It’s often easy to forget while watching college basketball and football, and plenty snicker at the idea, but the athletes competing are supposed to be students too.
Maybe no college basketball player looked more heroic during the first weekend of NCAA Tournament play than Michigan’s Jordan Poole, who hit an improbable, nearly 30-foot shot at the buzzer to give the Wolverines a win over Houston. (Loyola-Chicago’s Clayton Custer might take issue with that sentence, having made a last-second shot to beat Tennessee.) The visuals of him playfully running away from teammates who wanted to celebrate with him is one of the lasting images from the weekend.
Jordan Poole has a Greek mythology paper due Monday: "I've got to grind tomorrow and knock that out."
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) March 18, 2018
But at some point after the joy and celebration of his one shining moment waned, reality may have set in for the freshman guard. Poole told reporters, including the Detroit Free Press‘ Nick Baumgardner, that he had a Greek mythology paper due on Monday.
While talking about the hundreds of text messages he received following his game-winning shot, Poole mentioned (perhaps jokingly) that one of those texts could have been from his instructor. Maybe he’ll get a break on having to turn that paper in on Monday.
Poole: ‘If my teacher texts me, I know I’m good.’
— Nick Baumgardner (@nickbaumgardner) March 18, 2018
Depending on what Poole’s paper is about, maybe he can somehow tie in his game-winning heroics to Greek myth. That might earn a few extra points for creativity, while allowing for the circumstances of a high-profile student-athlete during a national college basketball tournament.
However, Poole is hardly the only student to have been out late having a good time on Saturday, only to have to turn around and get some course work done for Monday. Poole’s good time just happened to be on a basketball court and witnessed by millions of people on national television. Hopefully, he was able to recover nicely on Sunday, but how many students have to deal with such circumstances while traveling from Wichita, Kansas back to Ann Arbor with little sleep?
By the way, if you haven’t already seen it, Poole hit a very similar shot to Saturday night’s game-winner in high school. Though it didn’t come after a full-court pass, Poole hit that shot for La Lumiere School in La Porte, Indiana from the same spot on the floor with legs flailed out in similar fashion.
Michigan’s Jordan Poole has been hitting game winners since HIGH SCHOOL ? @JordanPoole_2 @umichbball @LaLuBasketball pic.twitter.com/QiXQuOBRb0
— Overtime (@overtime) March 18, 2018
Clearly, Poole has a gift for late-game heroics. That’s the stuff from which mythology is created.
