"Princess Lacey" Passes At Age 8

The Michigan State Spartans enjoyed plenty of success this season despite dealing with numerous injuries throughout the year. Keith Appling, Branden Dawson, and Adreian Payne all missed an extended streak of times, causing Tom Izzo's squad to appear out of sync at times. When March rolled around, however, Sparty hit its stride and made a run to the Elite 8 before losing to the eventual champions: the Connecticut Huskies. Though a Final Four run was statistically expected (every senior before this year's class made a Final Four run under Tom Izzo), the season was nowhere near a disappointment. And while Michigan State had its struggles this season, there was always a bright spot in the toughest of times.

Payne and Lacey cut down the net together after the B1G championship

Her name was Lacey Holsworth and she was in an ongoing battle with a form of nerve cell cancer called neuroblastoma. Yet along the way she had befriended a familiar face to anyone who watches college basketball: Michigan State's Adreian Payne, the 6'10 senior who will surely hear his name called this June in the NBA Draft. Payne met Lacey while visiting the children's hospital earlier in his career in East Lansing and the friendship began quickly. While it's not uncommon to see big-time athletes visit hospitals or help those in need, Payne and Lacey shared a different kind of bond. Lacey began to attend the Michigan State games due to invitations extended to her by Payne and she became part of the program. The entire team embraced her and she became a huge part of the Spartan's success.

Nobody outside of the Michigan State program could possibly imagine just how much she meant to Payne or the team, but from a spectator's view it was clear to see that she had a major impact. She was an eight year old girl offering inspiration to a roster of 18-22 year old young men. To say that that's touching might be an understatement. And it's because of how much of an influence she had on Payne and his teammates that today is the toughest day this team has had to face this year. Lacey Holsworth took her last breath this morning in her home, a heart-breaking and tear-jerking loss for not only the Michigan State program, but for basketball fans in general.

Payne and Lacey on Senior Night

There are plenty of things that made Lacey Holsworth special and the fact that Adreian Payne helped her along the way is a reason to believe there are still great individuals in sports. This friendship was not a one-time thing, it wasn't something Payne did to improve his image, and it wasn't something that Payne did to feel good about himself. The heart of the Michigan State forward and the determination and fight of the eight year old girl can teach everyone numerous lessons. Together, these two taught us that friendship can be found in the most unlikely times, with the most unlikely people. It didn't take Adreian Payne carrying "Princess" Lacey around the court on Senior Night to realize that these two individuals were sincere towards one another, and while the Spartans were wonderful in including Lacey in their program, it was Payne who played the biggest role. He brought Lacey up the ladder to help him cut down the net after the Spartans won the Big Ten Tournament and he even brought her down to Dallas for the dunk contest he participated in. Before one of his dunks, he had Lacey touch the ball for good luck before throwing down a ridiculous reverse.

It was great to see Lacey smiling on the sidelines when Payne walked over to her before that dunk, and it was easy to see that Payne was sincere. Nothing Payne did for or with Lacey was done for the cameras or to make himself look like a hero. This was bigger than basketball and it was bigger than Payne's senior season. This was a future NBA player and an eight year old cancer patient sharing a bond that some people don't ever experience. It's unbelievably sad to hear the news of Lacey's passing but at the same time it's a celebration of just how big of an impact she made not just on her family, but the college basketball world in just eight short years. It's never easy to stomach someone passing well before we believe they should, but Lacey will forever be remembered in positive light. RIP Lacey Holsworth. Thank you for the lessons you taught us and for inspiring us to never stop fighting. And thank you, Adreian Payne, for teaching us that not every athlete is a thick-headed thug like so many people stereotype them to be. God bless the Holsworth family and the Michigan State team as they mourn the loss of their biggest fan.

5 Reasons To Be Happy For UConn

Yet another college basketball season is in the books and this year's tournament was the most exciting in recent memory. Plenty of close-games, game-winning shots, and upsets to please anyone and everyone that proclaims themselves a fan of the game. After handling Florida in the semi-final, the Connecticut Huskies moved to the National Championship game to take on the young, red-hot Kentucky Wildcats. After a hard-fought game and one that featured a UConn lead the entire 40 minutes, the Huskies cut down the nets and celebrated their third championship in ten years. While UConn fans rejoice, plenty of other fans sided with UConn simply because they did not want to see Kentucky succeed. That's all well and good, but here are five reasons why you should have been sincerely cheering FOR Connecticut, not AGAINST Kentucky:

1. The seniors of UConn: Shabazz Napier, Neils Giffey, and Tyler Olander were all members of the Connecticut program in 2011 when Kemba Walker led the Huskies to an improbable yet magical championship run. At the time, these three individuals were overshadowed by Walker, Jeremy Lamb, and Alex Oriakhi but nonetheless, each freshman contributed to the championship season. The Huskies were atop the college basketball world after taking down the Butler Bulldogs and added another credential to then head coach Jim Calhoun's Hall of Fame resume. And while 2011 was a year for celebration, 2012 was when the program took a hit. Violations of NCAA rules were brought into the open and the UConn program was banned from the postseason for the following 2013 season. This caused plenty of change within the Connecticut locker room as players like Alex Oriakhi chose to transfer for his senior season. So why should the three seniors on this year's team be admired? Quite simply, they stayed. Napier, Giffey, and Olander took the punishment like men and chose to stay loyal to the Connecticut program. At a time when loyalty is hard to come by in sports, the three seniors stayed put and helped bring the program back in to good light. THAT'S what leadership is all about.

