Eric May elevated his game this year

I can't say enough about Eric May. You cannot feel anything but great for how his senior season has panned out. As I write, it's April 3 and he still is playing basketball for Iowa (NIT tournament). I know it's not the NCAA, but I would guess if asked right now, he'd say “who cares?” The April 2 dagger had to rank up there with the biggest basket of his career. His shot put the nail in the coffin of what guaranteed him one more game and the chance to play something meaningful.

I was thinking about how far he has come. Can you remember his selection onto the all-Big 10 freshman team? I'm not talking Jess Settles, but even thinking about those years is like looking down a dark hole to find a sliver of light; there just wasn't any.

In much of his four years, May endured losing seasons, teammate defections, changes in coaching regimes, back injuries, scrutiny from the media and fans. And now look, he just played the best basketball of his career.

He was charged with guarding the opposition's best perimeter player, he was shooting the ball with confidence, played passing lanes with aggression and finished with thunder at the rim.

He follows a line of great seniors who elevated their game and had an integral role in rebuilding the program.

John Wennekamp

Marion