia (Poly)Tech(nical Instution). To this day, the lone non-retired jersey banner that adorns the rafters at William & Mary Hall is that NIT flag.

The Colonial Athletic Association was born at the start of the 1985-86 basketball season when the ECAC South began holding athletic championships in other sports. William & Mary basketball went along with this transition -- the Tribe are indeed one of only four original members of the current CAA.

This fourth era of basketball has been one mostly of failed effort. The team's CAA record was .357 and .337, heading into the 2009-10 season. The Tribe have often found themselves as league doormats. One exception was 1997-98, when the Tribe earned its second regular season conference championship with a 20-7 (13-3) record. Heartbreak again befell the College, though -- a 66-71 loss to American in the first game of the conference tourney.

Perhaps the most famous recent season of William & Mary basketball was 2007-08, though. The Tribe finished conference play fifth in the CAA (mostly on the strength of a six-game winning streak in January). That was their highest conference finish since the turn of the decade, but with jsut three first round wins in the previous twenty-three seasons, Tribe fans remained reluctant to raise their hopes.

This time, however, would be different.

W & M had a buzzer-beating trey off the hand of the awkward-shooting David Schneider (now in his senior year) to beat Georgia State 58-57, in front of about fifteen W&M students in the behind-the-hoop student section. Then came Old Dominion.

Ahead by one point at the half, our spirited squad drew the attention of the local VCU fans, who were in attendance because the next game featured their Rams. There were about 30 Tribe student-supporters, another 100 or so Tribe fans, and the support of many Ram fans rooting against their hated rivals from ODU. Nathan Mann's wobbly three-point attempt with seven seconds remaining clanged around the backboard and rim, then fell through the net. That broke a 60-60 tie, and the Tribe had won two games in one weekend.

The 12,000 seat Richmond Coliseum was full of Rams fans -- at least 10,000 of them. The W&M student section quintupled from Friday's matinee tilt. As many Tribe alums that could get to central Virginia did.

A semifinal against the No. 1 team in the conference on its home turf was quite the hill to climb, made steeper by a 12-game winning streak the Rams held over W & M. But Laimus Kisilieus leaned in for a layup with three seconds left, and the Tribe was through to its first CAA conference championship game ever. Tribe students stormed the floor with signs that read, "That just happened!" I was there too, and it's a memory that I will always cherish.

As many of you may know, however, the rest of the fairy tale did not come true. The Tribe lost by 11 to George Mason. A three-pointer at the buzzer pulled the deficit to single digits (giving the Tribe the distinction of being the only team in NCAA history to make a shot within the last seven seconds of four consecutive tournament games), but it was green and yellow going on to the Big Dance, not our green and gold.

Many ups and downs have befallen the Tribe since. There was a 10-20 followup effort in 2008-2009. But our basketball dreams are alive -- the current incarnation of Tribe basketball is having a great season, has a school-record tying ten game winning streak and the school's first votes in any national poll since the late Seventies. After a 10-2 start, a 7-5 stretch was , But for Tribe fans, this season has been very exciting.

It's tough recruiting to a school in a small town with ridiculously high academic standards. But Tribe fans will always have the hope of finally making it to that one magical March weekend where, either by an unbelievable conference tourney run (or by the grace of God manifested through an at-large bid), the letters W and M appear on a line of the bracket. Whether that happens through the hard work of the 2009-10 Tribe, or some team five, ten, or twenty years in the future, I will be there. I will root on any and every Tribe team in the interim.

William & Mary, loved of old, hark upon the gale, hear the students voices swelling, alma mater hail!

Resources

Bally Club Signup/Activate
Bally Club Message Board
Basketball State
Women's Basketball State
TMM9 Summer Camp
Mid-Merchandise Shoppe
Mid-Major Radio
Contact TMM via The Form™

The Game

				Pts
			Hickory Picket Fences	27629

			The Hopping Cats	21526

			Ballyfest Destiny	18919

			Under a Blood Red Line	10379

			Jen Folds Five	6895

			Prestige Worldwide	1614