"I've been playing so long, and when I was younger I used to play against guys who were bigger than me," said Randall, who received his bachelor's degree in sociology after the fall semester. "So things never went my way. Like my dad always used to tell me, no matter what, life isn't going to go as planned. So every time a roadblock comes up, you've just got to fight through it.
"You don't take anything for granted."
So he did the only thing he could do, which is keep playing. The Owls (23-9) are in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth consecutive March, and on Friday afternoon will face eighth seed North Carolina State (24-10) in the second round of the East Regional in Dayton, Ohio. Randall has played his most consistent ball over the last nine games. Seven of them were wins. Coach Fran Dunphy believes there's a correlation.
"He's been around, he's mature, so he understands you're going to have ups and downs," Dunphy said. "He's handled it very, very well, to be honest. It hasn't been easy for him. Nobody wants to make shots and score points and be a good teammate and be valuable more than Scootie. He's had some interesting games. But I think right now he's in a good place."
Randall leads the team in minutes played, at nearly 35 per. He's second in points, averaging 11.8, and is a real close third in rebounds at 6.3. In that stretch run he scored from 11 to 18 in every game and made at least three three-pointers six times. Not bad for someone who's struggling.
"He's the ultimate team guy," said Wyatt, the A-10 Player of the Year. "He could care less about whose name gets in the paper. He never dropped his head or anything like that. He's the one here after practice shooting. You hear a lot of people say negative stuff about him, but he never really let it affect him. He always leaves it all out there.
"He definitely handled it well, probably better than I would have. I would have been down, saying, 'Oh, I let my teammates down' or 'I'm not living up to such and such.' But he handled it like a man. He's tough. At the end, we needed him to be the best team we can be. Not just his shots. It's everything he brings. He helps take the pressure off me and everyone else. We didn't give up on him. He wants to succeed just as bad as I do."
If you know Wyatt, you realize what a mouthful that is. With five 30-point games, he's certainly shown that he's capable of carrying the load. Ask Syracuse or VCU. But if the Owls are going to do some damage in the Madness - and they'd probably get top seed Indiana in Sunday's third round should they advance - they're going to need all hands on deck. And that might mean Randall as much as anyone else.
If perspective counts for anything . . .
"Just coming here each and every day with these guys keeps me up," he said. "We have a lot of leadership. My chance to wake up, that's what motivates me, no matter what's going on. I know a lot of people that aren't in the situation I am, who aren't as fortunate as me, from any standpoint. It's just me being able to wake up and do it all over again. That keeps happening. It gets me over the hump.
"I just look at it as, 'What can I do?' A lot of people look at the game as points, things like that. But just being a leader is the best thing that ever happened to me. Giving me that pedestal means more than anything."
It doesn't mean he never contemplates the what-ifs.
"All the time," Randall admitted, with a sheepish grin. "Like last year, me and [senior Ramone Moore] used to talk. And he'd be like, 'Dang, you're supposed to go out with me.' People always tell me things happen for a reason. So maybe that was a good thing for me to deal with. I did what I needed to do. I can look past it now, but sometimes I do say, 'Why'd it have to be me?' or 'What could I have done any different to prevent that from happening?' You just have to go with the flow."
The first injury was a fluke, when a teammate stepped on his foot. And the second might have occured because he was favoring that foot. The reality is, it doesn't matter. That's where his journey took him.
"Early in his career he didn't get to play as much as he would have liked or thought he should and it was frustrating for him," Dunphy said. "That's what life at this level is about. Sometimes you don't always get that instant gratification and satisfaction as you walk into a program. You have to wait your turn a little bit, and he's done a good job with that.
"But look at what he's been part of, and what he's accomplished. The fact that he graduated is pretty impressive. There's been some interesting stuff. A lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into those moments."
And he might have another one or two left in him.
"If coach wasn't yelling at me, he wouldn't care," Randall said. "I was pushed to get better. When you're a leader, everything counts. I had to make changes for the guys around me. I had to come through for them.
"I looked within myself, because nobody has all the answers. I just had to find a way."
