The Bottom by Mike Jason

Author:Mike Jason
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: black college, basketball, basketball tournament, college romance, hbcu, love triangle, african american romance
Publisher: Mike Jason
Published: 2023-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Seventeen uneventful days passed since Mike was last seen in school. The A&M basketball team was completely out of sync and on a seven-game losing streak. They dropped from second place all the way down to last in the latest BCC conference standings. The dream of making it to the Big Tourney was now a distant memory.

After the dust settled about who should step up in Mike’s absence, Victor Mason emerged as the player that took up the scoring slack. He now felt that he was the star of the team and, as a result, began developing an enormous ego.

The team lacked confidence, and many players no longer seemed interested in playing anymore. There was even talk that Felix was considering quitting the team and returning to California.

Late in the afternoon, the team gathered for another practice. The players were seated on the bleachers listening to Coach Turner, who tried his hardest to put together a proper game plan for their next opponent.

“Not again.” Coach Turner put his hands on his hips. “Have any of you seen Vic Mason around?”

No one answered.

Lately, Victor has become a hated man amongst the team because of his selfish attitude and play.

The coach continued discussing their strategy when Victor finally strutted through the door. He wore dark sunglasses and climbed to the top of the bleachers to sit by himself. The players stared at each other, disgusted by his big-headed behavior.

The coach announced, “Alright, team, let’s get started. First drill, run the motion offense.”

The players got up from the bleachers and reluctantly started to practice. As they began the first drill, no effort was shown by any of them out on the court. It looked as if they had given up on this once-promising season.

“You guys better wake up!” the coach said, angry by their lack of effort. “How do you guys expect to win our conference tourney playing like this? You guys have to refocus, or we’re going to get blown out of the gym!”

“Win the BCC—are you serious?” Felix said. “Try getting out of the first round.”

“Coach, how are we supposed to play without our leading scorer?” Curtis added.

He rubbed the top of his head and didn’t know how to answer.

“Man, I’m gonna say what you guys have been thinking for weeks. Mike sold us out again, period!” Victor exclaimed. “I’m the leading scorer now.” He spun the basketball on his finger. “I’m the star!”

The players shook their heads, angry after hearing his arrogant declaration.

“Come on, guys,” John said; “we just got to keep our heads up, stay focused, and we can win this thing.”

“Man, shut up!” Victor said. “I’m tired of hearing from Mr. Sunshine’s mouth all the time.”

He said that because of John’s always positive demeanor. After making that statement, he threw a basketball hard against the wall that barely missed John’s head. But John didn’t budge one inch.

“This is real life, man. This ain’t that rich, suburban crap that you’re used to,” Victor said. “Why you here, anyways? You should be at some rich, fancy university or something.

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