Ollie won his first NCAA championship in just his second season

2. Kevin Ollie: The former NBA player was an assistant to Calhoun on the 2011 championship team and later found himself cleaning up the mess that Calhoun left behind when he was hired for the 2012-2013 season. It wasn't Calhoun who had to deal with the repercussions of the violations, it was Kevin Ollie, who had no head coaching experience. Yet here Ollie stands now, just two years later, a national champion. Ollie managed to keep the program intact and can even be held somewhat responsible for managing to keep the three seniors around. Aside from just keeping the personnel as well as recruiting new players, Ollie was a big enough influence that players bought in immediately. Even before the national championship came into play, Ollie had established himself as a rising talent in coaching and now has achieved the highest honor a current head coach can: a national championship. Just like the three seniors, Ollie took the punishment in stride and, obviously, made the most of it.

3. Veteran Victory: Everyone heard about the hype surrounding Kentucky and the fact that they were the first team since Michigan's "Fab Five" to start five freshman in a championship game. John Calipari had finally gotten the Wildcats to play up to their potential and they enjoyed great success in the tournament behind some very exciting performances. Kentucky took down numerous veteran teams on their way to the national championship by defeating Wichita State, Louisville, Michigan, and Wisconsin. UConn was the next target on the list of veteran teams, as they only start one freshman. While the thought of cheering for freshman who figured it out in a single season is understandable, the chance that these UConn kids had was even more exciting. To have dealt with the postseason ban as well as a head coaching change and a conference change, and still find a way to stay together and fight their way back to the national championship is something that presented so much more excitement. Kentucky's run was impressive and fun to watch, but the reward the UConn players got for sticking out all of the change and punishment was absolutely awe-inspiring.

4. Big performances from unheralded players: If you watched UConn at any point throughout the season then you obviously know the name Shabazz Napier. At the beginning of the season, however, Napier was about the only "star" UConn had on it's roster. Yet through this tournament run, multiple Huskies stepped up and drove Connecticut. Without a doubt, Napier was the leader and the dominant force for UConn, but players like DeAndre Daniels and Ryan Boatright turned in impressive and game-changing performances each game as well. Neither Daniels nor Boatright is a star and neither one looks like an NBA player at this point in time, but that's the beauty of it. Kentucky has seven or eight guys on their roster that will get drafted at some point. As of right now, Napier looks to be the only UConn player that could have a meaningful NBA career. UConn wasn't driven by four or five stars, they were driven by one that was greatly complimented by above-average role players which made their unlikely run even sweeter.

Walker and Napier have led UConn to their last two titles

5. UConn basketball dominance: In 2004, Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon led Connecticut to a national title. Diana Taurasi, at the time, was doing the same exact thing for the UConn women. That year, UConn won the national championship in both men's and women's basketball. Now here we are, ten years later, and UConn is threatening, once again, to dominate the college basketball world. It's impossible to not cheer for that. To think that in the past ten years they have the chance to win a national title in both men's and women's basketball in the same year two times is unbelievable. The UConn men did their part last night in taking down Kentucky. Now all that stands between the UConn women and a national title is the undefeated Notre Dame Fighting Irish. The two teams play tonight at 8:30 ET. Should the Huskies manage to pull out a victory tonight, it's safe to say Storrs, Connecticut will be partying for days, maybe even weeks, to come.

You don't have to be a Connecticut fan to appreciate all that their men's program went through these past few seasons. It's encouraging to see those three seniors be rewarded for their patience and loyalty, and the fact that they have a shot at history (barring a Notre Dame victory tonight) is nothing short of exciting. The Kentucky Wildcats made a magnificent run through the tourney and deserve a lot of credit for pulling together, but the accomplishments UConn achieved this year deserve all the recognition and appreciation in the world.

Coaches, Like Players, Leave Too Soon

As we approach the final weekend of the college basketball season, numerous players have already declared for the NBA Draft, the majority of whom are forgoing the rest of their collegiate careers. In the anticipation that surrounds the Final Four there is also the looming question of which young players from Kentucky will play their final college games this weekend. John Calipari has established a culture where graduating does not matter and neither does a player's ability to play at the next level. Kentucky is one of the main perpetrators in having kids leave early and as basketball fans we have had to adjust to that. Yet while it's an expectation nowadays to see players leave college early, what seems to be lost in all of the drama with the players is the drama with the coaches. To put it bluntly, some coaches are just as guilty of "leaving early" as some of the players.

