(continued)

Ryan had always been driven by two things. He wanted to win and he wanted to make his parents proud. Now he found he had added a new motivation. He really wanted to win for Coach. He knew Coach would love and support his players regardless of the outcome of a game or the season, and that even enhanced his desire to play harder. Especially since Coach had never won a National Championship. Eighteen years of coaching with the best active winning percentage in the NCAA. Five final fours and four championship losses. For all Coach’s accomplishments he had inherited the moniker of a big game choker. This despite the fact that his record against top ten teems in his career was 52 wins against 29 losses. Well now that was about to change. Ryan was at the free throw line to shoot one shot. This was the moment Ryan had dreamed of his entire life.

The season started well and only got better. One early season loss to Louisville when three of the starters, including Ryan, were out with the flu and that heartbreaking loss to Oklahoma in Norman were the only black marks on an outstanding season. They earned a number one seed in the Midwest Regional and sliced through the competition, including a rematch with Oklahoma, to earn a berth in the Final Four. Ryan had wondered more times than he could remember what it would be like to be the starting point guard in the Final Four. Their first matchup was against the reigning National Champions and number one seed in the West, Stanford. Stanford was one of only 3 teams in the nation with 2 losses, the other being Florida who was matched up against Duke in the other final four game. Stanford was big and strong on the front line with the All-American point guard. Ryan, along with every Jayhawk fan, and most other knowledgeable college basketball fans thought he should have been first team AA at point guard. Second team was not bad and actually it gave him some motivation to show the world who was truly the All-American.

Show the naysayers he did with a 16 point, 10 assist, 1 turnover performance in leading his team to a 84 to 70 victory. Stanford would not repeat. Providence was on the side of the Jayhawks. Florida beat Duke, setting up a rematch of the previous seasons tournament loss to Florida in double overtime. The script couldn’t have been orchestrated any better. The Jayhawks were confident and ready as the Monday night final tipped off.

It was a classic game with no team gaining a lead of more than 3 points in the first half. Steve Sieverling, Florida’s streaky shooting guard, got hot in the second half and hit 4 straight three’s leading Florida to an eleven point lead with 10 minutes to go. The Jayhawks kept their composure and clamped down on defense while staying focused on offense. They climbed slowly back into the game and tied it up with 0:50 to go. On the next possession Ryan was called for a foul on Sieverling as he launched a three. Sieverling missed the shot but sank all three free throws. What was more troublesome was the foul was Ryan’s fourth. The one truly weak area of Ryan’s game was his confidence when he played with four fouls. He was such an intense competitor and used that intensity to focus. With four fouls he seemed to lose his intensity out of fear of that dreaded fifth foul. Now was the time to grow up.

(Click here to continue)