THE COWBOY WAY
“I think this season as a whole may go down in the history books for Connors State.”
That’s the way that Connors State Cowboys assistant basketball coach Bill Muse Jr. described what can only be called an unprecedented season for the Cowboys.
It started in the summer when Connors knew they would have no returning players and had to go recruit a whole new team ending up with eight freshmen and three transfers.
“Coming off a final four appearance last year and then having to rebuild an entire roster was a major challenge,” said junior’s dad and head coach Bill Muse. “Early on I didn’t know how good we could even be.”
Then tragedy struck as the matriarch of the Muse family, Connie, passed away unexpectedly during the holiday break.
“Emotionally Bill and I were hit with the loss of my wife and his mother and that sent me off into a real spin but somehow these guys came back and rallied for her and even though this wasn’t the most talented team I’ve had at Connors, this team had the biggest heart of any team I’ve ever coached,” said the elder Muse.
And rally they did. After being picked to finish third in pre-season, the Cowboys proved the “experts” wrong by winning the conference title by four games and rolling through the Region 2 tournament to advance to the national tournament. Seeded 17th, Connors knocked off John A. Logan in the first round, beat top seeded Snow College on D.J. Dormu’s Immaculate Connection 30-foot buzzer beater and then victories over Daytona State and South Plains took them to the finals against Trinity Valley where they fell short in the end.
“After mom passed, I would sit at home or in my office and ask what would mom want me to do?”, said Bill Jr. “She would want me to keep going and be there for my dad and the players and she’d want me to have fun and that’s what I did. Yes, the team came up short, but playing five games in seven days is asking a lot but it was a fun ride. They played for her, but they also played for one another and had fun. There are still moments when we all miss her but for 33 years, she was the face of our program, and I feel like we have to honor her legacy as we go forward.”
