Eric Musselman hopes his lucky buckeye works against Duke tonight. (Arkansas Athletics Photo)
Even without Kentucky playing, there are still some incredible moments in the NCAA Tournament that have been fun to watch, including the battle that underdog Saint Peter’s gave Purdue Friday night before beating the Boilermakers to reach the Elite Eight.
However, you also had to love the way Arkansas, the only SEC team left, never wilted to knock off No. 1 Gonzaga late Thursday night and now gets a shot at Duke tonight with a chance to end Mike Krzyzewski’s collegiate coaching career.
Arkansas coach Eric Musselman went and gave his mother a hug after the Gonzaga win in one of the tournament’s special moments.
“She gave me a buckeye from Ohio that my dad used to hold. She gave it to me pregame, so I’m sure she’s going to give the credit to herself for that lucky buckeye she’s held for 60 years or whatever,” the Arkansas coach said.
He talked a lot more about his mother Friday and I thought you might enjoy what he said.
Q. Eric, kind of a two-parter. That buckeye that your mom gave you, do you have it in your pocket, or what did you do with it during the game?
ERIC MUSSELMAN: I would love to tell you that I kept it in my back pocket. That’s what I told her I was going to do, but it sat in the coach’s locker room.
Q. Okay. Are you going to leave it in the coach’s locker room or put it in your pocket tomorrow?
ERIC MUSSELMAN: I’m going to leave it back in the coach’s (locker room). I’ll bring it to the arena. I think that brings good luck if I bring it in here and then just kind of leave it on the back table.
Q. I noticed the first person you hugged in the stands was your mom. What did it mean to you to play such a great game, and that was the first time your mom had seen you coach Arkansas? What was that moment like for you?
ERIC MUSSELMAN: I mean, really, really special. My mom, she’s seen more basketball than I have. She went through it with my dad. It’s been not easy to not have your mom come and visit. Not just the basketball part, but it’s hard travel. There’s no direct flights from San Diego to Fayetteville, and so it really did mean a ton.
Not just the game last night, but also she’s with her granddaughter and gets to see Michael and Matthew, and yesterday they went to dinner without me, but they all went to dinner. I think there’s a lot of special things.
I wanted her to know. I didn’t want to go to one of my sons or my wife or my daughter. I wanted to go directly to her because the last 45 seconds I kind of looked over there and to see the emotion of her excitement was pretty cool. I was focused on the game too, but I did glance over there a couple of times.
