The Final Four
Authors: Paul Volponi
THE FINAL FOUR
THE FINAL FOUR
PAUL
VOLPONI
VIKING
An Imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
VIKING
Published by Penguin Group
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First published in 2012 by Viking, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
Copyright © Paul Volponi, 2012
All rights reserved
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Volponi, Paul.
The Final Four / by Paul Volponi.
p. cm.
Summary: Four players at the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament struggle with the
pressures of tournament play and the expectations of society at large.
ISBN: 978-1-101-56695-4
[1. Basketball—Fiction. 2. NCAA Basketball Tournament—Fiction.
3. Conduct of life—Fiction. 4. African Americans—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.V8877Fi 2012
[Fic]—dc23
2011011587
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This text is dedicated to the lifeblood of college basketball: the players, who are all too often viewed as the product instead of the source.
Special Thanks:
Joy Peskin
Regina Hayes
Don Weisberg
Rosemary Stimola
Leila Sales
Abigail Powers
David Cipollone
Senad Ahmetovic
April Volponi
Sabrina Volponi
Jim Cocoros
Chapter Twelve: Michael Jordan
Chapter Thirteen: Malcolm McBride
Chapter Sixteen: Michael Jordan
Chapter Seventeen: Malcolm McBride
Chapter Nineteen: Crispin Rice
Chapter Twenty: Michael Jordan
Chapter Twenty-One: Malcolm McBride
Chapter Twenty-Two: Roko Bacic
Chapter Twenty-Three: Crispin Rice
Chapter Twenty-Four: Michael Jordan
Chapter Twenty-Five: Malcolm McBride
Chapter Twenty-Six: Roko Bacic
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Crispin Rice
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Michael Jordan
“I am sure that no man can derive more pleasure
from money or power than I do from seeing a pair of
basketball goals in some out of the way place.”
—James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball
in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891
SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 7:13 P.M. (CT)
THE LOUISIANA SUPERDOME
J
ust because the game clock has stopped, don’t believe for a single second that the hearts of the ten basketball players on the court have quit pounding.
It’s not possible.
That same intense rhythm beats inside the chests of the players and coaches on the sidelines for the Michigan State Spartans and the Trojans of Troy University.
Only 6.9 seconds remain in regulation time, with underdog Troy leading 64–62.
The Spartans’ eighteen-year-old freshman point guard sensation Malcolm McBride glares into the eyes of his defender,
Roko Bacic, with Malcolm clad in green and Roko in cardinal red.
“Don’t even think you can stop me from scoring,” says Malcolm. “This is the real world we’re living in, not a damn storybook.”
Then Malcolm kisses the fingers on his left hand, before touching them to the tattooed portrait on his right arm. The name
TRISHA
is arched above her carefully detailed face indelibly inked into Malcolm’s black skin.
“If I don’t stop you, maybe you’ll trip over your big mouth,” says Roko, whose teammates call him “Red Bull” for his mop of curly red hair and boundless energy.
Malcolm has earned a tag, too—“One and Done.”
But it’s not something anyone really calls him to his face.
The media gave him that name during his senior year in high school, when Malcolm declared he’d enter the NBA draft as soon as he was eligible—after one year of college ball.
As a stripe-shirted referee hands the basketball to a player with the word
STATE
across his chest, Malcolm and Roko begin their fight for position.
Drenched in sweat, their arms and legs slide off of one another’s—grappling, pushing, and pulling to the limits the refs will allow.
The Spartans have only until the count of five to inbound the ball. And as the referee’s hand slices the air for the fourth time, Malcolm finally shakes free.
He receives the inbounds pass, restarting the game clock.
In a millisecond, Malcolm sizes up Red Bull, who defends him tightly, denying the opportunity for a deep three-point basket to win.
So Malcolm makes his move to the hoop. First, he stutter-steps, disrupting Roko’s balance. Then he explodes to his right, before cutting the angle sharply left.
With little more than a second remaining, Malcolm stops his dribble on a dime, driving his legs into the slatted wooden floor.
Then Malcolm’s wiry six-foot-three-inch frame takes air.
Red Bull shadows him all the way, just a fraction behind.
At the height of his leap, Malcolm focuses his sight on the rim as Red Bull’s outstretched hands flash across his face.
Despite the strain in his muscles, Malcolm’s touch is light. And he releases the rock like a feather onto a breeze.
Neither Malcolm nor Red Bull sees the shot go in as their bodies tumble to the court. But they both hear the clean
swish
of the ball through the netting before the Louisiana Superdome explodes in sound, and the clock is reset for overtime.
