By: Rashad Milligan
The story is good enough for a full-length film, heck at least a 30 for 30 feature on ESPN one of these years. The story of the 2014-15 Men Basketball Georgia State Panthers and their journey to the NCAA tournament depicts the beauty and power of Sportz.
Rewind to the October 2014, where the season’s hype for the team was at an all-time high.
To understand the hype even more, let’s rewind to 2013-14, shall we?
Scratch that as well, to fully appreciate the hype of this season, let’s rewind to five years ago, that made March 15th, 2015 such a special memory to the Panther Family at Georgia State University.
In 2010, there was a 5’11”, four star point guard recruit from Walton High School in Marietta, Ga. The point guard was ranked the number point guard in the state of Georgia and one of the top recruits in the nation along with current NBA Players: Tim Hardaway Jr., Adreian Payne, Meyers Leonard, Terrence Ross, Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock, Ray McCallum, Cory Joseph, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, Terrence Jones, Perry Jones, Tobias Harris, Brandon Knight, Kyrie Irving, Jared Sullinger, and Harrison Barnes. His highlight tape on YouTube surpassed a million views and he would go on to commit to NC State. After his preferred coach left the Wolfpack and spending a freshman campaign with limited playing time, the young guard would be swayed by college basketball royalty. Coach John Calipari made his mark in basketball once the NBA forced age requirements for players to leave school before going to the league. Many top recruits that would traditionally go from High School to the professional level began to sign at schools for one year, take the minimum amount of class hours, before putting their name up for the next level as soon as their freshman season was completed. This method would be nicknamed “one-and-done” and at the University of Memphis, John Calipari embraced the rule instead of shunning it. He recruited the 5th highest ranked prospect in the country to play for him and in his one season, led Memphis to the championship game. You may or may not have heard of Derrick Rose before, but he went on to be the number one pick in the NBA Draft and has been the only player besides Kevin Durant to stop Lebron James winning the MVP award every season of his career. Calipari took his one-and-done method to an already historic Kentucky program where he brought in John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight and Anthony Davis. Once again, just a reminder, three of those guys are already NBA All-Stars, and many can make the case that Brandon Knight should’ve been one this season as well. The flair, winning and popularity of Calipari’s method and the University of Kentucky caught fire, as the hottest rapper in the world today serves as an unofficial mascot for the team in-between worldwide tours. Bottom line is, Calipari only recruits the best, this point guard was one of the best, and this point guard would be the next big thing in College Basketball. The season at Kentucky was not all flowers and roses, however, the top recruit in the nation and current Sixers standout Nerlens Noel tore his ACL mid-season and his lost could be made up, as Kentucky missed the tournament and the point guards’ father was facing his own health issues. The point guards’ name is Ryan Harrow and he decided to finish his college career back home near his father at Georgia State University.
Georgia State’s basketball program had a fresh face of their own with bringing in IUPI Head Coach Ron Hunter in 2011. Hunter coached NBA standout George Hill in Indiana, and his recruiting mechanisms went right into full gear. The team acquired a transfer from USC (yes, the one in California and home to DeMar DeRozan and OJ Mayo) Curtis Washington and Hunter’s own son, some kid named RJ. Hunter’s passion on the sidelines and love for his program is unmatched by many other coaches in the country and he has raised a winning reputation and the best teams GSU has ever seen.
