That stuck in my head all weekend as I reflected on what was likely the best year of basketball in the long history of UCA as both the Bears and Sugar Bears reached record heights.

The Sugar Bears had an absolutely magical run, advancing all the way to the Final Four and losing by two in the final seconds to Washburn University. While lying in bed watching Washburn do whatever they wanted against Seattle Pacific in Saturday’s championship game, I made the mistake of thinking what could’ve been for the Sugar Bears. A shot here or a stop there, getting a foul called — if just one thing had gone differently last Thursday, we would all be celebrating a national championship right now.

But it didn’t, and we’re not.

Instead, what we have to celebrate is their countless other accomplishments: a school record-tying 28 wins, the first Final Four appearance in program history, the program’s first Gulf South Conference Tournament title, hosting the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional for the first time — winning the thing, a record 15 conference wins, a perfect 8-0 in the second trip through the conference, defeating the nation’s No. 1 team, a 19-game winning streak and personal accolades too numerous to list here.

And all the moments that made up those triumphs, not the final defeat, are what will define this team. The record book will always say Washburn 69, Central Arkansas 67, but that’s not how history will hold this group.

Likewise, the Bears won’t be remembered for falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but for winning 23 games, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time and winning the first game, making them one of the last 32 teams out of more than 300 to be playing. They’ll be remembered not by their loss to Montevallo in the GSC Tourney but by their overtime win on the home floor against Delta State and winning 8 of 9 down the stretch to share the GSC West Division crown.

Finally, a win at Harding. A sweep of Arkansas Tech. A climb up to No. 10 in the national poll and No. 1 in one computer poll. These are the things that, looking back, made the season what it was.

It’s not the result. It’s the joy in the journey.

To borrow some words from Sugar Bears assistant coach Kristin Frase’s halftime speech from the regional final against Henderson State, “Twenty years from now it won’t matter if you won or lost. What matters is if you had fun.”

And 20 years from now, when DeWayne Hart’s college career is coming to a close and I’m watching Carone Harris drag her old, decrepit body off a WNBA court for the last time, I won’t look back at the 2004-05 season and my time covering the teams and think about the result. I’ll think about the fun and the joy along the way.

Like the joy to be had in any given chat with Lee Reliford. You don’t find too many players talking about drop-kicking their opponents or comparingthemselves to caged animals, complete with the growl noise. He’s an excitable cat, one who was quite fond of guaranteeing victory and demanding it be put in print — until Coach Chappell gave him the look.

Or the joy in listening to a PA announcer butcher Nedzad Biberovic’s name right before the big man comes into the game and throws down a couple monster jams and throws a couple shots into Row 13. But even more memorable is thinking back to after a game early last season when B was feeling good and in his thick accent, let it be known that “I am a playa ... but not just in basketball.” It’s not every day you meet a true Bosnian pimp.

And 20 years from now, I’m not remembering a three-game losing streak in conference. I’m remembering Scott Martin rockin’ the mullet against Henderson and DeWayne Hart smiling in the face of the overzealous fat guy taunting him at Harding, and in typical DeWayne fashion, giving the guy an earful. Preach!

I’ll take the fun in knowing that, late in a tight game, I could look over to fellow sports editor Kai Caddy and say “Ah, we’re fine. We got Lamar Grimes,” or “We got Carone Harris. It’s over, they’re done,” and almost always be right.

I’ll remember the joy of seeing Caronica Randle’s shot in the last second against Valdosta fall through the net as time expired and the explosion of excitement that roared from the team and its supporters.

But so many things happened before that moment that would’ve made the season’s journey one to remember.

Like the night the Sugar Bears clinched the division title, you had one of those truly feel-good college basketball moments with Coach Seals standing and waving her arms upward to work the crowd into a far-too-rare frenzy.

Or Coach Marvel coming back for a night to be honored and getting treated with the joy of seeing his old team put a thorough beating on Henderson and getting to present Carone the game ball after she broke the career steals record.

