There is no doubt that the 2017-18 men's basketball program elevated Retriever Athletics – and the university to a large extent – to the highest rung of public recognition they had ever occupied.

But ten years earlier and 700 yards to the southwest of "The Peake", another UMBC men's basketball team laid the first brick in the building of success.

The 2007-08 Retrievers became the first men's team of UMBC cagers to reach the NCAA Men's Basketball Championships.   

In three prior seasons, Head Coach Randy Monroe had steadied the program, but UMBC still only averaged 11 wins per year at the conclusion of the 2006-07 campaign. The Retrievers had some nice pieces in Jay Greene, Brian Hodges, Justin Fry and Matt Spadafora, but lacked explosiveness on both ends of the floor.

Enter Ray Barbosa, Cavell Johnson and Darryl Proctor. Scratch that. They had already found their way to Hilltop Circle.

Monroe gambled and gave scholarships to that terrific trio for the 2006-07 campaign. Are you old enough to remember when transfers had to sit out a year while matriculating at their new school? For Barbosa and Johnson, their year of practice-only at UMBC equaled their eventual playing time as they brought only one year of eligibility with them from James Madison. Proctor was a more traditional transfer, as the Coppin State transfer had two years of eligibility. 

Practice observers in the winter of 2006-07 could see what this threesome could mean to the program. Barbosa was a sharpshooter, who could score at all three levels. The 6-8 Johnson possessed tremendous athletic ability, with the ability to motor up and down the court and thrive around each basket. Proctor was a throwback player to an earlier era, a 6'2 ½" power forward. (We listed him at 6'4" in the program.) He was the Retrievers' answer to Charles Barkley, a rebounding machine, with a fade-away, mid-range pseudo-jumper that usually found the net.

Those seven players played all but 138 minutes in 2017-18. And each one had at least one very memorable game.

The Retrievers opened by eeking out a home win over St. Peter's, then knocked off La Salle in the Philly suburbs.  Then came a game at Richmond, a program with a rich basketball history. I'll call this one "The Cavell Johnson Game." The Spiders led, 64-57, with 3:43 remaining when UMBC mounted a rally. Johnson hit a jumper with 29 seconds left to tie the score at 68-all. UR could have gone for the last shot, but Greene stole the ball just in front of the sideline. He turned and spotted Johnson, streaking down the middle of the court, and Greene's sixth assist of the game led to Johnson's game-winning dunk with three seconds on the Robins Center scoreboard.

UMBC built their record to 8-4 with solid wins over GW and Morgan State and played their final non-conference game at Ohio State on Dec. 29. This one, I'll term "The Ray Barbosa Game." Radio broadcaster Paul Mittermeier and I were getting ready to leave the hotel for the game when we heard on awful sound from the next room. Barbosa had become violently ill, retching multiple times, and we alerted Director of Sports Medicine Cindy Kubiet about his condition. Oh well, one key piece would not be available versus the Buckeyes.

Buzzer sounds… wrong answer!

Barbosa's line: 12-21 fg, 8-14 3pt.-FG, 32 points, 38 minutes

He led a second half rally which brought the Retrievers to within a few points before falling, 92-83. Barbosa fell ill again after the game, staying on the bus as the team visited a local Columbus eatery. What a gamer!

UMBC opened up America East play with victories at Stony Brook and UNH and returned home to defeat Vermont. But then Maine nipped the Retrievers at the RAC and Hartford engaged the Retrievers in an early season America East Classic. I'll dub this game "The Brian Hodges Game."

The game featured 16 ties and 27 lead changes, including five of the latter in the final three minutes. Hodges was leading the way for the hosts, with 14 second half points. Trailing, 85-83, in the final seconds, UMBC was in disarray and a frustrated Monroe burned a time-out with 3.6 seconds left. Hodges caught the ball on the left wing and faked a pass, which got the Hawk defender to back off. Note: Hodges sunk 222 treys and averaged just over an assist per game in his career, there was no way he was passing the ball there.    

Hodges had the space he needed for a game-tying jumper, but stepped back into the land of three and swished a shot as the buzzer sounded in an 86-85 Retriever victory. 

UMBC lost the next game at Binghamton, and despite a 4-2 league record, Coach Monroe was unhappy with the lineup. So he elevated Justin Fry into the starting lineup and Cavell Johnson became the team's "Sixth Man."

"The Justin Fry Game" occurred at Boston University on January 22. He played only 15 minutes, but scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the floor. Johnson led the modest offensive effort with 13 points. But the Retrievers were engaged defensively, holding the Terriers to a school-record low 25 percent shooting (record still stands) in a 62-40 triumph. 

The lineup change (there would be another one coming very soon) sparked a nine-game Retriever winning streak.

After a bye, UMBC hosted Albany and came away with a 69-65 victory. But Hodges suffered a sprained ankle in the game and would miss the next five contests. (In two of those five games, only six Retrievers earned playing time.) Enter Spadafora as UMBC travelled to Vermont's Patrick Gym on February 2. The "Jay Greene Game."

Patrick was packed, and for those of you that know the Vermont program, the average age of the fans is a little north of my UMBC graduating class. Vermont star Marqus Blakely started the game with a jumper, layup and dunk and Monroe called a quick time-out. "The Greene Game" started innocently enough, as he made a layup, Proctor made a jumper, and, after a Catamount bucket, Greene managed to hit one of two free throw attempts.

The next seven UMBC scoring entries read: GOOD! 3 PTR, by Greene, Jay; GOOD! 3 PTR by Greene, Jay; GOOD! LAYUP, by Greene, Jay; GOOD FT SHOT by Greene, Jay; GOOD! 3 PTR, by Greene, Jay,; GOOD! LAYUP, by Greene, Jay and GOOD FT SHOT by Greene, Jay.

