Letting Go

I remember it well.
It happened last March. The Mocs were down by one against Furman in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament. The Paladins had started off red hot, but the Mocs had gotten back into the game. Ricky Taylor was streaking down the court for an uncontested dunk/layup that would have given the Mocs the lead.

The crowd jumped to their feet.

And Taylor missed the layup.

Furman went on a run and effectively ended the game.

Sure, the Mocs were able to fight back several times and get close. Sure, the Mocs were in the game in the second half. But that moment is still the moment I remember from that game as explaining as much as anything that it just wasn't the Mocs night.

After that game, I said, "For now, I'm just letting it sting for a little while."

It took a while, but I'm finally over it. The sting has subsided. It lasted most of the offseason. The bitter taste is still in my mouth a little bit, but it is starting to subside.

I hope the sting burned all offseason inside of Taylor, Keegan Bell, Omar Wattad, Chris Early, Dontay Hampton and Jahmal Burroughs. I hope that it pushed them on the extra mile. As Bell said in his preseason press conference, "It's lonely on the extra mile." I hope that all of them have let that sting drive them.

But it is time to let go of that sting. The bitter taste can stay. The taste can stay and be a driving force all season long. But the sting- that needs to go away. Taylor played like he wasn't haunted by the missed layup in the exhibition game, which was one of my biggest fears heading into this season. He played like a guy who realizes that he can atone for it this year if he plays within himself and the way he is capable of playing.

So it is with this post that I officially claim that I am over last year....for now. We'll see what this year brings. It is sure to bring excitement, and more than a few ups and downs. If in the end, the ups outnumber the downs,the maybe we can call that a successful season- and maybe, just maybe, we'll be calling the Mocs "SoCon Champs."

GO MOCS!