“I hear people talk about game pressure,” Miller said, “the higher up the ladder you get into the NCAA Tournament.”

For most basketball teams, the NCAA tournament is life or death.  Some teams, such as North Carolina, Duke and UCLA almost always have bids into the tournament.  For other teams, for the most part, smaller less-known schools, the chance of getting a spot to play in the tournament is slim.  Once in the tournament, the pressure is high and intense.  The top teams want to keep their reputations and spots in the tournament to try and win a championship, while the higher seeds want to prove themselves that they can win even though they are from an underdog school. 

The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers felt as though the game was over, as they were up by fifteen points with eight minutes to go in the second half.  Drake, whom took their game to the next level under the pressure, went on a rally and tied the game up, with thirty seconds to go.  The next play; a player from Drake gets fouled, for two shots.  Sweat was dripping down as he nervously made his way to the foul line.  The pressure of these two shots was immense.  Despite his nervs, he made both the fould shots.  Coming down the court with five seconds to go, Ty Rogers from Western Kentucky hit a three-pointer from several feet beyond NBA range with two seconds left to clinch a win for the underdog Hilltoppers. 

Although student-athletes, such as myself in basketball, can relate to these high pressure situations, many students will never get a chance to experience that intensity.  However, they may experience another type of pressure recently: waiting for college acceptance letters.  The pressure to get into a good school is similar to that of the basketball game, if you do not work hard, you fail.  Students tend to get nervous and discouraged when they see their other peers get college acceptance letters.  This pressures them to get into a good college, and if they do get the fatal rejection letter, the pain of the disappointment is deep.  The real world puts so much pressure on a student to get into a good college because if you do not, the level of life will be lesser than if you do. 

Students work really hard to try and meet the standard of schools.  They do all the homework, study for tests and even wake up early to get extra-help to try and rise above the pressure and get into a well reputed college.  However, most of the college acceptance is based on one test- the SATs.  The pressure going into that one test can determine the level of academics in college you attend.  I think this is very unfair, as research states that these tests are based on genetics, no matter how hard you study and prepare for the test, you are limited by your gene pool.  Statistics show that generally how your parents did on the SATs or in school is basically how you are going to do.  In my opinion, this makes the pressure of applying to college even greater, as you can not control the outcome of what happens. 

Whether the pressure is making the game winning shot, or just waiting to here from your favorite college, everyone can relate to pressure and have to learn how to cope with it.

This weekend could have been historic for the Tabor Seawolves.  As girls varisty basketball made the semi-finals on Wednesday, things were looking up, and the road to victory was right in our grasp.  The senior basketball players, including Tiff, Jilly, Maddie and I were especially hungry for a championship considering we had made it the past two years but lost undeniably.  We have had the Class A championship ripped from us too often- and this year was our year to win it.  The dynamics of the team were as perfect as a team can get.  Nearing the end of the season, the team was playing the best they had ever done and everything seemed to fall right into place.  The plays were executed flawlessly, the coaches and players all getting along.  The season, despite little competition, made our team one for the history books- playing the hardest schedule and going undefeated.  We were ranked number one in the A division for seedings of the tournament, followed by Worcester, Nobles and Kent respectively.

After a marginal win over Andover to secure a spot in the semi-finals, we thought we were intangible.  Our next oppenent: Kent.  Considering we had already beaten Kent in a Christmas tournament a few months ago by a good amount, we were feeling pretty confident.  We prepared as normal on Thursday for the next day.  Although I was confident, I still got the ‘butterflies’ as game day had approached. 

When the refs threw up the ball for tip-off, the nervs went away and the game was played.   Throughout most of the first half, we were pretty evenly matched.  Jilly, who is easily 6 foot 2 inches and usually the difference in the game, was sized up against a girl from Ukraine, who was just as big and strong.  Depsite the refs favoring Kent, with the fouls 9-2 at one point, at the half the score was a tie, 30-30. 

Going into the locker room, there was mixed feelings.  Although we were not playing our best, the score was still tied and there was another sixteen minutes to play our hearts out.  As Mr.Becker walked into the locker room for the half time talk, the room went quiet, I was curious to hear what he had to say.  His calmness and confidence cooled us down and we prepared for the next half.  The second half started, well, sub-par if you will.  Despite the 50 Tabor kids cheering us on, we were down by 15 points with six minutes to go.  Panic started to overcome me as Becker called a timeout to figure out what was going on.  After a ‘pep talk’ from him, we came out with a bang.  The big girl on their team and best player had fouled out, and all I was thinking was this was our chance to comeback.  I was right.  Going on a 17-2 run, we were suddenly up by one with ten seconds left.  After a made three by Maddie, without thinking Kent got the ball in quickly, pushed it up the court as time was running down.  I turned around to see the point guard throw a pass to a player in the corner, and with a second to go she shot the ball, seeming like she wasn’t even looking as she did it.  The ball jiggled around the rim, and in slow motion went it.  As the ball bounced on the floor and Kent girls rushing the court, all I could really think that this wasn’t real.

This was the seniors last year to pull through and win a championship.  We didn’t accomplish that.  What we did accomplish was something more important.  After the game, no one pointed fingers, or yelled.  We were not sad we had lost, but more importantly because the season was over.  The team that consumed most of our time, that made us laugh the most, and felt like a home away from home had ended.  Even though we did not accomplish what we set out to do, what we came away with was more important.