Upstart Norfolk State Has a New York Swagger OMAHA - Three times in the final minutes of Norfolk State's 86-84 upset of Missouri on Friday, a Spartans supporter in the stands behind press row called out to Marv Albert, who was broadcasting the game on TNT about 30 feet away. "Hey, Marv Albert!" he said. New York! Albert, naturally, never turned around; he had more pressing issues in front of him. And what the fan meant was not exactly news to people who had done their homework. When Coach Anthony Evans and his head assistant, Robert Jones, arrived at Norfolk State, a small, historically black institution in Virginia in 2007, they established a recruiting pipeline back to their home ground, the New York City area. It's not an original idea. Frank McGuire did it at North Carolina in the 1950s, and Al McGuire at Marquette in 1960s and "70s. It certainly worked then, and it is working for Evans. Eight of Norfolk's 16 players hail from New York City, with Kyle O'Quinn and Marcos Tamares of Queens among the starters. Five more, including the starting guard Pendarvis Williams of Philadelphia, attended prep schools in New Jersey. The senior swingman Chris McEachin, the team's second-leading scorer after O'Quinn, is the only player from Virginia. Attracting city players to a university with about 7,000 students near the Atlantic Ocean is not hard, said Evans, who is from Brooklyn. "When you're growing up in New York, all you see are tall buildings, and cement," Evans said, emphasizing the first syllable of cement. In Norfolk, he said, "you see trees, grass, Virginia Beach." All that you can sell to a young man. There is a lot around. They come to the gym - we have a 7,000-seat arena on campus - and a great football stadium, and it's a great atmosphere. When they come to campus, they want to be a part of that. The New York influence gives this team not only different speech patterns - O'Quinn and Evans call this event a tour-nament, rather than a ter-nament - but also a confidence that contributed to its apparent lack of jitters on Friday. In a game with 22 lead changes, Norfolk State (26-9) became the fifth No. 15 seed to upset a No. 2 in the N.C.A.A. tournament since 1985, and the first since 1991. Lehigh made it six with a victory over Duke a few hours later. Next up in Sunday's third round: Florida, coached by the Long Island product Billy Donovan. None of the previous years" No. 15 seeds won another game in the tournament, but the Gators" guard-oriented offense and reliance on 3-point shooting offer Norfolk State the same favorable matchups that Missouri did. After Friday especially, the Spartans should not be intimidated. Evans even joked that he owns a video of Donovan when he played for Rick Pitino at Providence; his confident 3-point shooting took the unheralded Friars to the Final Four. "Basketball has always been a game of everybody from everywhere," said the assistant coach Wilson Washington, a former N.B.A. forward who grew up in Norfolk. I recognize the swagger from the guys from New York, and respect it. They bring a lot to the table for us. In addition, Evans said, Missouri was not Norfolk State's first quality opponent. The Spartans beat the tournament qualifier Long Island University and the Colonial Athletic Association regular-season champion Drexel in nonconference play. They also lost to Marquette, 59-57, in the final of the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands one week after the Golden Eagles routed the Spartans in Milwaukee. "We played a tough nonconference schedule to prepare us for this point," Evans said. I think this team has an inner confidence that they feel they can play with anybody, and they went out and showed that. Norfolk State had been a Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference power, appearing in 15 N.C.A.A. Division II tournaments in 31 years with one Final Four appearance before rising to Division I in 1997. Its best-known player, Bob Dandridge, won an N.B.A. title with the Milwaukee Bucks. Before Evans arrived, the Spartans had one winning season in Division I and no N.C.A.A. tournament appearances. The team was 16-15 in his first season, 2007-8, but three losing seasons followed, though Norfolk State reached the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference final in 2009 and lost to Morgan State. Last season the Spartans finished 12-20. The emergence of the 6-foot-10 O'Quinn, the conference player of the year and a two-time defensive player of the year, and an influx of four Division I transfers gave Norfolk State its strongest roster yet. McEachin came from Radford and Tamares from Maryland-Baltimore County. Against Missouri's four-guard offense, Norfolk State matched size or had a height advantage at every position. The Spartans outrebounded the Tigers, 37-25, turned 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points, and shot 61.5 percent in the second half. Norfolk State made more than half its 3-pointers (10 for 19) for only the second time all season. Williams hit his four 3-point attempts while shooting 7 for 9 and scoring 20 points, one of three Spartans with 20 or more. O'Quinn even hit a 3-pointer from N.B.A. distance in the first half, only his sixth of the season, on his way to a 26-point, 14-rebound performance. What else would one expect from O'Quinn on St. Patrick's Day weekend? "I got a lot of those clovers, texting me good luck, good luck, Kyle O'Quinn win," O'Quinn said. I had to leave my phone at the hotel because I was getting too many of those kinds of messages.