Rob Littlejohn and Tyler Dearman are two of the starting five for Guilford, a team whose rotation in the playoffs has been just seven people. Photo by Deon McFarland, d3photography.com

By Ryan Scott
D3hoops.com

Not every team gets a second chance. One of the highest ranked teams to ever miss out on the NCAA Tournament last year, the Guilford Quakers are on the cusp of vindicating that disappointment with a national championship.

“When we lost to Virginia Wesleyan in the conference tournament,” says head coach Tom Palombo, “everyone told us we were in, but I was not 100% sure. We thought we were in last year. When we got in [this season], there was a feeling of getting a second chance.”

While it hasn’t been at the forefront of conversations in the Guilford locker room, the presence of what didn’t happen last year has been felt and known.

Says Palombo, “With Tyler [Dearman] and Julius [Burch] coming back for a fifth year, there has been a little extra motivation to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Dearman, who is the Old Dominion Athletic Conference and D3hoops.com Region 6 Player of the Year, agrees. “We’ve had a lot of support from the guys who graduated last year. They’ve come back each round. We also heard from the NAIA national champs – ML Carr and those guys reached out to wish us good luck. We know they’re behind us.”

The Guilford legacy is strong, having made back-to-back Final Fours in 2009 and 2010, not to mention that 1973 NAIA national champion team. Palombo was at the helm for the D-III Final Four trips, although he says it feels like a lifetime ago. Still, this team plays with as much grit and determination as any Quakers squad he’s ever led.

“We’re a blue-collar team,” says Palombo. “We focus possession to possession and put a lot of effort into defense and rebounding. We know even if the ball isn’t going in the basket, we can win games that way.”

Guilford lost four times this year, all to conference opponents, none by more than seven points. In a number of games, they’ve struggled to score early and found themselves down, occasionally by 15 or 20 points, but each and every time they’ve buckled down and worked their way back into the game.

The CNU game was a slugfest – reminiscent of the title fight in the original Rocky – two teams standing in the middle of the ring just trading punches. Dearman landed the final blow, knocking out a Christopher Newport squad who performed so far beyond expectations.

“Tyler does not panic,” says Palombo. “He is overall excellent. Not just scoring points, but guarding the other team’s best player of whoever we decide to put him on. He doesn’t get rattled. His presence, the way he carries himself, nothing bothers him – and that carries over to the rest of the team.”

“I was not having my best game that night,” recalls Dearman. “My teammates have always had confidence in me. They wanted me to have the ball. They didn’t want to lose. I didn’t want to lose. I just put my head down and went to the basket. I did what I could.”

They’ll need all of that and more in the national semifinal on Thursday night. As luck would have it, a familiar foe is standing in the way.

Not only is Hampden-Sydney a fellow ODAC school, but they’re coached by Guilford alum Caleb Kimbrough, all-conference player who graduated just before those Final Four runs.

“Caleb is a great guy, a great coach. He’s done an unbelievable job there,” says Palombo, who continues to stay in touch with Kimbrough often, if not daily. “But it’s not me against him. We’ve got teams and a job to do. You don’t like having to play him in this game, but I’m as competitive as anyone. I want to win. At the same time, if we don’t, and it’s him and his team playing on Saturday for a national championship, I’ll be very happy for them.”

Guilford does have the advantage of being one of the two teams to defeat Hampden-Sydney this year, winning 80-71 in Greensboro on Dec. 2. That game was a barn-burner, too. Both teams shot 50% for the game and 40% from three. Guilford had a slight rebounding edge – and those few extra shots proved the difference.

It’s unusual because Guilford’s success in recent years has been predicated on slowing opponents down. You know what you’re going to get from Guilford every night. Tough defense. Physical play. Relentless pressure on the offensive end with no one to slack off of or ignore.

“We have a lot of offensive weapons,” notes Palombo. “That’s the way we want to play. Nobody still going is relying on just one player. Those teams are gone by this point.”

“When you play really good teams, they’re going to make shots,” says Dearman. “Even if you’re playing great defense, good teams will score. We have to focus even more on rebounding, limiting them to one shot, getting extra possessions. That’s how you win the game.”

Consistency is also vitally important. Guilford has started the same five guys in all 30 games this season. They’ve played the same rotation with similar substitutions each night.

“It’s really helpful for guys to know what’s expected of them,” says Palombo. “Each guy knows his role and while they might change a little bit from game to game, they generally know when they’re going in and what kinds of situations they’ll face.”

Opponents know what they’re getting from Guilford, too. There are no secrets, just hard-nosed well-executed basketball they dare you to try and stop. Few have been able to this season (or last season either). That experience will prove vital in the uncharted territory of the season’s last weekend.

It’s likely this Final Four will be determined on the defensive end of the floor – Guilford, Trinity, and HSC are all in the top five fewest points allowed in Division III. Trine is not too far behind. That suits the Quakers just fine.

“We just want to make everything hard,” says Dearman. “Hampden-Sydney has gotten better since we played them and we beat them, so they have that chip on their shoulder. Nothing easy. Contest everything. Make them work.”

This may be a second chance at glory for the Quakers – and they’re taking nothing for granted – but at this point in the season, no one is thinking about the past or the future; there is just the next opponent, even if it's a familiar one.

Guilford will have a big cheering section; those making the trip from North Carolina have also walked with this team through the disappointment of last February and the excitement of this March. There’s a long history to live up to and past stars and teammates who will be cheering them on.