K Academy (Day 5)

Just a few weeks delayed on this post, but after the 5th and final day ended I went to the airport and flew back to reality....and unfortunately back in reality I don't post as much on my blog. Now I have a little bit of a break and I am ready to write my last daily entry. (I still need to do one big final recap of K Academy, but as anyone who has already talked to me already knows I struggle properly conveying how truly amazing this trip was because worse like "great" or "amazing" just don't seem strong enough.)

Anyway, day 5 was tournament day. The night before we received another bag with a shirt, sweatshirt and two jersey / short combinations. (I had to check two bags home. I did a very poor job of packing for this trip.) Thankfully our team went 5-0 and was the #1 seed, which meant that we would be the "home" team all tournament and only had to worry about wearing our white jerseys. The day started off with an early morning game against a team we had played before. I was a little worried because I thought our team might be over-confident since we had already beat this team before, we were 5-0 and it might be tough with an 8:30am start time. We started off slow (halftime we were down 9-8), but really turned it on in the 2nd half (winning that 24-13) and won going away. I made one 3 pointer that felt like a gift from above. (Later that shot would make the "One Shining Moment" video they played after the title game).

Anyway, we won our first game and I really felt like our team was going to win it all. It didn't happen that way. We played Team Seattle at 11:30am in the Final Four. Seattle was good (5-2 going into the game) with a strong point guard. We were tied at halftime 17-17, but really I felt like it should have been a large lead for us. Seattle's defense against us was to pack the paint and let us shoot open 3 pointers. I felt like this was going to be my "Natchez Cathedral" game and I was going to hit about 6 3 pointers. Instead I hit half that amount finishing 3-10 on 3 pointers. The rest of the team didn't shoot better and we finished 8-30 from 3. Coach Duhon talked about how we got a little 3 happy, which was clearly the case when 30 out of our 42 shots were 3 pointers. I felt like we were open and I would have loved another chance against the team. Anyway, we lost 45-33.

One of the interesting things from the game was that JJ Redick came in town and was sitting next to Coach K and our bench. There was a moment in the game where I was checking in and it was just Coach K, the greatest shooter in Duke history and then me all occupying the same 10 foot space. I just couldn't help but smile because these were my heroes about to watch me play at Cameron Indoor Stadium. That made it even more unfortunate that I didn't shoot better and our team didn't win.

With the game being over I hung around Cameron for the rest of the day and saw the title game between Team Seattle (the team that just beat us) and Team Minneapolis (a team we beat a few days earlier). It was a very close game that Team Minneapolis won. After that game they got to cut down the nets, got a trophy and celebrated a title I felt like we should have won.

Regardless of winning or losing those the day went well. I got my picture with Coach K and JJ Redick, enjoying playing a couple more games in Cameron and just enjoyed soaking it all in with the Duke players and friends from camp. I didn't want to leave. Obviously that was not an option, which just makes me want to go back to a place that really feels like a fantasy. This will likely be a final part of the recap, but my advice to anyone is if you have something you really, really, really want to do then find a way to do it. You can always come up with excuses why you shouldn't do it, but I truly can't imagine my life without this experience. It was the best 5 days of my life because unlike most vacations there was no negative. There was no downside. It was just one of my favorite activities (basketball) with a bunch of awesome  and like minded individuals and a bunch of my heroes. Anyway, Go Duke!