Several members of the Cavaliers family have been fortunate enough to play in the NCAA Tournament, and we’d like to bring some of their stories to life in Tournament Tales.

Today we feature one of the Wine and Gold’s toughest hombres – Dwayne Jones. The rugged center was an integral part of St. Joseph’s amazing 2004 team that went undefeated (27-0) during the regular season and advanced to the Elite Eight in that year’s Tournament.

While Jones manned the middle, the backcourt was led by current teammate Delonte West as well as Orlando’s Jameer Nelson. Strangely, St. Joe’s were beaten by another player with a Cavaliers connection – John Lucas, Jr. – whose three-pointer with seven seconds remaining ended Jones and Co.’s incredible run.

Jones will now look to make another run at the Championship, this time in the senior circuit. But the man they call “Big DJ” looks back on that stellar season …

Talk about St. Joe’s regular season leading up to the A-10 Tournament.

Dwayne Jones: I still don’t think I fully appreciate that season – going 27-0. A lot of teams have gotten close since then. I think last year Illinois went like 29-0 and lost to Ohio State in their last game.

That season was pretty special for us. Our tournament run was cut a little shorter than we would have liked, but it was special, too.

Just looking at the NFL’s Patriots this year, how difficult is it to maintain your focus during an undefeated season?

Jones: I actually think we didn’t even care about the streak; we just approached it one game at a time. We literally didn’t look past the next game, and our coach did a great job of keeping us focused on that.

We went 27-0, were ranked No. 1, but we lost in our quarterfinal game to Xavier in the Atlantic-10 Tournament.

What was your NCAA Tournament run like?

Jones: We beat Liberty, then we beat Texas Tech – Bobby Knight’s team. That whole game it was kind of funny. Everyone kept looking down our bench down at Bobby Knight and we were all saying, ‘I wonder what he’s gonna do?’

Then we beat Chris Paul’s Wake Forest team to make it to the Elite Eight. But we lost a last-second game to Oklahoma State.

Is the Tournament one of the best sporting events?

Jones: It’s THE best sporting event. And getting to play in it makes you appreciate it even more. Now, you get so excited just watching the game. There are so many things that can happen.

I don’t want to say that it’s a level playing field, but really 1-through-65 has a chance to get to the Championship if they get hot.

Who do you like this year?

Jones: I want to say my school. (Laughs) But I think they have about a couple rounds in them, hopefully. We play Oklahoma on Friday night and it should actually be a great matchup.

But if I had to pick a winner, I’d have to say North Carolina.