Phil Martelli knows what Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall are going through — the highs of an undefeated season while trying to keep their players grounded and focused at the task at hand, the next day’s game.
The St. Joseph’s coach, who led the 2003-04 Hawks to a perfect regular season — the last team to accomplish the feat — said the only advice he would give the two coaches is make sure the players don’t get overburdened by interview requests, campus events and social media.
“The challenge really is managing the players’ time,” Martelli said. “Everybody wants a piece of the players. … You know they’re getting swamped. Everybody is asking them about it. It takes on a life of its own. Let them get away from it as much as possible.”
Martelli remembered that season as a blur, one day melting into the next. He found himself managing everything other than basketball, rather than coaching. He compared the pressure to that of the NCAA Tournament.
“That was more intense,” he said. “This is more consistent.”
Pacers broadcaster Quinn Buckner was on the last team to go an entire season undefeated, the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers that went 32-0. That team was loaded with seniors, and as a result had a maturity to not let a hot start go to its head.
“We had been through a lot of adversity,” he said. “We didn’t get caught up in going undefeated. We just thought about winning the next game that was coming.”
Bob Knight, the ESPN broadcaster and coach at the time, made sure of that. He also did a fine job shielding the players from scrutiny, Buckner recalled. He made sure his players were only worried about impressing him, not anyone else.
“He kept that pressure away from us,” Buckner said. “He did everything he could to make sure we played our game at the highest level.”
Former UNLV forward Larry Johnson, the Knicks executive who was part of the last college team to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated, said the 1990-91 Runnin’ Rebels, whose only loss came in the Final Four to Duke, had a similar mindset.
“You couldn’t tell if there was pressure or not,” he recalled. “The coaches did an excellent job focusing us on the next game.”
Buckner couldn’t imagine going through that season now, the amount of attention would have been so intense. His only suggestion for Syracuse and Wichita State is a simple one.
“Play every possession as though its the last possession you’ll ever play,” Buckner said. “That includes practice.”
Martelli dismissed the notion a loss will help Syracuse and Wichita State’s national title hopes. It did nothing for St. Joseph’s, which lost in the Atlantic 10 conference quarterfinals and Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s one of the silliest myths out there in sports. If there’s a surgeon who does open heart surgery, we don’t tell him, ‘Do your 250th [surgery] with a little less fervor,’ ” Martelli said jokingly. “Why losing would be helpful, I’ve never understood that.”
Buckner said he does think someone will go undefeated through an entire season again, like his Indiana team did.
“It’s inevitable,” he said. “It maybe a little bit more difficult now. … I’m sure as some point it will happen.”