It took a full week away from the Madness
to really grasp it all.
We got spoiled.
We all saw what happened! And since the
last Insanity Report, we got another taste and another roller coaster ride last
Sunday with another flurry of buzzer beater moments with the meltdown of
Northern Iowa to Texas A&M and the Wisconsin buzzer beater in a span of 10
minutes.
How can this be?
How? Why?
This is a rarity and it’s the purest of
raritys. Why? How could those 4 days last weekend happen?
Before we move on, please please please
watch the video on NCAA.com or on YouTube called, “March Madness Moments:
Sights and Sounds of Opening Rounds.” This video shows the main buzzer beater
highlights from the opening round, but also it shows WHY we have been so lucky
as to watch the best 4 days of hoops in March Madness history.
So why? How?
The college student-athlete! That’s why!
That’s how!
After last weekend it seems pretty ironic
that the top “one and doner” in Ben Simmons is not in the NCAA Tourney. Say
what you will about Ben Simmons and LSU’s season. What it does highlight is
that this year’s Madness which was previewed to have lots of parity is mainly
filled with teams chalk full of juniors and seniors who have not only taken the
long path as an athlete but also as a student.
Look at the many press conference moments
in the video of the players describe how they were feeling after the loss they
went through. They were emotional, spent and truthful!
What was showcased last weekend was the
true plight of the college student-athlete, by it’s very definition. By the
true definition it is the difficult and otherwise unfortunate journey taken.
Unfortunate in that, for the
student-athlete going through their journey, are many times that it feels like
an unfortunate situation during their 4-5 year stay at their school.
It’s not easy.
Many people are aware of the demands and
sacrifices of the college student-athlete. Such as the heavy time demands to
balance classes, practices, training sessions, travel, etc. Then there is the
sacrificed time away for shortened family visits for Christmas and summer time
due to training and game schedules. There is also the sacrifice of missing many
other fantastic college experiences that non-student-athletes get to partake
in. These difficult demands and sacrifices are just a few of many that will
test the will of each and every student-athlete at least once in his/her 4-5
years. This can be guaranteed.
There is a lot of physical, mental and
emotional pain during these 4-5 years. It is very difficult and again, at many
times, it feels like an unfortunate situation.
It takes playing the last game of a college
career to realize how fortunate it was to go through every high and low and
that the most unfortunate aspect of this journey, is…
…that it’s over.
The journey of countless hours in the gym,
weight room and film room is what help defines the career of a college
student-athlete. The harder the student-athlete grinded, the deeper he/she can
dig.
The meltdown by Northern Iowa was indeed a
meltdown vs. Texas A&M, there is no denying that, but what defines Northern
Iowa is how they responded to that meltdown. What defines them is the response
to losing the 12-point lead in 42 seconds with the 2 overtime periods where
they battled back; burning every drop of fuel down to the very last vapor of
fumes left in their tank.
The journey involves so much preparation.
Such as that of the many times Bronson Koenig practiced his fade away
three-pointer from the corner in practice and with Nigel Hayes during many pre-games.
That preparation allowed him to know the ball was going to go in as soon as it
left his hands.
There has to be a winner and loser during
these games. It will be a devastating loss for Northern Iowa or a harrowing win
for Wisconsin. Despite the different results, the grinding and difficult
journey will always be the same for all sides of that result.
The pain is not in one very rare and
painful loss, but rather there is a pain that the 4-5 year journey is over.
Just listen to Utah’s Brandon Taylor when he says while crying, “I’m never
going to go to war with a guy like Cool’s anymore…I’m not going to go to war
with Coach K being my coach.” A journey that Taylor has gone through WITH his
teammates and coaches. One that he will never regret, but ask him if he’d
repeat it? The answer could be no. It’s just that difficult and not every
person can do it.
So to go through that journey, that’s
Madness.
These players aren’t one-and-doners that
don’t go to class and suck the life out of a scholarship; these players went
through the grind of the journey of a student-athlete.
What we saw last weekend were many ballers
answering the bell of a challenge that could only have been met from how much
they shouldered the incredible demands and sacrifices they chose to make.
It was no accident that they made the
choices to go through their journey. It was no accident what we saw with the
many buzzer beaters, upsets and shear madness, because what we saw, I am
convinced, were the results of the Madness that is the plight of the college
student-athlete.
They answered the bell and we reaped the
exhilaration of watching it.
We saw 4 amazing years of players such as
the amazing duo of Fred Van Vleet and Ron Baker giving us a Final 4 run in
their freshman year, an undefeated regular season run in their sophomore
season, a Sweet 16 junior season run and their final 2 victory March Madness
run in their senior season at Wichita State. We got to see the outcomes of the
true journey of the student-athlete that Stephen F. Austin Head Coach, Brad
Underwood said “(is) everything that this is about!”
Most years of the Madness are saturated
with teams with one-and-done players that are at a program for a one-year pit
stop before going off to the NBA draft. That’s fine. It gave us great Madness
in a Duke and Kentucky team last year or the Unibrow led Kentucky team in 2012.
Not this year.
We got the saturation of amazing moments
that could only have been made possible due to the choice to go through what
only a college student-athlete can go through.
Thank you Ron Baker and Freddie Van Vleet!
Thank you college student-athlete!
And we have 2 more weekends of Madness?
Madness you spoil us.
Enjoy tonight’s Madness!
Insanely yours,
Commissioner Adolph.
