Save the Mavericks -- Minnesota Basketball Team on the Chopping Block

Nov 13th 2009 By Dan Solomon, Asylum (online men AOL magazine)

Here's a movie: A group of struggling community college students learn that greatness exists inside themselves after their school's basketball team takes home the national championship, thanks to the inspiration of a gifted coach and the commitment of a core of dedicated fans. Come up with a bummer for a third-act twist and you're in Oscar territory. Like, maybe, budget cuts shutting the basketball program down, even after a storybook final season?

That's roughly the scene at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, whose team -- the Mavericks -- is in anything but a rebuilding year. Despite the fact that the team is currently ranked number one in the nation by the NJCAA, 2009 is slated to be the final year of the program.

If you need villains for the story, you can look to the Student Senate and Student Life Budget Committee, made up of folks currently enrolled at MCTC, who voted to end the program at the end of the year, citing that basketball was not a major priority. Which kind of puts a "Revenge of the Nerds"-in-reverse spin on things: Those students who opt to sign up for an extracurricular activity that allows them to make long-term determinations for their two-year school are the ones who get to axe the jocks' fun.

Longtime MCTC fan Rach Eggert, a prominent member of the "Help Save the Minneapolis Community & Technical College Basketball Program" Facebook group who commutes from the suburbs to watch the Mavericks, explained some of the passion that members of the community have for the team. "The coaching staff has done an outstanding job to keep games going on and bring in more fans -- I've ended up going to almost every home game. I've been following them since 2007."

But that's not good enough for the Student Senate or MCTC President Phil Davis, who insists that if the program is to continue, it'll have to score some serious independent grant money -- roughly to the tune of $118,000 a year. Predictably, there haven't been a ton of community college alumni boosters coughing up the cash (maybe they should hit up Chevy Chase). The Facebook group attempted to score $10,000 in funding from Nike, but fell short, meaning that there appears to be little that can be done to save the program.

But whenever a cool college organization is threatened by The Man, we're visited by the ghost of John Belushi, and we say nothing is over. To that end, the contact information for President Davis can be found here, and the Asylum army is encouraged to march the cavalry. If your passions can't be inflamed in the service of the players at a Minnesota Junior College, then perhaps some parting words from Eggert will do the trick. "If the program ends," she told us, "who will I watch besides the Timberwolves?"

Even if you don't care about some kids in Minnesota, helping to spare their fans from a long, painful Timberwolves season is the most noble way we can think of to spend a few minutes. And don't forget to share your words of support or condemnation for the Mavericks in the comments.