Buy Championship Gear | Selection Show Watch Party Set For Sunday

BOSTON – The front page of a newspaper section is typically reserved for eye-catching headlines, feature stories, and noteworthy snapshots of yesterday's news. For Northeastern men's basketball, front-page notoriety in this week's Boston Globe has sparked feelings of déjà vu as the program reminisces on its last NCAA tournament team.
 
On Sunday, March 10, 1991, the Boston Globe devoted the front page of its Sunday Sports section to the Northeastern basketball team after the top-seeded Huskies defeated No. 2 Maine, 57-46, to win the North Atlantic Conference (renamed the America East conference in 1996-97) for the first time in four seasons. Front and center, Dexter Jenkins, Steve Carney, and Leroy Hodge sit atop a Matthews Arena backboard waving a Northeastern flag just to the right of a headline that reads, "NU earns title rights to NCAA bid".
 
Twenty-four years to the day on Tuesday, March 10, 2015, the Huskies found themselves back on the front page of the Boston Globe Sports section beneath the headlines, "Dance step," and, "Northeastern back in NCAAs". Caleb Donnelly, Kwesi Abakah, Jimmy Marshall, and T.J. Williams share smiles at center court as NU celebrates its first conference championship and first NCAA tournament appearance in nearly a quarter of a century.
 
None of the 11 players on this year's Northeastern basketball team were even alive the last time the Huskies had brought postseason hardware back to Huntington Avenue in 1991. Northeastern did not even cross the mind of current head coach Bill Coen, who was midway through his second assistant coaching job under Al Skinner at Rhode Island.
 
A lot has changed in the basketball world since March of 1991. Larry Bird was nearing the end of his career with the Boston Celtics, having helped bring three NBA titles to Beantown during the 1980s. Michael Jordan was on the verge of winning his first NBA championship in his seventh season with the Chicago Bulls. At the collegiate level, neither Connecticut nor Duke had won a single NCAA crown yet, despite Mike Krzyzewski leading the Blue Devils to three straight Final Four appearances.
 
Although twenty-three different NU teams separate the 1991 squad from this year's CAA title holders, a closer look at both seasons appears to reveal interesting parallels.
 
Northeastern enters the 2015 NCAA tournament having won 23 games and is the first NU team to win 22 or more games in a single season since the 1991 Huskies went 22-11 overall. Redshirt junior Quincy Ford was named the 2015 CAA tournament Most Valuable Player, the first tournament MVP honoree NU has produced since Ron Lacey was recognized after the 1991 NAC championship game.
 
Following Northeastern's 72-61 victory against William & Mary on Monday night, three Huskies were named to the CAA All-Tournament Team in Scott Eatherton, Quincy Ford, and David Walker. NU has garnered three All-Tournament Team members only once before – in 1991 – when Ron Lacey, Marcellus Anderson, and Dexter Jenkins earned NAC recognition.
 
Much like the 1990-91 Huskies, the 2014-15 squad will also be riding a winning streak of four or more games into the NCAA tournament. In 1991, Northeastern won each of its final five regular season games before winning a pair of NAC tournament showdowns against No. 5 Hartford (74-59) and No. 2 Maine (57-46). This year, the Huskies are winners of four straight heading into the dance, having clinched a share of the CAA regular-season championship with a 65-56 win at College of Charleston before knocking off No. 6 Delaware (67-64), No. 2 UNCW (78-71), and No. 1 William & Mary (72-61) to hoist the league crown.
 
Even Northeastern's 2014-15 scoring margin matches that of the 1990-91 Huskies at +3.6 points per game.
 
If history were to repeat itself this season, then Bill Coen would end up facing the same challenge that former Huskies head coach Karl Fogel had dealt with in the first round of the 1991 NCAA tournament: how to lead No. 16 Northeastern past legendary head coach Dean Smith and the No. 1 North Carolina Tar Heels.
 
Steve Carney led the Huskies in that game on March 15, 1991, in the Carrier Dome with 22 points and nine rebounds, while Ron Lacey registered 12 points and four boards. NU led the Tar Heels, 10-8, during the opening four minutes, but a talented North Carolina lineup made up of future NBA players Rick Fox, Pete Chilcutt, Hubert Davis, and Clifford Rozier proved to be all too much to handle as UNC prevailed, 101-66. North Carolina would go on to advance to the Final Four, falling to Roy Williams' Kansas Jayhawks in the national semifinals.
 
And while the ultimate déjà vu would be an NCAA tournament rematch against the Tar Heels next week, all Coen and the Huskies can do for now are wait, be patient, and celebrate again when Northeastern's name is read aloud on Selection Sunday.

For complete coverage of Northeastern men's basketball, follow us on Facebook (GoNUmbasketball) and Twitter (@GoNUmbasketball). Check out exclusive live and on-demand videos at GoNU.com/xstream and behind-the-scenes content on Instagram (GoNUathletics). For tickets, visit GoNU.com/tickets or call (617) 373-4700.

Tweets by @GoNUmbasketball .