Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: It’s supposed to hurt like this
3/13/2022 4:07:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball, Women's Basketball
But “Joy cometh in the morning”
FRISCO, Texas — I couldn't bear to go back to that arena. The hurt we endured Friday in Blue Raider Nation was truly too much to bear for your first year sportswriter.
When UAB and LA Tech and Charlotte and LA Tech faced off in the conference title games yesterday evening, I knew I didn't want to watch a celebration that it felt like we could taste at that time on Friday. For the Blue Raiders were about 41 minutes and 20 seconds away from the confetti falling on them, the Lady Raiders only about 50 minutes away themselves.
But, it's supposed to hurt like this.
Fans across college basketball, across all sports, don't get invested in their teams like all of Murfreesboro has in these two teams without each having a special season. Special for different reasons of course, the men finally having a return to form that so many have craved through some tough seasons in recent years, and the women keeping the train rolling with a largely new cast put in a variety of tough situations.
But there was magic with these two teams, particularly on that Murphy Center court where each has not suffered a blemish on their record, entering potential postseason play. There was magic in how the crowds got bigger and bigger, each and every week. How the tenor of conversation around the program changed with the men. How the culture of the women's team changed with new faces. How there was legitimate buzz down here in Frisco about a sweep of the titles.
Yes, it's supposed to hurt like this.
The Xs and Os of why each team lost are pretty straight forward. The men just made one or two plays less than UAB did after the two traded blows in an all-time classic. The women? Really just had one quarter where nothing could go right, not their defense, not their offense, nothing. It's basketball, that happens sometimes.
Those observations, however, don't change the fact that the Blue Raiders were up six points with 1:20 to play in double OT, or that the Lady Raiders controlled the game for three quarters of the way on Friday night. Or the fact that upset on the opposite side of the men's bracket and a team MT had beaten twice already making it through on the women's bracket gave both huge chances to win on Saturday, had those gone their way.
Of course, it's supposed to hurt like this.
Athletics, and particularly collegiate athletics, where so much is connected to the community where these teams are located and the community built within the teams themselves, are going to hurt like this when there's this kind of investment, earned investment, born out of two programs that made themselves easy to root for. Of all 350+ Division I institutions that play men's and women's basketball, nearly every single one of them will end their season with a loss somewhere along the line.
And you know what? Two days later, the sting of Friday has dissipated. Maybe one day it'll go away. Perhaps it'll never fully fade.
But, "Joy cometh in the morning."
I'd like to say I remember that from my Sunday School classes, as the phrase does indeed come from the 30th Psalm, specifically the fifth verse in the King James Version: "For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." But in reality, I remember the turn of phrase from an episode in The West Wing which merely references the Psalm.
Still, it's a motto, a creed, a promise I turn to now, because no matter how painful those memories might be in the moment, they're nowhere close to what I'll remember about this team, or even what I'll remember about them in Frisco.
Already, I know I'll be talking about DeAndre Dishman's back-to-back 20+ point nights for the rest of my life. I'll be talking about Dor Saar draining a perfect three-pointer to end the first quarter on maybe my favorite set play I've ever seen run, because the Lady Raiders get it right every, single, time. I'll be talking about how MT got every fan in Blue to get hype to Grove St. Party and Swag Surfin' to silence a UTEP crowd that made a 1v4 matchup almost a road game for the Miners. I'll think of how Courtney Whitson helped Jalynn Gregory get locked in for her first career conference tournament game.
Because at the end of the day, the joy of what these two teams have brought me, have brought all of us in Blue Raider Nation, will be remembered long after this season is over. And there's a good chance each program might be fortunate enough to have some more basketball to be played.
So as the sun rises on my last morning in Texas, and begins to set now that we're back in Tennessee, I know the hurt is good. Because the joy that comes with it makes this whole profession, this whole obsession, worth it.
When UAB and LA Tech and Charlotte and LA Tech faced off in the conference title games yesterday evening, I knew I didn't want to watch a celebration that it felt like we could taste at that time on Friday. For the Blue Raiders were about 41 minutes and 20 seconds away from the confetti falling on them, the Lady Raiders only about 50 minutes away themselves.
But, it's supposed to hurt like this.
Fans across college basketball, across all sports, don't get invested in their teams like all of Murfreesboro has in these two teams without each having a special season. Special for different reasons of course, the men finally having a return to form that so many have craved through some tough seasons in recent years, and the women keeping the train rolling with a largely new cast put in a variety of tough situations.
But there was magic with these two teams, particularly on that Murphy Center court where each has not suffered a blemish on their record, entering potential postseason play. There was magic in how the crowds got bigger and bigger, each and every week. How the tenor of conversation around the program changed with the men. How the culture of the women's team changed with new faces. How there was legitimate buzz down here in Frisco about a sweep of the titles.
Yes, it's supposed to hurt like this.
The Xs and Os of why each team lost are pretty straight forward. The men just made one or two plays less than UAB did after the two traded blows in an all-time classic. The women? Really just had one quarter where nothing could go right, not their defense, not their offense, nothing. It's basketball, that happens sometimes.
Those observations, however, don't change the fact that the Blue Raiders were up six points with 1:20 to play in double OT, or that the Lady Raiders controlled the game for three quarters of the way on Friday night. Or the fact that upset on the opposite side of the men's bracket and a team MT had beaten twice already making it through on the women's bracket gave both huge chances to win on Saturday, had those gone their way.
Of course, it's supposed to hurt like this.
Athletics, and particularly collegiate athletics, where so much is connected to the community where these teams are located and the community built within the teams themselves, are going to hurt like this when there's this kind of investment, earned investment, born out of two programs that made themselves easy to root for. Of all 350+ Division I institutions that play men's and women's basketball, nearly every single one of them will end their season with a loss somewhere along the line.
And you know what? Two days later, the sting of Friday has dissipated. Maybe one day it'll go away. Perhaps it'll never fully fade.
But, "Joy cometh in the morning."
I'd like to say I remember that from my Sunday School classes, as the phrase does indeed come from the 30th Psalm, specifically the fifth verse in the King James Version: "For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning." But in reality, I remember the turn of phrase from an episode in The West Wing which merely references the Psalm.
Still, it's a motto, a creed, a promise I turn to now, because no matter how painful those memories might be in the moment, they're nowhere close to what I'll remember about this team, or even what I'll remember about them in Frisco.
Already, I know I'll be talking about DeAndre Dishman's back-to-back 20+ point nights for the rest of my life. I'll be talking about Dor Saar draining a perfect three-pointer to end the first quarter on maybe my favorite set play I've ever seen run, because the Lady Raiders get it right every, single, time. I'll be talking about how MT got every fan in Blue to get hype to Grove St. Party and Swag Surfin' to silence a UTEP crowd that made a 1v4 matchup almost a road game for the Miners. I'll think of how Courtney Whitson helped Jalynn Gregory get locked in for her first career conference tournament game.
Because at the end of the day, the joy of what these two teams have brought me, have brought all of us in Blue Raider Nation, will be remembered long after this season is over. And there's a good chance each program might be fortunate enough to have some more basketball to be played.
So as the sun rises on my last morning in Texas, and begins to set now that we're back in Tennessee, I know the hurt is good. Because the joy that comes with it makes this whole profession, this whole obsession, worth it.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
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