It’s amazing how one moment can trigger a flood of great memories.
Notre Dame playing Rutgers during the First Four in the NCAA Tournament was such a moment for me as the Irish would go on to win 89-87 in double overtime on Wednesday, March 16.
As a result of the victory, Notre Dame advances to play Alabama in the next round on Friday (March 18) in San Diego, Calif.
My first thought after the game was that Notre Dame’s team would be flying to California as my mind went back to the 1984-85 basketball season when I was a senior student manager at Ball State.
Our first two games that year were in a tournament at Fresno State in California and the journey was going to obviously involve a plane.
I was a “veteran” of riding on a plane … two trips. I was never really a fan and haven’t flown since a 1990 trip to the Final Four in Denver.
However, here’s the fun part about that flight to Los Angeles from Indianapolis. I was sitting next to a freshman from South Bend named Derrick Wesley, who was about to experience his first flight.
“I was so nervous that first flight as I had never flown before,” he told me in a Facebook conversation. “All I could think about was that I heard most people throw up and the barf bag was a part of the stuff in the seat pocket.”
Wesley survived his first flight, but I’m sure now he might be a bundle of nerves as he boards a plane this week for California.
If you are wondering how a Notre Dame basketball game makes me remember this, it’s simple. A member of the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame, Derrick is the father of Notre Dame freshman Blake Wesley. That makes it pretty easy to root for the Irish as the tournament continues.
The Real Story
This is actually a story more about arch enemies on the basketball court rather than just one game. During my time at Ball State, Miami was one of our biggest rivals.
Miami was loaded with great players and in what turned out to be my last college game as a manager, some guy named Ron Harper went crazy on us for 45 points as we lost in the semifinals of the 1985 Mid-American Conference Tournament in Toledo.
Fast forward to 2022. Derrick Wesley shared a text from former Miami point guard Ed Schilling, who is a long-time high school, college and NBA coach currently at Grand Canyon in Arizona.
“Dang it! Ball State (son) beats Miami (son) in double OT, lol! Congratulations!!!!”
Yep, that’s right. Two fathers, who competed against each other in college, got to watch their sons play against each other as Blake Wesley of Notre Dame and Ron Harper, Jr. of Rutgers battled in the NCAA Tournament in Dayton, Ohio.
“When the bracket was released my first thought was here we go again, God has jokes,” Derrick said. “36 years later, the teams are different but the names remain the same.”
“I also instantly flashed back to the players on our Ball State team and called a few leading up to the game,” Derrick continued. “Also, I recalled the names of Miami players Eric Newsom, Ron Hunter, Harper and called my friend Ed Schilling.”
Harper, Jr. finished with 22 points, while Wesley added eight for Notre Dame as the Irish picked up the win.
The History
Derrick Wesley and Ron Harper played against each other six times during their college careers in the 1980s. With four regular season games and a pair of MAC tourney contests, Harper leads 4-2. Probably shouldn’t remind Derrick of that.
However, Derrick gets bragging rights in the post-season as the Cardinals beat Miami for the MAC Tournament title in 1986. Both teams qualified for the NCAA Tournament that season, so both dads got to experience March Madness as players in the Big Dance at the same time.
Harper’s No. 34 was retired by Miami during his senior year and the two-time MAC Player of the Year scored 2,377 points in his career. After Miami, he won five championships during his time in the NBA with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers from 1986-2001.
At Ball State, Wesley finished with 1,729 points during his four seasons in Muncie. An All-MAC First Team selection earning Academic All-MAC as a senior, he was inducted into the BSU Hall of Fame in 1998.
“It’s amazing how 36 years ago was fast forwarded last night for so many who were involved in that rivalry,” Derrick said.
With Harper, Jr. being a senior, the college score will always be Blake 1-0. I suppose some rivalries will never really end. Go Irish!!