Five years is a long time to not qualify for your conference’s annual postseason basketball tournament.
Now that the Franklin College men are back, the Grizzlies are determined to make the return memorable.
Franklin, the No. 6 seed in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference tourney, travels to Hanover to play an opening-round game against Rose-Hulman on Friday. The Fightin’ Engineers won the two regular-season matchups by a total of five points.
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The Grizzlies hold a 11-14 record, but they shouldn’t be taken lightly after winning seven of their last eight regular-season games. On Saturday, they closed the regular season with a 72-67 win over Bluffton at Spurlock Center.
Coach Kerry Prather’s squad, made up entirely of underclassmen, was on course to miss the HCAC tournament a sixth straight time when it went into late January with a 4-13 record, but a 77-73 victory at Anderson on Jan. 23 started the run Franklin is currently on.
“We had a monster pre-conference schedule,” Prather said. “Even through that period we developed defensively pretty well. Offensively, we were just a wreck. I have so much respect and appreciation for these kids, because over that time they developed toughness and really good smarts.”
Four of the early losses were against DePauw, Centre College, Wabash and Southeastern (Florida), teams currently owning a combined record of 77-26.
A weather postponement meant Franklin College had to start February playing four games in seven days. In the Grizzlies’ locker room, a must-win bracket was set up with the team using the games as further motivation to advance.
They gained momentum with home defeats of Earlham and Manchester, then lost a 67-65 heartbreaker at Rose-Hulman before bouncing back with a 72-54 win at Mount St. Joseph.
“That’s indicative of the toughness this team has developed over the course of the season,” Prather said. “I love their intensity and unselfishness and the confidence they have in themselves and each other. They’re a great bunch of kids who have figured out how to win.”
The program’s most recent HCAC tournament outing resulted in a 78-70 first-round loss at Hanover on Feb. 28, 2014.
Prather knows a confident team is a dangerous team. The Grizzlies are both heading into this week.
“When the players look from top to bottom, they’ve either beaten or come down to the wire against every team (seeded) above them,” the coach said.
