Grateful Amid Defeat
Mar 26, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
So often in life, and in sports, we wonder "What's next?" Kansas State suffers a 79-76 loss to a very good Florida Atlantic team in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden, but it just doesn't feel exactly right to wipe the board clean here in New York City. Each minute deserves its moment, and it's OK to hurt, and it's OK to wonder "what if" because life is full of "what ifs," and, yes, we're here in the Big Apple, and as a new day dawns, the unforgettable 2023 edition of the Wildcats will head to Manhattan Regional Airport, and they'll trudge out into the cool afternoon air, and we don't know where they'll say goodbye or how they'll say goodbye, but there'll be a time when they say goodbye, and it'll hurt all over again — the pain a reminder of how much they love one another and the unshakable bond forged over the course of many incredible months.
There's nothing in the world like sports and there's nothing in the world like March Madness and there's been nothing in Big 12 Conference history quite like this team, which — and we'll repeat it again — began with a first-year Division I head coach and a new coaching staff, and with two returning players from a squad that went 14-17, and that grew to include 13 newcomers, and that was picked 10th in the Big 12 — 10th, as in last place — and that debuted at No. 11 in the AP Top 25, and that rose to No. 5 in the poll, and that beat No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor and No. 2 Kansas in a span of 10 days, and that finished ranked No. 15 in the final poll ahead of the NCAA Tournament, before their journey ended one game from Final Four.
"First of all, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Jerome Tang began, sitting on stage under the lights at Madison Square Garden one final time. "In the midst of probably one of the toughest things that I've experienced with these guys, if we can't be grateful in these times then all the love and joy that we talk about is fraud, and we're not frauds.
"This hurts right now, but I wouldn't trade these guys for 10 other players or 20 others. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I'm so thankful for the fun and the ride we had this year."
This squad, that everybody counted out, finished third in America's toughest conference, and featured the Big 12 Coach of the Year and Naismith National Coach of the Year finalist, and featured a pair of third-team All-Americans in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, and it sold out Bramlage Coliseum eight times.
Credit K-State athletics director Gene Taylor for making such an amazing hire. Credit Tang, his staff and players for elevating this program.
"We will win a national championship while we're here," Tang said prior to arriving in New York.
There are stories, yes, stories galore within this 26-10 season that the coaches will share with each other, that the players will share with each other, and that we all will share with each other for many, many years, underscored by a testament that it can be done, a grand turnaround, lightning quick, with what Tang has trademarked "Crazy Faith," and that coming from the depths has rarely been achieved in such cat-like fashion.
But for now, look at Tang and Nowell sitting on stage in New York City one final time, the last hurrah, the end of the march, the end of this ride through March, the finality so excruciating, so fast, and so breathtakingly painstakingly unbearable one year since Tang stood upon a different stage inside the Shamrock Zone and proclaimed, "IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!" and that he wouldn't "rebuild" the program, but instead "elevate" the program.
Mission accomplished.
"I'm very grateful," says Nowell, who had arguably the best NCAA Tournament by a player in K-State history. "I had a tremendous year with my teammates and coaching staff. I had a lot of fun. Looking back at how hard we worked to get to this point, I'm just thankful for the journey."
One game after Nowell, a Harlem native, had 20 points, a NCAA Tournament-record 19 assists and five steals in a 98-93 instant-classic overtime win over Michigan State, Nowell had 30 points, 12 assists and five steals in his final collegiate game in his hometown and inside the world's most famous arena.
"I played my heart out," says Nowell, who was named Most Outstanding Player for the East Regional. "I feel like I gave my heart and soul to this game because I wanted to see these guys win and smile."
It is a great day to be a Wildcat, all the time, but it certainly is on this day because Tang has returned respectability to the name "Kansas State" in college basketball, and there's more to come, there's more to come, yes, yet we sit in the back of the room and watch this moment unfold, the present, and at present Tang is grateful, and he is sad, and he feels blessed to be the head coach at K-State and he feels blessed to be around such outstanding young men. But the realization is this: This is Tang's first Division I basketball team, and it will not play another game tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day after.
The Wildcats fought, oh how they fought, and they just came up short, so excruciatingly close, and the final horn tore through our purple hearts, but they will mend.
And K-State will return.
We've been blessed, as Tang puts it, because we've been able to witness the joy and love that sports can bring to a united fan base. Just as K-State football is dear to us, basketball, too, quickly, and deservedly, now emphatically tugs at our purple hearts — an old-school connection, a throwback kind of love featuring throwback logos. Who else has a coach who jumps into the stands to celebrate victories with the school pep band and students? What other players routinely, following a win or a loss, parade around the lip of the stands and high five fans and pose for photographs and scribble autographs on the way to the locker room? We are witnessing a new tradition, a tie to a once-sleeping program that has made a name for itself, and that name is "winner."
"I'm excited to see the coming years ahead," Nowell says. "It's just a blessing, man."
