Sports Director Bruce Rader gave us the news on WAVY News 10 at 6:  Virginia Tech is matched up against Duquesne in the first round of this year’s NIT men’s college basketball tournament.  I was gleeful at the news, for I graduated from this small university overlooking the Monongahela River in Pittsburgh.  The Dukes own a rich basketball tradition from long ago.  The won the 1955 NIT Tournement, and had strong teams in the 1960’s and 70’s.  But soon after my graduation in 1984, Duquesne basketball hit the skids.  Three years ago the Dukes won just three games.

Five players shot at Duquesne University September 2006 (AP photo)

Shortly before the 2006-2007 season began,  a mass shooting on campus wounded five Duquesne players, including current senior guard Aaron Jackson.  This happened seven months before the tragedy that struck Blacksburg, when a gunman killed 32 and wounded numerous others at Virginia Tech.  Dukes coach Ron Everhart is also a Hokie, and was co-captain of the 1984-85 team.  “Obviously, both places have seen their dark times with the shootings and having to endure adversity, ” Everhart told reporters Monday night. 

So, while my team is enduring a renaissance among the warriors of the hardwood, both schools share a tragic bond that transcends what will happen when the two match up Wednesday night.  Both schools have dealt with something that outweighs any final score.  They have come back from flashes of violence that have become all too common in the 21st century.