Being a Massachusetts guy my whole life, I always root for UMass anytime they have a chance to do something great. Unless, of course, John Calipari is leading them to greatness because then the greatness will be inevitably stripped by the NCAA, but that’s a discussion for another day. The Minutemen advanced all the way to the semifinals of the NIT tournament on Tuesday but loss to Stanford, 74-64. It’s quite possible Stanford is a better team, but did it even matter after Ray Lewis delivered the pregame speech that you see above?
You want to guarantee yourself a win in the biggest game of the season? Arrange for Lewis to come in beforehand and talk to your players about what they would give today if tomorrow wasn’t promised. Let him do his thing and throw in some chatter about effort and how wins and losses mean nothing. How can a group of college kids lose after hearing something like that from one of the greatest linebackers in NFL history? I was pulling for you, UMass, but no strategy is effective enough to counter what Stanford had planned.
Thanks to The Dagger for passing the video along
