By Mark Simon
D3hoops.com

Let's focus on people you wouldn't expect to meet along the Road to the Final Four. This is one of those neat things about the Division III level. You never quite know who you're going to run into, and some amazing stories have come across our desk the last couple of days. We didn't expect to come across these people, but we did. We hope you enjoy meeting someone like…

Matt Griffin, showing long hair.

Matt Griffin, a double-major in psychology and philosophy at Johns Hopkins, who finished his graduation requirements in three and a half years, spent a summer teaching SAT prep, is a member of the Buddhist Student Union, and is presently working on an internship studying whether talk therapy would keep adults with anxiety issues from passing them on to their children.

Oh, and we should mention he's 6-7, and is averaging 17 points on 65% shooting from the field for the Blue Jays, who set a school record with 23 wins and advanced to NCAAs for the first time since 1999 by winning the Centennial Conference. They'll take on Villa Julie in the first round on Friday, with their Jostens Award nominee helping lead the way as one of five senior regulars.

"I could probably give you an answer (as to how the season is going) in a few weeks," said Griffin, a third-team Academic-All American. "We've had a couple of rough spots, but we're peaking at the right time. There hasn't been a game this year when we've played our best and lost."

On the court, this Blue Jays team is a poised group and their best trait is they don't get rattled. Off the court, it's a group with eclectic interests.

"This basketball team is diverse," Griffin said. "There are a lot of different things that people are passionate about other than basketball."

What Griffin, whose mom is a guidance counselor, is passionate about is helping people and his assistance comes in a variety of ways. One non-traditional way was following in the footsteps of ex-Ursinus player Joe Schultz, who shaved his head and donated his hair to the charity Locks of Love, which makes wigs for children dealing with alopecia, radiation treatment, and burns. Griffin, whose hair reached shoulder length during fall semester came back from winter break bald. Some thought he had lost a bet, but he let them know of his charitable donation. In a way, it provided him a chance to do more research

Matt Griffin, sporting the short hair.

"It's interesting to see how people make assumptions (based on hair length)," Griffin said, noting how TV announcers referred to long-haired Notre Dame receiver Jeff Samardzija as a "free spirit" based solely on his long hair.

"You hear the term student-athlete, and if there ever was one, it's Matt," said Johns Hopkins coach Bill Nelson. "He's done this with hard work and sweat. Today, our practice ended at 7, and when I left my office at 8, he was still in the gym, talking to my assistant, Ed Richardson. He's turned himself into one of the best Division III players in the country."

Nelson remembered how when he recruited Griffin, there was a meeting between the future student and a psychology professor (at Griffin's request) that didn't go well. When Nelson found that out, he asked Griffin to come back, then asked admissions to send him the school's best psychology instructor. This meeting went much better, leading to Griffin's enrollment.

In Griffin's first game freshman year, his first jumper had backboard-breaking velocity. That turned Griffin into a player who only wanted to shoot from five feet in over the next three seasons. This year, he brought back his jump shot. Nelson calls it "dead-eye" accurate. In the Centennial Conference title game win over Haverford, he was 6-for-6 from the field and 6-for-7 from the free throw line. The only thing that stopped Griffin from having a perfect shooting day was an official who ruled his toes were across the foul line during one made free throw, but that didn't even come up when we asked how this past weekend went. Griffin was much more interested in focusing on the team as a whole.

"We're playing some of our best basketball now," Griffin said. "That's what this is all about, getting hot at the right time."

Or someone like …

Terrance Lovett, a 31-year-old father of four who happens to be a freshman backup forward on the Fontbonne men's basketball team.

"We're a young team," said laughing 19th-year coach Lee McKinney, who won the SLIAC after finishing fourth in the regular season, with a starting lineup comprised entirely of freshmen and sophomores. "Except for Terrance."

The 6-6 Lovett's story would be great feature-film fodder. He grew up in St. Louis, but never finished high school and wasn't on the basketball team. He bounced around jobs to support himself, most recently as a driver for Werner Trucks, staying in shape by doing toe raises on the truck steps, and leg lifts and pushups on the catwalk by the back of the tractor. He was always very religious and one day, he had an epiphany. He felt the pull of God telling him to go back to school. He took care of the first step by acing his GED.

Lovett had a friend who went to Fontbonne 10 years ago, so he figured why not begin his pursuit there. When he approached McKinney, the coach was taken aback, but sent Lovett to take the school's entrance exam. He passed that too.

Lovett practiced with the team but didn't play during the first semester, taking the MetroLink to get to campus, since he didn't have a car. In fact, he initially decided to leave the squad, went and got two jobs to help support his children (they live separately with their two mothers, one of whom is Lovett's ex-wife). But after Christmas break he came back and McKinney began to work him in.

