All good things come to an end

bruno

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Sadly- VMI's basketball season came to an end on ESPN this afternoon as they lost in the Big South Championship to Radford. Congratulations are still in order though to Coach Baucom, to the Holmes Brothers who set an NCAA Record for most points scored in a NCAA career by brothers and to the VMI basketball team which led the NCAA in scoring. Win or lose we're proud of you!
Rah Virginia Mil- Whole Damn Team!!
 
We're proud of our boys... Go Keydets Go!!!

The awesome thing about going to a small school is that we know all our players. I see these guys every day. We strained, sweated and bled together. We have so many shared memories from the Ratline. Like the time during hell week that Travis asked "Permission to use the lagoon, sir!" instead of permission to use the latrine... still have no idea if he did that on purpose or not! And the time Chavis came out for a sweat party in gray blouse instead of gym dyke (PT gear), grinning that classic Holmes grin. And how the twins and Willie B. used to constantly pull stupid stunts just to get Cadre and RDC off the back of one of us who was having a bad day.

The fans of other schools are loyal to their players, but those of us who attend military schools have a bond with ours that they will never understand. They're proud of their top scorers, but we're proud because we know how much harder our athletes have to work to keep up. We only have one-a-day practices, and we hold our athletes to a higher standard. They still have to go to formations, stand inspections, they can't skip class just because they don't feel like going, and most importantly: we hold our athletes to an unrelenting and unforgiving Honor Code.

Some of the Radford fans were really poor sports and gave us a ration of crap as we were leaving. They rubbed it in our faces and taunted us somethin' fierce. But I didn't see a single Keydet with head hung low, because we knew our boys put up one heck of a fight.

It was a tough crowd. We had a huge contingency from VMI, and it was so awesome to see Cadets and Alumni alike standing and clapping during the VMI Spirit. But some Radford Alum bought 1000 tickets and they announced all over their website and on campus, begging the students to sacrifice one day of their spring break to go out and support their team. We sure had fun with shouting contests and a pep band showdown though. :thumb:

Awesome job, boys... congratulations on our best season since '76-'77. You represent the VMI spirit well.
 
It's a shame VMI lost. The Citadel just lost to Samford today in the Southern Conference Tournament, so they're effectively out as well. I'm sure they are still proud though. Ed Conroy led them to a 20 win season, which I believe is the second time ever in Citadel history.
 
Three for VMI. We've got some strong up and comers though... Adam Lonon '10 was on fire during the Liberty (78-58 VMI) game Thursday night. Austin Kenon '11 was very consistent with three-pointers all season.

It was a little rough with the rats at the beginning of the season, but Ronnie Burks and Keith Gabriel got right into NCAA-level competition as time progressed. Michael Sparks contributed a lot in the last few games, too.

We've had a rough couple of seasons. Had a season of ups and downs my Third Class year ('06-'07). Like I mentioned earlier, military schools hold their athletes to a higher standard. We lost two of our basketball players just before the '06-'07 season started due to Honor Code violations, and a third one was dismissed for the same halfway through the season. But we still managed to lead the nation in steals and to set a record for three-pointers.

I'm sorry to hear that The Citadel is out of the tournament. Military schools are like brothers to each other, in a sense. A big brother can pick on his little brother all he wants, but if anybody else tries to, they'll have to reckon with his big brother. We'll talk crap all day long about each others' schools and systems and freshmen orientation (so to speak) and ring sizes, but if anyone else try to talk crap about them, you'd better bet we're going to defend them.
 
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