So add those components along with Prep School and High School star Markus Crider and Virginia Tech transfer Manny Atkins…and you have the 2013-14 Georgia State Men’s Basketball team that set a school record for wins in a season, breezing through competition and cruising to a Sun Belt regular season championship. Amazing story right, the end huh? COMPLETELY WRONG, the Panthers would face lottery-pick and Orlando Magic guard Elfrid Payton’s squad at Louisiana Lafayette in the Sun Belt tournament championship game in New Orleans. The game was officially at a neutral site, but in New Orleans, when you have a team from Georgia and a team from Louisiana, any logic individual could guess who had the “home-court advantage” as the kids like to call it. Payton and Harrow battled back and forth as Payton ended up with 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. Harrow went entirely super sayian and dropped 37 points, but probably wishes he had 39. The last play of the game in overtime, Harrow drove aggressively, was hit while putting up a jumper that went in the basket and went out. Harrow laid on the floor as the final buzzer sounded. No call was made on the play. No 39 points for Harrow. No NCAA tournament bid for a recording breaking squad. The team was invited to the NIT, which is unofficially known as the “best of the rest” or more blunt “the loser’s bracket” and lost in the first round at Clemson. The picture of Manny Atkins or Ryan Harrow on the floor after the loss in New Orleans in March 2014 could be next to the definition of “disappointment” in the dictionary.
In the off season the Panthers made another big transfer move for the next year by bringing national celebrity and guard standout Kevin Ware on GSU’s campus. Ware was a key component and arguably the emotional engine to the University of Louisville’s National Championship in 2013. Atkins graduated, just to make the things fair for other teams in the Sun Belt.
So fast forward rewind back to October 2014 now. The Panthers are focused more than ever to make the tournament and have mass produced a poster with the bold letters of “Unfinished Business” along with a schedule for the hyped season with Kevin Ware, Ryan Harrow, RJ Hunter, and Curtis Washington’s faces on the poster. Coach Hunter took the team on a trip in the pre-season to Puerto Rico to get to know each other a little better. The team returned to Atlanta, sending out the posters to make up for a lackluster football season at the University and receiving a standing ovation at the GSU-GSU Football game when introduced on the field at the Georgia Dome. The starting five possibilities were seemingly endless and a lot included freshman Jeff Thomas. However, Thomas would be unable to participate this season due to paperwork issues with the NCAA.
Still, few teams had the hype as a mid-major that the Panthers had this season and the season began probably how the public thought it would. A 60 point win over Tennessee Temple and a loss against #14 ranked Iowa State on the road. But then, the team lost against Colorado State. And then another against Old Dominion. WHAT??!? 4 loses for the Panthers, they were supposed to be the mid-major version of Kentucky for crying out loud!!
Untrue rumors of Harrow and RJ Hunter clashing to be the team’s star surfaced and behind the scenes friction within the team was unreported. Harrow begin suffering concussion-like symptoms and then was suspended for receiving too many technical fouls. Criticism began that the team’s leading scorer couldn’t stay on the floor, the team was incapable of putting together a full 40 minute game and the big men had no scoring abilities or aggressiveness. The sky was surely falling now.
In the midst of all of this chaos, however, RJ Hunter became the leading scorer in school history, Harrow became the second fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 points and both players became in the #2 scoring duo in College Basketball.
The team would seem to get a grove and then you get a game like the one in Statesboro where Kevin Ware engaged in a little pre-game twitter trash talk with fans before losing to the “other” GSU (Officially GS, if you were wondering). The sky was once again falling as Georgia Southern and UL Monroe were now atop of the Sun Belt conference.
