I hate conference tournaments. It doesn’t matter if it’s basketball or baseball; I hate them. They are an unnecessary extra grind on top of a difficult season. In my view, basketball is the worst because teams play 3-5 extra games in 3-5 days. It is nothing more than a payday for the conference at the expense of the players.
Of course, I was not too happy to see J’wan Roberts pull up lame against Colorado and have to sit out the second half. UH fans have seen this before. The team was rolling into March Madness and suddenly suffered a significant injury with the season in the balance. This felt like a disaster. What was this team going to do without its leader and glue guy?
They did what they had trained to do—they stepped up and moved forward. BYU came into the semifinal game as the second-hottest team in the Big 12. There was a lot of concern that UH wouldn’t be able to match up without their leader. Someone was going to have to step up and pick up the slack. As has happened repeatedly this year, the next man up came through.
Milos and LJ were steady as usual, but Emanuel Sharp exploded with a game-high 26 points and reminded everyone that he is built for March. Mylik Wilson also turned in a great performance with 13 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. And just as important JoJo Tugler and Ja’Vier Francis guarded the rim while avoiding foul trouble.
The next night in the finals, UH faced an even tougher test against Arizona. The Coogs struggled in the first half, ending behind by 5 points. But the second half was a clinic, and the guys unleashed a blitzkrieg to take the lead in the 2nd half. Milos Uzan had a monster night, going off for 25 points, while Emanuel Sharp stayed ho,t adding 17.
What really stood out to me was Ja’Vier Francis. He was asked to play a season-high 29 minutes and had seven rebounds, 5 of which were on the offensive glass. He also made arguably the biggest play of the night: Up two points with 45 seconds to go, UH had the ball. Milos drove to the block and was stopped, so he passed to Ja’Vier. Ja’Vier tried to hand the ball back to Milos, but the exchange was bobbled, and the ball was loose.
Ja’Vier ripped the 50/50 ball away from a diving Arizona player, took one dribble, and dunked it home for a four-point lead. Arizona didn’t score again, and the Coogs closed out the victory and took home the Big12 Conference Tournament title.
What started as the biggest curse of the season ended as one of the biggest blessings. The conference tournament weekend demands more from every player and every coach. Players on this team were challenged to do more, and they answered the call. Without the heart and soul of this program, they stepped up. They have trained for situations just like this since they all got together last June.
It is such a blessing because there is a big difference between believing you can step up in a big situation as a player and going out and proving you can. To this date, there has been no bigger moment and no bigger stage, and they all stepped up to bring home a title.
I came into this post-season hating the conference tournament and thinking only bad things could happen with these extra games. Then I saw this team overcome a tough spot, and that can be a massive catalyst for a nice run in March Madness. Turns out, the Rolling Stones were right:
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometime, you’ll find
You get what you need.
