BUFFALO -- On the list of motivations for Morgan State in the NCAA tournament's East Regional, Todd Bozeman's redemption isn't even within shouting distance of the No. 4 on his players' jerseys.That number was to be worn this season by redshirt freshman forward Anthony Anderson until, as the coach of the 15th-seeded Bears recalled Thursday, Anderson came to practice the day after Midnight Madness last October and said that he didn't feel well.
By that evening, he was in Baltimore's Johns Hopkins hospital, diagnosed with leukemia. Anderson has spent most of the time since then in the hospital, and to the disappointment of Bozeman and his teammates, will still be hospitalized Friday when Morgan State (27-9) plays second-seeded West Virginia at HSBC Arena.
Thus, the Morgan State jerseys have sported Anderson's No. 4 all season and will have it Friday, as a way to have him with them in spirit, said senior guard Reggie Holmes, because "we were thinking about him not being here physically.''
"For us, it's crazy, because we're young, and we think about it -- it hits us at a young age,'' added senior guard Troy Smith. "So it's weird having a teammate going through what he's going through."
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The entire team visited Anderson in the hospital -- who has undergone chemotherapy -- before it left for the MEAC tournament last week in Winston-Salem, N.C., a tourney it won to qualify for a second straight NCAA berth. Bozeman visited him earlier this week and gave him the game ball from the tournament final, before bringing his players to Buffalo -- in the hopes that he would be able to join them for the first time this year.
In his absence, Anderson has been providing inspiration in deed and words all season.
"Our first practice, he sent us a text, all of us, and he told us that he loved us, and that he wished us well, and to remember that we're grinders,'' Bozeman said, the latter a reference to the motto he gave the players at the start of preseason practice.
Morgan State had lost three starters from the team that a year ago went to the Division I tournament for the first time in school history. The 6-10 Anderson, who was academically ineligible last season, was to have helped fill the gap, and until practice began he had no reason to believe he wouldn't get his chance.
"Just imagine waiting for Christmas, and then Christmas, they take it away from you."
- Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman
"Just imagine waiting for Christmas,'' Bozeman said, "and then Christmas, they take it away from you.''
Bozeman, of course, has been the most visible example of grinding it out in the program, having returned to coaching in 2006 after 10 years away -- eight of them as a direct result of the show-cause penalty handed to him by the NCAA after he was caught paying a player at Cal in the 1990s. The recruits that he brought to Morgan State that first year, including Holmes, came in echoing Bozeman's mandate to set the bar high despite the school's dismal history and 4-26 record the season before he arrived.
"On my visit, I remember telling Coach Bozeman I was going to bring him a MEAC championship, that automatic bid to the tournament,'' remembered Holmes, the conference player of the year this season.
Part of Bozeman's lesson since arriving, naturally, has been that adversity should never block you from your goal. He did admit Thursday, though, "I did not have any idea it was going to come in those forms. But it came, and the guys persevered.''
Anderson's illness was not the only roadblock they faced off the court, the coach said. Smith's infant daughter had to undergo surgery, forward Ameer Ali's father took his own life early in the school year, and even Bozeman's own son suffered a head injury while playing basketball. (Meanwhile, Ali will not be in uniform Friday as he serves an NCAA suspension after his ejection for body-slamming Oklahoma's Blake Griffin in last year's first round.)
Share In handling the on- and off-court issues, Morgan State not only ran roughshod over the MEAC once again (15-1 in the regular season), but held their own against higher-level competition. The Bears won at Arkansas in November, lost by nine at Louisville, nine at Murray State and 13 at Baylor -- and fell by three at Robert Morris, which was giving second-seeded Villanova a run for its money at the same time Morgan State was finishing practice at HSBC Arena.
To do the same against a West Virginia team that made a case for a No. 1 seed might be asking a bit much. On the other hand, said freshman and close friend DeWayne Jackson, Anderson, brimming with optimism, told him "he might still make it for the second game.''
Regardless, he will be there on every jersey for the first game. "When you see them hold up the number 4, that's what it's for -- it's for 'Big Ant,''' Bozeman said.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Go BEARS!!!
What's the old adage? "What doesn't kill you strenghtens you". We all face adversity in our lives and the key to whether we deal with it successfully is perseverence. "Winners never quit". Wow! there's another old cliche, but it's true and something too many people in this day and age need to learn. Life will kick you in the teeth when you least expect it and you have to be prepared to deal with it and move on. Whining and crying will get you nowhere and quitting, for most of us, is not an option. This is a great example of perserverence in the face of adversity. Best of luck to them all.
Were you born a stupid racist or is it an acquired trait taught to you by uncle dad.
Nolookinbak you sound like a hypocrite. You should think before you post.
Don't be a little punk hiding behind your computer, Diego...go say that to these guys faces. We will wait....
Yo Diego. You must be about 5'-0" tall to voice a comment like that. You don't meet the minimum height standards for B-ball nor do you meet the HBCU educational standards for life. Keep to the field or along the fteeway with you crops, fruit stand and baby making abilities. Ya heard!