Finding the Good

This team has long since drifted away from contention, that doesn’t mean the great moments are gone.

In almost any normal circumstance Brad Colbert would be the best basketball player in the area. In any open run at your local Y or the courts where you play he would dominate. He finished a HS career that started at Moeller at the ISA in Willoughby. He’s a baller everywhere other than NCAA DI. Like all of us who picked up a basketball before we could walk, though, DI is where he wanted to end up.

Coming into last night’s game Colbert was 0-6 from the floor and 1-2 from the line for his entire career. Every college team has had guys miss more than that in a single game this year. Colbert has ridden busses and planes for hours, watched film, and practiced for two, three, and four hours a day just hoping for one single chance. He puts in all the work that Des Claude does without any chance of reaping the rewards, the NIL, or almost any of what anyone imagines being a college basketball player entails. [Full disclosure: Half the staff here were walk-ons at a lower level. It’s a ton of fun and a ton of work and people vaguely recognize you on campus.]

With six minutes to go last night, though, Brad Colbert got to live the dream. The crowd started a “we want Brad” chant that picked up on every dead ball. It has already been a good week for Colbert, with Coach Miller specifically picking him out as someone who always shows great effort. When he checked in Xavier already had nine threes and was one away from free nuggets for everyone. Then Colbert started passing. He found a cutting Kachi Nzeh for what should have been a layup, but wasn’t the crowd wasn’t looking for that.

But the man with all the lettuce knew why he was out there. God bless Connor Onion on the call, he also knew what was up. Soak this moment in from a few angles. Listen to the beat while the crowd watches the ball arc through the air. The Cintas, for a second, goes almost silent, focused on a stocky dude at the top of the key with his hand still in the follow through, waiting for a dream to come true.

The reason that Brad Colbert got his moment is because of a guy having a season full of them. Quincy Olivari came into this game searching for his shot. He was 10 of his last 34 when the clock ticked to halftime with him stuck at four points and Xavier, somehow, struggling to put away the worst major conference team in the nation. Quincy came here to play in the NCAA tournament just once, not to wallow around .500.

So he set about changing that. Joel described what happened in the recap above, but here we’ll just say it was a virtuoso performance. Olivari simply went off. I don’t know when the last time a Xavier player had 28 in a half was, but it wasn’t even David West in that famous 47 point game, when he went for 25 in the second half. Olivari hit a couple free throws and then decided it was time to go. He preened for the home fans, shimmying down the court, popping the name on the front of his jersey, and declaring this his city. He bumped fists with the announcers, high fived fans, and generally looked like a dude having the time of his life. Xavier loves Q, and he loves them right back.

This season probably ends in the NIT somewhere against another high major on a down year or a mid major just a little more motivated to win the second tournament. The great thing about college basketball, though, is that every game can bring moments you don’t ever want to forget. Maybe it’s a guy buried on the bench finally getting his chance and jarring a three to a roar from the crowd. Maybe it’s a guy who won’t see a bench any time soon tearing a team apart for 28 points in a half in a historically hot shooting performance. Either way, college ball, and Xavier, deliver.