The last time Ohio University won two NCAA Tournament games, Ed Sullivan had just introduced some band called "The Beatles."
So the buzz over the Bobcats, a 13th seed from the unheralded Mid-American Conference and least likely of the four Ohio teams to reach the NCAA's Sweet 16, stretches from the Athens, Ohio, campus to Hamden, Conn., East St. Paul, Minn., and Indianapolis -- where three of the greatest basketball players to wear an OU jersey now live.
And, yes, they're caught up in it, too:
Walter Luckett, 1972-75
"Big time," said Walter "Put it in the Bucket" Luckett. "It's history. There's nothing more I can say about it. This is history."
Luckett made history on Nov. 27, 1972. The coveted freshman, who set the Connecticut high school all-time scoring record, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in his Bobcat uniform before taking a shot in college hoops. (He still gets mailed requests from all over the country to sign the cover.)
It was the first season freshmen could play varsity.
"I had a lot of pressure on me at the time, but I had a lot of support, I have to admit," he said. "It was well-embraced, and the campus was going wild. It was a great experience. It gave basketball a shot in the arm at the time at OU."
As has the Bobcats' surprising tournament run. After defeating Michigan and South Florida, OU plays top-seeded North Carolina tonight in a Midwest Regional semifinal game in St. Louis.
"I'm going to be there," said Luckett, who runs a marketing and finance consulting business with his wife in Hambden, Conn. "I would love to be part of this history, because I still feel very connected to OU."
By the time he was through, Luckett was named 1974 MAC Player of the Year, twice led the conference in scoring and was the second player in Bobcat history to earn All-America honors.
When Luckett was a sophomore, the Bobcats won the MAC but got bounced by Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. This OU team, he said, would handle that one.
"It's got to be the best team, they've got the best record (29-7), and I think it's wonderful," said Luckett, who was drafted by the Detroit Pistons after his junior year but never played in the NBA because of an arthritic left knee. "Their record speaks for itself, so I've got to go with this year's team, and God bless 'em."
Gary Trent, 1992-95
Gary "The Shaq of the MAC" Trent follows his Bobcats from East St. Paul, Minn., where he settled after an 11-year NBA career.
"I think it's beautiful," he said, "and I think it's a great opportunity for the MAC to represent itself."
Trent, who retired from the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2004, works as a cultural interventional specialist and assistant to the principal at an elementary school, and coaches AAU and middle-school basketball.
The Columbus native became a Bobcat when his high school superintendent dropped his name to the basketball coach. He developed into a dominant 6-8, 250-pound forward and the 11th overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft.
When Trent was a sophomore -- on probably his best team there -- OU was eliminated in the first round of the 1994 NCAA Tournament by Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers. But Trent was beyond confident those Bobcats would have rolled this 2011-12 team.
"Ah, man, we would have bullied them boys," he said with a laugh. "First of all, you've got Jeff Boals, who played physical. You've got Geno [Ford], who was too heady, and at the end of the day, nobody would have been able to stop me. So I'm definitely going to have to give the nod to my team.
"Not to discredit any of those players now, or any of their hard work, but you can't stop Gary Trent, I don't care who you are."
In his day, Trent was unstoppable. He's one of just three players in MAC history with at least 2,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. He led the league in scoring three times and in rebounds twice, and is the only three-time MAC Player of the Year.
Dave Jamerson, 1985-90
As outreach pastor at his church in Indianapolis, Jamerson was on mission work in India when the tournament tipped off. But Ohio's all-time leading scorer -- and third highest in MAC history -- followed his Bobcats on the Internet.
"For me, honestly, probably the biggest thing is I just really appreciate the job that coach [John] Groce has done," said Jamerson, a Stow native.
Jamerson said Groce, more than anyone in the 25 years he has been associated with OU, reached out to him and other former players to build on the program's tradition and history, including the first basketball reunion last fall.
"I'm happy for him, I'm happy for the kids, I'm happy for the university," said Jamerson, who recently coached his local high school team to back-to-back state titles. "It's just a thrilling time."
Groce's Bobcats could use Jamerson's offense. A guard who set 14 Bobcat scoring marks, he holds MAC records for points in a season (874), and points (60) and 3-pointers (14) in one game.
"I think I would fit in great," he said.
It's a four-hour drive from his home to Athens, where he returns two or three times a year and where his 18-year-old son will be an incoming freshman this fall.
It's about the same distance to St. Louis, where Jamerson, his wife and their four kids (18, 16, 10 and 7) will be in the Edward Jones Dome to watch his Bobcats take the court as 101/2-point underdogs.
It was 1964 when OU last won two NCAA Tournament games, stunning Louisville and Kentucky. They have never won three.
"OU's gonna win, man!," Jamerson said laughing, when asked for a prediction. "They're going to go over there and shock the world."
-cleveland
