Grand Canyon will Win the NCAA Tournament - Reasons Why By Keith Spillett

• This ain’t their first time dancing. The Lopes have become regulars at the Big Dance due to their recent dominance of the wiggity-wiggity WAC.  Like that annoying kid Willard that was friends with Kevin Bacon’s Ren in Footloose, eventually, if you dance enough, you get pretty good at it.  Even if you are horribly uncoordinated and can barely keep time.  Grand Canyon is highly coordinated and is always in 4/4, so that's not a problem.  If this weren’t such a tortured analogy already, I’d probably try to compare the Lopes to that unnamed kid who shows up in that final dance scene in the film having spent his life in a town where dancing is illegal, but somehow knows how to breakdance like he was an early 80s regular on Solid Gold. Grand Canyon played solid games against Gonzaga and Iowa before breaking through last year in the tournament against Randy Bennett’s perpetually tough Saint Mary’s team.  2025 is the year the Lopes become college basketball’s answer to Tony Manero.

  
  

• Their coach knows a thing or two about March Madness.  In 1998, Bryce Drew became the face of the tournament, hitting an improbable buzzer beater from near half court that has to rank as the greatest moment in the lives of all 34,192 people living in Valparaiso, Indiana.  He learned his craft at the feet of his father, mid-major legend Homer Drew and grew up having pillow fights with his brother Scott over whether the 2-3 zone or the 1-2-2 look is more effective.  Scott got the family’s first Natty coaching Baylor a few years ago.  Bryce has been outstanding since he took over Grand Canyon in 2020 and has shown the unquestioned ability to rise to the biggest of moments.  

  
  

• As vaunted American explorer Willam Clark (of the comedy team Lewis and Clark) once muttered to himself while stumbling through the Badlands of South Dakota “Defense wins championships”.  Since mid-December, the Lopes have cranked up their defensive intensity and held teams to a stingy 88.6 points per 100 possessions, which has made them the most efficient defense in the country over the second half of the season.

  
  

• Tyon Grant-Foster has done much more impressive things than win a National Championship.  A statistic rarely considered in basketball is “near-death experiences”, but Grant-Foster has been through more than his share.  Grant-Foster’s remarkable college career and life nearly ended in his first game at DePaul when he collapsed because of an undiscovered heart condition.  He had to be resuscitated by the team’s trainer in the locker room at halftime and three times on the way to the hospital.  Months later, he collapsed again trying to rehabilitate his body in a pickup game.  There were questions as to whether he would see another sunrise, let alone another tip off.  Grant-Foster has since had two major heart surgeries and spent 16 months working tirelessly in order to be cleared to play. Remarkably, he returned to the court last year and led the Lopes in scoring for the better part of the past two seasons.  He has exhibited the sort of bravery and determination that can inspire a team to believe anything is possible.

  
  

• They have a plethora of scoring options.  Besides Grant-Foster, they feature two sharp shooting forwards in JaKobe Coles and double-double machine Duke Brennan.  Add to the mix the hard-charging, basket-attacking quickness of guard Ray Harrison and the pure Sunvoldian 3-point stroke of Caleb Shaw (who shoots 43 percent from behind the arc) and you have a potent offense that can score against anyone at anytime from anywhere.

  
  

Keith Spillett