But in the final week of regular season play, the Panthers really seemed to understand the importance of every single game, going into UL Monroe and coming out with a victory, setting up the ultimate payback to end all of this “Real GSU” mummbojumbo Georgia Southern students took so much pride in. The Eagles smacked the Panthers in football at the Georgia Dome, but the school has also had an actual football program for seemingly the last five decades, not the last five years. But when it came to basketball and they won…I know my phone personally did not stop going off with texts from my good friends at good ole Southern for a consecutive half-hour or so. Not only was this game for bragging rights, but it was Senior Day to honor the hard working former walk-on Captain Ryan Green, blocking machine Curtis Washington, and the man himself Ryan Harrow. If the game needed any more hype, well, the teams were tied at the top of the conference and this game determined the regular season Sun Belt title as well as the number seed in that infamous New Orleans tournament. So the Panthers went in to a packed GSU Sports Arena. The pre-game activities were highlighted by a drummer who entered the court playing his set on sticks that were on fire and the student made sign of Southern player Eric Ferguson’s very real mugshot that debuted in Statesboro earlier that season against the Panthers. The team lost their leading scorer early to a hamstring injury, and of course, they respond to the pressure with a win and a memorable night for the number one Mid-Major NBA Prospect in the country who had 30 something points and went perfect from the free throw line. The prospect, who drew a record amount of NBA scouts to GSU games in a season, ended the game with Kodak-like embrace with his father and the crowd going wild chanting “ATL (let’s just go with “Yo!”) Around them. The father, also the coach then runs to the student section pumping his fist and firing up the crowd similar to the way two chainz could pump up a crowd of young adults going to school in Atlanta. Curtis Washington embraces his final moments on the floor as a player holding the trophy with tears in his eyes and the prospect gives a speech to the capacity crowd explaining how his freshman days were very empty and dead in the arena. The team, the students, and the city of Atlanta all continued to stand while watching the team’s season highlights on the big board. Perfect ending for sure, right? The end, huh? WRONG AGAIN. They still have that dreaded New Orleans tournament once again, that they have to win, to make it to the NCAA tournament and handle their “Unfinished Business.”
So, the team heads down to New Orleans and faces their old enemy as game number one. It’s a semifinal against the third leading scorer in the conference Shawn Long and Louisiana Lafayette. Harrow attempted to participate the first few minutes before coming out for majority of the rest of the tournament with the hamstring issues he suffered in the regular season finale in Atlanta. They get out to a big first half lead behind RJ Hunter’s 19 points. But Shawn Long and pack would not die and kept the game- well a game until the final minute. The Panthers lived to see another day and a shot closer to redemption. And of course, the only thing in their way from a chance to dance at perhaps the biggest dance in College would be…the Georgia Southern Eagles. Eight days later. So the two teams fought. And they fought. They didn’t score much though, but the Panthers would not trail thanks to their experienced leader Kevin Ware who has stepped up in big games and games without Ryan Harrow all season long. The game was tied at 36. Yes, 36 at the end of the game, two missed free throws by the freshman Jordan Session with 6 minutes left were looking like the final blow for this squad. But the team remembers the heartbreak of last year. At least Markus Crider does. At least RJ Hunter and certainly Coach Ron Hunter does. So with 21 seconds, with a loose ball on State’s side of the floor. All previous drama is forgotten. He said, she said is forgotten. Who’s the real GSU twitter debates are forgotten. The unforgettable scene 8 days ago at the GSU Sports Arena is now forgotten. But the last second in overtime in 2014 against Elfrid Payton and crew? That’s not forgotten, in matter of fact it’s probably the second most thought about thing that very moment aside from the actual loose ball. So, this “game” now comes down to more than just talent or momentum when the ball is loose on the floor with 21 seconds left in a tied championship game- it comes down to pure will. So at this moment, Markus Crider doesn’t care about how many points he had March 15th, 2015 or even what he’s doing with his life after graduation when he wins the battle of the dives for the loose ball. Crider quickly passes the ball to the first available white jersey he sees and thank God it’s RJ Hunter. Hunter then pump fakes before putting up a shot that draws the foul and two free throws and the chance for two more points in a game that didn’t have that many points. And he sinks both free throws. Of course. Great defense and an Eric Ferguson prayer at the buzzer brings the moment that made March 15th, 2015 so memorable for the Panther family.
GSU did it. Through everything. And they did it on a day that was no different. After leading the game in scoring, Kevin Ware came up with a late game cramp, RJ Hunter played with 4 fouls the last six minutes, the team was unable to average even one point per minute for the game and even after the win, Coach Ron Hunter suffered an injury of his own while celebrating. So I’m pretty sure facing a #3 seed troubles the team little this second round of the NCAA tournament and there will be no words but two for their next opponent- whether you ask TJ Shipes or Isaiah Dennis: Bring It.
