By Patrick Netherton, Demon Sports Network announcer
It is pretty remarkable what a singular play on one given day can mean to a university like Northwestern State. Not only did the game winner from Jermaine Wallace give NSU its first win over a ranked opponent, and a berth in the second round, and tons of front-page mentions on every sports website in America, it provided an actual financial windfall for the university.
Ordinarily, in PR parlance, we talk about unsolicited advertising and what it would be worth if you could buy it. There would be no way to pay for the amount of coverage that one shot (not to mention Clifton Lee's late-game heroics) provided to the university. Mentions on every website, sports TV station, newspapers from Minnesota to Hawaii, etc. Those are all things that are amazing in terms of name recognition, website hits, but they are tough to put a dollar value on because the good they do doesn't translate into dollars brought in.
Recognition: yes.
Cold hard cash money: not so much.
"The Shot" is different...and it is different because of Pontiac.
Pontiac had a contest to pick the best game-changing performance of the tournament. There were several good candidates: Darrel Mitchell's buzzer beater to lift LSU over A&M; the long two in the corner that kept Tennessee from being upset by Winthrop; and of course, Wallace.
In the end, it was no contest. Wallace and NSU won easily. And that meant that, all told, $107,000 would be donated to the general scholarship fund at NSU ($100,000 for the winner, $5,000 for winning the first round from Pontiac, plus $1,000 for the player of the game after each game the Demons played in the tournament).
What that means is that, in this post-hurricane budgetary crisis affecting all of the universities around the state, Northwestern State just received one of the greatest early Christmas presents ever. This will enable the university to fund scholarships throughout the school, not just to athletes. I would hope that some of the money is used for athletic scholarships, but if there was one man who would be proud to help anyone who needed it, Mike McConathy is that man.
Coach Mike is all about helping others, a lesson he has repeatedly taught to his pupils/players. Help those less fortunate, stop and change a tire on the side of the road even if you are traveling on the team bus, hold open a door. It is the little things in life that mean so much to Mike, and this is one HUGE thing. Now if someone needs some financial assistance to get through NSU and receive a degree, the administration may not have to spend as much time looking for money.
Jermaine Wallace, Mike McConathy, the Demons and all those thousands who voted have assured that the money will be there for whoever needs it. In the coming years, when the Jermaine Wallace Shot money is divvied out, there won't be press conferences talking about who got the money, or websites proclaiming it, or Jim Nantz saying nice things about it, but it may be the least publicized result of "The Shot" that really means the most.
March 21, 2006 - 10:47 PM
It has been a wild and at times, insane, journey through the end of the regular season, into the conference tournament and then to the biggest upset of the 2006 NCAA tournament.
NSU ran roughshod through the conference season, finishing at 15-1. There was a ton of pressure on the Demons to live up to their high RPI (mid 60's) and gaudy conference finish. They struggled through the first game vs. Texas-San Antonio, whom the Demons had played in their last regular season game and dominated. NSU escaped from UTSA, dominated Lamar, and then played a very tough game before finally prevailing over Sam Houston to send them to the Dance, the NCAA tournament.
This was the dream finally realized for this group of seniors. Alfonse Dyer, Jermaine Spencer (a redshirt junior), Jermaine Wallace (big shot), Clifton Lee and his hair, Tyronn Mitchell and Byron Allen. They came in together. Kerwin Forges (Fat Daddy) and DJ Ross were members of the senior class this year, though Ross is one year older and Forges came in as a sophomore transfer. This group has been remarkable. From 6 wins their freshman year to 11 wins as sophomores. They exploded their junior years with 21 wins and a conference title only to be dispatched by Southeastern Louisiana in the title game. They vowed never to let that happen again, and it did not.
So they were in the Big Dance, the NCAA tournament, as a lowly 14 seed against big, powerful 3-seed Iowa. And they only pulled off a 17-point comeback in the last 8:30 capped by the greatest shot in NSU history for the only win over a ranked opponent in modern times. Clifton Lee was amazing in the comeback, scoring 16 points in about 4 mins. Wallace went game winner on us, providing a clip that will be shown forever.
I wish more people were able to understand what these kids are like away from the court, on the team bus, hanging out in the hotel room. These guys are really terrific people, and deserve this win and the national attention. And we can all tell that CBS Sports guys Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery were taken with Coach Mike and his players. Sitting in the room with Lundquist and Raftery listening to the players recount their love and respect for Coach Mike was eye opening. Let's just say that Coach Mike is a better man than I thought he was, and I already thought he was one of the five best men I know.
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visit www.patricknetherton.com to hear the Demon Sports Network call of the Wallace game-winner.
