Martelli remembered back yesterday, trying to draw a parallel, trying to make the point that the future is never guaranteed. He said, "We came back the next year and there was, 'Rap Curry and Bernard Blunt. Are they the best backcourt in America, the best young backcourt, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.' And Rap gets hurt.
"These experiences, for these players, should move them to want to get back in the gym."
The Hawks are in the middle of one of those runs again. Left for dead, a team with only five wins at the beginning of February, they are still hanging around. Needing to win at Charlotte last Saturday even to get into the A-10 Tournament as the 12th seed, they won. Then they went on the road to GW on Tuesday in the first round, blew a big lead and still won in overtime. Then, in yesterday's quarterfinals, they blew another big lead and still won in overtime over Duquesne, 93-30.
Next is Dayton, this afternoon at Boardwalk Hall. However that one ends, the last couple of weeks have given a very young team the kind of positive reinforcement that only winning can provide. To win three elimination games in a row guarantees nothing, and that is true. Still, the path to the future now seems better defined.
Look at yesterday's box score. Carl Jones, a sophomore guard, led the Hawks with 28 points, and freshman forward Ronald Roberts was next with 19 and nine rebounds. While it is true that senior Idris Hilliard had 18 and nine and another senior, Charoy Bentley, had the assist of the game, a pass that led to a Roberts dunk that tied the game at the end of the second half, the story of this season has been the youth on the Hawks' roster and the collective struggle to improve.
Now, they have seen their way out of the wilderness.
