In years past Athens has been mostly known for its academics, beautiful campus, or possibly their number one party school ranking. But all that changed last year with the amazing run our basketball team had in the NCCA march madness tournament. Led by point guard DJ Cooper the Bobcats went on to the win the MAC division as well as the MAC tournament. They beat Akron 64-63 in a hard fought championship game in the MAC tournament. Winning the MAC tournament meant that the Bobcats would get an automatic bid to the big tournament that every college team dreams to play in one day. As selection sunday approached the team and fans anxiously waited in the Baker Center to see what seed they would receive as well as who they would play against for their first game. They were given an expected 13 seed and was brought with the challenge of playing against the University of Michigan. WIth Michigan being a four seed and OU being a 13 seed not many experts were giving the bobcats any chance of winning. The game was hardly talked about because everyone thought that it would be a blow out in the end.
On Friday March 16th the Bobcats took the court ready to play their hearts out. Leaving what all the experts has said about them in the back of their minds, They were there to prove the world wrong. In an incredibly hard fought game the Bobcats did the unthinkable and beat the wolverines by the score of 65-60. The community of Athens was never so excited or proud of their hometown basketball team. However, the Bobcats weren't done. They were not satisfied with just one win. They were set out to take down their next opponent which was South Florida. In another incredibly close game DJ Cooper led his bobcats to another win by the score of 62-56. Winning this game sent Ohio to the sweet 16. They were up against the number one ranked seed North Carolina. Everyone expected the Tar Heels to demolish Ohio. Nobody thought it was even going to be close. However, the Bobcats played one of the best games they have ever played before. Unfortunately they fell short and lost to the Tar Heels in dramatic fashion in overtime. The team and community can hold their heads high for one the greatest sports season in Ohio history. I am looking forward for another great season this year!
This is awesome that you you did your blog about the basketball teams sweet sixteen run. I wish I had done mine on the same thing now haha. Anyhow I'm sure everyone here will always remember this crazy run and hopefully this year we might make another one. The game against UNC was sick and we had a party at my house for the game can't say I will ever forget how close we came to upsetting the might Tar Heels.
ReplyDeleteI thought your idea of writing about the run our basketball team made to the sweet sixteen was classic. I think your picture captures it all as we all sat united, waiting for our Bobcats to pull ahead. Us being known for our academics, beautiful campus, and our party school ranking hits it right on the nose as that is what I knew about OU when I applied here and honestly up until our sports teams actually started to perform well. Your description and enthusiasm for this topic was great as I felt like I was sitting on the sidelines. I can totally relate to waiting for the seed spot as that is exactly what I did. We all had our hearts and minds into the basketball team as they accomplished the impossible. Although we didn't make it farther this was a great boost to the student body morale and reputation. With the recent developments in OU sports, I agree we are all waiting to see what we can accomplish this year.
ReplyDeleteSteven, I loved reading your story about the basketball team's trip to the Sweet 16. I think any sports fan remembers watching OU make a run in the NCAA tournament, and it was something every student will remember. I also really like your enthusiasm in your writing, I think it shows that you took the time to create a blog post that interested you, and hopefully other people. I also really like the picture that you provided, because it shows how close the team was through such a tough battle throughout the tournament as they went into the record books for an OU sports teams.
ReplyDelete