Eastern Michigan Athletics
Last Dance for Eastern Michigan: Epilogue
4/3/2021 12:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Sweet 16 Series told by T.C. Cameron
The lasting effects of the 1990-91 team, and that season, were remarkable and far-reaching.
Head Coach Ben Braun proved himself to be a championship builder. He had inherited the centerpiece of the 1988 title winner, Grant Long, but the 1991 team had been entirely recruited by Braun and his staff.
By 1994, he'd successfully replicated the blueprint of the 1990-91 team. Earl Boykins replaced Lorenzo Neely. The guard/forward combo from Lansing — the Thomas twins — was now Detroit's Brian Tolbert and Derrick Dial. The middle of the lane that Marcus Kennedy owned? Kareem Carpenter and Theron Wilson were the rebounders and shot blockers opponents had no answer for. Kory Hallas, meet Jon Zajac.
Perhaps the most important legacy of the 1991 team is the Convocation Center. In a little more than 10 years, Braun had brought Eastern to four MAC title games, three MAC titles, three NCAA appearances, an NIT appearance and a healthy handful of wins over major programs. All of that happened from Bowen Field House, a facility like almost no other in America.
"Bowen Field House was like the family cottage, and we were a family there, all of Eastern's teams that used that building," Braun said. "It wasn't perfect, that house, but we made it work, and look at what we all accomplished there."
By winning a second title in four years, EMU administrators now had permission to approach state legislators with a request for a new facility. When Braun won a third title in eight seasons in Bowen, it was obvious Eastern's success merited a massive facility upgrade. "The Convo" opened in the fall of 1998.
"When I left for Cal in 1996, there were some people upset who said, 'We built this for you,'" says Braun, secure in his place on EMU's Mt. Rushmore of coaches. "But it wasn't built for me, it was built for the program. The success of the program built that building."
The 1990-91 team's success was also a springboard for other coaches to succeed. Following the loss to North Carolina, Miller and Rasmuson attended the Final Four in Indianapolis and received a hero's welcome.
"The amount of coaches around the country — many we'd never met before — who were congratulating us solidified in my mind that what we had accomplished was a life-changing experience on many levels," Rasmuson said.
Waters spent five more years on Braun's bench, then moved on to Kent State, Rutgers and Cleveland State. He's in the Hall of Fame at Ferris State and Kent State. Since Waters' tenure at Kent State, the Golden Flashes have won 20 games or more in 16 of 20 seasons.
Rasmuson turned his one year as a graduate assistant in Ypsilanti into a near-20 year career in coaching, including 12 seasons as a head coach, leading Lincoln Memorial from NAIA to Division II, and Northern Colorado from Division II to Division I.
Miller remained on the EMU bench through 1997, before moving on to become the head coach and athletic director at University of Detroit Jesuit and St. John's Jesuit in Toledo.
Because he helped recruit so many players from the 1990-91 team, Keith Dambrot deserves a mention here, too. A Braun assistant from 1986-89, he's gone on to coach at Ashland University, Akron and Currently Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. He also coached LeBron James as a freshman and sophomore at Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, winning two Ohio state championships.
The Thomas twins both signed and played professionally; both have coached extensively in the college game. They're both coaching under Dambrot at Duquesne.
After dominating the toughest mid-major league in the country for one year, Kennedy became the 13th EMU player drafted professionally.
Neely never got the NBA chance so many believed he deserved, but he owns a place in EMU lore no one else can claim: four MAC titles, two as a player (1988, 1991) and two as a coach (1996, 1998). He's represented Eastern in five MAC title game as a player or coach.
The 1990-91 EMU basketball team accomplished all this in an era when it was incredibly difficult for a mid-major school to advance in the NCAA Tournament. They ended EMU's Huron era on a high note. For those of us who watched it unfold, we'll never forget it.
— T.C. Cameron is the author of Miracle Maples (2019) and Navy Football: Return to Glory (2017). A 1995 graduate of EMU, he's lived in Annapolis, MD since 2009. Follow him on Twitter: @ByTCCameron.
