GCU Today April Digital Issue 2018

GCU MAGAZ I NE • 17 Tuesday Majerle guides players though their final practice at GCU before they leave for Las Vegas – “a business trip,” as he reminds them. The Lopes are typically hard workers, but the gym atmosphere is even more serious because an NCAA tournament bid awaits the WAC Tournament champion. “If you’re not going hard, it never works,” Majerle says as they practice their offense. The Lopes open the tourney against Missouri-Kansas City, which they already routed twice by 17 points. Complacency could encroach if not for so much talk of being three wins from “The Big Dance.” GCU expects to hurt UMKC again with its size advantage. “We’ve got to crush them on the boards,” Majerle says. “And I mean CRUSH them!” Wednesday GCU’s WAC tournament era begins with a women’s game against Utah Valley. Costumed GCU students already are settling into Orleans Arena, facing the Lopes bench. After an off-site morning practice, the men’s team joins fellow students to watch GCU’s 72-56 win. “That doesn’t surprise us,” head coach Nicole Powell tells her team in the locker room. “We were supposed to kick their butts. We made history.” GCU’s first victorious WAC tourney team gathers hands and breaks on, “WAC champs!” Thursday The men tip off their first game at noon, their earliest start of the season. Associate head coach Todd Lee teaches a pregame locker room class on UMKC, detailing each player’s tendencies and reviewing color- coded defensive schemes. “I want you guys to play loose today,” Majerle says after a coach’s office visit from Jerry Colangelo. “No matter what we face, we’re more than prepared. We’ve waited a long time for this.” An hour earlier, the Havocs began to fill one of the baseline’s bleachers, chanting “Where’s your pep band?” at UMKC. The Lopes gather beneath the bedlam, which builds their huddle into hops and chants. It proves to be nervous energy. GCU misses 12 of its first 13 shots to trail 20-4. The Lopes do not lead until the game’s 26th minute and fight for their season down the stretch. A Damari Milstead steal sets up Gerard Martin’s layup, cutting UMKC’s lead to one with 2:21 left. “It’s winning time,” assistant coach Chris Crevelone tells the Lopes huddle. GCU survives and advances. Majerle, Alessandro Lever and Oscar Frayer head to the press conference with the Havocs’ cheers still audible. “Can you say this all in Italian, please?” Majerle asks Lever, his Italian freshman. Friday Semifinal day doubles the Lopes’ intrigue with the women and men playing to reach their respective championship games. The men stage a morning shootaround at a local YMCA before the women play at noon against Cal State Bakersfield, a team that they had beaten six days prior. This time, with star Brie Mobley making one shot, the Lopes trail 35-32 at halftime. “Exactly like last game, y’all,” assistant coach Nikki Blue says in a locker room where the dry erase board reads “FIGHTING LOPES” atop tactical information. “We’re right where we need to be.” Once “I Like to Move It” plays, the Havocs feel at home and Mobley looks it, too. She scores 13 of GCU’s first 23 second-half points for a 55-54 Lopes lead, but Bakersfield scores the game’s final seven points to win. The women sit crushed and quiet in the locker room, but the sounds of joy (Bakersfield) and anticipation (Seattle) are unavoidable in nearby locker rooms. “They played so hard,” Powell says alongside her star seniors, Mobley and Jessica Gajewski. “They left it all on the court.” More Havocs hit Vegas by the evening. A purple pregame pep rally welcomes fans to the men’s semifinals, which proves to be GCU’s finest moment. The morning’s hands-on coaching becomes a heart-to-heart pregame talk in the evening. “I want you to play fun and loose, but I want you to play fundamental,” Majerle says. “You guys The Havocs were the most visible (and vocal, of course) feature of GCU’s participation in theWAC Tournament. GCU President BrianMueller said later that at least a hundred people approached him at the tournament to say how impressed they were with the way the GCU students acted. photo by travis neely