The story is good enough for a full-length film, heck at least a 30 for 30 feature on ESPN one of these years. The story of the 2014-15 Men Basketball Georgia State Panthers and their journey to the NCAA tournament depicts the beauty and power of Sportz.
Rewind to the October 2014, where the season’s hype for the team was at an all-time high.
To understand the hype even more, let’s rewind to 2013-14, shall we?
Scratch that as well, to fully appreciate the hype of this season, let’s rewind to five years ago, that made March 15th, 2015 such a special memory to the Panther Family at Georgia State University.
In 2010, there was a 5’11”, four star point guard recruit from Walton High School in Marietta, Ga. The point guard was ranked the number point guard in the state of Georgia and one of the top recruits in the nation along with current NBA Players: Tim Hardaway Jr., Adreian Payne, Meyers Leonard, Terrence Ross, Kendall Marshall, Reggie Bullock, Ray McCallum, Cory Joseph, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson, Terrence Jones, Perry Jones, Tobias Harris, Brandon Knight, Kyrie Irving, Jared Sullinger, and Harrison Barnes. His highlight tape on YouTube surpassed a million views and he would go on to commit to NC State. After his preferred coach left the Wolfpack and spending a freshman campaign with limited playing time, the young guard would be swayed by college basketball royalty. Coach John Calipari made his mark in basketball once the NBA forced age requirements for players to leave school before going to the league. Many top recruits that would traditionally go from High School to the professional level began to sign at schools for one year, take the minimum amount of class hours, before putting their name up for the next level as soon as their freshman season was completed. This method would be nicknamed “one-and-done” and at the University of Memphis, John Calipari embraced the rule instead of shunning it. He recruited the 5th highest ranked prospect in the country to play for him and in his one season, led Memphis to the championship game. You may or may not have heard of Derrick Rose before, but he went on to be the number one pick in the NBA Draft and has been the only player besides Kevin Durant to stop Lebron James winning the MVP award every season of his career. Calipari took his one-and-done method to an already historic Kentucky program where he brought in John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Brandon Knight and Anthony Davis. Once again, just a reminder, three of those guys are already NBA All-Stars, and many can make the case that Brandon Knight should’ve been one this season as well. The flair, winning and popularity of Calipari’s method and the University of Kentucky caught fire, as the hottest rapper in the world today serves as an unofficial mascot for the team in-between worldwide tours. Bottom line is, Calipari only recruits the best, this point guard was one of the best, and this point guard would be the next big thing in College Basketball. The season at Kentucky was not all flowers and roses, however, the top recruit in the nation and current Sixers standout Nerlens Noel tore his ACL mid-season and his lost could be made up, as Kentucky missed the tournament and the point guards’ father was facing his own health issues. The point guards’ name is Ryan Harrow and he decided to finish his college career back home near his father at Georgia State University.
Georgia State’s basketball program had a fresh face of their own with bringing in IUPI Head Coach Ron Hunter in 2011. Hunter coached NBA standout George Hill in Indiana, and his recruiting mechanisms went right into full gear. The team acquired a transfer from USC (yes, the one in California and home to DeMar DeRozan and OJ Mayo) Curtis Washington and Hunter’s own son, some kid named RJ. Hunter’s passion on the sidelines and love for his program is unmatched by many other coaches in the country and he has raised a winning reputation and the best teams GSU has ever seen.
