Hope College women’s basketball coach Brian Morehouse called it the best technical foul he has ever had in his 25 years of coaching the Flying Dutch.
The Flying Dutch defeated Kalamazoo College 101-37 in their regular-season finale at DeVos Fieldhouse in Holland. It wasn’t so much what happened during the game that his nine seniors will remember most about the victory, however. It was what happened just as it tipped off that made it so unforgettable.
Saturday was Senior Day for Hope, and Morehouse told all nine seniors to take the court because they were starting. His seniors have been so special to him and his program that he just couldn’t pick five.
“I said during our morning shootaround that this is what we are going to do today, you are all going to be introduced as starters,” Morehouse said. “When we go out to jump it up, we are going to have nine players on the court. They were like, ‘We can’t do that.’ I said, ‘Yes we can.’ I’m willing to take the technical because you are all deserving to start on Senior Day.
“We surrounded the jump circle with nine kids, the referee tossed the ball up. When it was tipped, the side referee stepped in, blew her whistle, called the time out. We called four players off the court and they shot two free throws. It was the best technical and the best 2-0 deficit I have ever had in my coaching career.”
Hope improved to 14-0 overall, and the victory was the 42nd consecutive for the Flying Dutch. Hope will have homecourt advantage throughout the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association Tournament, which begins with the quarterfinal round on Monday. There will be no NCAA Tournament this year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I was thinking about Senior Day a couple of weeks ago, and I thought how am I going to do this?” Morehouse said. “Do I start the people who normally don’t start? Do I just start my normal group of seniors? Then I thought, I wonder what the rule is if I put everybody out there? What would that be?
“Our league director of officiating talked me through it, and I said, ‘Well shoot, I will take a technical to start nine players because it’s just the right thing to do.”
Morehouse discussed his plan with Kalamazoo College coach Katie Miller before making the move.
“We have nine seniors on our team – two engineers, two nurses, two physician assistants, a teacher, a social worker and a Business Major,” Morehouse added. “Our focus is always team first. We circle up before practice. Everything we do happens in circles.”