Two years ago tonight, I was an excited Southern Illinois fan/student with "junior" status as the No. 4 seed SIU Salukis faced off against the No. 1 seed Kansas Jayhawks.
That's right, Saluki fans. It has been a whole two years since the mid-major darling came oh-so-motherf***ing-close to knocking off Bill Self's group of all-American future NBA lottery picks. That was such a great team, it's almost depressing to think that this year SIU finished with a 13-18 record and more questions than answers.
Damn, that team was so good. Mullins, Tatum and Young ... a backcourt trio that was good offensively and defensively. Then Randal Falker in the middle. A healthy Matt Shaw could have been the difference. Those were the good ol' days when people were willing to cut Chris Lowery a blank check just to keep him within Carbondale city limits. Now, the message board mafia is looking to off him like a snitch.
Southern was expected to be where Gonzaga and Memphis are right now. SIU was supposed to have major-talents in a mid-major conference, reaching Sweet Sixteens and knocking off the big boys. Instead, the Salukis are closer to rebuilding from scratch than building a consistent title contender.
It makes me think that I should be somewhere covering a Sweet Sixteen game instead of blogging/bitching about not being among the nation's elite. Knowing my luck, SIU will come back with a vengance, turn the Valley on its ear and become the little upstart directional state university that could all over again.
Until then, someone take me back to a better day.
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1 comments:
Now that is some fine A** writing!
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