While most students will leave Muncie Saturday for Spring Break, the Ball State men's basketball team still has one regular season game remaining -- possibly the final game in Worthen Arena for four young men.
The Cardinals take on Western Michigan at I p.m. Saturday, and unfortunately they have no division title on the line for Senior Day. Instead, BSU is fighting just to have one more contest in Worthen Arena -- for the first round of the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
However, it will be one of the most memorable times in the lives of seniors Michael Bennett, Terrance Chapman, Matt McCollom and Dennis Trammell.
These four deserve a better fate than what they've been dealt this year. Not necessarily a better fate in terms of wins and losses (14-12, 9-8 MAC following Wednesday's 71-56 victory at Eastern Michigan) but just having a fair chance to make one for themselves.
Not only have various ailments to big men handicapped the team for three years now, but the seniors have fought fought their own battles. McCollom, who started in the backcourt for three years, had surgery on his big toe last offseason and has never been the same this season. Sophomore Skip Mills took his place in the lineup and has averaged 11 points this season.
McCollom has started two of the last three games, but it's been in place of Trammell, who is out for the season because of tendonitis in his left Achilles tendon. Before his last game, Trammell was the team's leading scorer. He finished with 15.9 points per game and 48-percent shooting from three-point range.
Chapman, a 6-foot-6 forward, has been saddled with virtually the entire offensive burden inside. Despite taking a solid beating from opposing frontcourts every game, Chapman has managed 14.0 points and 9.2 rebounds (second best in the MAC). He suffered a strained shoulder at Western Michigan on Jan. 22 and has bravely soldiered on since, missing just the first game after.
At 6-foot-5, Bennett has come off the bench also played forward, where he is usually outsized. Bennett has been the glue man, the hustle man or however you want to call it. He's done the little things -- setting the picks, finding the open spots underneath, grabbing rebounds and sliding over in help defense.
Oh, and I'm sure there's a bug in their minds about how overtime against Miami might have turned out. Maybe official Tom Clark should send a letter of congratulations to the seniors.
To top it off, these four epitomize the student in student athlete. Bennett, McCollom and Trammell are all in graduate school, and Chapman will receive his bachelor's in May.
Heck, McCollom is in just his fourth year of college; he graduated in fewer than 3 and a half years. Trammell was named Third-Team Academic All-America on Wednesday.
I will miss watching these four, and I hope the last time I see them walk off the court is at least in Cleveland. Maybe, by a miracle, they will carry a trophy with them.
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