March Madness

It's that time of year again where all college basketball fans cheer for their favorite team to make it to the NCAA tournament and make that quest for a national championship. As of now there have been no cinderella stories this year. No small staged teams like Davidson or Butler have come to play this year. All one seeds, two seeds, and three seeds are all in the championship race. Also two four seeds, fifth seeded Purdue, and the only real surprise Arizona, a twelve seed, remain in the tournament. Arizona, a team that had to fight there way into the tournament has had big wins against Utah and Cleveland State. Although their time looks as though it will end friday night when they face up against the favored Louisville Cardinals, no one could be more proud of this team. They were a bubble team that many expected would not make the NCAA tournament and they proved those people wrong by making it to the sweet sixteen. Teams such as North Carolina, Pitt, and UConn has continued to do their job and perform at a very high level. UConn has blown out every team they have played and won by a margin of 56 points in their opening round game. The highly favored Tarheels has got back their star point guard and senior leader, Ty Lawson. His play has picked up right where it left off and has been far from disappointing. Some games to look forward to this week would include a great match up between the Duke Blue Devils and Villinova and also the Oklahoma/Syracuse game. Many expect a few upsets coming with Mizzouri playing at a high level over the Memphis Tigers and also the possibility of Gonzaga upsetting the one seeded Tarheels.

Andre Young

Andre Young, a former Deerfield Windsor standout is now apart of the Clemson Tigers basketball team. Andre had a spectacular high school career at Deerfield Windsor, leading the Knight's to four Region Championships and Runner-up in the GISA State Championship. Andre left Deerfield holding the record for points, steals, and assists in his career. Not only was Andre a tremendous athlete, he was also among the top of his class in academics. Andre is listed at 5-9/ 160 pounds and currently competing for the point guard position at Clemson University. When asked about the reason Andre chose Clemson over other major programs such as Maryland, Florida State, and Auburn; He responded by saying, "Combination of athletic program and its recent success, academics, coaches, players are sociable and fun, and beautiful campus. It was just the best situation for me out of all my other options."

The life of a college basketball player seems very time consuming especially with practice, games, and trying to maintain the proper grades to achieve the major of a person's choice. One upside is the amount of friends and support you receive when playing on such a big stage. I asked Andre how it felt to have the love and support of so many fans from Deerfield as well as other friends and family and he responded by saying "The support that I receive from Deerfield fans is incredible. It is always good to know that someone is out there thinking about you and is there for you. Deerfield has truly been a blessing for me because I would not be where I am now without the love and support from friends, fans, and faculty members." Andre continues to enjoy his first year at Clemson with the success his basketball team has had and the number of friends he has received throughout this experience. The coach at Clemson, Oliver Purnell considers Andre a "winner", one who gets after the ball and works hard in practice to get better and succeed. When asked what sort of impact Coach Purnell has had on him so far in the season, he replied, "Coach Purnell has taught us to overcome adversity and to have a positive attitude about different situations. Because everything is not going to go the way I want it to." The life of a college basketball player can seem overwhelming, but with good character and a good attitude Andre has had major success in all aspects of his life.