Last night Wake Forest defeated Texas 81-80 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It took many lead changes, overtime, and a couple of clutch performances to get there, but in the end that was the final result. To describe the game in such terms, however, is to do it a great disservice. The passion and heart-felt emotion displayed last night, both on the floor in New Orleans and in the living rooms of Demon Deacon fans everywhere, are what will truly define that win for years to come.
As a writer here at Deacons Illustrated I watch many games from the somewhat privileged seats of the credentialed media, trading the excitement and emotion of fandom for the objectivity and access of a pregame buffet and a post game press conference. With every first round NCAA Tournament site requiring a minimum of an eight hour drive or an exorbitantly expensive plane ticket, I knew several weeks ago that covering this tournament as a media member on site was going to be prohibitively expensive. Therefore, I spent last night watching the game on a living room couch with a dozen other Wake seniors eating chips and dip, enjoying a few beers, and watching an incredible basketball game as nothing but a fan.
Normally I approach a post game write up like this looking to provide a written highlight package of the game, relevant statistics, choice quotes (when I have them), and a dose of analysis to wrap it all together. If that's what you're looking for today then I invite you to look here, here, here, or here, because you just aren't going to get it from me.
Late last night, after a small amount of the excitement from the end of the game had worn off, I tried to think of a way to write that article. I quickly realized it wouldn't happen then, and resolved to go to bed and try again in the morning. But waking up this morning it was still clear that I just didn't have that kind of story in me. I could review the stats, watch the highlights, and remember the plays, but what could I tell you about those moments that you didn't already see for yourself last night? What value could I add to a game that already gave us everything we could possibly want and then gave us a little bit more?
For the most part, Wake played pretty good basketball last night, but it doesn't matter. They shot the ball better than they have in weeks and dominated the boards, but it doesn't matter. They turned the ball over way too much and missed a lot of free throws, but it doesn't matter. What the hell was L.D. Williams thinking? It thankfully doesn't matter. Why wasn't CBS showing us L.D. Williams' epic mistake live? Actually, that really ticks me off, but it still doesn't matter.
For me, all that really matters about last night was an Ari Stewart three pointer, two inexplicably missed free throws, one more round of heroics from Ishmael Smith, and an eruption of excitement and emotion that I haven't felt in a long while. Jumping up and down in the middle of the living room and yelling at the top of my lungs. Calling friends in Texas just to yell at them. My phone blowing up with stunned congratulatory text messages from friends and family around the country.
When I step back from all of that emotion I realize that it was just a first round NCAA Tournament game. Wake played well, but they didn't play that well. Texas made some pretty big mistakes and even then could just have easily gone home winners. I recognize, even if I don't want to, that this weekend will probably end with Wake having exited the Tournament with a double digit defeat at the hands of Kentucky.
But for now, I choose not to think about those things. I plan to enjoy last night for what it was: The most exciting game of Wake Forest basketball in my four years at the university, a fun night with friends, an incredible adrenaline rush, and an exuberant outpouring of emotions.
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