Spring Break
COMMENTARY: No need to be ashamed
by Mike Prada
Editor in Chief
Sports | 3/18/08
Posted online at 2:39 AM EST on 3/18/08
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While the Judges ultimately finished 20 minutes shy of their biggest goal, they should not be disappointed, even though Amherst College so thoroughly dominated the second half of the team's Round of Eight contest last Saturday. Undoubtedly, coach Brian Meehan's claim after the game that this team is the team that all future teams should be compared to rang hollow at the time, but the Judges should take those words to heart.
This squad won a school-record 23 games and advanced further in the NCAA Tournament than any other team in Brandeis history, doing so on the backs of players who once performed supporting roles to the injured DeLuca. Sure, the Judges lost to a team they defeated last December, but this wasn't the same Amherst squad that had previously been content to launch contested jumpers instead of using its distinct size advantage. But Meehan's words are on point for reasons that go beyond the team's results.
Take guard Joe Coppens '08, for example. As a senior, he had to make the biggest adjustment to life without DeLuca.
Instead of defenses keying on the two-time all-University Athletic Association forward, defenses were keying on Coppens, and he still led the team in scoring, shot 42 percent from three-point range, and became arguably the most beloved Brandeis player in recent memory.
Watching Coppens as the time in his college career ticked down was an exercise in examining what made him such an easy player to support. Mired in an awful shooting game, Coppens visibly played his heart out, chasing after every missed shot and jumping into the bodies of Amherst's interior giants. When the game was over, he pulled his jersey to his eyes and cried, not only because his career was over, but because he literally had nothing left to give.
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