NCAA basketball teams can dress 15 for each game, but they don’t usually run out more than 10 or 11. That leaves at least a few guys at the end of every bench pondering an existential question: “What, exactly, am I doing here?”
The guys on the end of the Monmouth Hawks bench don’t have to ask that question, because the answer is quite clear. They are owning it.
While other backups are content to shout encouragement, slap hands and maybe bump chests every now and then, the Hawks’ final four—Tyler Robinson, Louie Pillari, Daniel Pillari and Greg Noack, from left to right in the photo above—are changing the idea of what’s possible. They most often do it with sheer enthusiasm, but occasionally they stray into coordinated genius.
Since their seemingly spontaneous (but actually choreographed) celebrations have gone viral, they’ve even created a video teaching others how to win without actually playing. Their advice? Among other things, “A medieval scene can spark a renaissance.” With any luck, their fine bench work will help spark the Hawks to their first March Madness appearance in a decade.
This story originally appeared as part of the How-To package in the March issue of Sportsnet magazine.