Sports Talk: American Dream

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FOR FIVE DAYS, THE PLAYERS on the American University basketball team have had nothing to think about except the biggest game of their careers.

The Eagles' last game was Sunday, the rest of the students are off campus because of spring break, and night after night they've had to watch team after team punch its ticket to the big dance while they waited their turn.

"I had a chance to watch San Diego beat Gonzaga; I had a chance to watch the Butler game and the Oral Roberts game," said junior guard Garrison Carr. "I've had a chance to watch a lot of games on TV, and it just makes me excited and more anxious to go out on the court and play."

On Friday, he'll finally get his chance. The Eagles host Colgate in the Patriot League final for a shot at history: A win would grant the school its first trip to the NCAA tournament.

The players know the history. American has been to the conference final three times since joining the league in 2001, coach Jeff Jones' first year with the program. They lost all three, including a home game that first year, and haven't made it back to the final since 2004.

The job was made harder this week by the loss of Bryce Simon, who was one of two players to start every game during the regular season. Simon was injured during Sunday's semifinal win over Army and will not play on Friday.

Of course, the Eagles players say they've put Simon's injury and the historical significance of Friday's game out of their minds. But it doesn't take much prodding for many of them to let slip the admission that a chance to make the NCAA tournament has been in the back of their minds all week.

"I'm so anxious for Friday to get here," junior guard Derrick Mercer said.

Jones has repeatedly told his players not to be seduced by the attention from the media and the hype from the fans (the players say there's a Facebook group encouraging students to come back for the game, and before Wednesday's practice, the team was bombarded with more media "than we've ever had come out for AU basketball," Jones said).

He started preaching that mind-set immediately after the team's semifinal win on Sunday, but even he said it's difficult to not start thinking about Friday.

"Waiting is like pulling teeth," he said. "Coaches worry anyway, but then you have a game with this much at this stake and you have this much time — it hasn't been easy."

Photo by Preston Keres/The Washington Post