March Madness- "Ready or not, it's here!"

All college basketball fans know that March Madness has begun. I was given my cue last night while watching the College of Charleston vs. Chattanooga for the Southern Conference Championship. Chattanooga defeated College of Charleston to win the SouCon championship. The last conference championship was won by the Chattanooga Mocs in 2005.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is my Alma mater and where I played collegiate basketball from 1987-1991. I was fortunate to receive an athletic scholarship and win a conference championship in during my freshman season which was 1987-88. We played Marshall University in the Sou Con Championship and went on to the NCAA tournament to play in Atlanta in the first round. Our bracket was Bradley, Auburn, Oklahoma and Chattanooga. I watched Bradley's standout and former NBA player, Hersey Hawkins score 44 points vs. Auburn in a defeat! Hersey had 31 points in the first half and 13 in the second. It was an amazing game.
Chattanooga played Oklahoma in the first round. Oklahoma's starting lineup had three NBA basketball players: Mookie Blaylock, Harvey Grant and current Chicago Bulls TV color commentator, Stacey King. At halftime, the score was 48-44 Oklahoma! They had been scoring 100 points all season and blowing teams out. Oklahoma ended up defeating us by a 12 point margin but we played a great game. It was an experience that I will always cherish and never forget.

Congratulations to my Chattanooga Mocs for making the 2009 tournament and best of luck in the tournament! The Mocs pride continues to run deep...Let the games begin!