This Just In – Like being yanked back away from an oncoming bus and certain death, we can all cite examples of a split-second moment that changed someone’s life forever. An unintended movement. A twitch … or simply a mistake.
Jae’Lyn Withers knows all about this now. I needn’t review the lane violation committed by Withers at the end of the Duke game last week. Who in Tar Heel Nation hasn’t gone over all of it again and again? I do want to point out a couple of details that are related and I think we might see them come into play in the next two weeks of “Madness.”
When this regrettable play happened and the ref blew his whistle, there was a heavy cloud of “oh no” … especially but not exclusively on our side of the game. Absolutely no one wants to see a game decided on a miniscule mistake either by a player or a ref. This had elements of both.
To be clear … Duke should have won this game by an unreachable margin. The fact that the Heels had the opportunity to tie the game with 7 seconds to go is representative of one of the biggest chokes in Duke history. I’ve seen some meltdowns in various sports and this was in the top 10.
So this lane violation happened and it cost Carolina the game. That’s regrettable, but what happened next is the stuff of great screenplays.
There’s plenty of discussion about the players taking something like this pretty hard … totally understandable. “They’re kids,” we remind ourselves and this means the world to them. That’s fair.
Withers, thankfully, is not a kid. He’s 24 years old and a college graduate. He’s playing for Carolina as a graduate student. Those years in a young man’s maturity make a lot of difference.
That said, the reporting around this incident tells us that in the locker room, Withers was (of course) quite upset that he’d let his team down. His teammates surrounded him, supported him and galvanized their team connection. When Withers spoke with reporters after the game, Coach Hubert Davis stood arm in arm with him.
These are moments that can readily explain what happened on the following Tuesday a record-smashing overwhelming win over San Diego State that will launch Carolina into the round of 64 this weekend knowing they belong in the tournament. Sweet 16? Oh, I think so.
I care about the team winning, sure, but I cannot overstate how deeply proud I feel of Withers and Coach Davis in displaying the decency, the grace and elite level of sportsmanship that they showed us after the game.
The game is important. Doing well in the tournament is important. Teaching young people to be elite athletes, accomplished competitors and champions on and off the court is what college athletics is supposed to be about.
We all get knocked down in this life. If we’re supremely lucky, we have friends, teammates, teachers, coaches and community leaders to literally or figuratively do what we see basketball players do all the time – come over to the guy who’s down and help him up.
Apply this analogy any way you like, I’ll just tell you this: I’m damn proud and grateful that Withers plays for my team. Buckle up. This might be a more thrilling tournament than anyone expected two weeks ago. Go Heels!
(featured image: AP Photo/Jeff Dean)
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and the host of the Weekend Watercooler on 97.9 The Hill. She is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – jean@penandinc.com and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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