CLEVELAND — The late punk rock musician Joe Strummer once said the future is unwritten.
The only certainty is the past, and for two teams matching up Saturday afternoon, the outcome will offer a sense of closure.
For one team, a win cements its success story: a tale of turning around a basketball program from its lowest point to potentially, it’s peak, all in the span of two seasons.
The team deserves to win. All season they’ve comfortably handled opponents, checking them off the schedule more efficiently than a shopping list.
A victory in the Mid-American Conference Championship marks the school’s first outright conference championship since 1985-86. A title is deserving.
But then there’s the opposing team, with a painfully, heartwarming story.
After the sudden death of a teammate in a car crash, the group has rebounded and morphed into the conference’s hottest team.
Add four wins in the last five days into the fray, and the team is 40 minutes away completing its “team of destiny campaign” — replacing heartbreak with triumph.
One team is Ohio; Eastern Michigan is the other.
Truthfully, the MAC Championship pairs two of the best stories women’s college basketball together in a final battle.
It’s sad one team has to lose, especially given the dramatic circumstances. The Bobcats, on paper, have always been the team that should win and advance to the NCAA Tournament.
But now they have to match up with the opponent winning the hearts of neutrals. It’s a shame Ohio was even put in this position.
Yet, if this season has shown one thing, coach Bob Boldon and his Bobcats have shown they can overcome the doubts from others.
Eastern Michigan was the last team to beat the Bobcats, on Feb. 18.
Following the game, Boldon looked perplexed and said he had lost faith in the momentum his team had constructed. The next game would be the biggest matchup of the season: at Akron, with the MAC East and No. 1 seed on the line.
Junior guard Kiyanna Black said the loss was acceptable, and was a needed wakeup call. Against Akron, Black scored 31 points, her season high.
In a season where the Bobcats continue to tread unmarked territory, they’re finally in a position they’ve been in before.
Ohio’s 63-55 win over Buffalo on Friday was hardly a pummeling, and raised more doubts than it answered.
Perhaps it’s a wakeup call.
Boldon didn’t look worried yesterday, but he didn’t look confident, either. Black, unfazed, said she’d like to get revenge for that Eastern win in February.
She’s said that before.
This time, she should be taken seriously.
@charliehatch_
gh181212@ohio.edu
