NFL
By: Jeffrey Newholm
In an epic Sweet 16 showdown, with the Stanford Cardinal pulling away from the scrappy Missouri State Bears, ESPN had a less than enlightening reveal. Holly Rowe interrupted the broadcast to give us details of Stanford’s ping-pong tournament, with Rebecca Lobo chuckling about seeds. The Bears scraped through hardship to reach the Regionals, and their fans across the country had to learn about ping-pong. Soon, however, it’ll be teams like the Cardinal who will bounce off the table as mid-majors continue to command respect.
Missouri State couldn’t reach their Final Four goal this season. However, the emotional squad declared that basketball is an integral part of life in small-school Americana. That passion, the university reveals, demands more than lip-service patronizing.
Off The Trail
State won 16 consecutive games leading into the Missouri Valley tournament and won the quarterfinal match 70-59 against Southern Illinois. They proceeded to play; no one? Due to other teams’ positive COVID tests, the Bears decided to leave the event to ensure a safe selection into the NCAA’s. Yes, the move was a dice roll. However, mid-majors will never beat the house playing conservatively.
After easing past UC-Davis, the Bears faced a favorable matchup with #13 Wright State. State blasted the Raiders, with emerging coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton boldly proclaiming, “we’re not done.”
https://twitter.com/MSULadyBears/status/1374833159225937924
Beartrap
The Stanford Cardinal, the tournament’s top overall seed, proved too difficult an opponent. The Cardinal boasted superior size (owning the boards 32-25) and bamboozled State with 15 threes on 32 attempts, while the Bears could only hit eight treys on 15 tries. Stanford led 46-26 at halftime, and State couldn’t recover. And while typically full of fun, the best excitement their Twitter manager could offer was the drawing of first blood.
The first punch has been thrown#MSULadyBears pic.twitter.com/wIzo1cXgKb
— Missouri State Lady Bears (@MSULadyBears) March 28, 2021
We Thought We Could
However, the Bears did not come to the Alamodome to take pictures of a 2-0 scoreboard. They arrived to win, as coach Agugua-Hamilton explained to this reporter after the game. “The outside looking-in people didn’t think we could beat Stanford,” she said. “We thought we could.” However, as the clock ticked near 0, the coach substituted tearful seniors out of the game, and she pointedly explained the emotions behind the unforgettable moment. “I truly love them like they’re my family,” Agugua-Hamilton choked out. “It was just an emotional moment because I wanted to win this game for them.”
Come on, Disney (ESPN’s owner), you can’t give State more than a half-hearted Ryan Ruocco “three is good”? These statements are more heartfelt than any corny movie.
“We truly care about each other,” the coach continued. “Everybody on this team, in this program, just want the best for the next person.”
Outside the top eight seeds, the other 343 women’s division one teams get little love. But for Agugua-Hamilton and immensely emotional and motivated Missouri State, the pages of glory are open, waiting for the stroke of victorious beauty. If the surging program keeps its eye on the hoop and doesn’t defeat itself, ESPN will need a run on dictionaries to find new superlatives of women’s basketball’s most potent underdog program.