So add those components along with Prep School and High School star Markus Crider and Virginia Tech transfer Manny Atkins…and you have the 2013-14 Georgia State Men’s Basketball team that set a school record for wins in a season, breezing through competition and cruising to a Sun Belt regular season championship. Amazing story right, the end huh? COMPLETELY WRONG, the Panthers would face lottery-pick and Orlando Magic guard Elfrid Payton’s squad at Louisiana Lafayette in the Sun Belt tournament championship game in New Orleans. The game was officially at a neutral site, but in New Orleans, when you have a team from Georgia and a team from Louisiana, any logic individual could guess who had the “home-court advantage” as the kids like to call it. Payton and Harrow battled back and forth as Payton ended up with 19 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds and a steal. Harrow went entirely super sayian and dropped 37 points, but probably wishes he had 39. The last play of the game in overtime, Harrow drove aggressively, was hit while putting up a jumper that went in the basket and went out. Harrow laid on the floor as the final buzzer sounded. No call was made on the play. No 39 points for Harrow. No NCAA tournament bid for a recording breaking squad. The team was invited to the NIT, which is unofficially known as the “best of the rest” or more blunt “the loser’s bracket” and lost in the first round at Clemson. The picture of Manny Atkins or Ryan Harrow on the floor after the loss in New Orleans in March 2014 could be next to the definition of “disappointment” in the dictionary.
In the off season the Panthers made another big transfer move for the next year by bringing national celebrity and guard standout Kevin Ware on GSU’s campus. Ware was a key component and arguably the emotional engine to the University of Louisville’s National Championship in 2013. Atkins graduated, just to make the things fair for other teams in the Sun Belt.
So fast forward rewind back to October 2014 now. The Panthers are focused more than ever to make the tournament and have mass produced a poster with the bold letters of “Unfinished Business” along with a schedule for the hyped season with Kevin Ware, Ryan Harrow, RJ Hunter, and Curtis Washington’s faces on the poster. Coach Hunter took the team on a trip in the pre-season to Puerto Rico to get to know each other a little better. The team returned to Atlanta, sending out the posters to make up for a lackluster football season at the University and receiving a standing ovation at the GSU-GSU Football game when introduced on the field at the Georgia Dome. The starting five possibilities were seemingly endless and a lot included freshman Jeff Thomas. However, Thomas would be unable to participate this season due to paperwork issues with the NCAA.
Still, few teams had the hype as a mid-major that the Panthers had this season and the season began probably how the public thought it would. A 60 point win over Tennessee Temple and a loss against #14 ranked Iowa State on the road. But then, the team lost against Colorado State. And then another against Old Dominion. WHAT??!? 4 loses for the Panthers, they were supposed to be the mid-major version of Kentucky for crying out loud!!
Untrue rumors of Harrow and RJ Hunter clashing to be the team’s star surfaced and behind the scenes friction within the team was unreported. Harrow begin suffering concussion-like symptoms and then was suspended for receiving too many technical fouls. Criticism began that the team’s leading scorer couldn’t stay on the floor, the team was incapable of putting together a full 40 minute game and the big men had no scoring abilities or aggressiveness. The sky was surely falling now.
In the midst of all of this chaos, however, RJ Hunter became the leading scorer in school history, Harrow became the second fastest player in school history to reach 1,000 points and both players became in the #2 scoring duo in College Basketball.
The team would seem to get a grove and then you get a game like the one in Statesboro where Kevin Ware engaged in a little pre-game twitter trash talk with fans before losing to the “other” GSU (Officially GS, if you were wondering). The sky was once again falling as Georgia Southern and UL Monroe were now atop of the Sun Belt conference.