Manning will be the head coach of Wake Forest next season

After bringing a little life to the Tulsa program these past two years, former head coach Danny Manning has packed his bags and is headed to take the job at Wake Forest. Obviously, Wake Forest and the ACC are a bit more prestigious than Tulsa and Conference USA. The issue is this, Manning led the Golden Hurricanes to 21 wins and 13 losses this year and hung tough with fourth seeded UCLA for most of their second round match up. Now understand that Manning was not bringing Tulsa into the national spotlight nor were they the country's "darlings" of this year's tournament, but there were obvious and noticeable improvements in the Tulsa program since Manning's arrival in 2012. He had established himself as a qualified coach and clearly had the background and knowledge to be able to lead a program, no matter how small it was. He had coached the Golden Hurricanes to a share of the conference title and had Tulsa headed in a good direction. Yet bigger, but not necessarily better, schools came calling, and now the progress Manning brought Tulsa is essentially ruined.

Enfield left FGCU after a miracle run to the Sweet 16

While Manning had the chance to make a program into something special, he's not the only coach to bolt from a school at the first chance. Anyone who pays even the slightest attention to college basketball knows all about Florida Gulf Coast University last year when they shocked the world with a Sweet 16 appearance. Their coach, Andy Enfield, was the leader of "Dunk City" and had brought that school the attention it once only dreamed about. But when the Eagles fell to the Florida Gators, it was a matter of weeks before Enfield left FGCU in the dust on his way to accepting the job at USC. Seriously? USC? Granted, the Trojans are a member of a Power Six conference and an occasional tournament team, but there's not exactly a line of people banging on the door of the USC Athletic Director's office begging for that head coaching job. The point is that Enfield saw the dollar signs and the prestige of coaching at a bigger school and took the job without batting an eye. Why? Florida Gulf Coast just provided the nation with excitement that few teams have ever been able to do. They were a 15 seed that took down the number 2 seeded Hoyas of Georgetown, one of the nation's most traditional programs. The Eagles had a nice roster full of athleticism and talent that could have easily brought them back to the tournament this year (they lost to Mercer in their conference championship). Much like Manning, Enfield could have made his own mark on college basketball by turning Florida Gulf Coast into a perennial tournament team. Instead, Enfield is now at USC sitting at home with an 11-21 record and a last place finish in the Pac-12 to his name.

Stevens made two runs to the Final Four at Butler

Enfield and Manning made a choice that is frustrating to say the least. However, the one coach that made a decision that is forever upsetting is Brad Stevens, the former head coach at Butler University. If you were to look up "darlings" in the dictionary, the Butler Bulldogs from 2010 and 2011 would have their picture right underneath the word. Butler took the NCAA tournament by storm in both years by making back-to-back trips to the championship game. Stevens was in his low 30's at the time and was a fresh new face in a tournament full of renowned veteran coaches. He had the chance to make Butler into the best basketball school in the state of Indiana, currently anyway. Unlike Manning and Enfield who had the potential to make their programs into something special, Stevens had already done that and then some. Butler was established. Butler was a threat. Butler was good. It was at the point where nobody wanted to play the Bulldogs in March. Stevens had successfully brought them into the national spotlight and had done so before he was even sniffing the age of 40. And as quickly as Butler's success under Stevens came, it went away even quicker. The NBA came calling and Stevens took the head coaching job for the Boston Celtics, leaving Butler under the direction of Brandon Miller. Yet Stevens can't be blamed too much for this move as he's not the first great college coach to test the NBA waters. Larry Brown, Rick Pitino, and John Calipari all coached in the NBA before opting to come back to the college game. With any luck, Stevens will soon do the same.

Smart has already put VCU on the map

But not all coaches have left for supposedly greener pastures when given the chance. The one coach in college basketball that I have the utmost respect for is VCU's Shaka Smart. Smart's Rams made a Butler-like run through the tournament in 2011 and even had to win one more game to get to the Final Four than the other three teams (VCU was one of the play-in games). He is the coach of one of the toughest defensive programs in the country and has the up-tempo playing style that would fit right in with the bigger conferences. Yet Smart has opted to stay at VCU and has helped build the Rams into a tournament threat each and every year. It can't be easy to stay put when you know that bigger schools are begging for you to come, but Smart has stayed loyal to VCU in a time when most coaches struggle to do so. Now, Smart can honestly say that he is building a program that will fit his mold and that looks to be under his direction for many years to come. He is the perfect model of dedication and trust because of what he has turned down to remain at VCU.

Now just because a coach leaves or stays does not have any impact on his ability to coach and maybe this has made it seem like the decision to leave is something that should be taken personally by the schools that get left behind. It's not against the law or frowned upon to upgrade to a bigger school, but the excitement of building a smaller program into a national threat is something enticing in my opinion. Obviously the dollar signs are different the larger or smaller you get in terms of the size of the school you coach at, and finances/supporting a family are surely to be one of the top priorities. But seeing these small schools take down the big schools in March is what college basketball is all about so when a small school has a solid, qualified coach and makes a nice tournament run, we as fans get to watch that program develop until it is a part of the 68-team field on a regular basis. Players leaving early definitely has an effect on the game, but coaches that move on from the schools they put on the map is just as frustrating to see.