After Memphis won the NIT championship last week, Tiger fans in attendance at Madison Square Garden began chanting, “One more year.”
The message couldn’t have been more clear and it was, of course, for Dajuan Wagner, who had probably played his last collegiate game that night in New York in the NIT victory over South Carolina.
And that has the U of M basketball faithful worried about their team’s future, which doesn’t look nearly as bright if Wagner decides to jump to the NBA, like many predict he will.
But the fans knew that it would come to an end.
The faithful followers in blue and gray knew, even before the start of the season, that Wagner was a “one and done” type of player.
But as the season went on ,many fans began to hope against hope that maybe, just maybe, Wagner would come back for one more year.
So listen up Dajuan: give us one more year.
That’s all we want, just one more and we promise we won’t ask again.
Wagner has already proven that he is the most talented basketball player ever to sport a Tiger uniform.
He has already proven he’s a more electric scorer than Penny Hardaway was, smoother than Elliot Perry, as tough as Lorenzen Wright and as a freshman he is a better all-around player than Keith Lee.
Now he has a chance to prove that it’s about more than that, by sticking around for another year.
One more year to prove that college basketball, especially Memphis basketball, is still a great institution.
One more year to prove that the lure of NBA millions is not all that is important.
One more year...to bring back the magic that this season created.
One more year...to make mouths drop to the floor in awe, and 20,000 fans rise to their feet.
One more year...to lead your team to the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years.
One more year... to continue to restore the greatness that the U of M basketball program once had.
Just one more year, Dajuan. That’s all we want.
Even if Wagner does decide to return, it will only be one rare victory for college basketball, which is ultimately losing the war to the NBA.
With the best high school talent skipping college for the NBA, college basketball is becoming less competitive each year.
Just imagine how great Memphis basketball would be if Dajuan Wagner, and our two top recruits, Amare Stoudemire and Qyntel Woods, all came to Memphis instead of jumping.
Too late.
Stoudemire, a 6-10 high school senior, and Woods, a 6-9 junior college player, are both entering the NBA draft instead of attending Memphis and are both projected by many to be top 10 draft picks.
And it may only be a matter of time before our resident top 10 pick, Dajuan Wagner, decides to take his game to the next level, after just one year of NCAA basketball.
So in the words of Pouncer (The U of M mascot), “Dajuan don’t go.”
