Mountaineers have tough Heels to climb

On Thursday afternoon, the conquering heroes were welcomed back to campus by an expansive crowd at the schools’ Patriot Hall. On Friday they went back to work in preparation for the big dance.

‘‘It feels very good,” Brown said while his phone was ringing. ‘‘We know how much work it took to get to this point. The guys continue to stay positive. We hit a couple of bumps in the road as we were going through the process, but sometimes that’s part of learning. To think that we won all three conference tournament games by double digits is something that’s unheard of in this league. But that speaks to how hard and well we’re playing right now.”

The Mountaineers wound up celebrating even more, as they defeated in-state opponent and Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference champ Coppin State, 69-60 in Tuesday’s NCAA Tournament’s play-in game in Dayton, Ohio.

For their accomplishment, the Mountaineers will face top-seeded North Carolina in the opening round on Friday at 7:10 p.m. at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC. The matchup against the No. 1 Tar Heels will be broadcast on CBS.

‘‘In October, that’s when I started to say we were going to win our conference,” said Goode, who lead the Mountaineers with 21 points in their win over the Eagles on Tuesday night. ‘‘We worked so hard for it. I mean as much work as we put into it; there was no way it couldn’t pay off.”

Much of the Mountaineers confidence stems from Wednesday’s performance at the foul line against Sacred Heart. Mount St. Mary’s shot 30-of-35 from the foul line and made 9 of 10 free throws in the nerve-racking final two minutes.

‘‘You guys liked that?” Brown asked the media Thursday about the Mountaineers’ free throw shooting against the Pioneers.

This is Brown’s fourth trip to the tournament. As a player in 1992, he helped guide Howard University to the MEAC Tournament title en route to the NCAA Tournament while averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 assists per contest. He is still the Bison’s career leader in dishes. He served as an assistant at Old Dominion in 1997 and, under legendary coach Jim Phelan, on the Mountaineers’ 1999 tournament team. To Brown, each venture was rewarding in its own way.

‘‘It’s a totally different situation,” Brown said. ‘‘As a coach I feel so proud because I’m only an extension. The guys carried out their assignments and believed what I and my staff was trying to teach them and how to play basketball and grow up and be young men as well.

‘‘As a player when I went in 1992, I was crazy with excitement because you go through it with lifting weights, taking the bumps and bruises and playing hurt. As a player you just feel so much energy. As a coach I’m pretty sure I’ll just sit down by myself and probably cry because I’m so happy about what we’ve been able to do as a unit.”

Thursday and Tuesday night’s wins were about fans, cheers and jubilation. Now comes intense preparation for the nations’ top-ranked team.