Friend

Deshaun Richardson woke up feeling distressed.

He was surprisingly alone in the dark dormitory room. Since he had not seen his buddy Tremaine since yesterday morning, nor his girlfriend Emily.

The ruthless demolition they suffered at the hands of Connecticut had been a wake up call, at least to him. He was unable to do anything to contribute during the sparse minutes he spent on the floor. Except for a couple rebounds, a couple of missed threes, and a couple of personal fouls.

On the chartered plane ride home, the team atmosphere was subdued, almost deathly silent. No one was scurrying about, nor disturbing one another, far from the usual bustling vibe win or lose.

Well, this does not count as a usual loss anyway.

The head coach casually sat there sipping black roasted coffee in silence, while reading the nightly news on his laptop.

Most of the players are either deep asleep, trying to sleep, or forcing themselves to close their eyes.

Not one of them had the energy to talk about what went wrong. It was for them and the coach to talk about tomorrow morning once their heads had cleared.

Deshaun's head was hurting, but he resolved himself into watching the unedited version of yesterday's game, which was already uploaded in the league's official website for viewing.

It's still early, but he had to make do before the team meeting at 9 AM.

While watching, he slowly eased into his morning home exercise routine, and worked up a sweat.

Overhead, while doing burpees, he saw the framed, and autographed LeBron James jersey hanging on the wall.

It was a gold Los Angeles Lakers jersey that his father got at the tail end of the regular 2022 season, more than a year before he was born. When the Lakers faced off against the hometown Chicago Bulls, his father, a then young staffer of the Bulls organization, jumped at the chance to get a game-worn jersey of one of the greatest ever basketball players to walk the earth. He sneakily remarked that the star-studded Lakers squad lost that game.

His father was delighted when the legend himself handed it to him, and it became one of his most prized memorabilia during his decade-long stay with the organization.

He then gave it to nine year old Deshaun as a gift, once the young version of him slowly became enamored with the sport his father loved.

His spry father watched a lot of NBA games in his free time, and the young Deshaun, and young Tremaine would watch alongside him while playing whatever.

Deshaun and Tremaine became die hard Bulls fans due to Mr. Richardson's storytelling, and video sessions. The two of them dreamed of one day becoming professional basketball players because of him too.

And as the two youngsters grew up, their love and passion for the game only grew stronger with each passing day.

They entered their middle school team together, and their high school varsity team together.

Deshaun became the crown jewel of their East Plains High School, rising through the scouting circles and earning a 4 star rating by his final year. Collegiate scholarship offers poured in like the tide for him, giving him headaches, but a slew of possible collegiate choices.

Meanwhile Tremaine Mills, who was working part-time, studying like mad, and was physically worse than Deshaun, slowly fell off the scouting radar, finishing the year with just a 1 star designation. Obscurity followed him, with not a single scholarship offer under his name.

Throughout the entire process, Tremaine stuck with Deshaun.

On Deshaun's collegiate decision video, Tremaine was his right hand man, helping him with all the preparations to the buildup. He was even the cameraman.

When he mulled what school he's going to go to, Tremaine was part of the discussion, along with Emily.

He was gifted with elite physical tools worthy of praise, while his friend Tre, was his complete opposite.

He doesn't need to spend long days on practice, while his friend Tre does.

He had a lot of time to live a life outside the four corners of the court, while Tremaine… worked part-time, and studied hard.

But he still always helped him, and supported him from the sidelines.

"Heh." Deshaun owed the man a lot, and now that he's a full fledged NCAA player with 2 games under his belt, he wondered if he deserved all the help he received from him.

"What am I even doing wallowing in my misery? Tre only ever stopped for a moment, and the next time I look, he's already moving forward again." His smile was self-deprecating. "If Tre was part of the rotation, he would've taken it chin up, and would probably rush straight to the facility once we return here."

Deshaun refocused on his multitasking. He ate his breakfast cereals, while watching the replay, and taking notes that he could bring to the meeting later through his phone.

The season had just begun, but Deshaun was already on the ropes.

"I wonder what that punk is thinking right now."

***

9 AM

The usual hustle and bustle inside the facility was nonexistent.

Both the men's and women's basketball teams were on their respective courts, solemn, and unwilling to speak.

Coach Roughan was drinking his third cup coffee for the day, with a single sip culminating in a massive yawn. To the eyes of his players, this always emotionless coach hadn't slept a wink last night, just like many of them.

'He is probably practicing an irate speech the whole night to bombard us.' Khalil's inner thoughts were pessimistic.

'I hope the coach didn't overdo it.' Legend's true feelings were that of compassion, as he knew better than most how damaging a defeat like that should be to the coach, even more so than them.

'Fuck, we're in trouble.' Quandre's mind was simple.

'I would bang my head to the floor if need be, coach! Just don't kill me!' Lamont was scared out of his mind. He went 1/10 from the floor last time out.

'So if my brother wins his fight tomorrow, will he buy me my own car, or maybe a PS9?' Miguel was spacing out and was already in space.

Roughan emptied the contents of the cup of coffee, and crumpled it into a ball with one hand, right in front of his players.

It was as if he was foreboding them of things to come.

Many of them gulped, in nervous anticipation.

'Please don't kill me, psychopath!' Lamont was begging for mercy in his head, even calling his head coach a psychopath.

'Is this the end for me?' His buddy Caleb was close to praying to the Gods he didn't believe in for repentance.

'I wanna pee so bad, man.' Dwayne Evans had been holding it for a while, because he doesn't want to incur their demonic coach's wrath.

Tremaine was the only one calm, partly because of all the shit he's been through since early morning.

Mike Roughan then glared at every single one of his players with killing intent.

This promises to be a long day for the Illinois men's basketball team.

***

Extras:

"Bullshit!" Sofia had an unreasonable mouth.

"What, you don't wanna fight me head to head? Are you scared?" Tremaine was both teasing and taunting Sofia.

"Yeah, you've been through a lot already, if I beat you too, you might just quit the team altogether." Sofia did the same with even more confidence. "I don't want to end the dreams of a dreamer."

Hannah thought that these two would make a good couple. "Fine, whoever loses will treat me and the winner!"

"Hehe Cap'n, I'll never lose." Sofia hugged her captain with a playful smile.

"Damn you, like I'd lose to a brick laying machine!" Tremaine was ready now! He won't lose his pitiful allowance over this!

"That's the spirit, you two!" Hannah wins either way. "First to 21, okay? No fouls, but I hope you two don't punch each other!"

Hannah's smile was devious.