Lessons Learned in NCAA Tourney Apply to Prep Athletes

Your Best Future Could Rest within Smaller School Options

The excitement over Butler and VCU advancing to the Final Four in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is well-founded.  We’ve seen the changes coming with previous underdogs George Mason (2006) and Butler (2010) advancing to the pinnacle of college basketball.  But this year is different.  These DI stepchildren are proving to prospects everywhere that you don’t have be a moutaintop student-athlete to experience the improbable.  You just have to be willing to climb the mountain. 

The Butler’s and VCU’s of college basketball are highly competitive programs emerging from schools with average student body counts and coaches still debating within  themselves if they should shave every day.  These schools have mowed down the competition with a combination of basketball I.Q, hustle and resiliency, traits their opponents were apparently saving for so-called legitimate opposition.  Kansas, VCU’s latest victim, played like they were entitled to win, as if to collectively ask, “Don’t you guys know who we are?”  Apparently not.  Fierce determination overode the universally expected intimidation factor.  Confirmation came during a post game press room interview when Jayhawks’ stunned head coach Bill Self emphatically declared, “Those guys could play for Kansas anyday.”  Good for him.  

For the high school athlete, the reflective image staring back like a Mel Gibson mug shot should not go unnoticed.  It’s saying, Dream not to be recruited by the Big Boy programs.  Instead, wish for an opportunity to come your way where you are wanted and valued and, most importantly, where a coach will look you in the eye and see you as a champion if you have the grit to give it your all, even when facing overwhelming odds.

Simply put, high school prospects are too enamored of big programs.  It’s normal to be fans of top shelf schools when you are growing up, but when actually being recruited, consider and go to the colleges which offer what you need to be a successful person in life.  College sports are fleeting.  Your life is not.  Explore your own personal needs.  Forget the glimmer of the brighter lights.  Search out colleges where you, your athletic talent, academic involvement, and professional career will be best nurtured.  College is where the foundation of the remainder of your life is laid out in realistic terms each day.  And, the college you select should be your home away from home where you feel most comfortable, safe and energized.