Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 4 | March 2018

10 Inside Hokie Sports The people had lingered on Carilion Clinic Court in numbers larger than usual and for longer than usual. Tech headmen’s basketball coach Buzz Williams had been emotional, and brilliantly candid, on the postgame radio show with Mike Burnop and me. My dad had texted me a handful of “WOWs” and a few exclamation points. The crowd had surged onto the floor where Nickeil Alexander- Walker had seconds before thrown a perfect lob (air ball) to Chris Clarke for the game- winning stick-back. Just before that, Clarke had missed a potential go-ahead layup off a coast-to-coast drive. A minute before that, he had successfully stolen the ball, and in white- knuckling fashion, gone coast to coast to bring the Hokies within a point. The Cassell had rocked, rolled, trembled and shaken. All of this, and much more, had transpired in less than an hour. The Hokies had slugged it out with Duke, embraced the fight, and prevailed. As I reached my car in the Cassell Coliseum parking lot, my head was spinning, and my heart was still racing. What does this winmean? Did I do the game justice inmy call? How did that happen? What is this feeling? The answers to those questions came relatively quickly, as I reached my apartment. The winmeant the Hokies were heading to the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1985-86. “We’re going, momma,” Coach had exuberantly proclaimed to his wife, Corey. The second one is subjective, but I think so. The third? It happened because this basketball family oozes character and toughness. The last one was unfamiliar, and the answer came more gradually. I have been calling games for the past 15 years. I have been delighted in wins, devastated by losses, indifferent to results, happy with my phrasing and furious with missed opportunities within myself—and, in less glaring moments, everything in between. But never this. It finally came to me. I was feeling overwhelmed. In a joyful way. Overwhelmed by what that basketball family had endured and accomplished sure, but more overwhelmed by how emotionally connected I felt to it, and how their makeup had infected me. I couldn’t sleep. My mind was filled with the immediate. Wow, that was done with ESPN’s “Big Monday” crew here. Wow, that was done in front of the seventh, but certainly most exuberant, sellout of the ACC season. Wow, that was done while leading for only a minute of the game and only four seconds of the second half. Wow, that Red Panda sure is something. Wow, they could set a program record for ACC wins. Wow, I get to call March Madness—again! An hour passed, and sleep was no closer. The thoughts just kept coming. Eventually, they turned to the process by which Williams and his family had gotten to this moment—and how I had become so emotionally invested. Their literal path extends back well beyond my observation, and I am grateful for their recollections of it, but for the purpose here, I’ll keep it in the relatively recent past. Hindsight has a way of shaping our memories and our history books, but isn’t always as accurate as we think. Our immediate hindsight would tell us that last year’s tournament appearance was preordained, and in many ways, we already might have taken it for granted. But now, as I lay awake, I started to reflect on some of the moments along the way that were certainly never certain. One of the first things I remember Williams saying was how hard it is to make up ground in the ACC. That is absolutely true, and it definitely starts long before a team begins posting wins on the court. I remember the first time I met Zach LeDay, Seth Allen, Justin Bibbs, Ahmed Hill, Justin Robinson, Chris Clarke, DevinWilson, and everyone else in the basketball family. I remember the first time it felt like family. I remember watching practice for the first time. I remember losing to Alabama State in the first game I ever called at Cassell Coliseum. I remember beating Radford at their place and the guys seemingly growing. I remember talking to Phil Martelli (St. Joseph’s head coach) in the cool bus-spinning area of Barclays Center after the Hawks had handled the Hokies in December of 2015. I remember the Hokies being serenaded with John Denver’s “Country Roads” by West Virginia fans in their own arena after the next game. I remember waiting for Williams after that game. I remember my anger, not at him, but at the feeling. I remember the Hokies beating NC State in overtime to start ACC play in their next game, and I remember the UVA win that followed. I remember the 4-1 start in conference play that season, but I also remember the five-game losing streak that followed. I remember the resolve within the group after that, and the five-game winning streak that closed the regular season. I remember Tech beating Florida State in the ACC Tournament in D.C., and I remember the joy at the Cinebowl when with Jon Laaser Nunc Coepi: Now I Begin Get your Nike ® apparel at Tech Bookstore The best place for your gear 118 S. Main Street TechBookStore.com