But back to the podium for a moment, and here's Nowell making his final appearance, and oh, the memories he'll treasure forever and ever, and what a special place he has in the hearts of K-Staters forever — the smallest player on the floor, a record setter, a leader, and an example to everyone that heart wins over height in life and in sports. And there's Keyontae Johnson, the feel-good story and comeback player of the year in college basketball, who has his own story to share, one of perseverance, and determination, and who after a two-year absence has taught us all that nothing is impossible.
We won't forget the energy of departing senior Desi Sills, the toughness of departing senior Tykei Greene, and the efforts of departing seniors Abayomi Iyiola and Nate Awbrey, either.
But K-State will return.
It's OK to shed a tear over the enormity of it all because emotions come fast, and overflow, and that's the curse of sports, and that's the magic of sports, and that's the magic of 2023 K-State basketball.
"You can sit around and cry and mope about it, or you can really just think about the love and the joy you've had through the season," Tang says. "Winners keep their heads up. They don't drop their heads. Our guys weren't going to walk off the floor with their heads down.
"Tough things are going to happen in our life, and we don't get to wallow in it. We have to keep moving forward. This is more a lesson for them of becoming men than it is about basketball."
There will be a time to reflect deeper upon the ride and the remarkable, historic journey that Tang and his first team took us on over these past five months — Tang is the only first-year K-State head coach to lead the Wildcats to the Elite Eight in his first season — and pleasant memories will someday mend the pain, and there will be a time to look forward, and delve into the returning players and their potential and ponder the newcomers and the excitement they might bring to Tang's second team, and that time will come as soon as grass grows across the Flint Hills, but it's also important to pause in this moment, in the final moment that this magical team is together, and be grateful for it all.
Tang and the players, sitting underneath the bright lights in the Madison Square Garden, rise to leave, and they pull back a black curtain, and walk off stage and into darkness and into the locker room. Tang will hug each player. He will tell them that he loves them.
It's time to go home. And the tears will flow, and they'll likely flow tomorrow, as well. But it's OK to shed a tear. The greater the investment the greater the pain. And it's OK to hurt. And it's OK to let the emotions run. Because every minute deserves its moment, and this moment is plenty painful.
We were able to witness something so, so incredibly special — Tang's first team, the Tang Gang, Crazy Faith, Out the Mud, and Elevate the Standard. There's love and there's heartbreak and there's tears.
It's just so hard to say goodbye to this team.
But K-State will return.
So often in life, and in sports, we wonder "What's next?" Kansas State suffers a 79-76 loss to a very good Florida Atlantic team in the Elite Eight of the 2023 NCAA Tournament at Madison Square Garden, but it just doesn't feel exactly right to wipe the board clean here in New York City. Each minute deserves its moment, and it's OK to hurt, and it's OK to wonder "what if" because life is full of "what ifs," and, yes, we're here in the Big Apple, and as a new day dawns, the unforgettable 2023 edition of the Wildcats will head to Manhattan Regional Airport, and they'll trudge out into the cool afternoon air, and we don't know where they'll say goodbye or how they'll say goodbye, but there'll be a time when they say goodbye, and it'll hurt all over again — the pain a reminder of how much they love one another and the unshakable bond forged over the course of many incredible months.
There's nothing in the world like sports and there's nothing in the world like March Madness and there's been nothing in Big 12 Conference history quite like this team, which — and we'll repeat it again — began with a first-year Division I head coach and a new coaching staff, and with two returning players from a squad that went 14-17, and that grew to include 13 newcomers, and that was picked 10th in the Big 12 — 10th, as in last place — and that debuted at No. 11 in the AP Top 25, and that rose to No. 5 in the poll, and that beat No. 6 Texas and No. 19 Baylor and No. 2 Kansas in a span of 10 days, and that finished ranked No. 15 in the final poll ahead of the NCAA Tournament, before their journey ended one game from Final Four.
"First of all, I just want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," Jerome Tang began, sitting on stage under the lights at Madison Square Garden one final time. "In the midst of probably one of the toughest things that I've experienced with these guys, if we can't be grateful in these times then all the love and joy that we talk about is fraud, and we're not frauds.
"This hurts right now, but I wouldn't trade these guys for 10 other players or 20 others. I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. I'm so thankful for the fun and the ride we had this year."
This squad, that everybody counted out, finished third in America's toughest conference, and featured the Big 12 Coach of the Year and Naismith National Coach of the Year finalist, and featured a pair of third-team All-Americans in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson, and it sold out Bramlage Coliseum eight times.
Credit K-State athletics director Gene Taylor for making such an amazing hire. Credit Tang, his staff and players for elevating this program.
"We will win a national championship while we're here," Tang said prior to arriving in New York.
There are stories, yes, stories galore within this 26-10 season that the coaches will share with each other, that the players will share with each other, and that we all will share with each other for many, many years, underscored by a testament that it can be done, a grand turnaround, lightning quick, with what Tang has trademarked "Crazy Faith," and that coming from the depths has rarely been achieved in such cat-like fashion.
