Just Win Today and Punch Your Ticket to the Final Four

To all of the players and coaches who are about to play the biggest game of their life...

You're nervous. You're anxious. Why can't we just start the game now, right? That is what's going through your mind right now. Here you are, playing in the quarterfinal round of the state tournament, and it is the most important game of your career.

You're playing against a team you've never seen before, All week long everybody in town has asked about them, heard bits and pieces of the scouting report, and asked the question... CAN WE BEAT THEM? HOW GOOD ARE THEY?

And you better believe the whole town will either make the drive or ride the pep bus to cheer you on. Nobody is missing this game. Whether your school is used to playing in this game or it's the first time your school has ever made it this far, everybody knows what is at stake on Saturday...

This is for a trip to the Final Four, a memory that will last a lifetime.

So let me give you some advice. This is coming from somebody who grew up at Scott County Central, where our boys have won this game 20 times and our girls have won this game 12 times. This is coming from somebody who coached in this game and won it three times. I've been there, done that, and now I'm writing a blog about it :)

Soak it up. Enjoy every minute of this experience. Don't be afraid of this moment. Why would you be scared? Why would you not attack this opportunity that you EARNED? Nobody gave this to you. You didn't get here by forfeit. You had to EARN it. Not going out there and loving every minute of this game would be cheating yourself, because you EARNED this.

In the movie Miracle, where it relives the historic USA vs. Soviet Union Olympic hockey game, Coach Herb Brooks sums up this game perfectly: "Great moments are born from great opportunities." In other words, when they talk about basketball 10-20-30 years from now at your school, they're probably not going to remember who won the Conference Tournament or some game in December. But if you win this game, and you make a trip to the Final Four, they're going to remember this as long as they play basketball at your school.

Great moments are born from great opportunity, and this is a great opportunity that you have EARNED.

This game is not going to be easy. You have to expect that going into this. To the standout players, you're going to have to channel your competitive greatness and be at your best RIGHT NOW, because today, your best is going to be needed. To the role players and unsung heroes, you're going to have your moment to shine today, too. You're probably going to be the difference between winning and losing.

I can remember us winning this game when I was a freshman in high school. We beat Macks Creek, who was the #1 team in the state. They had a guy averaging 35 points a game or something crazy like that. He was the #3 all time scorer in the history of the state of Missouri. That day, we put a guy named Mike Johnson on him, and Mike held him in check ("held" him to 30 lol). We had a 6'2 forward named Andy Johnson guard their 6'6 center and hold his own. We won by 4.

I can remember watching this game as a little kid back in 1990, when our boys finished the year 32-1 and were a dominant team. But in the quarterfinal game it took double overtime to beat Clever High School. It wasn't Marcus Timmons, our best player, who stole the show. It was Len Turner who had back to back buckets in the second overtime and sealed the game. It was Derek Bruce coming off the bench to save us in regulation.

I can rememberin 1994 Portageville playing in this game against Cardinal Ritter, a team that had 3 future NBA players who were 7'0, 6'10, and 6'8. Portageville's tallest player was 6'3. Portageville won that game in double overtime, where 5'8 Antonio Sykes won the tip from 6'10 Jahidi White. That is still one of the greatest upsets in the history of Missouri high school basketball.

I can remember coaching in this game for the first time. We were playing terrible, we were in foul trouble, and couldn't make a shot. An unsung hero named Ty Brown, not one of our better shooters, came off the bench to make two straight threes right before halftime. That breathed life into our team. We came back from 12 down to win the game and go on to win our first state championship.

I can remember coaching in this game when we were playing the Verona Wildcats, the defending state champions. It was a tie ballgame at halftime. We could not shake loose. They were a good team. In the second half we got contributions from everybody on the team, and a momentum swinging charge taken by Zak McInyre, and we ran away to win by 27. We would go on to win our second state championship the next weekend.

What I remember more than the score of those games was the way the crowd sounded when we knew we were going to win. You know that sound the crowd makes, that collective cheer from your fans, when "that's it" and we know we're going to win now? Imagine that sound times a million. Imagine that feeling times infinity. That is what it's going to feel like if you hear that sound from your fans today.

What I remember more than the big plays of those games was that final buzzer going off and realizing "we're going to state!" I remember hugging my assistant coach and seeing the look on all of my players' faces. I remember the sense of relief and pure joy that we felt. We knew we had just punched our ticket to the Final Four. There's no feeling like it.

That's what you're playing for today, a feeling that will last a lifetime. Great moments are born from great opportunities. You've earned this. Don't run from it. Don't be scared of it. Enjoy it. Embrace it. Attack it. All you have to do to punch that ticket is Just... Win... Today.

#JWT