UMBC?s most well-known team was its six-time national champion chess squad before this year. But if the school?s men?s basketball team checkmates Hartford in the America East Tournament final on Saturday, there will be a new king of the Catonsville campus.
A sellout crowd of more than 3,500 is expected to pack RAC Arena on Saturday at noon when the Retrievers try to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in the school?s 40-year history. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
The thought of the Retrievers being 40 minutes away from inclusion in the 65-team tournament has created as much buzz as anything that has ever occurred in Catonsville, a southwestern Baltimore County community that dates to the early 1800s.
“UMBC is a great school that has a great reputation for its academic achievements, along with its chess and lacrosse teams,” said Baltimore County Councilman Samuel Moxley, a lifelong Catonsville resident. “But when the basketball team is good, it excites the whole community. The NCAA Tournament is something that everyone can relate to and it will be a great day to see Catonsville on national TV.”
Catonsville is a quiet community mainly known for its Fourth of July parade and arts and crafts festival, with its notable landmarks including the Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum and the Townsend House and Pullen Museum. The Banneker Museum and Park honors the African-American pioneer in astronomy, math and agriculture. The Townsend House and Pullen Museum houses 18th and 19th century antiques, Catonsville memorabilia and artwork.
But now, Catonsville may be known as the home to a blossoming college basketball team, just like Fairfax, Va., took pride in George Mason?s run to the Final Four in 2006.
“I?ve seen the excitement at the college as its grown through the years, but nothing has quite been like this week,” said Donna Fairland, an administrative assistant at UMBC for 14 years.
Kali Schwartz, a junior on the school?s women?s soccer team, said even students who are not normally sports fans are hoping to get a ticket for the game, which sold out on Wednesday.
“It?s not just the other athletes backing the team now,” Schwartz said. “I have people in my classes that have never been to a game before rooting for the team to win Saturday.”
Charles Brown, the school?s athletics director, said the excitement surrounding the men?s basketball team is an important step in the overall growth of the school, which is the state?s youngest university.
He said a victory on Saturday would greatly enhance the school?s athletic profile a year after its women?s basketball and men?s lacrosse teams each made the NCAA Tournament for the first time last spring.
“UMBC has always had a great reputation as an academic institution,” Brown said. “Now we are showing we have a well-rounded school.”
