GREENSBORO, N.C. — The bond between Mick Durham and Danny Sprinkle continues to strengthen.
Durham, the head men’s basketball coach at Montana State Billings, was talking about Montana State’s success during MSU’s shootaround at the Greensboro Coliseum on Thursday, one day before the Bobcats’ NCAA Tournament game against Kansas State. As Durham spoke, MSU coach Danny Sprinkle waved to him. Durham stopped his answer mid-sentence, smiled and waved to his pupil.
Sprinkle played for Durham at MSU in the late 1990s. As a freshman in 1996, Sprinkle helped the Bobcats reach their third NCAA Tournament in program history. On Friday night, he’ll experience his third March Madness game as a member of the MSU men’s basketball team. The Helena native led the Bobcats to consecutive NCAA tourneys as their head coach.
Durham, a Three Forks native who played for the Bobcats before coaching them for 16 seasons, coached against his alma mater in an exhibition prior to this season’s opener, and he traveled with MSU to North Carolina this week. He’ll be one of many Bobcat fans in attendance for Friday’s game against No. 3-seeded Kansas State at 7:40 p.m. Mountain time.
“He took a chance on a kid from Helena, Montana, and gave me a scholarship and really set the stage for the rest of my career, playing-wise and coaching-wise,” Sprinkle said in a press conference Thursday. “I'm really happy that he was able to come, him and his wife Donna. It obviously means the world to me because I'm not here without him.”
With Donna seated next to him, Mick Durham talked to 406mtsports.com about Sprinkle, his March Madness memories and more on Thursday at the Greensboro Coliseum.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
406: Did you go to MSU’s (NCAA Tournament) game last year in San Diego?
MD: Yes. That was obviously the first time we’d been back in a long time, so I definitely didn't want to miss that. And with our season (at MSUB) just getting done, trying to unwind a little bit, I thought this might be good and I was able to hop on (the plane) with the Bobcats. I’m taking advantage of my connection, I guess. It’s cool. It's great for Danny. I’m obviously very proud of him and what he's done. To be able to go back-to-back is pretty cool.
406: Have you now been to three NCAA Tournament MSU games?
MD: Yeah, and then when I was an assistant for Coach (Stu) Starner (in 1986). We went to the NCAAs and we played St. John's. So this is my fourth with Montana State. And then when I was at New Mexico State — I was an assistant — we played Michigan State in Spokane. All these games, they've all been against pretty high level teams.
406: Yeah, it's hard to get a really high seed when you're coming from the Big Sky.
MD: The year we went, we were at 13 (seed) and we drew Syracuse in Albuquerque. (Hall of fame coach Jim) Boeheim was there. We were down two at half, and he for some reason decided to play man to man (defense). It was funny, I heard him speak that spring and he talked about, “At half, we just had to suck up our ego and go back to our zone.” And man, their zone was big, long, and then obviously we got beat bad in the second half.
406: How do you feel like this MSU team compares to the others you've seen (make the NCAA Tournament): last year’s or your team?
MD: Boy, that's hard. Last year's team had the veteran guys: (Amin) Adamu, the point guard (Xavier Bishop), (Abdul) Mohammed. It's hard to know. To finish with a 25-9 record… Obviously last year's team won the Big Sky.
I don't know how you compare to my ‘96 team. That obviously was my best team. We had the MVP in the league in Quadre Lollis, we had Nico Harrison and we added Montana guys (Adam) Leachman, (Scott) Hatler and Sprinkle. What was neat in that situation was we started three Montana guys. That part was pretty nice.
406: It's kind of cool seeing Danny talking with the CBS crew right now, Ian Eagle’s in there.
MD: In ‘96 when we won (the Big Sky Conference title), young Jay Bilas was calling the game. He’s now obviously on top, but he was obviously low level (at the time). He was sent to Bozeman.
406: Any thoughts on Greensboro or this upcoming game?
MD: I was thinking of trying to get to Denver or Sacramento, so I don't think anybody saw this coming. Also to be in the East Region. We're the only West Coast team out here.
I'm just happy for the program, being an ex-player and coach. What Danny's done and having a little bit of connection still with Sprinkle coaching has been really fun for me. I haven't seen them play (in person). I've watched them on TV. Since he's been there, I've pretty much been busy on the weekends too, so this is kind of my chance to see them.