The Griffins were picked to finish sixth, but ended up two spots better edging out two teams for the final playoff spot, with Lovett playing in seven games, averaging four points and three rebounds over seven minutes.

Lovett is 31, but you wouldn't know it unless you asked him. If you saw him and Ohio State's Greg Oden together, you'd probably pick Lovett as the younger one. He's cut muscularly like a Division I athlete. Credit the "Jerry Rice workouts" up and down hills over the last month for that, as well as his spending a couple hours per day shooting in the gym, when not in classes such as Introduction to Religion, and Rhetoric.

"You'd think a 31 year old would have trouble keeping up with 18 year olds," McKinney said. "But as Terrance likes to remind me, Michael Jordan was in his prime at 33. That's good enough for me."

Lovett's teammates welcomed him without hesitation, especially when they saw he could outrun all of them, how aggressive a defender he was, and that he could shoot the ball a little bit. The bond of basketball has brought him together with them.

"My teammate, Josh (Branch, who averages 13 points) asked me the other day if I was into rap, and I said, a little," Lovett said, then added with a laugh "I asked him what kind of music he liked. He said ‘Country.' I told him okay, I won't judge you for that, but all I know is, you've got a jump shot."

Lovett admitted he surprised himself with how he's doing academically, since school was not his forte when he was younger.

"I can say that for the first time since fifth grade, I'm doing well," Lovett said. "For the first time in my life, I actually think I can get a college degree."

As for basketball, McKinney had been reluctant to play Lovett meaningful minutes, but the situation required it against first-place Webster in the SLIAC semis. Lovett came in and gave the squad energy with eight points in eight minutes, helping spark a 67-62 upset. In the title game versus Eureka, he came in and combined with teammate Trevor White for 18 points in a run that put Fontbonne up by 14. Eureka came back to force OT, but when the contest concluded, the Cinderella Griffins had an 88-79 win, scoring 23 points in the extra session. Lovett finished with 13, including a thunderous dunk, and over the two games was 9-for-10 from the field.

"If you saw Terrance after the game, you'd have thought he was the happiest guy in the world," McKinney said.

"It was surreal," Lovett said, when asked to sum up the two contests.

Friday, Lovett will take the MetroLink to school, then bus the 30 yards across the street (the shortest road trip in NCAA history) to take on neighbor, Washington University in the first round of the tournament. And regardless of what happens, he'll thank McKinney after the game, whether he plays 30 seconds or 30 minutes, for the opportunity he's been given.

"The good thing about Terrance is that he's just about the nicest guy in the world," McKinney said. "If he gets his degree, the sky's the limit for him."

Or someone like …

Rachael Willett and Sarah Partridge, two sophomores for Calvin who figure to see significantly increased playing time for the Knights this weekend given the misfortune that befell them in the MIAA title game.

Rachael Willett steps into a bigger role for Calvin with the Knights' injuries.

Calvin (25-2) not only lost the game and championship in a high-intensity, highly physical battle with defending national champ Hope, but in the final six minutes, lost two integral players -- sophomore forward Marcia Harris, the team's leading scorer and sophomore guard Kristi Brummell, the team's sixth man -- to season-ending knee injuries.

"I was just devastated," Ross said a few days afterwards. "You feel so bad about the players. They're great kids. We've had a great year. This is the kind of year we've been gunning at since I've been at Calvin. We've talked all year about having a deep team. Now we have to prove how deep we are."

Doing so will require major changes on the fly. As a result, there will be 45 minutes or so of playing time to fill for Willett, who replaces Harris in the starting lineup and Partridge, who slides into the sixth-man role. Willett, a transfer from Division II champ Grand Valley State, is a major defensive presence inside, evidenced by her team-high 55 blocked shots. Partridge (averaging 3.6 points in 10 minutes per game) is a dangerous outside threat when her shot is on.

It should be noted that two of the last three national champions lost significant players to season-ending injury at the tail end of the season -- Wilmington and Millikin. In the case of the latter, forward Lindsay Ippel replaced Karin Olson in the starting lineup and was the star of the Big Blue's knockout of Calvin in the Elite 8 two seasons ago.

"We were on the other end of that crushing," Calvin head coach John Ross said with a sigh.

If Calvin is going to match what Millikin did, it will be because the likes of Willett and Partridge raise their games in the manner that Ippel did.

Both replacements feel that they are up to the challenge.

"The whole season, I've been a role player, playing 10 minutes a game, coming in and giving what I can," Partridge said. "But getting to play against the best players in practice has made me a better player. I try to push everyone in practice by giving it everything I have, and I try to make our starters better. My role has definitely changed (now). Our team unity is really strong. That will be a major part of our success."

"(Marcia and Kristi) are now our inspiration," Willett said, while on the bus to Wilmington, Ohio, where the Knights (along with their two injured teammates cheering them on) will open Friday with a first-round matchup with Thomas More. "We want to do this as much for them as for us. I've never really lost hope. I still believe we're going to work hard and have all that more fight in us. I feel pretty confident going into the tournament. We still believe we could take this as far as we originally wanted to go. Our morale is high."

