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Neumann men's hoops enjoys the madness

Right away, you heard a roar, then individual sounds, guys yelling. It wasn't hard to find Neumann University's basketball team down on the court, their practice almost over. The place was full of enthusiasm, even one guy on defense slapping his hands on the floor.

Right away, you heard a roar, then individual sounds, guys yelling. It wasn't hard to find Neumann University's basketball team down on the court, their practice almost over. The place was full of enthusiasm, even one guy on defense slapping his hands on the floor.

Neumann coach Jim Rullo told the half of his squad that was trailing: "You need five . . . runs."

They were playing Wiffle ball. Rullo was pitching. "Last inning," the coach said.

It all made sense. This was Monday just after noon, on a campus in Aston, Delaware County. This team had earned a little bit of fun. Practice over, Neumann's group went upstairs to a classroom, grabbed pizza that had just been delivered, and waited to hear their name announced when the NCAA Division III men's basketball field was announced at 12:30.

By 12:32, barely into their first slice, Neumann players found out they would be traveling to play Mount Union College at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Alliance, Ohio. Various versions of "Oh, ho, ho," filled the classroom when Neumann was the fourth school announced. They liked the idea that it would be a real road trip for Neumann's first-ever NCAA hoops appearance.

And if they don't know much of anything about Mt. Union - a traditional D-III football powerhouse - they'll give away this much about themselves: "We're aggressive - really aggressive," said James Butler, a Neumann star. "We're really coming to play. No days off."

Neumann earned its spot in the national tournament with a 93-92 overtime upset of top seed Cabrini in the finals of the Colonial States Athletic Conference tournament. Neumann was the No. 2 seed and is 17-10 overall, so it wasn't the upset of the century. But Cabrini was coming off a D-III Final Four appearance and had beaten Neumann twice in the regular season.

"The Goliaths in our lives don't have to dominate us," team chaplain Joe Glass had told the team before the game. "There's always a Goliath in our lives. Right now, it's Cabrini. Later, it will be debt, it will be your career, it will be some problem. There's always a Goliath, but they don't have to dominate you."

Butler, a 6-foot-3 sophomore from Vaux High, in his first year at Neumann, had 31 points, 13 rebounds, and 5 assists. Down the stretch, he kept telling himself: "We have to get a stop." He'd never heard of Neumann when Rullo showed up last summer at a rec center game at 26th and Master, watching Butler and his former high school teammate, Rysheed Jordan, who is now at St. John's.

"I had a good day that day, too," Butler said, unaware that Rullo was a college coach. He had played a year of junior-college ball at Manor, but Rullo described Butler as "kind of just a lost soul, to be honest with you. He was in a tough spot." The more they talked, the coach said, he realized this guy was a fit for the grinding, defensive style he plays. And Butler was looking for a chance. When he visited the campus, he was sold. Especially when he saw Neumann's modern gym. He was sold on the spot.

Once a walk-on himself at Drexel who made good, eventually becoming a captain of the 1994 Dragons who reached the NCAA tournament under Bill Herrion, Rullo has hoops in his blood. His father, Jerry, played for the Philadelphia Warriors. His wife also played for Drexel. Rullo had been coaching Malvern Prep when he took the Neumann job.

Talking about what his team had accomplished, Rullo said: "That's what makes this game tremendously great, you don't have to be the biggest, you don't have to be the strongest, you don't have to shoot the ball the best, but if you buy into a team concept and you're willing to do all the intangibles that are required, special things happen."

His own young daughters had made little notes for each of Neumann's players. Rullo, who lives in West Deptford, passed them out after the selection show.

To one: "Nice three-pointer at the end . . ."

Another: "You did good at the game . . ."

And another: "We got our eyes on you. You were crying when you won the championship."

The player who got the last one, Terrell Blackwell from Newark, Del., a reserve player, merely pumped his fist when Neumann's name appeared on the online selection show. You don't need to be D-I for March Madness to be a real accomplishment in your life.

"Being there at all is a blessing," Blackwell said.

@jensenoffcampus