Strange things happen there. Things like a young man from Kenner, LA who loves his God and who loves his family making 9 threes in a row to steal victory from the jaws of defeat and a one-sided referee's whistle. Or like a young man from Pensacola, FL having his best night of the season against the short-lived #1 orange, scoring more than any other game in his career other than the 30 he hung on that same archrival in his freshman season. Or like another young man from Fort Thomas, KY who's been through a lot in his college career single-handedly outscoring the home-state school that overlooked him for an entire half of basketball.
Special things happen there. Buzzer-beating half-court shots, Perdunks, Bomb Squad 3s, long-range gunners before there was a 3-point line like Hagan, Wyenandt, Rhodes, Cox, Fosnes, Compton, and so on. Goheen beating UT single-handedly in the last minute his freshman year, or hitting long-range missiles at the half and at the final buzzer to beat Louisville. Or him stepping behind the line to beat Georgia when he had time for a layup because he "didn't think Coach Newton could take overtime". Special things like beating #1 North Carolina one season and #2 Indiana another. Or like a young man named Willie "Hutch" Jones capping off a special but otherwise unremarkable career by dropping 37 points on a great Alabama team on Senior Night.
Special players call it home. Young men with great character and great intelligence make the decision to wear the black and gold, always with an eye toward leaving the program in better shape than they found it. So many have left an indelible mark in our memories and some even on our hearts. Long-suffering fans have seen the program reach great heights only to see it torn down again and have to be rebuilt. Rarely has our Commodore team seen such a combination of skill, athleticism, character, and courage as this season's team possesses. We have once again attained a great height and the view looks very promising into the future.
How do you explain what goes on in this very special place? We have all seen things, both good and bad, occur there that just make us shake our heads in amazement. Tonight was one of the most extraordinary things I have ever seen happen there. As I stood with my family after the game, I couldn't help but shed tears as I looked around at those old cinderblock corners and out onto that floor and remembered so many of these special moments as we basked in this most recent addition to Vanderbilt legend. The roar of the crowd bounces off those corners and walls and just reverberates to an amazing level. Anything is possible there. There's only one way to describe what takes place in this old building. It's called Memorial Magic. There is nothing like it anywhere, and I count it as a privilege to have been a part of it for so many years, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds in this very special place called Memorial Gym
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