Matt Langel stood inside the visitors’ locker room at Boston University’s Case Gym and wrote one word on the whiteboard: “Identity.” It wasn’t that his Colgate team didn’t have one. Langel, the head coach, and his Raiders reached the College Basketball Invitational last season and were one win away from the NCAA tournament. Twice.

It was Jan. 19, and Colgate was 2-3 in conference play with two double-digit losses mixed in with a close defeat to Bucknell. The Raiders just needed a spark.

“Who are we going to be?” Langel asked his 14 players. “Are we going to be a middle-of-the-pack team or are we going to be a team that competes for championships?”

Later that night, the Raiders walked off the court with a 19-point win. Junior Rapolas Ivanauskas called it a turning point. That season could’ve fallen off the rails, but a composed Colgate group — and coach — kept them on track for their goal: an NCAA Tournament berth.

It’s taken more than two decades for Colgate’s return to the NCAA Tournament, and with the culmination of Langel’s eight years in which he adapted the program, the Raiders’ ended the drought. On Friday afternoon, No. 15-seed Colgate (24-10, 13-5 Patriot League) faces No. 2-seed Tennessee (29-5, 15-3 Southeastern) in its first Tournament game since 1996. The 2019 Raiders are riding an 11-game win streak, nearing the peak of Langel’s vision that started when he took over in 2011.

“I knew what it took to compete at a high level relative to your competition,” Langel said in early March. “I wanted to bring that here. It’s about the group and the process.”

Rapolas Ivanauskas reaches back to dunk the ball in-game.Courtesy of Colgate Athletics

Before Langel inherited the program, Colgate lost 15 of its first 16 games. Prior to joining the Raiders, Langel was an assistant coach at Temple University, where he made the NCAA Tournament in four consecutive seasons.

In his first season, the Raiders stumbled to eight wins, and a 2-12 conference record. But there was no panic. Former assistant coach Mike McGarvey said the postseason meetings after that first year were about reflection — recruiting, scouting, individual coaching. There was no discouragement, they were on the right path, McGarvey said.

For the next seven years, Langel’s vision blossomed. Colgate’s win total climbed the first three seasons, from eight to 16, and in 2015, the Raiders lost in the Patriot League semifinals to American University. That same season, Colgate was one win away from the regular season title. It defeated Lehigh and needed a Bucknell loss to clinch. A handful of Raiders crammed into McGarvey’s office to watch the finish, only to see Bucknell prevail once again.

“You really felt for the players to have so much excitement and taking care of our business, and needing something else to happen that didn’t come through,” McGarvey said.

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Then, everything started to piece together. Two years ago, Jordan Burns — who decommitted from D-II program Midwestern State — came to Colgate. Last year, Sean O’Brien and Jordan Swopshire had strong senior campaigns, averaging 10.7 and 12 points per game, respectively, guiding the Raiders to the CBI and its first postseason appearance in the 21st century.

Langel’s vision crystallized last offseason, when Ivanauskas transferred from Northwestern, one of the final pieces to the process. Ivanauskas didn’t play in a single game because of shoulder injuries his freshman year. And he watched the Wildcats’ first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.

“There was this sort of air around the building, of cohesion, just how close we are as well as positivity,” Ivanauskas said about Northwestern’s 2017 run. “And I can definitely feel that same environment here.”

Langel’s offense isn’t complicated — get the ball inside and if the defense slides down, kick it out. It starts with Ivanauskas, who was named Patriot League Player of the Year averaging 16.4 points and 7.9 rebounds. After receiving the ball in the post, Ivanauskas immediately looks to the opposite wing for a kick-out. If not, he resorts to the baby hook, his “sweet spot.”

“We can get buckets, get a cushion, hold on to that cushion,” junior forward Will Rayman said.

Against Bucknell in the Patriot League championship, the Bisons’ Kimal McKenzie drained four 3-pointers to start the second half. Then, McKenzie drove and drew a foul. In front of the Colgate student section, he clapped his hands, taunting them. McKenzie had almost single-handedly cut the Colgate lead from 17 to four. But three 3-pointers by Burns and Ivanauskas brought the lead back to double-digits. During that entire sequence, Langel stood in the same position — water bottle in hand, arms crossed just beneath a big “C” pin on his sport coat.

In last year’s Patriot League final, hosted by Bucknell, Burns and McGarvey stood side-by-side after the game and watched the Bisons cut down the net. Cameras lined the court for pictures, and McGarvey, holding his daughter Finleigh, leaned in towards Burns and said “This could be us.” Burns, taking it all in, nodded.

This season, it was. After defeating Lafayette to clinch the regular season title, McGarvey, now the head coach at Lycoming College, texted Langel “Mission completed. Congratulations.” It took eight years and six losing seasons, but Langel had accomplished part of his goal. Two weeks later, when Burns picked up the ball and launched it toward the roof of the Reid Athletic Center as time ran out, it was completed in full.

“The other teams, they didn’t have a chance to call themselves champions even though they were so close,” McGarvey said. “This year’s team does.”

— Senior Staff Writer Matthew Gutierrez contributed reporting to this story.

Published on March 20, 2019 at 10:52 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew