Excellent article on AJ and Shaunte...

[Sundown]

From the Olympian.

*snip*

They talked of the usual things, their feelings for one another, their hopes for the future.

And then Nance pulled out the tough love.

Johnson had been a poor student at Stadium High. He could be so much more, Nance told him. He had been a mediocre player on a bad basketball team. You’re better than that, Nance told him.

She had seen him play in pickup games at the Y, and she knew talent when she saw it. But nothing great could happen without dedication. And he had shown so little motivation on his own. She would change that.

“I told him, ‘You have to keep playing basketball,’ ” she said. “I’d seen him play and I knew he was way more talented than some of those guys who were playing in college. He tells me now that all along he had hoped to go to the NBA, but he never put forth the effort.

“What he needed,” she said in a meaningful tone, “was a kick in the butt. And I gave it to him.”

 

[Grizbeer]

This is a very good article, and it is great to see Aj and Shaunte get some recognition in their home paper.
Here is a link to the article in The News Tribune, the comments are great. http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/03/16/1111134/basketball.html

A couple thoughts -

the bulk of the article was researched and written by Bob Meseroll http://www.missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/article_51ab71b4-2298-11df-8754-001cc4c03286.html and Bill Speltz http://www.missoulian.com/sports/college/montana/article_1841b498-2f3f-11df-9970-001cc4c002e0.html in their Missoulian articles. Both of these guys did a great job to get AJ and Shaunte's story out, and deserve credit, and I hope they get it.

Too bad Ryan Divish didn't write the story for the TNT. Dave Boling is a good sports columnist - TNT has a legacy of great sports writers, but I was hoping for Ryan to get his big break on this story.

I hope AJ and Shaunte donate a portion of the fortune they receive for the HBO/ESPN move rights back to UM athletics :lol: