It's March and for many college basketball fans that means it's Christmas. 68 team started on the road to the final four and just 16 remain. Oh, how sweet it is. Millions of brackets were filled out and just about all of them were busted (thank you Missouri and Duke). People have their hopes dashed as they watch their team bow out of the tourney while other fans celebrate joyously as their team moved on. As a Notre Dame fan, March feels like the Bubonic Plague. Having a dark cloud loom over the head of your beloved Irish isn't easy to deal with. For the first time in my life, I cried following their loss to Xavier on Friday night. This leads me to the point I want to make. While fans can live and die with their team (or teams), players face the reality that their dreams may come to an end. Case in point, Robbie Hummel.
The Purdue University "super senior" has had his ups and downs throughout his time in West Lafayette. He has battled through multiple injuries, but has never given up on his dream, basketball. Now I cannot say whether or not he will get drafted or even be a average NBA player, but what I can say is that he should be used as a model for what college basketball is all about. The man had passion. Plain and simple.
He could have taken the easy road and quit after his first knee injury, but he saw the potential in his team to do bigger things. So, he had surgery and came back with the hopes of making a magical run through the NCAA tournament. However, Hummel tore his ACL again before the 2010-11 season and was forced to sit out once more. Now after missing the 2010 postseason and the entire 2010-11 season can you imagine the drive Hummel had to get back on the court? If the man had no passion, no intensity, or no will to play the game he would've quit.
It was difficult for me to watch the career of the great Robbie Hummel come to an end on Sunday night. Although I am not a Purdue fan, I am from Indiana and I can recognize when a team has a special basketball player. Hummel was not only special to that team, but to the entire landscape of college basketball. He embodied what it meant to be passionate about basketball. His attitude and love of the game was spread throughout his teammates, coaches, fellow students, and the entire Purdue basketball fan base.
It's not every day that you run into a player like Hummel. College basketball has become too much of a stepping stone to the NBA for any player to stay and have an impact like Hummel. Sure, Kentucky is great, but what will they have next year? Who will make a lasting impact? If everyone jumps ship, then there is no impact. There is no Hummel.
The raw emotion shown by players, like Hummel, is what makes college basketball great. I can appreciate any individual who puts so much effort into something that does not even offer a kickback. The greatest athletes in sport are the ones who can have the same passion regardless if they are getting paid or not. The tears streaming down Hummel's face on Sunday night were his farewell and thank you to Purdue. Not only for his time playing basketball, but his time spent with the community and the time they shared together as one fan base.
Hummel brought so much to the Purdue community and he gave everything he had to be the best for Purdue. I only hope that in the coming season Purdue gives something back to him and hangs #4 in the rafters for all to remember.
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