“I think after awhile you just get sick of getting beat up on.”-Ga. Tech coach Paul Hewitt on his seniors’ motivation
March always brings out the best in college athletics, with basketball revved up to the point of madness. Before the focus shifts away from hoops, we need to reflect on last weekend’s superb Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight matchups, in both their fantastic competition and the make up of the teams that made it that far. Thursday and Friday night provided a bevy of drama, with a handful of games lasting until nearly final possessions. Final Four-bound Georgia Tech nearly dropped to 10-seed Nevada, Xavier held off a fierce Texas rally, Alabama bounced the defending champions, and St. Joe’s continued their magical run over Wake Forest, silencing their loudest critic and Wake alumnus, Billy Packer, in the process.
What is even more remarkable is looking at the type of players who made up the teams that won in that round and headed to the Elite Eight. On the final eight squads, only Alabama was without significant senior leadership, and only the Crimson Tide was trounced by their opponent.
After all of last year’s hype about first-years Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara leading ‘Cuse to the title, this year has reasserted the need for experience and leadership, and shown talent can’t make up for the heart that comes from learning from hard losses.
It’s time to let the youngster hype take a back seat to true wisdom. I don’t care how talented they are, UConn, Duke, Oklahoma State, and Georgia Tech would all be home now without their senior leaders. That may not get an NBA salary, but it warrants my applause any day.
