Long Beach State entered the 2024 Big West men’s tournament a bit adrift. The once-proud Beach finished the regular season 17-14; they’d lost their last five games and an early victory over Michigan had proven misleading.
They responded by parting ways with coach Dan Monson—a veteran of the coaching ranks who helped mold Gonzaga into a proto-national power in the late 1990s. He would be allowed to coach his team in the conference tournament but would not return in 2025.
How did he respond? By leading Long Beach State to the NCAA tournament.
On Saturday, the Beach edged UC Davis 74-70 in the Big West tournament title game to complete an improbable conference tournament run in a year chock-full of them.
To make the moment even more special, Monson’s 90-year-old father Don—a decorated former coach of Idaho and Oregon—was in attendance.
The younger Monson discussed what the moment meant to him after the game.
On Sunday, Monson and Long Beach State will hear their names called for the Big Dance for the first time since 2012.
What a week.
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