THE DAILY DIVERSION

BASKETBALL, BACK IN MY LIFE...

Well, it's almost midnight in Memphis, and I'm pretty bored and pretty tired, yet had a couple things on my mind.

It's been a good day. I accomplished a few things at work today and while I was at lunch a good friend of mine called with some excellent news. So, I'm sitting at Hooters with two co-workers, when my phone rings. I answer it, knowing who's on the other end, and say "What's up man?" He replies with, "Dude, you need to get over to the Forum (FedEx Forum in Memphis) at 3:20." I could barely hear him with all of the action going on around us at the restaurant (Tennessee was playing South Carolina on TV at the time). He repeated the same thing at least 5 times, but I still didn't get the hint. Finally, I just tell him that I'll call him when I get back to the office.

Half an hour later I make it back to the office and give him a call to find out what's going on. He goes on to tell me that he's got us two tickets to the Conference USA semi-final tournament games. However, the first game, between the University of Memphis and the University of Houston, starts at 3:30. On any given day I usually work until 5 pm or after, so getting out of work can be rather troublesome. Anyway, I sit at my desk for a little while thinking of stories to tell me boss why I need to leave work at 3 pm today. Finally, I just decide to tell the truth. That usually works, right? Well, in this case it does. I go and ask my boss if he minds if I get outta there at 3 and he just asks me why. I reply, "Well, my buddy got us good seats to the Tigers game that starts at 3:30." He just laughs, and say's "Sure, just don't let O'connor see you." O'connor is my boss's boss's boss, and is a Memphis grad and big booster. I simply tell my boss "Oh, don't worry! He'll be up in the luxury box, and I'll be down on the floor!"

Well, that was partially correct. We were exactly 3 rows behind the Houston bench. Just within earshot of Tom Penders (UH's Coach), who may very well be the softest spoken coach I've ever had the pleasure of being near. Not once in the two hours I spent watching him did he even come close to raising his voice. I almost kind of like the guy. His team played okay, but rely way too much on individual athleticism and shooting the 3 pointer. If they are on, then they could very well beat anyone. However, tonight, they were not on, thus, they lost.

I've lived in Memphis for nearly two years now, and I'm still not a UofM fan. I root for them a little bit, but I just can't pull myself to be a true "fan" of them. Something about the coach (who I personally believe couldn't coach his way out of a wet paper bag, but that's another story), and the players he recruits have a tendency to be less than "upstanding". Here it seems like winning is the #1 priority, regardless of how it happens. That's something that I've always hated about "big time" college athletics. Some places can get away with it, some can't, but it sends the absolute wrong message to high school athletes and even younger kids. They see these guys, who couldn't score a 10 on an ACT exam, playing ball and doing whatever they want, and then they hear about them getting arrested on drug possession charges, shoplifting, or beating the living shit out of their girlfriends, and what punishment do they get? They get a slap on the wrist, no jail time, and maybe, have to sit out a game or two. What message does this send to our youth?

Anyway, I got a little off topic there... We head over to the forum to watch a couple of good basketball games. This is the first time since Tuesday night that I've actually wanted to watch a basketball game. Now, I've watched a few since then, but not whole-heartedly. They were on TV, but I didn't care. Many of the people that may actually read this know what happened on Tuesday night. Some have even labeled it "Black Tuesday". I think that's pretty fitting. For those that don't know, on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006, both of Western Kentucky University's basketball teams had the opportunity to win their respective conference championships in Murfreesboro, TN. On this day several thousand Hilltopper fans travelled from all over the surrounding area to turn the blue of the Murphy Center "RED". I was not fortunate enough to get to watch the Lady Topper basketball team play against homestanding Middle Tennessee State University, but I listened to the game via the internet radio stream. They came out strong and took a commanding lead, but then it just seemed like they quit doing everything that worked. The final result... another disappointing conference final loss to MTSU.

Now, onto the real heartbreaker... At first, it looked like my beloved Hilltoppers, that I've watched all season, were out on the floor just like they've been 28 other times this season. However, within 3 minutes of the first half I had figured out that someone had stolen our gray uniforms and given them to Florida International. I say that, because I didn't see anything that I'd seen all season. There was no sign of the passion and heart with which this team had played with most of the year. After senior night, and all of the energy and electricity I saw them play with, I thought this team was invincible. Well, I was quickly proven wrong. Anything, and everything that could go wrong on this night, did. The Hilltoppers couldn't throw the ball in the ocean if they were standing on the beach, and it seemed like South Alabama couldn't miss if they had to. Part of the latter was our atrocious defense. We'd played some bad "D" during the season, but this night was something special. All it really took was one pass and they'd be shooting a wide open 3 pointer or would have an open layup. I can't remember exactly what they shot in the first half, but they shot 63% for the game, and South Alabama hit their first 9 shots of the 2nd half, basically crushing all ideas of any type of comeback.

I have to give South Alabama and Coach Pelphrey full credit for this win, and not just blame it on the Hilltoppers. They did everything they were supposed to do to beat us. Obviously they had a game plan and executed it to perfection. They took advantage of every weakness we had and exploited every deficit they saw. If you weren't rooting for WKU, then it would've been a thing of beauty to watch this game. For us Topper fans though, it was purely two hours of hell.

I'm still not over this game, and probably won't be for a long time. It's not necessarily that we lost, or that we lost in the championship game to go to the Big Dance. It's more that we got absolutely embarrassed on National TV (one of our few chances to be on it), and that this is the one and only impression that some people will ever have of Hilltopper basketball. Lastly, it's the first, and last, impression that the selection committee will have of our program, which is what sucks the most. Twenty three wins and 7 defeats means nothing to them, mostly because of our conference affiliation. Our defeating UAB, on their home court (the only team to do it this season), means absolutely nothing. Our win over Virginia, who actually held their own in the ACC this year, means absolutely nothing. Our close losses at Arizona and Bradley mean nothing. None of the hard work these kids put in all off-season means anything. In the end, we get to kiss our sisters, and are supposed to be happy about it. What makes it worse is that some team with less wins, more losses, and not the quality of talent we have will be in the NCAA tournament and we'll have to sit and watch and say to ourselves "Dammit!! We could beat them!"

So is the life of a Hilltopper this time of year.

Oh, I watched Memphis beat Houston and UAB barely squeak by UTEP in two wonderful games today. I almost missed that entire point. And, to think, I could've stayed at work all day.