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Stephen F. Austin Basketball

Lumberjacks briefly heartbroken, forever grateful

March 21, 2016
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American novelist Jodi Picoult once wrote that after a heartbreak, "even though you may look intact, you [are] never quite the same as you'd been before the fall."

America fell in love with Stephen F. Austin on Friday night. Two days later it was gutted, as the Lumberjacks fell in the final 1.5 seconds to Notre Dame in the NCAA Tournament. It was a romance, the briefest kind, where beyond the hurt of the immediate disappointment is a new shiny object in the impending future to take its place.

For the players, coaches, and fans of the SFA family, however, the final painful second of Sunday's game won't be leaving them anytime soon.

Those who have watched this team practice over the past years know the following to be true:

1) Nobody in the nation works harder.
2) No coach in the nation can yell louder than Brad Underwood - at least, we think.

That deep, booming voice is a bit of a trademark for the Lumberjacks' coach who just completed his third wildly successful season at the helm. The fiery demeanor, frightening disposition, and commanding presence he so frequently exhibits made the unbridled emotion of his post-game press conference cut ever deeper into our hearts.

Getty Images Brad Underwood speaks with the media following SFA's defeat by Notre Dame in the 2016 NCAA Tournament

"[Thomas Walkup is] a better kid than he is a player, and that's what I'll miss," said Underwood quietly, visibly holding back tears. "He's everything that this is about. It's relationships, it's people, it's a student-athlete with two degrees. It's a student-athlete who made himself great. How do you not fall in love with a kid like that?"

The nation did, for two days. His university and fans have for years.

See, when I made the decision to call Stephen F. Austin my home just a few short years ago, not only was the basketball program in Nacogdoches virtually anonymous outside the Southland Conference, but so was the institution it represented. Over the past three years - a wild, entertaining, prosperous three years - the athletics program and the university around it has taken a thoroughly new form.

Today, SFA fans sell out their section for games in Brooklyn, NY, more than 1,500 miles away from Nacogdoches, in less than 24 hours. Today, William R. Johnson Coliseum is packed at levels never before seen in the Southland Conference. Today, everyone stands and huddles around a small television in the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport (where I spent my day on Sunday) to watch the Lumberjacks compete for a spot in the Sweet 16.

These days, the school, university, and conference, even, are visible like never before. The fans are spoiled with historic success, levels of pride not seen on this campus, and a place on a map of the United States of America.

It's been a slow and steady process, but yes, the SFA family has been in love with these Lumberjacks for quite some time now. That's why watching the departure of some of the most beloved players is so agonizing. And while life handed them this cruel conclusion to their immaculate collegiate careers, somehow, through the bitter disappointment, it has only endeared them to us more.

We saw the grace and humility of Thomas Walkup as he gave an interview to an 11-year-old "reporter" in a hallway just moments after his final and most crushing defeat. We watched the sincere affection from coach Brad Underwood as he tearfully explained why they "use the term 'love' a lot" in his basketball program. The dignity by which this team fell from their biggest moment says more about the caliber of culture at SFA than the 89 wins in three seasons.

The 2015-16 season ended in Brooklyn, perhaps. The legacy it (and a few before it) created is not going anywhere soon, though. Sure, there are many unknowns about what SFA basketball will look like when we tip-off again in November.

But fans will be enjoying a spectacular video board, a new NCAA Tournament banner, a proud and winning culture, a team with new standards of excellence, a renewed sense of camaraderie among students, and, perhaps most importantly, unprecedented visibility.

Most of us - students, alumni, faculty, and fans - did nothing particularly distinguished to deserve this colossal reward. But here we are: grateful, humbled, and forever proud to be associated with Stephen F. Austin State University.

So yes, Ms. Picoult, you might be right; our hearts are broken and we'll never be the same.

We'll be better.

 
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