Caddy Corner
Kai Caddy

TBasketball season came to an end Friday afternoon when the Sugar Bears fell to Fort Valley State in the NCAA South Regional at the buzzer.

Now what am I supposed to do?

Since returning to school after the Christmas break, I’ve been steady going to basketball games every Monday and Thursday, sometimes Saturdays and even a whole week of basketball once.

It’s all over now. Sure there’s baseball, softball and tennis. But that’s not basketball. I love basketball. I always have and always will. I really am going to miss these teams.

Coach Ron Marvel did a wonderful job this season with the Sugar Bears. He took a team full of freshman and took them to the NCAA Tournament. Had freshman point guard Renita Dobbins (who somehow didn’t win GSC Freshman of the Year) not been injured, the Sugar Bears may still be playing.

Marvel did just a fabulous job. Six freshman, two juniors and two seniors are what he had to work with. After a rocky start it turned into another typical Marvel year, going 21-11.

It has been a pleasure working with Coach Marvel. We wish him well in the future. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next year with out the man.

The Bears also turned it around this year. After suffering through a 5-20 season a year ago, they finished 20-10 this season under the direction of first-year coach Rand Chappell.

Chappell had the Bears in the semifinals of the GSC Tournament.

Let me tell you, these guys were so much more fun to watch. I had to sit through all those games last year, and it was miserable. This season I had the time of my life. Hopefully this trend will continue. And we’ll see our Bears in the NCAA Tournament.

The Gulf South Tournament may have been the best working experience I have ever had. What a great learning experience it was.

Not a lot of college sports editors get to hang out in Tupelo, Miss. for a week watching basketball. But Josh Goff and I did. And we lived it up.

We met all sorts of people and learned a lot about our future. We also learned if you charge something and the store doesn’t let you return it, you can sue. That is illegal, folks. I would like to thank GSC commissioner Nate Salant for that great tidbit of information.

It was truly a great experience. Definitely one I will never forget.

I know you were all wondering: We didn’t get lost. We found that place on our first try. We stayed at the lovely Red Roof Inn on McCullough Boulevard, located right in the heart of things about five minutes or so away from the arena and 10 or 15 minutes away from Wal-Mart. What a great way to end the season.

Also, I wouldn’t trade this job for anything. Anytime you can get a week of basketball in and get paid for it, you’re doing something right.

Thanks to the Bears lasting until the semifinals  we were able to stay for the whole tournament.

Of course, it was all made possible by our lovely editor Kerri Keefe and associate editor Beth McCullough.

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You may have noticed a little change in the name of my column here. I was never a big fan of Kickin’ It, so after an executive decision at the GSC Tournament I decided to roll with the Caddy Corner. Special thanks to Delta State Assistant SID John Weaver for his input.

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UCA spring football practice kicked off Sunday night. I was unable to make it out, due to studying. But from my State Hall dorm room, it sounded like a good, intense work out