The show goes on. Brad Colbert returns.

Why not? The walk-on returns to the place where he is loved

One of my favorite bands, The Wonder Years, has a song about looking for the upside in things going wrong. The hook ends with the line “The whole world’s full of losers, If you get a chance to win, you should take it.” Last season there was little upside in Xavier basketball, but there was upside. The moment of the season came from a little heralded but much loved walk on who drilled a three pointer and set off celebrations that would have made you think the Musketeers were heading to the Final Four.

That man, of course, was Brad Colbert. He had his chance to win, and he took it. The funny thing about walk-ons ad the D1 level is that they are very good basketball players. Colbert or any of his bench brethren could go to a D2 and log significant time. At Lincoln Memorial or Ferris State the man with the flowing hair is a rotation player who gets shots and a significant amount of time. He’s in the scouting report.

At Xavier he remains part of essentially the scout team. Brad Colbert will get five or six shots up this season. Last year he played a decent amount because, frankly, Xavier was struggling. For a team that is on top 25 lists already there isn’t a lot of space for a guy with Colbert’s skill set. That likely doesn’t matter to the young man. It is hard earned experience that teaches a lot of us that the grass isn’t always greener. Sometimes it’s best to take a chance and move on. Sometimes the mature thing to do is recognize that being loved and appreciated is almost impossible to replace.

I can’t wait to see Brad Colbert back on the court loving every minute he gets. For every one of us who ever walked on at a school just to keep chasing a fleeting dream, he’s the ideal. Maybe the college basketball system is fraying at the seams. Maybe it’s breaking. I refuse to believe that anything that can give us this moment is broken, though,

Find the chance to win and take it.