I am, admittedly, pretty ignorant about college basketball most of the time. But as a graduate of the University of Oregon, I know this. The Ducks are on fire at the NCAA tournament, having won three games straight.
I won't pretend to speculate then about all this except to say that one of Oregon's leading players is named Bryce Taylor, who helped them in the last seconds clinch the game against UNLV, and that feels good. But they have another player, somebody named Tajuan Porter, who is 5-feet-six-inches tall, and he's kicking ass, especially on those three-pointers. He's even got the attention of the New York Times which has featured him in a recent article. {Photo: Jonathan Ferry, Getty Images}
“I always knew what I was capable of; I wanted to prove everyone wrong. Growing up, a lot of people talked about my height. They always told me I wouldn’t be able to do something. I used that as motivation. You can’t really listen to people who try to discourage you.”
For all the people out there who think they're not good enough, or they don't have the perfect situation, there is Tajuan Porter to serve as an inspiration. It's all about your other qualities, according to UO men's basketball coach Ernie Kent:
“I’m a guy that believes size doesn’t have anything to do with it; it’s your heart and courage. He was 5-6, but he played like 6-5.”
Coach Kent, by the way, played for the Ducks back when I went to school there. Plus, a couple of years ago, when I produced "Lights, Camera, Oregon!" (a three-hour music/comedy/variety fundraiser launch for the school), Kent supplied the voice and presence for the most electrifying, motivating video of the evening.
Plus, I seem to remember that back when I was going to the UO, we also had a guy the size of Porter who played like him. Maybe another alum can post here and remind me who that was.
In any case, the UO Ducks play Florida on Sunday at 11:40am PST. Here's what the bracket looks like so far. Go Ducks!
