Tampa subregional

Despite losses, these two don't deserve to fade away

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© St. Petersburg Times
published March 22, 2003

TAMPA -- Winners get next.

Winners get to dance. Winners get to grin and slap palms and talk trash. They get the cameras in their faces and the lights in their eyes and the highlights on SportsCenter. They get to climb the ladders and cut the nets and write the history.

Most of all, winners get tomorrow.

Losers? Losers get the tears, the tissues, the tickets home. Thanks for coming. Don't forget to stop by the T-shirt stand. And what was your name again?

Losers? This is what they get:

Forgotten.

The world will not long remember Jameer Nelson, who is one-and-done. Nor will the conversation linger long around Tim Smith, who has been bounced.

They lost. They left. Soon enough, the memories will fade.

Human nature requires us to talk about the winners from Friday's subregion. About how Auburn showed its critics that, yes, it belonged, but thanks very much for asking. About Wake Forest and its poise down the stretch. About the young, untapped talent of the Michigan State wrecking crew. About Florida.

If you have a good memory, if you wrote something down, perhaps you will spare a memory about two little guards from two little teams who were justthisclose to legend.

Talk about them quickly, while you still remember. Even in defeat, they were the best things that happened to Friday. You didn't need a scoreboard to show it.

Nelson was the best player on the floor in the opening round. Not just for Saint Joseph's, but for anybody. He was fearless, tireless, relentless. Most of all, he was unforgettable. Well, almost.

Another basket, just one, and the nation would be in love with Nelson. This was one of those great individual performances from a little-known player that people seem to savor ... if it comes in a victory.

Oh, Nelson did all he could. He brought Saint Joseph's back from a 13-point deficit. He woke his team up from its first-half sleepwalk, and he pushed it toward the finish line, and darned if he didn't nearly get it across.

You remember, don't you? There was a time in the second half when the entire bracket disappeared, when all the other teams faded, when even the teammates turned invisible. It was just Nelson and Auburn's Marquis Daniels, playing one-on-one. Daniels was terrific. And his team won.

But Nelson was better.

There were times when it seemed that no one else playing for Saint Joseph's had any desire to touch the ball. They just wanted to throw to Nelson and then get ready to play defense.

Time after time, Nelson shot his team back in the game, or pulled down an impossible rebound. With 17 seconds to go, his short floater gave Saint Joseph's the lead.

Even after Daniels had settled things, seemingly, with a 3-pointer with six seconds to go, Nelson wasn't done. Oh, Auburn knew he was going to get the ball. I knew it, you knew it, parking attendants knew it.

Here came Nelson, to the surprise of no one, weaving in and out of Auburn's players. Auburn probably remembers similar runs; a guy named Bo Jackson used to make them all the time. This time, Nelson drove the length of the floor and drew a foul with a half-second to go. He hit both free throws. Then he went to the bench, stood on a chair and waved.

That was the moment worth freezing. That was the best of Nelson, who has starred in secret for the Hawks. His coach, Phil Martelli, has always told everyone what a great player Nelson is. And the rest of the world, arrogant in its love of big conferences and familiar names, has nodded and ignored him. As he stood on the bench, no one ignored him any longer.

It didn't last. Nelson hit back-to-back 3-pointers in overtime, and his team was up four, but that was it. He missed his next two shots, and Daniels led the Tigers back.

There is something about defeat that gives us all amnesia. Had Saint Joseph's won, you would have followed Nelson for two weeks, and you would have remembered him forever. As it is, his moments are fading already.

Smith, too, just missed on an opportunity to make America learn his name.

Oh, not on the last shot. Smith took the last shot in East Tennessee State's attempt to upset Wake Forest, and it missed so badly, it might have missed gravity.

That's the only thing Smith seemed to miss in the second half of the game. He's a blinding, not always polished guard for ETSU, who flits about and generally pesters the other team to death.

Time and again Friday, Wake Forest seemed to be in control, and things were going to proceed orderly, and here came Smith, crashing through the kitchen, knocking over the pots and pans, and generally making a mess of things for the Deacons.

It was Smith who led his team from an eight-point deficit in the last 2:30, hitting two 3-pointers and two free throws to get a tie at 72. One more play, just one, and ETSU becomes one of those 15th-seeded darlings that people talk about for eternity.

This time, it was Josh Howard, the ACC player of the year, who allowed his team to survive. The moment passed by without Smith fullying claiming it.

And so mythology lost out. No one added to the lore, the legend of the tournament. The best stories missed by that much.

The world won't remember Nelson for long. Or Smith, for that matter. Fans will dance with the winners. They'll mark their bracket, and they'll save the highlights of the survivors.

Nelson? He's finished.

Smith? He's done.

Soon enough, no one will remember.

Which, of course, will be our loss.

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