Photo by Bill Green Hood men's basketball coach Tom Dickman has led the Blazers to a 21-7 record this season and into the NCAA Division III Tournament. Hood takes on Hampden-Sydney Friday at 6 p.m. at Virginia Wesleyan University.

"There are nine teams in the conference and the ninth team didn't make the tournament," Dickman said this week. "I knew the quality of the league and we were the new kids on the block."

Hood not only made the tournament, but won the regular-season title and was the top seed. Despite losing in the CAC championship game, the Blazers were named to the NCAA Division III Tournament field as an at-large selection, quite an accomplishment for a school that has only had men's basketball for four years. Many times, new schools like Hood are overlooked in favor of more well-known programs.

The Blazers play Hampden-Sydney Friday at 6 p.m. at Virginia Wesleyan University in first-round action.

Making tournaments is nothing new for Dickman, who went to 14 state tournaments in 29 years as head coach at Thomas Johnson. He even won a state title his first year. But making the NCAA tournament surprised him.

"This is as unexpected as anything," he said. "At Thomas Johnson, they played good basketball before I got there. But here, (you must consider) where we came from. When we made the state tournaments at Thomas Johnson, it was more a feeling of relief. Here, it was a feeling of accomplishment."

He said after the Blazers were upset by Catholic University in the CAC Championship game on Saturday night, he didn't know if his team would get the at-large bid. He went from

lows to highs. Some people said he was in, some said he wasn't.

"When I got up Sunday and went to church, I was kind of down," he said. "But then I got on a website and we were projected to be in the tournament."

That night, he went to the Whitaker Campus Center on campus and waited for the news. Unlike the NCAA Division I Tournament, the selections were not on television. Coaches and players had to just sit behind a computer and go to the NCAA Division III Basketball all website. The selections were supposed to be announced at 10 p.m. They were about 20 minutes late.

"It seemed like forever," Dickman said of the wait. "We kept on thinking every five minutes they were going to come up. Once we got it, it was a big thrill."

As it turned out, the Blazers had a good shot at getting in. The NCAA uses something called the Quality of Wins Index to rate teams. It's based on a team's strength of schedule, record and the teams it beat in its region. Hood was ranked 33rd. Two teams it defeated, Messiah and Catholic, were ranked higher. The Blazers also beat Villa Julie, another team that made the NCAA Tournament. In other words, they beat some pretty good teams.

"If we had lost one more game, we probably wouldn't have gotten in," Dickman said. "But it was a combination of playing in this conference and a tough out-of-conference schedule that helped us."

He said the biggest win may have been a Dec. 9 victory at Catholic, annually one of the top Division III programs in the country.

"It gave us confidence, it showed us we could play with teams in this league," Dickman said.

They certainly did.

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IT'S A TRIBUTE TO DICKMAN that he managed to have a good season (21-7) and make the NCAA Tournament despite practicing at Gambrill Gymnasium, an antiquated facility that was built in the late 1940s and has had very few improvements since. The team has to play games at Thomas Johnson High School because the college gym is so bad.

The women, who have made three NCAA Tournaments, practice and play at Gambrill.

Some of that will change next year, because the women will join the Capital Athletic Conference and the conference schedules men's and women's doubleheaders. Because Hood officials can't get TJ for that much time, the Blazers will play conference doubleheaders at Fort Detrick.

Despite the terrible facilities, the men's and women's teams have been very competitive. Somehow, the coaches manage to bring in good athletes. They must put blinders on them when they show them the gym.

There has been a lot of talk about building a new facility to replace Gambrill. Hood president Ron Volpe, a basketball fan, is especially in favor of it. It would not only be used for athletics, but all types of activities, including commencement ceremonies. It would be the type of facility that most schools have. Nearby McDaniel College not only has a modern facility, but is renovating it.

But plans to build a new facility at Hood are progressing slowly, mainly because of the lack of a major donor. Until one surfaces, Hood will continue to use Gambrill Gymnasium.

That is a shame. No, that is a disgrace.