Shawn Respert (photo. MSU)

Throughout the Big Dance we’re going to bring you first-hand Tournament accounts from the ballplayers who have actually been there: guys who have won national championships, who have played in classic games, who have been involved in some monumental upsets, and who have made some unforgettable plays.

In 1995, Shawn Respert was Sporting News National Player of the Year and a unanimous first-team All-American. Dropping 25.6 points a night for Michigan State, the 6-1 combo guard led the Spartans into the Big Dance as a #3-seed that some said could have easily been a #2-seed. MSU drew #14-seed Weber State in the first round, with a much-anticipated (possible) matchup with Allen Iverson’s Georgetown squad looming in Round 2. Only that game never happened after the Spartans were knocked off in one of that year’s major upsets. Here Respert, currently working as Director of Basketball Operations for the NBA’s D-League, talks about what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a Tournament upset…

Dime: Sometimes, guys who have had their teams upset say later on that they woke up that morning with a bad feeling or just didn’t feel right during warm-ups, stuff like that. How did you feel that day?
Shawn Respert: To be honest, it was the opposite. I felt great that day. There was no pressure on us. We all felt good, and were winning at first. If you get the footage of that game, in the first half I was shooting shots like from the hash mark, back where you’re checking in at the desk.

Dime: So what happened?
SR: I don’t even know. It was like everything from halftime on was a blur. I went into halftime feeling like, “OK, let’s just maintain this lead and get this win, get rested and ready for Georgetown.” Then I’m looking up at the scoreboard with like 20 seconds left like, “Are you kidding me? What happened?” Then the game was over. I was sitting in the locker room like, “What just happened?”

Dime: No one admits it when it happens, but after all these years would you say you guys were overlooking Weber State?
SR: Yeah, absolutely. I think we did get caught up trying to look ahead. Our coach, Jud Heathcote, was in his last season. The hardest part was that we were trying to win so bad for him. I think our focus got split between just trying to win and trying to win for Coach Heathcote. We wanted him to out like you always want your coach to go out, with a great run in the tournament. Instead of focusing on taking care of business, we were focused on that. We were thiniking about what would happen after the tournament before it got played.