But for now, look at Tang and Nowell sitting on stage in New York City one final time, the last hurrah, the end of the march, the end of this ride through March, the finality so excruciating, so fast, and so breathtakingly painstakingly unbearable one year since Tang stood upon a different stage inside the Shamrock Zone and proclaimed, "IT'S A GREAT DAY TO BE A WILDCAT!" and that he wouldn't "rebuild" the program, but instead "elevate" the program.
Mission accomplished.
"I'm very grateful," says Nowell, who had arguably the best NCAA Tournament by a player in K-State history. "I had a tremendous year with my teammates and coaching staff. I had a lot of fun. Looking back at how hard we worked to get to this point, I'm just thankful for the journey."
One game after Nowell, a Harlem native, had 20 points, a NCAA Tournament-record 19 assists and five steals in a 98-93 instant-classic overtime win over Michigan State, Nowell had 30 points, 12 assists and five steals in his final collegiate game in his hometown and inside the world's most famous arena.
"I played my heart out," says Nowell, who was named Most Outstanding Player for the East Regional. "I feel like I gave my heart and soul to this game because I wanted to see these guys win and smile."
It is a great day to be a Wildcat, all the time, but it certainly is on this day because Tang has returned respectability to the name "Kansas State" in college basketball, and there's more to come, there's more to come, yes, yet we sit in the back of the room and watch this moment unfold, the present, and at present Tang is grateful, and he is sad, and he feels blessed to be the head coach at K-State and he feels blessed to be around such outstanding young men. But the realization is this: This is Tang's first Division I basketball team, and it will not play another game tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day after.
The Wildcats fought, oh how they fought, and they just came up short, so excruciatingly close, and the final horn tore through our purple hearts, but they will mend.
And K-State will return.
We've been blessed, as Tang puts it, because we've been able to witness the joy and love that sports can bring to a united fan base. Just as K-State football is dear to us, basketball, too, quickly, and deservedly, now emphatically tugs at our purple hearts — an old-school connection, a throwback kind of love featuring throwback logos. Who else has a coach who jumps into the stands to celebrate victories with the school pep band and students? What other players routinely, following a win or a loss, parade around the lip of the stands and high five fans and pose for photographs and scribble autographs on the way to the locker room? We are witnessing a new tradition, a tie to a once-sleeping program that has made a name for itself, and that name is "winner."
"I'm excited to see the coming years ahead," Nowell says. "It's just a blessing, man."
But back to the podium for a moment, and here's Nowell making his final appearance, and oh, the memories he'll treasure forever and ever, and what a special place he has in the hearts of K-Staters forever — the smallest player on the floor, a record setter, a leader, and an example to everyone that heart wins over height in life and in sports. And there's Keyontae Johnson, the feel-good story and comeback player of the year in college basketball, who has his own story to share, one of perseverance, and determination, and who after a two-year absence has taught us all that nothing is impossible.
We won't forget the energy of departing senior Desi Sills, the toughness of departing senior Tykei Greene, and the efforts of departing seniors Abayomi Iyiola and Nate Awbrey, either.
But K-State will return.
It's OK to shed a tear over the enormity of it all because emotions come fast, and overflow, and that's the curse of sports, and that's the magic of sports, and that's the magic of 2023 K-State basketball.
"You can sit around and cry and mope about it, or you can really just think about the love and the joy you've had through the season," Tang says. "Winners keep their heads up. They don't drop their heads. Our guys weren't going to walk off the floor with their heads down.
"Tough things are going to happen in our life, and we don't get to wallow in it. We have to keep moving forward. This is more a lesson for them of becoming men than it is about basketball."
There will be a time to reflect deeper upon the ride and the remarkable, historic journey that Tang and his first team took us on over these past five months — Tang is the only first-year K-State head coach to lead the Wildcats to the Elite Eight in his first season — and pleasant memories will someday mend the pain, and there will be a time to look forward, and delve into the returning players and their potential and ponder the newcomers and the excitement they might bring to Tang's second team, and that time will come as soon as grass grows across the Flint Hills, but it's also important to pause in this moment, in the final moment that this magical team is together, and be grateful for it all.
Tang and the players, sitting underneath the bright lights in the Madison Square Garden, rise to leave, and they pull back a black curtain, and walk off stage and into darkness and into the locker room. Tang will hug each player. He will tell them that he loves them.
It's time to go home. And the tears will flow, and they'll likely flow tomorrow, as well. But it's OK to shed a tear. The greater the investment the greater the pain. And it's OK to hurt. And it's OK to let the emotions run. Because every minute deserves its moment, and this moment is plenty painful.
We were able to witness something so, so incredibly special — Tang's first team, the Tang Gang, Crazy Faith, Out the Mud, and Elevate the Standard. There's love and there's heartbreak and there's tears.
It's just so hard to say goodbye to this team.
But K-State will return.
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