“You’re all registered Mr. Parrish. Do you have a car?” “I do.” “You’ll park in the College Avenue lot.” “Where’s that?” “Right across from Cousens Gym.”
Cousens Gym is the home of Tufts University Basketball. The gym was named for John Albert Cousens, a former president of Tufts. President Cousens was a student at Tufts in the 1890s when James Naismith invented the game of basketball right down the road in Springfield, Mass. As President during the Great Depression, Cousens helped found Tufts’ Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy.
Fletcher is a graduate school for those dedicated to international careers such as the diplomatic service. International Studies is one of many strong disciplines at Austin College, and Roos often find themselves headed east for more. I was a student at Fletcher living on campus in the early 1990s. Whenever life required a trip into Boston or elsewhere in the Bay State, I’d walk by Cousens Gym and drive away.
D3 women’s hoops is a northern U.S. game. That kinda makes sense; Naismith invented the game up there. Take a look at the traditional D3 powers in women’s basketball, and you’ll struggle to find teams outside of New England, the Mid-Atlantic, or the Midwest. Amherst. Wisconsin-La Crosse. Bowdoin. Scranton. Hope. Thomas More. Depauw. WashU. And yes, my Tufts Jumbos. These northern schools are the national elite.
D3Hoops.com released its national rankings yesterday, and the Top 25 is a laundry list of elite northern teams. That includes Tufts, currently undefeated and ranked #1 in the nation. There’s another undefeated D3 team, however, that cracked the rankings this week. The 11-0 Austin College Kangaroos.
Coach Michelle Filander’s Roos have won nearly 77% of their games since 2015. The past four years have included two regular season conference co-championships and two 20-win seasons. Since I began writing Roo stories in 2015, “the program” has been winning. And winning. And winning. The women? They make Roo fandom fun.
D3 women’s basketball in the state of Texas has been dominated lately by ASC conference powers UT-Dallas and Mary Hardin-Baylor. Both reached the NCAA tournament in 2019, and UMHB advanced to the Sweet Sixteen. The Roos have already knocked off both nationally ranked schools this season, each on the road no less.
AC is still undefeated and in first place within its own SCAC conference. #21 Trinity, the historic Roo rival defeated by AC last year, will visit Sherman this weekend.
We may just need to stand up and face the facts. Austin College women’s basketball may now be the best D3 program in Texas. Heck, maybe even the best south of the Mason Dixon line.
It’s still early, and there’s still a lot of basketball left to play. But a fan can daydream right? What if that elusive SCAC tournament championship and NCAA tournament berth is finally achieved? What if AC’s final national ranking is so high that an at-large bid is secured? What if the Roos make a run in the tournament? What if they find themselves competing in the Big Dance with northern elite schools like Tufts?
When I was a grad student walking by Cousens Gym at Tufts, Austin College was a million miles away. That no longer seems to be the case today. Each women’s basketball season seems to bring AC a little bit closer to Massachusetts, the home of my other alma mater and the birthplace of the game of basketball. Personally, I’d love nothing more than to see Coach Filander’s Roos go toe to toe with Tufts University in the NCAA D3 tourney. Don’t say it can’t happen!
Who would I root for? Please. There ain’t no Jumbo Tales.
Do yourself a favor. Go catch an AC women’s basketball game. They press. They hustle. They’re enthusiastic, dedicated, and play a full 48 minutes. They’re really good. You’ll be glad you saw them in action. The success of the AC women’s program will make you proud to be a Roo.
Go Roos. Beat Trinity. And heck, beat #1 Tufts for the national title while you’re at it. I will drive up to Massachusetts and scout for you Coach Filander if you need me. I know JUST where to park.
