Dream Comes True for Carr, American
WASHINGTON – A year ago, this is what some thought could happen – at that time. Few, if any, thought it was a year away.
Last season ended in disappointment for American University, as the Eagles were thought to be a contender in the Patriot League with a senior-laden team. But they didn’t quite fulfill that, finishing fourth and not being able to get over the hump to a higher finish. With seven players gone from that team, including four starters, few thought this team would contend. As they have just one senior who plays significant minutes, the thought was that they were a year away from contending, especially since the one returning starter, point guard Derrick Mercer, is a junior.
But Garrison Carr had a dream. No, not at all like the dream that a great civil rights leader had in the same city many years ago – but a dream nonetheless. Carr’s dream has at least come true after American won the Patriot League with a 52-46 decision over Colgate on Friday.
“Every night before I was going to sleep, every night before this game after the Army game, I would have the same dream,” said the junior guard, who was the tournament MVP after scoring 17 points in the championship game. “I would still wake up in the middle of the night sweating, with time running down and it being a close game.”
The end result is that after three shots at the dream, American is now off to the NCAA Tournament. The program had never been to it thus far, losing three times in the Patriot League championship game after coming over from the Colonial Athletic Association in 2001. While Carr had a dream, Mercer saw this happening a year ago despite the disappointment of losing with a senior-laden team.
“When we lost to Holy Cross up there, it kind of hurt me because I wasn’t expecting that,” said the junior guard, referring to the team’s season-ending loss in the tournament last year. “Once that game was over at Holy Cross, we told ourselves that next year, we were going to work hard and it’s going to be our year.”
Carr is one who certainly went to work. He said he went right to work the next day and never changed how he approached things. In his first two seasons, he showed flashes of potential with his shooting ability, but didn’t log consistent minutes and thus had similarly inconsistent play. This season, it all came together as he moved right into the starting lineup alongside Mercer and had a stellar season. Carr set a Patriot League record with 129 three-pointers and counting, was a First Team All-Patriot League selection and was the MVP of the league tournament.
“I just basically worked really hard on my game like I always had, and this year I knew the opportunity to step up was there,” said Carr, who’s shooting over 45 percent from long range. “I just had to grasp it.”
While Carr’s improvement is the most obvious, he’s not alone. Senior Travis Lay, the consummate program guy, became a starter this year and improved while remaining a player whose effort can’t be questioned. Mercer became more of a scorer. Brian Gilmore, previously a bit player, became the team’s third-best scorer and in the title game made clutch plays that typified how they won the game. Several others increased their contributions as well.
Gilmore, who made the all-tournament team, made three late free throws to seal the game and had three of his four rebounds in the last 83 seconds. The play he will most be remembered for is the first of those rebounds, as Carr missed a three-pointer that was then headed out of bounds. Gilmore hustled over and saved the ball by throwing it back, and it went right into the hands of Mercer, who was fouled after driving to the basket with a wide-open lane after the confusion.
Mercer missed the two free throws, at the time keeping the lead at one. But he’s always had the heart of a lion, going back to his days at powerhouse St. Anthony’s in New Jersey, and he got another opportunity and sank both free throws later to help seal the game.
The Eagles looked like they might be better than advertised in non-league play, when they posted a winning record. While the schedule wasn’t full of heavyweights, it did feature a much-heralded win at Maryland, a game head coach Jeff Jones recalls as the end result of a challenge to his team a game earlier.
Against Dayton, the Eagles led at halftime and were close throughout the second half before losing. It wasn’t a bad loss, especially at that time as Dayton was on a roll and had not suffered the crippling injuries that later hurt their season. Jones asked his team if they were content with just being close, or if they wanted to do better.
“I asked them, what did they think about at some point, about playing 40 minutes, and not just wanting to compete, but putting it out there a little bit?” Jones recalled. “You make yourself vulnerable when you really put it out there. Their answer was the next game against Maryland, we were able to win.”
Last year might have been potentially the year, but that was not the case. With the new players and holdovers having to adjust to new roles, a lot was going to change, and while last year’s players were a fine group, it’s clear the change that occurred was positive. The Eagles followed up their positive non-league showing with a regular season title, and they rode the top seed and homecourt advantage to the title.
“We really had no idea what to expect,” said Jones. “These guys came in, they worked hard, they were just excited about having the chance to play basketball. They really gelled into a team.”
They gelled into a team that is now in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The dream has come true, even if it was a year later than some expected it.
