Last night Leatherneck Nation watched one of its greatest
warriors take the court for the last time.
When Ceola Clark went down, with what appeared to be an excruciatingly
painful knee injury, late in the second half it signaled the end of a
historical and magical season for a team that has once again given the fans in
Western Hall something to cheer about.
For decades now Basketball at Western Illinois University has
disappointed. Then in 2008 a tough
minded, defensive oriented, well-traveled coach was hired to come in and change
the culture. Jim Molinari has done just
that as is evidenced by the 40 wins in the last two seasons, including the most
wins in a season since the program became Division I, as well as garnering its
first ever regular season conference championship.
For the last two years this team led by the sometimes
mercurial Coach “Mo” has given back hope to the faithful. Essentially this same team out performed a
ninth place pick in a pre-season Summit League poll last year by coming one
shot away from putting on Cinderella’s shoe and going dancing for the first
time in Western history. This year’s
team came in with much higher expectations.
A sixth year of eligibility for Clark and the return of one of the best
big men to ever lace them up at WIU (Terrell Parks) gave us all something to
look forward to this season.
Ceola, one of the all-time leaders in most statistical
categories at Western, playing the role of floor general gave Mo the luxury of
having a coach on the floor. Terrell
Parks complimented this dynamic duo by bringing a combination of power and
athleticism rarely seen at the mid-major level.
These two First-Team All Summit League stars helped to bring a more high
flying, exciting brand of basketball to Western Hall. Alley-oop dunks and no look passes coupled
with a smothering defense and hustle produced twenty two wins and a swelling
optimism that this team could make the ultimate break through and represent
Western Illinois University in the big dance hosted by the NCAA each
March. Then a week before the regular
season ended, the Summit League Defensive Player of the Year—Parks, went down
with a foot injury that would end his college career. After three gutsy wins without the man in the
middle the Necks were battling to the bitter end in a tournament semi-final
game with a very good NDSU team when the right knee of Ceola Clark popped
bringing tears and disbelief from an on looking crowd in Sioux Falls and
Macomb. And just like that it was
over. No Cinderella slippers. No selection show at the Sports Corner. Just a very long, quiet bus ride back to
Macomb.
Sure, a long list of goals and accomplishments were checked
off the list. There is much to be proud
of but the ultimate prize once again eluded these
guys thus eluding us. No need to book that ticket to a destination spot to play
a heralded one or two seed. I suppose it
is of little consolation to these grinders and hard wood warriors that it was
them that brought back life to the venue that has heard more crickets than
capacity crowds in the last thirty years.
One could have received some great odds in Vegas in October about the
number of crowds over 4000 there would be in Western Hall this year yet it
happen multiple times. It was these
young men of character that made basketball a buzz word around town again. They have brought the excitement back to
Saturday nights and Monday lunches as us fourth row guys expound on what it all
must mean. They did it with a smile and
they did it with honor. They were as
good off the floor as they were on it. They
represented in the classroom and the community.
These are guys you want to get behind. When that bus rolls into the q-lot tonight for
the final time it will be bitter sweet.
It will be sad to see such competitors come home vanquished when we are
all thinking the same thing. “What if those guys didn’t get hurt---could we have
made it? Could we have put on the slippers and gone to the ball?” We will never know.
What we do know is that we have twenty two wins to celebrate
and those unforgettable dunks and beautiful passes. We have those big crowds and a community that
cares again. We have the memories of two
of the best players to ever wear a jersey in the history of Western
Basketball. We were able to be right
there close up to bear witness. We have
our faith back. We believe again. The old, wily, salty haired pied piper head
coach is whistling a tune we can all follow---and for that we can all be
grateful and thankful. It truly was a season to remember.
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