The best season in men’s basketball history has come to a close as the Owls fall in the first round of March Madness.
“One of my favorite seasons I’ve ever been a part of in my life man,” An exhausted Chris Youngblood said after the Owls’ heartbreaking loss to Xavier in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. “The relationships I’ve built throughout the season with my brothers in the locker room will never be forgotten.”
The years 2003-2005 saw Kennesaw State Men’s Basketball appear in three straight NCAA Division II tournaments, even bringing home a national title in 2004. But with the university rapidly expanding, pressure to have athletic programs competing at the highest collegiate level grew.
The Owls would make the jump to Division I for the 2005-06 season, joining the ASUN conference.
Over the next 14 seasons, the Owls would play under four different head coaches, even including the nationally renowned Al Skinner. Not once did KSU Men’s basketball finish any better than four games under .500.
In 2019, the Owls hired Head Coach Amir-Abdur-Rahim, a University of Georgia assistant who held no prior head coaching experience.
The beginning was nothing less than brutal. A 1-28 opening campaign followed by a 5-19 Covid-abbreviated season had many already writing off Abdur-Rahim as yet another head coaching flop at KSU.
After seeing real improvement in 2021-22, the Owls remained under the radar in the ASUN. A preseason coaches poll had KSU predicted to finish eighth in the conference.
The season that followed was supposed to be unthinkable.
The first hump the Owls were to get over was defeating in-state rival Mercer for the first time in 12 years, which was accomplished on Dec. 2 in Macon.
After dropping a hard-fought battle with the mighty Indiana Hoosiers, the Owls rallied off 10 wins in their first 11 ASUN Conference games, with their singular loss coming on a buzzer-beater against North Florida.
After finally dropping to Eastern Kentucky on Feb. 4, KSU bounced back with back-to-back wins over rival Jacksonville State, setting up an all-important game with the Liberty Flames to gain sole possession of first place in the ASUN.
The Owls would not disappoint, defeating Liberty in front of a crowd of over 3,000 at the Convocation Center.
Winning two of their final three games would be enough to secure the Owls’ home-court advantage throughout the ASUN tournament.
Thrilling victories over Lipscomb and Queens set up a much-anticipated rematch with Liberty in the championship game, with an NCAA Tournament bid on the line.
After nearly every landmark wins for the Owls over the course of the season, Abdur-Rahim was asked about the significance of the year for the program to which he always replied, “Job’s not finished.”
Senior point guard Terrell Burden hit a free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining to give KSU a 67-66 victory, sending the Owls to their first NCAA tournament in school history and finishing Abdur-Rahim’s job.
Despite holding a 13-point edge at one point in the game, the Owls were unable to stave off a late Musketeer comeback, ultimately falling 72-67 and concluding their historic season.
The Owls claimed several awards, including All-ASUN honors for both Youngblood and Burden, ASUN Defensive Player of the Year for Brandon Stroud and ASUN Coach of the Year for Abdur-Rahim.
If anything is for certain, it is that the 2022-23 Kennesaw State Owls Men’s Basketball team will not soon be forgotten.
