College basketball, especially during the month of March, is one of my favorite sports to watch.
The love and pride for their respective schools that each player brings to the court adds another dimension to the game. I’m a proud resident of Connecticut, home to the UConn Huskies.
Our basketball team seems to come alive during the postseason and, in turn, breathes some life into what is otherwise a relatively quiet state. I’d like to say that I was always a diehard Huskies Basketball fan, but that isn’t the case. The game that roped me in was the quarterfinal of the Big East Tournament in 2011.
All season people had doubted UConn. They were too young, not enough talent, all of the classic comments that caused most fans to write them off. They began to prove themselves early, winning the Maui Invitational and using that momentum to lead them through the months to come.
I remember that I was sitting in my eighth grade math class. I had heard whispers about the big game here and there throughout the day but didn’t think too much of it. I mean, they were playing Pitt and were the underdog so the Huskies probably wouldn’t pull off the win, right?
I’m sitting there taking notes when one of the boys calls out that it’s turning out to be a really close game and there are only a few minutes left. My teacher, being a sports fan himself, stops class early and turns the game on the projector. My classmate was right, and we had caught the game at just the right time. With a few minutes left Pitt and UConn traded possessions and baskets, remaining within just points of each other until the final buzzer.
I can still see the last play in my mind so clearly. Kemba Walker, UConn’s star point guard and hero of the 2011 NCAA Tournament, was handling the ball at the top of the key. The teams were tied at 74 apiece and there were only 10 seconds left on the clock. Throughout the season, Walker had stolen the show and been a standout player and leader for the Huskies. Even watching him for the first time in that classroom I could see his confidence and poise with the ball in his hands. He drove hard to the basket but saw that his defender had fully committed to beating him inside. In natural Walker fashion, he made a move; he stepped back and threw up a jumper from about 20 feet away. The shot fell just as time expired and the Huskies won 76-74. My friends and I went wild. Up until that point I didn’t realize that we weren’t the only class that had put education on hold to watch the game. I could hear all the other students cheering in rooms that lined the hallway.
From that point on, I was hooked.
I followed the Huskies’ historic run all the way to the Big East Title and National Championship. Now, they’re my favorite team to watch. Even when they’re down, I know to never count them out. That game winning shot by Walker against Pitt went down in UConn, and college basketball, history. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of great buzzer beaters, the most recent being in UConn’s four-overtime thriller against Cincinnati in the AAC quarterfinal. I still get chills whenever I see Walker's shot replayed on ESPN or anywhere else and it brings me back to watching it live from my middle school desk.
Now, UConn is in the "Big Dance" again and won their first game in come-back fashion against Colorado. They’ll face No. 1 seed Kansas in the next round. I looked it up. I think seven percent of the nation has picked UConn to win this next game.
If I’ve learned anything from watching the Huskies, it’s that: “it’s not over till it’s over.” Who knows – maybe 2016 will be the next year that gets stitched into the championship banner hanging from the ceiling of Gampel Pavillion in Storrs, Conn.
