Grady Gallagher | Blogger

Breakthrough Athlete: Kennedy Drey
(Honorable Mention: Jade Schaap, Jeanne Bramhall)

I could go off about how solid Kennedy was this entire year. I could recite how many double-doubles he recorded and how he improved so much from last year to become a force in the IIAC for years to come. Also, I could make the argument for how he DEFINITELY should’ve been the conference MVP as he was the best player on the best team that BEAT the “conference MVP’s” team TWICE. But I’m not going to do that. Instead, (cut to Kennedy holding his breath) I just want to remind everyone that Woodbury Central would’ve beat Storm Lake St. Mary’s in 2011. That is all.

Tim Donaghy Award- BVU Men’s Tennis vs Dubuque
(Honorable Mention: BV Men’s Soccer)

The best sports moments always have something that you can look back to. Whether it’s what happened the day of, or something someone said in the heat of the moment, or that you always remember where you were when something amazing happens; that’s why we love sports. There’s always an irony to everything that happens. So, my good friend Kyle Weeden and I had always joked during the spring tennis season that next Saturday’s meet was at Loras. I joked because I never looked at the schedule so I just always assumed “Loras?” when asking where the tennis team traveled. The weekend finally comes when the team is actually heading to Loras (located in the town of Dubuque for those of you that just found out “Loras” is the name of a college and not a town) to play two matches against the two IIAC schools located in Dubuque. Long story short, Weeden comes back pumped because they win both matches and are headed to the conference tournament. I find out the next day, from Weeden, the IIAC Commissioner (yes that’s actually a thing, we’ll call him “Joe Momma”) and BV’s tennis coach (Halvy for short) are emailing back and forth about a potential violation that occurred during the Dubuque match. Weeden explained it to me and here’s my explanation for you: BV subbed a bad guy into a good guy’s slot (#2) for the singles matches so BV would only potentially lose 1 match instead of possibly losing more by moving each person up a slot and having the bad guy play #6 slot (the last slot). Get it? No? Let’s move on anyway. So, Weeden’s ticked because the Dubuque coach called them out on the lineup switch and contacted Joe Momma to take away the win from BV. As someone who knows tennis but doesn’t KNOW tennis, I asked if what they did is normally considered cheating. Weeden replied, “Yes.” We both weren’t surprised when BV’s win was taken away, but I was surprised to see nothing about it on ESPN. Usually they go overboard with scandals like that. Was it because it was DIII tennis? Was it because Halvy was cursed for eternity because he was related to Kissing Kate Barlow? Or was it because Paul holds more authority as Commish of the League Clutch Fantasy Football League than the IIAC Commish holds? It’s also funny that Weeden read Tim Donaghy’s book earlier this year and wanted me to read it. Why read it now when I’ve (basically) been close to a scandal with the same magnitude? What’s the moral of this story? Two things: 1. Don’t give the IIAC Commish opportunity to make a ruling, as I’m sure he’s eager at the opportunity. And 2. What goes around comes back around. #FreeHalvy

Best Championship Performance- Kennedy Drey, Cole Darrow, and Nick Clark at Dubuque

Just thinking about this game gives me chills. I don’t even know where to start. We knew winning the conference outright would be just like a trip to the dentist: Never easy. It’s amazing to me how it seems like the best players can somehow rise above the pressure and perform on the biggest stage. For some it’s an unwavering amount of confidence from their hard work and for others, it’s the opportunity to put on a show when the bright lights are on. I’m sure everyone at Dubuque thought this night would surely end in celebration of a great win and chance to share the title, but these three guys had other ideas. Don’t get me wrong, we needed everyone on the team to win the conference and win this night at Dubuque, but I don’t think there’s any doubt people left the gym that night impressed with Kennedy, Cole, and Nick’s performances. Each guy had at least 23 points, each had at least five rebounds (Nick, what the heck happened?), and they were 13-15 combined from the free throw line. Cole was definitely the spark out of the gate for us and hit a couple threes early. I could tell he was feeling good when, early in the shot clock, he pulled with a Dubuque player right in his grill. Straight cash homie. If you know Cole, you know he’s never afraid of the moment and when he got a couple shots, his confidence was through the roof. Kennedy had the most difficult task in guarding the conference’s “best” player. (For the record, Andre Norris is the best player in the IIAC. That being said, Kennedy Drey was the Conference MVP this season. Period.) Knowing Kennedy, one thing I’ve learned to admire is how he looks at the game differently. When I might look and see that we’re playing Dubuque, the team, Kennedy looks at the schedule and sees he’s playing Andre Norris. He focuses more on who he’ll be matched up with and focuses on his individual task at hand. The better the individual Kennedy plays against, the better he’s going to play. Kennedy played awesome and posted like his 38th double-double without even breaking a sweat. Yes, Norris had 32 points but, seriously, if you were picking teams on the playground without ever seeing them play before, Norris gets taken first and Kennedy goes somewhere between pick five and nine. (Paul is Mr. Irrelevant unless John Lickliter is playing). Lastly, ma dude NC. He had five huge threes for us and sealed the game with clutch free throws (something that had given him trouble previously). Nick’s been apart of so many huge games and I know that’s what drives him. Whether it’s jawing with the front row of the Beaver Den or silencing the Dubuque following, the bigger the crowd, the more you can count on #10. The Buffalo Bills need more players like Nick Clark.

I’m sure Dubuque was disappointed that night. Anyone who loses a big game is disappointed. But how disappointed could they really be? They never led. They never had a big run. They never got the crowd involved. And they were never in control.

Well, with that, the first ever (and last ever) Beaver ESPY’s are in the books. Again, I’m sorry I’m so biased towards basketball, but then again 90% of my following comes from the basketball team so it doesn’t hurt to show some love.

If you haven’t heard, I’m cranking out a blog every day this week so stay tuned. It’s unreal to me that my college career is over in less than two weeks.

Thanks for reading!