March Madness turning in to Spring Fever unleashes a Pavlovian optimism. I love this time of year.  It is a luxury of riches for many sports nuts like me who can’t curb their enthusiasm as winter fades away replaced by nice weather, budding trees, and perennial sports favorites including the NCAA basketball tournament, opening day of baseball season, and the start of the Masters.  With all the great sports images to choose from there is one from this season that is haunting me. (No, It isn’t Tiger Woods. Just play golf for heaven’s sake. I don’t care about what Tiger does off the golf course.) I can’t get the image of Da’Sean Butler writhing in pain out of my head.  This is a human story that is about more than sports.

There was Da’Sean laying on the court for what seemed like an eternity late in the Duke-West Virginia semi-final NCAA tournament game.  It wasn’t supposed to happen.  I mean really, there were only 9 minutes left in a game that was all but over with West Virginia’s Mountaineers down by 15 points. No one told that to Da’Sean as he drove to the hoop as if the outcome of the game and his career was at stake.  He planted his left foot with determination in an effort to will his way around a giant.  No exaggeration, he was trying to get by Brian Zoubek the Duke center who is 7′1″ 260 lbs. (Just ask the Butler Bulldogs how hard it is get around Brian.) I swear you could hear Da’Sean’s knee blow out as he crashed to the court, just lying there in obvious pain, as the entire stadium went ominously silent.  Anyone who knows basketball knew immediately that it was serious and that we had just witnessed a promising NBA career get destroyed.  How sad.

An MRI revealed the worst-case scenario, a torn ACL. Game over.  (Despite some recent medical progress.)  So instead of a potential first round draft pick (Butler had a decent shot at being picked toward the end of the first round) worth about $1M per year, Da’Sean will be preparing for a difficult rehabilitation process and uncertainty of ever getting an NBA shot. It is highly unlikely that any NBA team will offer guaranteed money to a player deemed an injury risk.

Da’Sean Butler didn’t deserve this outcome. He did everything right. He is a senior who stayed in college. (Truth is he probably had no choice because he lacked NBA draft potential as an underclassman.) Da’Sean had a strong collegiate basketball career. He scored 20 points as a freshman in the final game to help the Mountaineers win the NIT Tournament in 2007.  Over his four years Da’Sean Butler was only the third player in West Virginia history, joining none other than Jerry West, to score 2,000 points.  During the Final Four celebrations in Indy he accepted the 2010 Lowe’s Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School) Award.  This award is for the outstanding senior basketball player in the country focusing on the total student-athlete and encouraging students to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. Da’Sean is the real deal. Word is that he didn’t party while in school (how many of us can say that!) and is a decent student (majored in multidisciplinary studies with a 2.83 cumulative GPA).

I get pretty ticked off at the NCAA for making so much money at the expense of thousands of college athletes who have no chance of playing professional sports and aren’t required and supported to take their academic experience seriously. The NCAA should enforce higher academic standards. In Da’Sean’s case it is just a very sad and unfortunate accident that reinforces the need to prepare all students for the certain twists and turns that life brings.  Time will tell if West Virginia did its job and prepared Da’Sean Butler for a life and career that may not include the NBA.  Da’Sean has made me a big fan and I will be rooting for him.