The steely-eyed point guard, who looked more like a high school sophomore than a college junior, scored 15 consecutive UMBC points and drew cheers from the partisan Vermont fans by the end of the dizzying run.

Even though UMBC still trailed, 35-31, at halftime, and would fall behind by 46-35 early in the second half, the display put on by Greene kept UMBC within striking distance and had about 3,300 sets of eyes on UMBC's No. 2.

Greene's teammates would get into the act, and the game became a nail-biter in the final 12 minutes, with neither team leading by more than four points. Barbosa made three free throws with 1:24 remaining to give the visitors a 73-71 lead. On Vermont's next possession, Blakely missed an inside shot and the 5-foot-8 Greene came away with the rebound as the Retrievers prevailed, 75-73.

Dozens of Vermont fans hung out in the (secured) area by the team locker room after the game, not to console their heroes, but to have a chance to meet and congratulate Jay Greene. (The following year in Burlington, an elderly lady interrupted Greene in the layup lines before the game to ask for his autograph.)

You can take your pick for "The Darryl Proctor" game.  The vertically challenged forward led UMBC in rebounding in 20 games that season. I recall the February 20 contest in front of a very hostile crowd at Albany. The Great Danes rallied to send the game to overtime and Proctor would end up playing 41 minutes. He hit 11-of-18 shots from the floor and corralled 10 rebounds. He hit a baseline jumper to give UMBC an early overtime lead, snared an offensive rebound and scored on a put-back late in the game to clinch the 81-77 victory and at least a share of the league's regular season title.

Before a capacity crowd at the RAC, UMBC clinched the regular season title and right to host a championship game with a 71-68 overtime win over UNH.

The first two rounds of the America East Tournament took place at Binghamton. UMBC cruised past Stony Brook, 76-60, in the quarterfinals and then had to deal with Vermont for the third time. The Retrievers trailed, 60-55, with 4:36 remaining. At the 4:15 mark, a Johnson jumper cut the lead to three – it would be the last field goal UMBC would convert.

The Retrievers would draw nine fouls in the final four minutes and convert 16-of-20 free throws in that span to prevail, 73-64.

UMBC would have a week to prepare for the championship game, the program's first-ever at the NCAA Division I level. Coach Monroe sequestered the team in a local hotel the night before the game, and when they arrived at the RAC 90 minutes before the 11 a.m. tip-off time, hundreds of black-and-gold clad raucous Retriever fans were there to greet them.

The scene was crazy. ESPN plugged their lighting equipment into the press row table and blew out the power moments before the tip-off. UMBC electricians worked feverishly and restored power, but UMBC's and Hartford's radio teams missed the first several minutes of the game.
And by then, it was (mostly) over.

Let's give Spaddy some love and term this "The Matt Spadafora Game." Why? Because he scored the first basket of the game. That started an opening 28-6 run midway through the first half.

The Hawks would not go away and did cut the deficit to 61-51 with 9:00 left. But Hodges – who had returned in a reserve role – and Greene hit treys in a 10-0 run and the crowd's crescendo in the final minutes could likely be heard all the way down to College Park. (The Terps did not make the NCAA's in 2007-08.)     

Retriever fans lined the sidelines and baselines as the final second ticked off. But, there was a false start as a shot clock violation gave the Hawks the ball with a second or two left. UMBC Athletics administrators and sports information directors (I'm looking in the mirror) helped clear the court until the actual celebration could begin.

The UMBC Retrievers were going to the Dance! Ten years before the famous 16/1, the Retrievers were a No. 15 seed and headed to Raleigh to face the No. 2 Georgetown Hoyas.

Notes on Raleigh

• Jim Nantz did CBS' play-by-play on that game, ten years before he called the UMBC-Virginia contest 170 miles to the west.
• Speaking of Jims, upon seeing the Retrievers' 20th-century logo on his television, Jim Lord, '99, currently UMBC's Director of Creative Services, was inspired to design the logo we proudly wear today.
• I explained what UMBC stood for (again, 10 years before 16/1) to about 1,966 people in Raleigh.
• With bigs Patrick Ewing, Jr. and future pro Roy Hibbert patrolling the paint, UMBC would have to get it done from the outside versus Georgetown. They couldn't, hitting only 8-of-26 in a 66-47 loss.  UMBC was within 31-22, but GU hit a prayer before at the halftime horn and the Retrievers would not close within single digits the rest of the way.
• Proctor was brilliant in defeat, recording game-highs in points (16) and rebounds (8). Moreover, he was credited with seven steals, which is still tied for the sixth-most (five players have 8) in NCAA Division I Tournament history.
• If UMBC fans didn't outnumber GU fans, they certainly were louder. And in the battle of the bands, it was no contest. Down and Dirty Dawg Band by a mile.

Other Notes

• UMBC's 24 wins in 2007-08 stood as a school record for ten years, until the 2017-18 team recorded their 25th versus Virginia. The team's winning percentage of 72.7 is still a UMBC DI record.
• Greene (2014) and Proctor (2015) were inducted into the UMBC Athletics Hall of Fame in back-to-back years. 
• Other members of the team and coaching staff not mentioned: Rodney Atkins, Frank McKnight, Uwem Eshietedoho, Marcos Tamares, Tyler Massey (players), Frankie Allen, Aki Thomas and Nate Stewart (coaches). The managers were Jason Grant and Ozell Sanders and keeping the guys healthy was Director of Sports Medicine Cindy Kubiet.

On Feb. 11, 2023, seven members of that team returned and a few got their first look at "The Peake" and also a look at the refurbished RAC, their former home. (Thanks to Gary Wohlstetter for the tour!). They were honored on the floor in the first half of a game won by the 2022-23 Retrievers, 76-73.