Jarrod Calhoun oversees the No. 5 men's basketball team in the NCAA's Division II. The only three losses on Fairmont State's schedule this season came at the hands of teams seated higher than the Falcons in the national rankings. Otherwise, Calhoun's team barreled through 25 opponents with an average margin of victory of 16.9 points.
But Calhoun's message to his team entering this weekend's Mountain East Conference tournament? Redemption.
"My team is very, very hungry and has something to prove," Calhoun said. "I'm using that angle, that hey, you won 25 games ... so why not use this tournament to redeem ourselves from the regular season?"
Fairmont State is the fifth-ranked team in the country, but just the third-seeded team in its conference tournament. The two teams ahead of FSU that handed the Falcons those three losses - No. 1 West Liberty and No. 4 Wheeling Jesuit - will join the Falcons in the MEC men's bracket as the first and second seeds, respectively.
No men's tournament in Division II will include as many teams as highly ranked as the Mountain East, whose competition begins with the women's quarterfinals at noon today at the Charleston Civic Center. The men's quarterfinals tip off starting at noon Friday, with the men's and women's semifinals Saturday and championship games Sunday.
While the men's side features three marquee teams, none of those teams' coaches believe that trio comprises the only contenders for the conference tournament crown.
Calhoun understands how it sounds working a redemption angle for a national top-five team.
"It's crazy saying that as a coach," he said. "You win 25 games and you're trying to redeem yourself. I think that speaks volumes about what this league is about."
The Hilltoppers, Cardinals and Falcons engaged in a dogfight for the conference's top seed throughout the 2015-16 season. The three teams went 6-6 against one another, and 72-1 against everyone else they played. In the end, West Liberty climbed to the No. 1 seed - and No. 1 ranking - by beating Jesuit in their regular-season finale.
WLU head coach Jim Crutchfield, whose team was ranked No. 1 in the country from Dec. 1 to Jan. 22 before regaining that spot this week, was able to put his Hilltoppers in the rare role of underdog for the homestretch of the MEC slate. After back-to-back losses to Concord and Wheeling Jesuit, West Liberty sat behind both Wheeling Jesuit and Fairmont State in the conference and national rankings.
Crutchfield said that return to No. 1 came from a re-commitment to the season from his players, as well as a variation in strategy, more often adapting their style of play to specific opponents. Plus, it was refreshing to play from a perspective other than that of top dog.
"For me, I've always been more comfortable playing from behind," Crutchfield said. "I've always liked being kind of an underdog. Sometimes, being No. 1, holding onto your spot can be more stressful than trying to come up from behind."
So how does one Division II conference with most of its programs based in West Virginia build a roster of basketball talent this deep? Wheeling Jesuit coach Danny Sancomb, named MEC coach of the year Tuesday after leading the Cardinals to their first national No. 1 ranking, said there are several factors.
Facilities around the league have improved immensely, he said, plus the caliber of coaching in the MEC amplifies the talent. The league's location also plays a part.
"You think about the area of West Virginia and the states that touch West Virginia, you can get to Baltimore, D.C., Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Pittsburgh," Sancomb said. "You can get into Philadelphia and it's all within a six-hour radius.
"So when you get coaches who work as hard as some of the coaches in our league, you get really good players."
That quality is why Crutchfield, Sancomb and Calhoun feel theirs aren't the only teams in contention for the championship.
"I think there are more teams, and I don't know how many more," Crutchfield said. "Maybe three, four, five more teams deep down have a feeling of, 'Maybe we can pull this off.' My goal is to be one of those teams who feel like we can do this."
In two seasons of the Mountain East, the No. 1 seed has yet to win the men's basketball tournament. Last season, fifth-seeded Glenville State knocked of both No. 1 seed West Liberty and No. 2 seed Fairmont State to win the title. The top seed is 3-2 in the two previous men's conference tournaments.
Among the teams the coaches mentioned are lurking in the bracket as contenders are No. 4 seed Concord, No. 5 seed Charleston and No. 6 seed Notre Dame. The Golden Eagles - who play Concord at 8:15 p.m. Friday after beating the Mountain Lions by 30 last week - were the first MEC champions, beating West Liberty in the 2014 tournament final.
UC seniors Aleksander Kesic and Tino DiTrapano were on that title team, and Golden Eagles coach Dwaine Osborne said that experience will help Charleston in this weekend's quest.
"I think we have an idea of what it's going to take to do that," Osborne said. "And it's going to take just an unbelievable level of toughness and effort and energy and focus to make that happen."
While the depth of the field might induce heartburn in the coaches as they prepare, they also admit that for the observer, this weekend's tournament will be unique and something worth watching.
"I don't think you'll see something like this again for a long, long time," Calhoun said.
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The MEC women's bracket has only one nationally ranked team in the quarterfinals, No. 17 West Liberty, but University of Charleston coach Adam Collins thinks that could open the field for plenty of teams to contend.
He feels confident as his seventh-seeded Golden Eagles enter their quarterfinal game today, a noon matchup with No. 2 seed Wheeling Jesuit. UC split the regular-season series with the Cardinals and with No. 3 seed Notre Dame, a possible semifinal opponent. Charleston did, however, get swept by sixth-seeded Urbana, NDC's quarterfinal foe.
"I think there are more teams possible that can win it," Collins said. "I do think it's a little bit more wide open in terms of six or seven teams that can win. I think it's going to be an interesting tournament. I think there will be at least one lower seed win for sure, in my mind."