Oct.21, 2019: The Associated Press preseason Top 25 Poll ranked the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team as No. 25 in the nation. Thus, before a single game had been played, the expectations of the Rams’ most faithful followers were riding high.
In the interest of full disclosure, I confess that back in the early part of the season, I totally bought into the notion that the AP’s perception of the senior-laden 2019-20 VCU squad was spot on. When the Rams chugged through their first five games of the new season without a loss, the Nov. 25th AP Poll ranked them at No. 20, which only goosed the aforementioned expectations even higher.
Mar. 3, 2020: During my walk to the Siegel Center, I sighed to think the slumping Rams might be in for another tough night. VCU’s opponent, Duquesne, had won five of its last eight games. VCU had lost six of its last eight.
It was Senior Night, meaning there would be a ceremony honoring the five VCU seniors on the basketball team playing their last home game. Just before the tip-off. each of the five would walk onto the court with family members. Each would receive a framed jersey bearing their number.
As the game started, surveying the packed arena -- it was VCU's 152nd consecutive sellout crowd -- I hardly anticipated that only nine days later the entire NCAA national championship tournament would be called off. No deciding game in Atlanta on April 6th. Poof!
Looking back on VCU’s last home game, which VCU lost in overtime, 80-77, now it seems to have all taken place years ago. It certainly didn't occur to me as I watched that game that it might be the last college basketball game I would see live for a long time ... maybe the last ever.
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Nobody knows when Americans will be allowed to, or even want to, pack into grandstands by the thousands, shoulder-to-shoulder, to watch college basketball games. Obviously, the future of all forms of live entertainment, staged before large crowds, is as uncertain as can be.
In the realm of what matters most, way more than six feet away from sports, some of us are learning a lot more about what’s truly essential and what’s merely a comfort, or a convenience. Like it, or not, we’re also getting lessons about what actually holds a society together, in general, and especially to get through a crisis.
Even proud government-haters are getting schooled. Americans interested in the truth are learning more about authentic bravery and how different it is from the tiresome bravado of poseurs.
Of course, courage-wise, first I’m thinking about the heroics of people who have been doing their duty, doing what must be done, to keep the USA as safe from harm as possible. A lot of them work for local, state and federal governments. Others are working in the medical field, in spite of the danger. Then, I’m thinking about the children and grandchildren of suddenly vulnerable geezers, like me, those who have been doing our essential shopping and getting only virtual hugs in return.
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Alas, specifically what went wrong for VCU’s star-crossed 2019-20 season is a matter I’ll leave for others to analyze. However, I will add that even though VCU had plenty of good players, as the season wore on the team itself appeared to trip a few times over its once lofty expectations. Eventually it stumbled and fell.
Fell flat. Once the spell was broken, the Rams confidence, as a team, was kaput.
The immediate challenge for Mike Rhoades, who’s now looking forward to his fourth season as VCU’s head coach, is to discover new ways to restore the program’s confidence in itself during a social distancing ordeal no basketball coach ever expected to face. During this interregnum Rhoades must improvise to be effective, just as the best teachers all over the country are doing.
Meanwhile, we are all living day-to-day, breath-to-breath, trapped for now in what seems like an old black and white episode of the Twilight Zone.
Bottom line: Most of us Americans will be traveling somewhat lighter from here on, given the expectations we’ve had to heave overboard, just to keep from sinking during the blighted spring of 2020. The authentic confidence we gain from here on, by improvising and adapting, will serve us all well for dealing with what comes next.
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