Or someone like …

Julie Leach and the rest of the Transylvania women's team, the only at-large team we failed to pick in our projection of the NCAA Tournament field.

Last year, the Pioneers struggled out of the gate and posted an 8-17 record. It was the first losing season for Transylvania since the 1990-91 campaign. However, a change in the office and the addition of several new players has the Pioneers back on the upswing.

With sophomore transfer Julie Leach in the middle, the Pioneers enter this weekend's NCAA Tournament with a record of 19-8, including a 12-4 mark in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.

Transylvania placed third in the HCAC during the regular season, before upsetting Rose-Hulman in the conference semifinals. The next day, the Pioneers fell 70-69 to HCAC regular season champion, Manchester, but still made the tournament as a Pool C selection.

First-year head coach Greg Todd, who came to Transylvania from nearby Lexington Catholic High School, is happy to be part of the quick turnaround. However, he does not want to make this a one-and-done trip.

"I have enjoyed the transition into college basketball. I have been blessed with some great girls to work with for my first year," Todd said. "We have to play our normal game. Look inside first and then out."

"We have to play great team defense as well," he added.

Leach transferred to Transylvania from Georgetown College of the NAIA. A season ago, she averaged 12.4 points and 5.3 rebounds a game for the Tigers. Despite the success, Leach felt it was time for a change.

"I just didn't feel like Georgetown was the fit for me," she said. "There were a lot of factors that I considered and some personal reasons as well. The transition hasn't been too bad; I have great friends and teammates, and coaches as well who have all been extremely supportive and did everything to make me feel at home.

Todd knows the acquisition of the 6-0 center was a huge coup for the program.

"Julie is one of the most consistent players I have ever coached. Winning is her number one goal," he said. "She led our conference in scoring, rebounding & field goal percentage as well as (making) nearly 80% of her free throws. She also makes her teammates better by drawing a lot of double teams. She has been a big part in our success this season," added Todd.

Since the change from Georgetown to Lexington, Leach has scored 19.6 points and corralled 10.7 rebounds a contest. Leach's numbers earned her HCAC Player of the Week honors four times during the regular season.

Though she has enjoyed the season with the Pioneers, it does come as a little bit of a surprise for the All-American candidate.

"There were so many different emotions this weekend after our loss to Manchester, and it was hard to think about being excited after such a low mental state," Leach said. "It has been great being back in the gym to work toward another win."

"I have had lots of help this year though. My guards and other posts have improved tremendously on their passing and are getting me the ball where I need it to be effective. I thought it would take a couple years to build a team that could make it in the tournament. I guess we have proved me wrong!"

The selections may have favored Transylvania when it came to getting into the Field of 63. However, they have a difficult matchup in the first round. The Pioneers play host DePauw, with the winner facing either Denison or defending national champion Hope.

The long common opponent for DePauw and Transylvania is Centre College. The Tigers won both regular season meetings against Centre, 101-48 at home and 77-46 on the road. The Pioneers defeated Centre 73-56 at home. Against teams who qualified for the 2007 NCAA Tournament, DePauw is 3-2, while the Pioneers are 2-3.

Leach knows the Pioneers are in for a 40-minute game with the Tigers.

"I just want to take it one game at a time and give each game that we are granted the opportunity to play (with) our best effort," said Leach. "We are a great group of girls that love the game and this team deserves to win!"

"Everyone from the bench, to the starters, to the coaches just needs to believe in each other and play off what everyone is doing," she added. "We are looking to our coaches right now for guidance and we are just trusting that they are going to prepare us the best they can to compete at the national level with success.

Best of Championship Week

Take your pick from these six title games:

MIAA Men, Calvin 78, Hope 76: Did you expect anything else in this series? Kudos to Derek Griffin for his clutch play, (good week for the Griffins with Derek, Matt and Fontbonne all earning mention) scoring the go-ahead hoop twice in the final two minutes, including the winning basket with four seconds left.

NJAC Men, Ramapo 83, NJCU 81 (OT): It took overtime to settle which team was headed to the NCAAs and which would be disappointed heading into ECACs. The hyperbole in the postgame news release referencing it as "what may be considered as one of the greatest NJAC games ever played" doesn't sound like an exaggeration, based on the evenness of the game and Ramapo's rally at the end of regulation.

GSAC Women, Piedmont 60, Maryville (Tenn.) 59: The game featured 18 lead changes and 11 ties, with neither team leading by more than six points. Piedmont earned its first NCAA bid on the strength of Nikki Sosebee's free throw (after a foul on a defensive rebound) with one second remaining.

