No Cinderellas…. but one Stillman White.

Stillman White
BobLee
March26/ 2012

There are no Cinderellas this year.  All four of The Final Four are “big time” programs w/ “big time” coaches with jaded fans who expect them to compete for National Championships every year.   Except for Baylor – the Elite Eight were also all “big time” traditional power programs.  …. and there was Stillman White.

What does that say?  Smart money bets on the “big time” coaches and programs.  Not to say there won’t be other VCUs and Butlers in future years, but don’t bet the kids’ college fund on’em.

Locally, NC State made a darn fine run and their fans (normal and abby-normal factions) should be very happy and should all send Bobby Purcell healthy appreciations.  Frau Yow appears to have tossed a ringer in pick-a-coach horseshoes with Mark Gottfried.   The future is ahead for Wuff Basketball.

It remains to be seen what roadblocks Little Johnny, John Clougherty, Karl Hess, et al will come up with to thwart them.  Stay tuned…..

Tru-Blues are in deep lamentation over “what might have been”.  Not sure who can be blamed for key injuries but I am confident that a bunch o’ board monkeys in full monkey-mania can come up with some villain, as is their custom.   I recall a concern from one year ago as regards this past team…. “how will Roy handle ‘too much talent’ “?   Demon Injury sorta answered that question, huh?

Unless Ol’ Roy cuts the net, he always catches a bit o’ hell on these “lost his last game” years.  “He (Roy) coulda…. shouldas” will be tossed about and the water cooler cowboys will fume and fuss as water cooler cowboys do.   Roy will hopefully NOT don a Jayhawk sticker next week but will head off to his golf getaway and re-juvenate himself.

Harrison Barnes will catch hell from the bottom-feeders, because thats how bottom-feeders react.   Nitwits put you on pedestals.  Nitwits knock you off pedestals.  Thats what nitwits do.

I was fascinated by the Stillman White situation.  Only the nuttiest of the nutz will be blaming him.   There will be a few of those.

NOTE:  “Biscuit Boy” is my name for “the white kids on the other end of the bench” at UNC.  Bojangles has a “free biscuit” promotion any time UNC scores 100 in a game.  Such games are usually routs with the “biscuit boys” trying desperately to score the critical basket earning everyone in attendance the free biscuit.   Every program has “biscuit boys” by whatever name.  They are also known as the GPA squad as they are actually for-real students taking for-real subjects to obtain a for-real degree in some major curriculum that likely does not contain a hyphen.  Team GPAs benefit GREATLY by including their GPAs.

Whenever I watch “the biscuit boys” at the end of a Dean’s Dome rout I always remind myself – They are the 11-15 best basketball players on campus.  As an intra-mural team, “the biscuit boys” would dominate the competition.  But when compared to the athletes ahead of them on the varsity roster, they appear Keystone Kops Play Hoops.  The obvious difference in skill and athleticism from the “regulars” is apparent to all.

Each “biscuit boy” was a BMOC on his high school team.  He was a High School Hero and may even have “dated a cheerleader” ….. Wooo Hooo!

UNC injuries to Strickland had already moved Stillman White from a “biscuit boy” to “get real meaningful minutes” status.  But to be “starting point guard on The National Stage” is simply uncharted waters in biscuit boy history.

Every backyard / sandlot / driveway kid plays out that “what if” but such dreams get buffeted by reality for 99% of us.  Not so for Stillman White.  Stillman was “gutsy” and “plucky” and “gritty” and all those heroic adjectives used to describe an athlete giving his all against overwhelming odds.  But his team lost.  If that is all you will remember, you deserve the misery you wallow in.

Yes, he was out of his league athletically both Friday and Sunday.   He simply did not have the physical tools to keep up but, by golly, he busted his biscuit boy butt to do so.   Surely every non-Jayhawk fan in America wanted one of Stillman’s Hail Mary 3’s to go in there at the end.  Just one woulda be grand.

Stillman did better than many expected especially Sunday but his “best” was not enough in that situation.   Would a healthy Marshall have been enough?  Impossible to say, but most will say yes.  Most in C-Blue that is.

A year from now Stillman White will be canvassing neighborhoods somewhere as part of his personal Mormon mission.  He will encounter hostiles and he will suffer rejection.  There will be no multi-millions watching him on TV.  The vicarious happiness of Tar HeelNation will not be his burden.  Will he return as a biscuit boy in 3-4 years?  Who knows?

Where will Stillman White be in 6-8-10-20 years?  How many UNC fans will recall his name in 3-5 years?  Among past-future biscuit boys will Stillman be “a legend”?

I hope so.

NOTE:  If you google “Stillman White” you get multiple pages of references.  I’m pretty sure that is a First in Biscuiit Boy History.

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