Tearful Farewells For Wichita

(St. Louis, MO) – The finality of the college basketball season is cruel, sudden and emotionally impacting. The names on the jerseys are different, but the reality that the journey is over and the dreams will not be realized is palpable. Media members are at a loss. The same questions that have worked all year, don’t work now. Reporters almost feel like psychologists, asking questions to help the players and coaches reflect and emote.

It is emotional, inspirational and eye-opening as to how deeply the players and coaches feel about one another, the team and the shared experiences. Unlike in pro sports where the players and coaches are professionals and will be playing some where the next year for exorbitant amounts of money, most of these seniors will never play a competitive game of basketball again.

Four years, almost 500 practices, pep bands, road trips all come to a sudden end and the ‘family’ you’ve joined will break up in a matter of weeks. It is almost cruel to watch. But watch we must. The press conferences are all the same, but some impact us more significantly than others. Below you will see three coaches that dealt with this on Friday in St. Louis. Archie Miller from Dayton, Weber State’s Randy Rahe and the legendary Tom Izzo. High, mid or low major, the feelings are the same.

What impresses me is how the coaches genuinely care about their players, and they care about spending time with their players. It’s like a death in the family, and they’re not sure how to handle it.

 

 

We feel it more profoundly when it involves the players and coaches we see the most often. In the case of Valley Hoops Insider.com, that means it hits us hardest when it is a Missouri Valley or Ohio Valley Conference team, coach and players.

It was hard to watch Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Gregg Marshall say ‘goodbye’ on Saturday. These names, and this program have been so synonymous with everything good about mid-major baseketball and the MVC.

You can see the passion, affection and respect for one another in their voices and in their words.

 

 

Coach Marshall always speaks in reverential tones when speaking of his seniors, but this was different. Those two players have been the heart of the program for four years. They’ve won titles, made deep runs into the NCAA Tournament, earned individual awards and demonstrated that great players could thrive, be noticed and succeed in so-called ‘mid-major’ programs.

They’ll be missed throughout college basketball and here at Valley Hoops Insider.com.

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