On March 8, when sophomore forward Donovan Gregory dunked the ball as the buzzer sounded, App State had secured its ticket to the NCAA Tournament with the first Sun Belt title in program history. This is the moment when App State commit Chris Mantis knew the Mountaineers were coming to play in his home state.
Mantis, a 6-foot-6-inch small forward from Lowell, Indiana committed to App State on Christmas Day, long before he knew the team was going to be playing in the NCAA Tournament.
“I’ve been talking to them every day since summertime, I know what they go through in practice and how seriously they take this,” Mantis said.