Sunday, March 08, 2009

(Editor's note: The Atlantic Sun Conference championship in Nashville, Tenn., is the first stop in a three-day, three-bid tour as we check in with the recipients of some of the NCAA tournament's first automatic bids. Next up: St. Louis for the Missouri Valley Conference championship on Sunday and the Southern Conference championship in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Monday.)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Any agony that had festered from a year ago for East Tennessee State was melting as rapidly as an ice cube on a stove

By the time senior guard Courtney Pigram served up a little Showtime with an alley-oop pass to fellow senior Kevin Tiggs on a breakaway eight minutes into the second half, all that remained of that ice cube was a pool of water.

The Bucs were well on their way to the NCAA tournament for the first time in five years thanks to an 85-68 blistering of Jacksonville that was never in doubt.

And along the way, they exorcised a few ghosts at Allen Arena.

It was on this same floor last season where they fell 69-65 to Belmont in the semifinals of the Atlantic Sun tournament, losing a 10-point lead in the final six minutes and being on the wrong end of a controversial technical foul with 17 seconds left.

"That was unfortunate what happened last year, but this is a new day and a new team," said ETSU coach Murry Bartow, doing his best to downplay one of the darkest and most gut-wrenching moments in recent ETSU hoops history.

But as fate would have it -- as the Bucs celebrated at midcourt Saturday in one of those magical scenes that makes this time of year so much fun -- right there in the middle of the celebration was the guy in the middle of last year's controversy.

The smile on Kenyona Swader's face was unmistakable.

Article by Chris Low
ESPN.com