But in the final week of regular season play, the Panthers really seemed to understand the importance of every single game, going into UL Monroe and coming out with a victory, setting up the ultimate payback to end all of this “Real GSU” mummbojumbo Georgia Southern students took so much pride in. The Eagles smacked the Panthers in football at the Georgia Dome, but the school has also had an actual football program for seemingly the last five decades, not the last five years. But when it came to basketball and they won…I know my phone personally did not stop going off with texts from my good friends at good ole Southern for a consecutive half-hour or so. Not only was this game for bragging rights, but it was Senior Day to honor the hard working former walk-on Captain Ryan Green, blocking machine Curtis Washington, and the man himself Ryan Harrow. If the game needed any more hype, well, the teams were tied at the top of the conference and this game determined the regular season Sun Belt title as well as the number seed in that infamous New Orleans tournament. So the Panthers went in to a packed GSU Sports Arena. The pre-game activities were highlighted by a drummer who entered the court playing his set on sticks that were on fire and the student made sign of Southern player Eric Ferguson’s very real mugshot that debuted in Statesboro earlier that season against the Panthers. The team lost their leading scorer early to a hamstring injury, and of course, they respond to the pressure with a win and a memorable night for the number one Mid-Major NBA Prospect in the country who had 30 something points and went perfect from the free throw line. The prospect, who drew a record amount of NBA scouts to GSU games in a season, ended the game with Kodak-like embrace with his father and the crowd going wild chanting “ATL (let’s just go with “Yo!”) Around them. The father, also the coach then runs to the student section pumping his fist and firing up the crowd similar to the way two chainz could pump up a crowd of young adults going to school in Atlanta. Curtis Washington embraces his final moments on the floor as a player holding the trophy with tears in his eyes and the prospect gives a speech to the capacity crowd explaining how his freshman days were very empty and dead in the arena. The team, the students, and the city of Atlanta all continued to stand while watching the team’s season highlights on the big board. Perfect ending for sure, right? The end, huh? WRONG AGAIN. They still have that dreaded New Orleans tournament once again, that they have to win, to make it to the NCAA tournament and handle their “Unfinished Business.”
So, the team heads down to New Orleans and faces their old enemy as game number one. It’s a semifinal against the third leading scorer in the conference Shawn Long and Louisiana Lafayette. Harrow attempted to participate the first few minutes before coming out for majority of the rest of the tournament with the hamstring issues he suffered in the regular season finale in Atlanta. They get out to a big first half lead behind RJ Hunter’s 19 points. But Shawn Long and pack would not die and kept the game- well a game until the final minute. The Panthers lived to see another day and a shot closer to redemption. And of course, the only thing in their way from a chance to dance at perhaps the biggest dance in College would be…the Georgia Southern Eagles. Eight days later. So the two teams fought. And they fought. They didn’t score much though, but the Panthers would not trail thanks to their experienced leader Kevin Ware who has stepped up in big games and games without Ryan Harrow all season long. The game was tied at 36. Yes, 36 at the end of the game, two missed free throws by the freshman Jordan Session with 6 minutes left were looking like the final blow for this squad. But the team remembers the heartbreak of last year. At least Markus Crider does. At least RJ Hunter and certainly Coach Ron Hunter does. So with 21 seconds, with a loose ball on State’s side of the floor. All previous drama is forgotten. He said, she said is forgotten. Who’s the real GSU twitter debates are forgotten. The unforgettable scene 8 days ago at the GSU Sports Arena is now forgotten. But the last second in overtime in 2014 against Elfrid Payton and crew? That’s not forgotten, in matter of fact it’s probably the second most thought about thing that very moment aside from the actual loose ball. So, this “game” now comes down to more than just talent or momentum when the ball is loose on the floor with 21 seconds left in a tied championship game- it comes down to pure will. So at this moment, Markus Crider doesn’t care about how many points he had March 15th, 2015 or even what he’s doing with his life after graduation when he wins the battle of the dives for the loose ball. Crider quickly passes the ball to the first available white jersey he sees and thank God it’s RJ Hunter. Hunter then pump fakes before putting up a shot that draws the foul and two free throws and the chance for two more points in a game that didn’t have that many points. And he sinks both free throws. Of course. Great defense and an Eric Ferguson prayer at the buzzer brings the moment that made March 15th, 2015 so memorable for the Panther family.
GSU did it. Through everything. And they did it on a day that was no different. After leading the game in scoring, Kevin Ware came up with a late game cramp, RJ Hunter played with 4 fouls the last six minutes, the team was unable to average even one point per minute for the game and even after the win, Coach Ron Hunter suffered an injury of his own while celebrating. So I’m pretty sure facing a #3 seed troubles the team little this second round of the NCAA tournament and there will be no words but two for their next opponent- whether you ask TJ Shipes or Isaiah Dennis: Bring It.