Fennis Dembo

[Bubbler]

Loved it when out of the blue there would be a team like Wyoming making a run through the NCAAs.

You mean like Florida Gulf Coast? It still happens regularly.

 

[micropolitan guy]

Wyoming made the NCAAs fairly regularly under Jim Brandenburg. Since he left, not so much.

I think Fennis is the only UW athlete ever to make an SI cover.

 

[Buck]

Loved it when out of the blue there would be a team like Wyoming making a run through the NCAAs.

You mean like Florida Gulf Coast? It still happens regularly.

Or Kent State, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell or Davidson?

 

[azom]

Wyoming made the NCAAs fairly regularly under Jim Brandenburg. Since he left, not so much.

I think Fennis is the only UW athlete ever to make an SI cover.

Still waiting on that Marcus Harris SI cover I was SURE was coming in 1996...

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Loved it when out of the blue there would be a team like Wyoming making a run through the NCAAs.

You mean like Florida Gulf Coast? It still happens regularly.

Or Kent State, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell or Davidson?

I kinda get what I think he's saying. In the 80s, there wasn't the Internet nor ESPNU and those other channels, so when an unknown like Wyoming made a run, it was more of a surprise because most of the country wouldn't have a clue who they were, besides being from Wyoming.

 

[da man]

Loved it when out of the blue there would be a team like Wyoming making a run through the NCAAs.

You mean like Florida Gulf Coast? It still happens regularly.

Or Kent State, George Mason, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell or Davidson?

I kinda get what I think he's saying. In the 80s, there wasn't the Internet nor ESPNU and those other channels, so when an unknown like Wyoming made a run, it was more of a surprise because most of the country wouldn't have a clue who they were, besides being from Wyoming.

No one had a clue who Florida Gulf Coast was, either, other than being from Florida.

You're right that you could see some of those coming -- I remember picking Cornell to go to the Sweet 16, mostly because they played Kansas within five on the road and were loaded with seniors. But there are still just as many ridiculous out-of-the-blue runs that have people scrambling to figure out where the school is, what their nickname is, who the hell these people are, etc.

Also, I don't remember Wyoming being that out of the blue. Seems to me they were fairly well publicized, seeing as they had two NBA-caliber players and one of them had a funny name.