Or the night of the OBU game when it looked like the Lady Tigers had the upset in hand, but Renita Dobbins had other ideas and banked home a 3 at the end to force an overtime period in which UCA would pull away. She nearly got broken in half in the melee after the shot, but I’m sure it would’ve all been worth it. At least for a second.

Then there was the last regular-season game in Magnolia. Upon entering the gym it seemed like there was an awful lot of purple on the court during warm-ups. I noticed there were 10 Sugar Bears instead of the typical eight. Dobbins was just back from suspension, and ... oh my god, is that Ashley Hutchcraft in uniform?

Seeing her suited up made that a memorable night and invoked visions of Magic Johnson’s last return, one of those now-or-never deals through the end of the season before calling it a career. Of course, Kim Davis made the night pretty darn memorable by storming off to the locker room during the game’s final minute, disrobing along the way. You don’t get that a whole lot in women’s basketball.

And of course there was the season-long joy of watching Caronica skip right through about three years of development, Micaela Thomas getting it back a little more every night, Traci Graham waving the one finger around after every 3 and playing post defense on Rebecca Frost, Carone being Carone (that’s a whole column to itself) and so on. There really aren’t enough superlatives to go around.

The kids even got in on the act, brightening up a couple press conferences.

Micaela’s daughter Jaiden, oblivious to her surroundings, sat in mommy’s lap during a GSC Tourney press conference and thought it would be a good idea to crumple the stat sheet up right in front of my voice recorder before turning it into dinner.

It’s hard to not have a good time watching a baby drool all over the rebounds while her mom talks about them.

In the press conference after winning the regional tourney, Carone gave the net to her daughter Jayla, who in turn ran it over to somebody else to hold because really, after being apart the week before, the only thing she wanted was mom.

Just goes to show when the Sugar Bears talk about family atmosphere, they aren’t messing around.

So while the end result may have hurt a little, you couldn’t really ask for a more memorable, joyous journey to that point.

To use another old adage; “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”