USA South, Averett 108, North Carolina Wesleyan 105 (2 OT): North Carolina Wesleyan came this close to knocking off the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 seeds to win the USA South Conference as the No. 6 seed, but fell a hair short. Averett survived a 38 point effort from UNC-Wesleyan's Jimmy Hall and rallied from 13 points down for the eventual win, scoring the last six points in the second overtime.

AWCC, Notre Dame (Md.) 62, Trinity (D.C.) 61: Kimberly Ordille came up clutch, scoring the winning basket, only her second hoop of the game, with 12.1 seconds remaining to close out a struggle with Trinity. Give Notre Dame credit for somehow winning the hard way, on 21-for-79 shooting from the field and 10-for-20 from the free throw line. An exciting way for the league to close up shop, as the only all-women's conference disbands.

NEWMAC Men, Coast Guard 71, WPI 66: Previously spotlighted in a Road to Salem feature but worth mentioning again since it featured 20 lead changes (seven in the last five minutes) and five ties, and a tremendous showing by the last-place Bears.

Best buzzer-beater: Hopefully you were listening to our coverage of the CUNYAC men's championship and heard this call of Teron Simpson's game-winner from just inside halfcourt. The NJAC women's final had a dramatic finish of its own as William Paterson rallied late to tie Kean, only to fall when Melissa Beyruti, second in the nation in 3-pointers per game, buried a trey as the buzzer sounded. Check out this clip below.

Best comeback: Never say never when it comes to New Paltz State, which pulled off one of the most amazing rallies in Division III history in the SUNYAC women's quarterfinal round. The Hawks, hosting Geneseo State in their first home playoff game, trailed by 18 with 2:55 left and were still down 12 with 45 seconds remaining, but scored five times in a 40-second span (four 3-pointers and a game-tying field goal) to knot the score, then won in overtime, 85-77.

"Every 10 minutes that night I kept waking up, and I'd check the Internet to see if it really happened," said first-year head coach Jamie Seward, whose squad's 17 wins broke the previous team record by four. "It was a credit to our kids for fighting and believing. We said all year that the last part of every game should be our strongest."

Expectations have officially been raised for this program, even after it lost in the semifinals to Cortland State and then in the first round of the ECAC Tournament, so this is definitely a team to look out for in future seasons, especially if it can build off this game.

"We have a talented group," Seward said. "Seven of our 13 kids were freshmen. Six played regularly. When we said at the start of the season that our goal is to someday win a national title, the freshmen all said, ok, let's go do it."

Best turnaround: The Wentworth Institute of Technology men's team was a combined 26-72 the previous four seasons, but Tom Devitt's squad won the Commonwealth Coast Conference tournament by beating top divisional seeds Gordon and Curry on the road in the final two rounds. The Leopards enter the NCAA Tournament at St. John Fisher 17-11 despite playing only three true home games all season due to issues with their gym. They went 7-1 in "home" games played on other school's courts.

Including it all

By our count, we had three leagues left to reference in our quest to be able to say we mentioned representatives from every conference in the country. So here we go:

GSAC: We referenced Piedmont above, but we'll mention a little more about them here. It's the first appearance for the Lady Lions in the NCAA Tournament in the program's four-year history of NCAA play, despite the 18 wins this season being their fewest in that span. The team is seniorless, with juniors accounting for 58% of the team's scoring. All but one player on the roster is a native Georgian. The team plays in the Johnny Mize Athletic Center, named for the Baseball Hall of Famer and Piedmont native.

MAC Commonwealth: Widener pulled off a feat somewhat similar to the Coast Guard team we wrote about earlier this week, after an improbable victory in the MAC Commonwealth Tournament. The Pioneers entered the postseason with six losses in their last seven games, but won at Messiah in double overtime in the semifinals, despite never leading in regulation. You may remember that Messiah beat Widener in last year's title game on a late basket by Steve King, after which Widener missed a game-winning shot at the buzzer. This time around, Widener prevailed in the stunner, than got the game-winning buzzer beater in Saturday's title game win at Juniata, when senior Essien Ford nailed a 3-pointer at the horn. It was Widener alum Chris Carideo's 100th win as a head coach, and what a way to get it.

PAC: We asked a Pennsylvania-based coach for a good tip on 25-2 league champ Gwynedd-Mercy and its chances of prevailing this weekend through the first two rounds of NCAA's at NYU. Here's what was proffered.

"People wonder how they will react at the Coles Center. Let me tell you, seven of those kids played in the Philadelphia Catholic League. That's probably the toughest girls' league in the country night in and night out, not just in competition, but in away gym environments. When you grow up playing regular season, summer league, spring league, fall league games at O'Hara, Archbishop Carroll, St. Hubert's, Archbishop Prendergast against kids who go on to play at Tennessee, Purdue, St. Joseph's, Villanova, (most years those teams have two or three D-I kids or more on them) I think you are battle tested."