Tuesday night will perhaps be the single most important sporting event in my five years here at University at Buffalo.
The UB women's basketball team has an opportunity to do what no "high-profile" athletic team here has ever done since this university stepped up into Division I and joined the Mid-American Conference.
The Bulls have a chance to win the East Division title.
Alumni Arena is adorned with plenty of banners for other sports, but nothing relevant to basketball in the modern Division-I era. It's been a long time since the students here have had anything to get excited about.
I only used the word "perhaps" because two seasons ago the women's basketball team hosted a first round game in the MAC Tournament. I'm having trouble deciding if this upcoming game, with a division title on the line, or the one two years ago, winner goes on, loser goes home, is more important. I'd have to say that for historical significance, Tuesday's game is more important. After all, years from now, does anyone - other than me - remember the result from a first-round tournament game? No. But a division title, that would stay mounted on the wall, well ... forever.
Which is exactly how long it's been since one of UB's teams played such a meaningful game. Honestly, the fans at other schools laugh at our teams. So do writers.
I went to the MAC Tournament last season and a writer asked me what school I was from. I said Buffalo. His response: "I'm sorry."
What a feel-good story this truly is. In a year where the football team went 1-11 and the men's basketball team is set in last place, here comes the women's basketball team. Overlooked by everyone, picked to finish second-last in their division, coming off a disappointing season after which their starting point guard decided she did not want to be here anymore, still with a chance to bring home a division title.
This is probably as good a time as any to say that I was wrong about this team. Nobody gave them any respect at the start of the season, myself included. I picked UB to finish second-last in the East Division as well. I was wrong, but I'm not alone - so was the entire MAC Media Association.
Who knew that freshman Hollie Cook would be racking up assists and steals? Cook will be nominated for, and could win, MAC Freshman of the Year. Who knew that senior guard Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe would take a team without a proven scorer, put it on her back, and play the best season of basketball she has ever played - all while being watched closely by the New Zealand Olympic basketball coaches?
So the team that came from nowhere, the underdog, the team that did not have the big name coming in, has ridden their No. 3 ranked defense into a showdown with Kent State for a possible division title.
Kent State. Last year's MAC Women's Basketball Champion. A team that is 10-0 against UB all-time. A team that beat UB here last season by one point - not allowing the Bulls, who had the ball, to get a shot off during the game's final 26 seconds. A team that went on to clobber Buffalo 81-54 at their arena last season. And by the way, that one point loss to KSU last season started a nine-game losing streak for the Bulls. UB did not win a single game the rest of the season.
Tuesday night is payback time. And, if Marshall goes on the road to defeat Miami (Ohio) Tuesday night, and Western Michigan defeats Northern Illinois as well (honestly, it took me an hour and a half to figure out the MAC tiebreaker, but I got it), it's party time.
It's not going to be easy. KSU handed the Bulls a 71-56 loss at the M.A.C. Center in Kent, Ohio, earlier this season. They have the conference's No. 4 scorer Jamie Rubis and the No. 10 scorer Valerie Zona. Ball State is the only other team with two scorers in the top 10; actually, they have three.
That is where you, the reader, come in. If by now this page isn't just oozing with drama, then I haven't done my job and should find another line of work. Those who know me understand what a big hockey fan I am. They know that I can go to any Sabres' game I want for free with my media credential. They also know that the free dinner I get prior to the Sabres game is better than any of the garbage I eat all week, including the free "pizza" we get prior to UB basketball games.
I'm skipping the Sabres game.
You should skip whatever you have to do as well, unless you're scheduled to perform a heart transplant or something else of a life or death nature. For those of you who are not fans of the women's game, it's time to give it a chance. The men's team won't be playing a home game with this much meaning, not this season anyway.
So put down your World Civ books Tuesday night. After all, who wants to read about history when they can witness it?
