Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 1999-00 Embry-Riddle Men's Basketball National Championship

There are five players in a basketball starting lineup.
 
There can be five segments to the collegiate basketball schedule – preseason, non-conference play, conference play, conference tournament, national tournament
 
Five was the number of games a team in the field of 32 at the NAIA II National Tournament needed to win to take home a national title.
 
Five was also the number hovering in the background of the 1999-00 ERAU men's basketball season.
 
Prior to the start of the 1999-00 campaign, the ERAU men's basketball team coined the phrase "Drive for Five" as the season slogan, pointing to the goal of returning to the NAIA II National Tournament for the fifth straight year.
 
When the Eagles took the court on Nov. 8, 1999 in their season opener, it marked the fifth season of the Blue and Gold calling University Fieldhouse (now ICI Center) home.
 
The Eagles were undefeated in their first four home openers at the Fieldhouse and their fifth showing was no different as the Eagles routed Southern Wesleyan 94-68 in front of a homecoming crowd of 1,900 fans.
 
But three days later, the celebratory mood turned somber as returning All-American, senior co-captain, and leading scorer from the previous season Jason Cruse suffered a broken arm in a loss to Thomas (Ga.).
 
The coaching staff, who was already working through formulating a lineup that didn't include three seniors lost to graduation the year before, went to work again, adjusting the rotation in hopes of finding that winning combination.
 
When the Eagles took the court in their next game, ERAU Coach Ridder liked what he saw. And he liked it even more when the Blue and Gold rattled off seven wins in a row.
 
The Eagles dropped just three games in non-conference play and went into their Florida Sun Conference opener against Warner Southern riding a six-game winning streak.
 
Ranked eighth in the NAIA at the time, the Eagles ran into a hot Warner Southern squad that had knocked off top-ranked Bethel (Ind.) in their previous game. Cruse scored a game-high 25 points, but it wasn't enough to get past the Royals who shot 59 percent from behind the three-point line on the way to a 106-100 win.
 
The Eagles were able to bounce back from the loss and won their next eight games to top the league standings and climb to No. 3 in the national rankings.
 
With three games left in the regular season, ERAU needed just one more win to clinch the conference championship and secure home court advantage throughout the conference tournament.
 
Easier said than done.
 
The skies that were shining rays of blue and gold during the eight-game winning streak quickly turned to gray as the Eagles lost all three games and watched their hopes of being crowned conference regular season champions disappear.
 
Jarvis Hall was a freshman on the 1999-00 roster and he remembers that stretch vividly.
 
"That was a very important low point in the season," Hall said. We played Webber, Florida Memorial, and Nova Southeastern, who happened to be the three worst teams in our conference, and we lost all three games and dropped in the national rankings.
 
"When we lost the last game to Nova, we walked to the locker room wondering how our entire season could pivot so quickly.  Coach Ridder came into the locker room and expressed his feelings about the game. Everyone's heads were hanging low because we felt like we let everyone down.  There was about 10 seconds of silence, and Coach Ridder asked, 'Does anyone have anything to say?'  I responded, 'Sometimes losses can be the fuel for major comebacks. We need to remember this pain and channel it towards the rest of the season. We can either feel sorry for ourselves and give up, or we can rise to the occasion.'"
 
And rise they did. They made the "Drive for Five" a reality and took the Embry-Riddle family on an unforgettable ride.