		Take joy in the journey

			Once upon a time, a wise person said to me “Sometimes, the end result is not as important as the joy you found in the journey.” That stuck in my head all weekend as I reflected on what was likely the best year of basketball in the long history of UCA as both the Bears and Sugar Bears reached record heights. The Sugar Bears had an absolutely magical run, advancing all the way to the Final Four and losing by two in the final seconds to Washburn University. While lying in bed watching Washburn do whatever they wanted against Seattle Pacific in Saturday’s championship game, I made the mistake of thinking what could’ve been for the Sugar Bears. A shot here or a stop there, getting a foul called — if just one thing had gone differently last Thursday, we would all be celebrating a national championship right now. But it didn’t, and we’re not. Instead, what we have to celebrate is their countless other accomplishments: a school record-tying 28 wins, the first Final Four appearance in program history, the program’s first Gulf South Conference Tournament title, hosting the NCAA Tournament’s South Regional for the first time — winning the thing, a record 15 conference wins, a perfect 8-0 in the second trip through the conference, defeating the nation’s No. 1 team, a 19-game winning streak and personal accolades too numerous to list here. And all the moments that made up those triumphs, not the final defeat, are what will define this team. The record book will always say Washburn 69, Central Arkansas 67, but that’s not how history will hold this group. Likewise, the Bears won’t be remembered for falling in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but for winning 23 games, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time and winning the first game, making them one of the last 32 teams out of more than 300 to be playing. They’ll be remembered not by their loss to Montevallo in the GSC Tourney but by their overtime win on the home floor against Delta State and winning 8 of 9 down the stretch to share the GSC West Division crown. Finally, a win at Harding. A sweep of Arkansas Tech. A climb up to No. 10 in the national poll and No. 1 in one computer poll. These are the things that, looking back, made the season what it was. It’s not the result. It’s the joy in the journey. To borrow some words from Sugar Bears assistant coach Kristin Frase’s halftime speech from the regional final against Henderson State, “Twenty years from now it won’t matter if you won or lost. What matters is if you had fun.” And 20 years from now, when DeWayne Hart’s college career is coming to a close and I’m watching Carone Harris drag her old, decrepit body off a WNBA court for the last time, I won’t look back at the 2004-05 season and my time covering the teams and think about the result. I’ll think about the fun and the joy along the way. Like the joy to be had in any given chat with Lee Reliford. You don’t find too many players talking about drop-kicking their opponents or comparingthemselves to caged animals, complete with the growl noise. He’s an excitable cat, one who was quite fond of guaranteeing victory and demanding it be put in print — until Coach Chappell gave him the look. Or the joy in listening to a PA announcer butcher Nedzad Biberovic’s name right before the big man comes into the game and throws down a couple monster jams and throws a couple shots into Row 13. But even more memorable is thinking back to after a game early last season when B was feeling good and in his thick accent, let it be known that “I am a playa ... but not just in basketball.” It’s not every day you meet a true Bosnian pimp. And 20 years from now, I’m not remembering a three-game losing streak in conference. I’m remembering Scott Martin rockin’ the mullet against Henderson and DeWayne Hart smiling in the face of the overzealous fat guy taunting him at Harding, and in typical DeWayne fashion, giving the guy an earful. Preach! I’ll take the fun in knowing that, late in a tight game, I could look over to fellow sports editor Kai Caddy and say “Ah, we’re fine. We got Lamar Grimes,” or “We got Carone Harris. It’s over, they’re done,” and almost always be right. I’ll remember the joy of seeing Caronica Randle’s shot in the last second against Valdosta fall through the net as time expired and the explosion of excitement that roared from the team and its supporters. But so many things happened before that moment that would’ve made the season’s journey one to remember. Like the night the Sugar Bears clinched the division title, you had one of those truly feel-good college basketball moments with Coach Seals standing and waving her arms upward to work the crowd into a far-too-rare frenzy. Or Coach Marvel coming back for a night to be honored and getting treated with the joy of seeing his old team put a thorough beating on Henderson and getting to present Carone the game ball after she broke the career steals record. Or the night of the OBU game when it looked like the Lady Tigers had the upset in hand, but Renita Dobbins had other ideas and banked home a 3 at the end to force an overtime period in which UCA would pull away. She nearly got broken in half in the melee after the shot, but I’m sure it would’ve all been worth it. At least for a second. Then there was the last regular-season game in Magnolia. Upon entering the gym it seemed like there was an awful lot of purple on the court during warm-ups. I noticed there were 10 Sugar Bears instead of the typical eight. Dobbins was just back from suspension, and ... oh my god, is that Ashley Hutchcraft in uniform? Seeing her suited up made that a memorable night and invoked visions of Magic Johnson’s last return, one of those now-or-never deals through the end of the season before calling it a career. Of course, Kim Davis made the night pretty darn memorable by storming off to the locker room during the game’s final minute, disrobing along the way. You don’t get that a whole lot in women’s basketball. And of course there was the season-long joy of watching Caronica skip right through about three years of development, Micaela Thomas getting it back a little more every night, Traci Graham waving the one finger around after every 3 and playing post defense on Rebecca Frost, Carone being Carone (that’s a whole column to itself) and so on. There really aren’t enough superlatives to go around. The kids even got in on the act, brightening up a couple press conferences. Micaela’s daughter Jaiden, oblivious to her surroundings, sat in mommy’s lap during a GSC Tourney press conference and thought it would be a good idea to crumple the stat sheet up right in front of my voice recorder before turning it into dinner. It’s hard to not have a good time watching a baby drool all over the rebounds while her mom talks about them. In the press conference after winning the regional tourney, Carone gave the net to her daughter Jayla, who in turn ran it over to somebody else to hold because really, after being apart the week before, the only thing she wanted was mom. Just goes to show when the Sugar Bears talk about family atmosphere, they aren’t messing around. So while the end result may have hurt a little, you couldn’t really ask for a more memorable, joyous journey to that point. To use another old adage; “Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”