From that morning’s national newspaper:
NEW ORLEANS, La. — Yes, Cinderella has arrived at the Big Dance in the Big Easy. The Trojans of
Troy University—the Cinderella story of the Men’s NCAA Basketball Tournament—will take on the heavily favored Michigan State Spartans in the first semifinal at the Final Four, tonight at 5:07 p.m. (CT). The nearly 56,000 fans expected to fill the Louisiana Superdome will represent the largest crowd for which the Trojans, whose home arena seats a mere 4,000, have ever played.
“March Madness” is what the NCAA Tournament is called, and for good reason. Few pundits could have predicted that Troy, which had never won an NCAA Tournament game before, would still be dancing in this single-elimination tournament that has so far sent more than 60 teams packing over nearly three weeks of competition. In comparison, Michigan State, a perennial contender for the title, has been crowned National Champion twice and reached the Final Four on several other occasions.
Controversial freshman and soon to be NBA draft–bound Malcolm McBride, who made national headlines yesterday by criticizing the NCAA and stating that the players putting on this tournament should receive part of the over $700 million generated by it, is the Spartans’ leading scorer and top trash-talker.
“This isn’t even going to be a game. It’s going
to be more like a workout on national TV,” said McBride, who hails from the tough Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects on the East Side of Detroit. “The clock’s going to strike midnight early for these Cinderella Troy boys. The glass slipper doesn’t fit. They’re going home as pumpkins. And I’ll tell them that on the court to their faces, too.”
Junior Roko Bacic is the Trojans’ high-energy leader. Born and raised in the war-torn and rebuilding country of Croatia along the coast of Eastern Europe, Bacic has experienced his share of intense battles as well. Bacic figures to guard McBride one-on-one most of the night. How will he respond to the brash freshman’s trash talking?
“He has freedom of speech. That’s very special. It’s one of the things I love most about the U.S.,” said Bacic. “But I also find [McBride] to be pretty annoying. He can say whatever he wants. Now he just has to back it up on the basketball court, or look very foolish.”
An American film and music buff, the redheaded Croatian credits his study of entertainment with helping him to better learn the English language and its accents.
“Even if McBride scores a big basket or two,” said Bacic, before slipping into his best Arnold
Schwarzenegger voice from
The Terminator
, “on defense,
I’ll be back
.”
The last time the Spartans and Trojans met for stakes this high was in the Trojan War of Greek mythology, when the Spartans left a huge wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. Believing the gift to be a sign that the war was over, the Trojans brought the horse into their city. That night, the Spartan soldiers who had hidden inside the horse opened the gates of Troy so their army could burn the city down.
Earlier this week, Troy coach Alvin Kennedy showed his players Hollywood’s version of that mythical war in the movie
Troy
.
“My team loved it,” said Kennedy. “They’ll be sure not to fall for any trick plays now. They even liked the fact that the Spartans won in the movie, because together as a team, we’re ready to rewrite history.”
In the nightcap at 7:47 (CT), the North Carolina Tar Heels and Duke Blue Devils, a pair of traditional blue bloods with nine National Championships and over 30 Final Four appearances between them, will compete for the right to take on the Troy/Michigan State winner in the championship game on Monday night.
Coach: Alvin Kennedy (5th year)
Team Colors: cardinal red, black and silver
Mascot: T-Roy (Trojan soldier)
Summary: Surprise winners of nine straight games, team chemistry is the Trojans’ strong suit. Coach Alvin Kennedy has his players believing in themselves and not acting like tourists at the Final Four. For the Trojans to win, Roko “Red Bull” Bacic, an emerging pro prospect, must find a way to contain All-American Malcolm McBride. Undersized center Crispin Rice must stay out of foul trouble against Michigan State’s enormous frontcourt. Sweet-shooting Aaron Boyce, a New Orleans native, must show the same resolve that helped him outlast Hurricane Katrina in the Superdome when he faces the defensive-minded Spartans.
Coach: Eddie Barker (14th year)
Team Colors: green and white
Mascot: Sparty (Spartan soldier)
Summary: The Spartans have been here before—the
Trojans have not—and succeeded under coach Eddie Barker. If Barker can control the shot selection and attitude of freshman point guard Malcolm McBride, a sure lottery pick in June’s NBA draft, the Spartans should cruise here. “Grizzly Bear” Cousins and “Baby Bear” Wilkins are no Yogi and Boo-Boo, and should devour rebounds against the smaller Trojans. The Michigan State bench is considerably stronger as well, even in name, boasting a junior reserve named Michael Jordan. Even Sparty, the foam-rubber-costumed mascot, is taller and more buff than the Trojans’ T-Roy.
