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I have to talk some sports. The Bradley University Braves, the lowly 13th regional seed team that's still alive for the (national) Sweet 16, remind me a lot of my favorite college basketball team ever.
For any kid who grew up in Muncie in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, this team is the 1990-91 Ball State Cardinals, who defied the odds and went to the Sweet 16 by beating the strongly-favored Oregon (led by Gary Payton) and Louisville teams. The mighty Cardinals were led by Paris McCurdy, Billy Butts, Curtis Kidd and Chandler Thompson that year. They were a 12th seed, and no one gave them a chance. Many of the kids had been playing together for several years and this team had amazing chemistry.
In the Sweet 16, they played the evil UNLV, which was led by Larry Johnson who had some very good years in the NBA before washing out. UNLV was 29-1 going into the game in Oakland against Ball State. They had beaten their last ten opponents by an average of 36-odd points. Ball State played tough, leading much of the game, but fell in the final minutes by two points. A last-second jumpshot from Chandler Thompson bounced off the rim, not once, but twice. Once from the back, once on the front, straight up, and off. In and out. That was the closest ANY team came to beating UNLV that year in the tourney -- they beat Duke in the final by 40 points! BSU ended up ranked a respectable 13th in the nation in the final poll.
Every kid in Muncie gave a shit about this team. You had to. These guys were as close to basketball gods as you could get in that town, a smaller-scale basketballl hotbed in a basketball-crazy state.... these guy were even more revered for a short time than the members of the various eight time state champion Muncie Central Bearcats. I remember going to quite a few games with this team in the old Irving Gym. It might as well have been the Dream Team for my nine year-old eyes, even though I certainly knew basketball by then.
I sometimes think about what might have been different for Ball State had they won that game and then won the national championship. Ball State (and the MAC) may have been very different than their current declining doormat status. The players might have been drafted into the NBA and enjoyed long careers. I did hear that Chandler Thompson was still playing in Europe?
Cut forward 15 years. Wow, that makes me feel old to say, huh? The Bradley Braves are going into a game with the Memphis Tigers. The Tigers are certainly not the 1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, but they're a pretty solid team and a regional 1-seed. And the Tigers have heart, if you saw the "Free-Throw Game" last year with Darius Washington... that was one of the most heartbreaking sports experiences I've ever witnessed as an uninvolved television spectator. That was one of those games I'll tell my kids about, and I happened upon it one time when I was bored.
I don't think the poor Braves have a chance to beat Memphis (though much like Ball State in 1991) if anyone can, it's these guys. The matchups will be intriguing, and it should make for an entertaining basketball game. I'm going to watch, and damn straight I'm going to be cheering on the Braves. Why? So maybe, just maybe the 9 year-olds of Peoria, Illinois won't have to think about the might've-beens of their hometown school when they've moved away and started work on advanced degrees. And so maybe, just maybe, this year a little guy can defy all the odds and beat the living shit out of the blue-chip corporate-America big-school programs.
Should've been Ball State in 1991. Could be Bradley in 2006.
Good luck, Braves... from all of us doormat-school alumni.
In the Sweet 16, they played the evil UNLV, which was led by Larry Johnson who had some very good years in the NBA before washing out. UNLV was 29-1 going into the game in Oakland against Ball State. They had beaten their last ten opponents by an average of 36-odd points. Ball State played tough, leading much of the game, but fell in the final minutes by two points. A last-second jumpshot from Chandler Thompson bounced off the rim, not once, but twice. Once from the back, once on the front, straight up, and off. In and out. That was the closest ANY team came to beating UNLV that year in the tourney -- they beat Duke in the final by 40 points! BSU ended up ranked a respectable 13th in the nation in the final poll.
Every kid in Muncie gave a shit about this team. You had to. These guys were as close to basketball gods as you could get in that town, a smaller-scale basketballl hotbed in a basketball-crazy state.... these guy were even more revered for a short time than the members of the various eight time state champion Muncie Central Bearcats. I remember going to quite a few games with this team in the old Irving Gym. It might as well have been the Dream Team for my nine year-old eyes, even though I certainly knew basketball by then.
I sometimes think about what might have been different for Ball State had they won that game and then won the national championship. Ball State (and the MAC) may have been very different than their current declining doormat status. The players might have been drafted into the NBA and enjoyed long careers. I did hear that Chandler Thompson was still playing in Europe?
Cut forward 15 years. Wow, that makes me feel old to say, huh? The Bradley Braves are going into a game with the Memphis Tigers. The Tigers are certainly not the 1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels, but they're a pretty solid team and a regional 1-seed. And the Tigers have heart, if you saw the "Free-Throw Game" last year with Darius Washington... that was one of the most heartbreaking sports experiences I've ever witnessed as an uninvolved television spectator. That was one of those games I'll tell my kids about, and I happened upon it one time when I was bored.
I don't think the poor Braves have a chance to beat Memphis (though much like Ball State in 1991) if anyone can, it's these guys. The matchups will be intriguing, and it should make for an entertaining basketball game. I'm going to watch, and damn straight I'm going to be cheering on the Braves. Why? So maybe, just maybe the 9 year-olds of Peoria, Illinois won't have to think about the might've-beens of their hometown school when they've moved away and started work on advanced degrees. And so maybe, just maybe, this year a little guy can defy all the odds and beat the living shit out of the blue-chip corporate-America big-school programs.
Should've been Ball State in 1991. Could be Bradley in 2006.
Good luck, Braves... from all of us doormat-school alumni.
Posted by Your Friendly Neighborhood DJ on March 20, 2006 11:22 PM | Permalink
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