| Eliud Gonzalez got just 22
minutes his freshman season, then tore his ACL. Illinois Wesleyan athletics photo by Marc Featherly |
By Brian Falzarano
D3sports.com
Even with his focus narrowed upon winning a national championship, his team two wins away from clipping down the nets this weekend as the best in Division III men's basketball, Eliud Gonzalez still stares into his rearview mirror and remembers his humble beginnings at Illinois Wesleyan.
“I think about it every day,” Gonzalez said. “It's a huge cliché, but everything does happen for a reason.”
During those daily peeks into his past, he hears his father Sergio's stern reminder that overcoming a 12-0 run in any arena of life is “difficult, but not impossible.” At a basketball crossroads his freshman year after playing seven games of garbage time before blowing out his right knee, Gonzalez felt sorry for himself briefly before becoming emboldened by the challenge to overcome a humble beginning to his collegiate career.
From those struggles, Gonzalez is the unquestioned floor leader for an Illinois Wesleyan squad that went from the NCAA Tournament bubble to four stirring triumphs that delivered them to this weekend's Final Four.
“Eliud fits this team. His leadership style fits this team,” Titans coach Ron Rose said. “And I know he is thoroughly enjoying be the floor general for this run.”
Months removed from being an ultra-competitive point guard running the show for Illinois Class 4A state champion Richards High School, Gonzalez found himself running the Titans' scout team against incumbent starter Travis Rosenkranz. Their battles delighted Rose daily, but left Gonzalez feeling unfulfilled: He earned only 22 minutes of action over seven games his rookie year.
“I didn't take that sitting down,” Gonzalez said.
Soon after, he found himself lying in bed after blowing out his right anterior cruciate ligament. Frustration fueled his thoughts. But after considering transferring for little more than a full timeout, he decided to stay because, as roommate and senior backcourt mate Jordan Zimmer said, “I don't think he wanted to walk away from that challenge.”
As it turns out, Zimmer knew his friend all too well.
“I didn't feel like I was done,” Gonzalez said. “I felt like I had unfinished business.”
When Gonzalez returned in 2009-10, his playing time dissipated from his freshman season: four points, five assists, and 19 minutes over four games. Instead of fueling further doubt, it ultimately helped the Titans find the floor general that will lead them into Friday's national semifinal against Cabrini.
After starting 11 games last winter when Rosenkranz suffered an injury, Gonzalez inherited the offense this winter and made the Titans a team in his own image: scrappy, strong, capable of overcoming a humble beginning.
Gonzalez' statline is short on scoring (6.5 ppg, 5.5 apg, 3.8 rpg, 1.8 spg), but he hit the game-winning jumper to eliminate 2011 national finalist and No. 15-ranked Wooster from the Sweet 16. For good measure, his 10-point, six-steal, five-assist performance powered a surprisingly dominant 70-49 triumph over No. 22 Wittenberg in the Elite Eight.
For Illinois Wesleyan to win its second national championship, and first since 1997, it will need similar showings from Gonzalez – first against Cabrini All-American candidate Cory Lemons, and then against either MIT's Mitchell Kates or UW-Whitewater's Alex Merg in Saturday's national championship game should the Titans advance.
“We can't praise Eliud enough,” Zimmer said. “He is the motor to our team. He is the leader for our team.
“He's been in this situation before, so he's been through a postseason where he's led his team to a championship (in high school). He's playing his best basketball right now.”
From his humble beginning at Illinois Wesleyan, Gonzalez's fortunes have turned 180 degrees. He is now leading Illinois Wesleyan's fast break into Salem, Va., powered by what he sees in his rearview mirror.
“You play the game to have fun and to win,” Gonzalez said, before saying boldly: “I'm not going to Virginia to lose.”