Rested Winthrop back on the court for first time since conference title

Compared to the last six years, it’s an abnormal week for Winthrop basketball.

Star senior guard Keon Johnson said he felt it immediately when he entered the Coliseum Wednesday for the first time since the Eagles won the Big South title Sunday afternoon, the realization he was still practicing. At this point in each of the last three years he would have still been brooding over a heart-stomping conference final loss.

Bjorn Broman wondered what the team would do during Wednesday’s practice and at what level of intensity they would do it? No NCAA Tournament team needs injuries in the run-up to The Dance. (Answer based on Wednesday’s practice: normal intensity.)

Team manager Alex Bringley drew double-takes from nearly everyone that saw him for the first time in two days. His five-year old dreadlocks were gone. Bringley kept his promise that if the Eagles made the NCAAs he would shave off his Rasta locks and he was remembering what it felt like for a breeze to waft over his head.

Alternately, freshman Josh Ferguson suddenly had a ponytail (where did the hair come from?).

Xavier Cooks also had a ponytail after pulling out the two braids he wore during the conference tournament. He and Ferguson were tough to pick apart.

Winthrop has only been in the NCAA Tournament field for three days and there is already a lot of new situation and a lot of questions. That will only increase over the next seven or eight days, starting Sunday when the Eagles find out their first round opponent. But for now, it’s a hurry up and wait-kind of situation.

“The No. 1 priority when the game ended the other day was to allow our bodies to rest a little bit. We did that on Monday and Tuesday,” said Winthrop coach Pat Kelsey. “With a lot of the stuff with the tournament last week things were swirling so we wanted our guys to lock back in academically and get into the training room and get treatment. Today, we didn’t want to go bone-on-bone hand-to-hand combat yet, but we really went two hard hours, focused on the precision of our execution and getting them up and down the floor.”

Only Wednesday did Kelsey’s team return to action.

“It’s been a while since I played three games in four days so my body was beat down,” said junior Xavier Cooks. “In the ice tubs and got some sleep and now we’re back in the routine.”

There was plenty of college basketball to watch on TV for the Eagles laying under piles of ice bags earlier in the week. Anders Broman saw his former school, South Dakota State, book its NCAA Tournament spot Tuesday night. Jackrabbits star Mike Daum scored 37 points but Broman still thinks he could beat his good friend in a pre-practice 3-point shootout.

Kelsey intently watched Northern Kentucky win the Horizon League championship and clinch an NCAA bid in its first year of eligibility for the tournament. He has more than a few connections to the school just across the Ohio River and Kentucky border from his hometown, Cincinnati:

▪ Kelsey’s younger brother Walt played at Northern Kentucky, scoring a school record 50 points in one game and owning the school’s record for career minutes played. He’s in the NKU Hall of Fame.

▪ Kelsey’s sister, Katie, is the school’s all-time women’s basketball leader in assists, and Mary, the youngest Kelsey sibling, also went to NKU.

▪ Norse coach John Brannen was a groomsman in Kelsey’s wedding, and director of basketball operations Tony Rack worked in the same position at Winthrop for three years under Kelsey.

▪ Kelsey’s brother-in-law, Paul Cluxton, holds three all-time NCAA basketball records, all set at Northern Kentucky. He made each of his 94 free throw attempts during the 1996-97 season and is also the all-time leader at NKU in 3-point shooting percentage, one spot ahead of Rack.

“It was a surreal moment,” said Kelsey, who watched the game with his wife, Lisa. “So happy for (Brannen) and so emotional.”

It was even more surreal because Kelsey’s team is an NCAA Tournament team, too.

Anybody watching conference tournament action the last few days would have noticed the graphic of the teams already in the NCAA tourney that ESPN shows at least once per game in the lower left corner of the screen. That’s been a special feeling too, a little pin prick reminder of the team’s accomplishment in the midst of a random game on the TV.

“It’s great to see Winthrop up there,” Cooks said. “I’m gonna keep people looking out for Winthrop even more.”

This story was originally published March 8, 2017 at 6:32 PM with the headline "Rested Winthrop back on the court for first time since conference title."