By Evans Clinchy
D3sports.com
SALEM -- For an engineering major, Tyler Nading sure knows his history.
"I've said this a lot," Nading said on Friday night, minutes after Washington University blew out Guilford to lock up a berth in the national title game. "The last two years, the defending national champion has lost in the championship game. We really don't want to be that team."
The following day, Nading and the Bears ensured -- three years after Virginia Wesleyan had beaten Wittenberg for its first national championship, two years after Amherst had dethroned Virginia Wesleyan, and one year after they had themselves toppled Amherst -- that they would not be "that team." For just the fourth time in Div. III history, we have witnessed a repeat national champion.
The Bears' title game victory, a 61-52 win over Richard Stockton this afternoon, cemented their own place in history. For the team, it was the end of a 29-2 season, the best Wash U has ever had. For Nading, it was his sixth career Final Four start and his fifth win, a feat unseen in Div. III basketball since the days of North Park University's dynasty of the 1970s. Nading walks away with 97 total points and 36 rebounds in Final Four play, including 20 and eight in today's finale. "This is the best way to go out as a senior," he said.
For the team's other senior leader, point guard Sean Wallis, it was the perfect ending to a great comeback story. As a junior, Wallis suffered a season-ending leg injury on Nov. 20, 2007; 16 months later, he's gone from fallen leader, to assistant coach, to starting point guard, to the Most Outstanding Player of this year's Final Four.
"I'll always remember," Wallis said, "when they were handing out the national championship watches last year, Aaron (Thompson) came up to me on the bench and said, 'We're gonna get another one for you next year.' "
Wallis ended up being as big a part of it as anyone else. In the semifinal game, when Guilford pulled to within five points of Wash U in the second half, making it 46-41 with 12:50 to play, it was Wallis who exploded for the Bears to put the game away, scoring 11 consecutive points within two minutes. When Nading exploited a mismatch down low against the undersized Ospreys the following day, it was Wallis who found him open in the paint time and time again, finishing with 10 assists and breaking the Wash U program record with 566 for his career.
"It's a dream come true," Wallis reflected after the tournament. "It really is. To be able to go out there and play the way I did the whole tournament is something I'm really proud of. I feel like all the work, and all the rehab, and all the emotional downness of getting injured and being out for the season -- in the big picture, I guess it worked out."
Last year, with Wallis injured, the Bears rode the play of senior big man Troy Ruths, who dominated inside against the defending champs from Amherst, scoring 33 points and earning MOP honors. This year's Wash U squad, minus one All-American in the paint and plus another one at the point, got things done a different way.
"This year's team had a completely new identity," Nading said today. "I'm so happy for all of our teammates. [Aaron Thompson] stepped up last night and dropped 30, and Sean stepped up and had 16 and 10 assists today. That's a characteristic of our entire season: people stepping up. It's a different team, but I love them just as much."
Speaking of All-Americans, Thompson made a name for himself this year as a junior, earning a place on the national First Team. While the numbers he piled up this season -- 18.4 points and 2.8 assists per game, good for UAA Player of the Year honors -- were impressive, his 30 points on Friday carried the Bears in the national semifinal. But when Thompson then struggled in the title game, his teammates were there for him.
"If anyone had told me that Aaron Thompson wouldn't hit a three in the national championship game, I probably wouldn't have come onto the court," coach Mark Edwards said. "But I've found out all year long with this team, they find ways to win ... The other guys picked up the slack, and that was very good for us."
Edwards began his career at Wash U with zero national championships in 26 years -- now, he's won two. He's made it clear that finally winning the big one once did nothing to quell his appetite for another.
"As far as the experience goes, when you conquer one challenge, you look forward to the next one," Edwards said. "And I think that's exactly what basketball teaches these young men: you go for the big one, and if you don't make it, you keep, keep trying. And when you do make it, you go for the next one."
As for Nading, always the history scholar, he did everything he could to keep the Bears from falling victim to that curse of the defending champion.
"You can kind of see how it works," he said. "Teams get complacent, and they think 'Oh, we've been here before, this is a game that we're going to win,' and the hunger just isn't there. So I wanted to make sure that our kids were feeling ready to go. We knew what we needed to do, and we respected our opponents. We really did."
They respected each and every one, from the Lawrence team they beat 67-65 in the first round to the Ospreys at the end. And in between, they found themselves battle-tested against one of the toughest regions this tournament has ever seen, fighting their way through a bracket that featured Midwest powers UW-Whitewater, Wheaton and St. Thomas.
"We took everything one game at a time," Nading said. "We knew what was up for us, and it made us better. We had four great experiences going up against great teams, and we came out victorious. so we knew that we could come to Salem, play against two good teams again, and hopefully come out on top."
They did. Just like last year.
You could say they've made some history of their own.