Jay Ladner's return to Reed Green Coliseum was a welcoming site for a season that has had not much to celebrate.
And yet it made for a bittersweet moment since what few moral victories Southern Miss has enjoyed this year have come from setbacks the program had to endure.
It was the Golden Eagles head coach's first appearance since suffering a heart attack earlier this month. But Ladner's return was also an unfortunate reminder of the rollercoaster the program has had to face. Making the 82-71 victory against Louisiana a somewhat deserving moment amid a season that has been filled with injuries and off-court drama.
"Ladner is that man who blessed me and my family," Southern Miss interim coach Juan Cardona said. "It's my job and our job as a staff to bless him and keep blessing people through the help he gave us. Without him opening the door, then I'm not here…It starts and ends with Coach Ladner."
Yet somehow, Southern Miss has salvaged the year as they hold a 16-13 winning record with a 9-7 mark in conference that keeps the Golden Eagles in contention for a double-bye.
But the 2023-24 Golden Eagle squad will likely be remembered as the "what if" team.
It was a group that was filled with its fair share of talent from a team that returned several key players that helped orchestrate one of the largest turnaround in NCAA history, and brought back leading scorer Austin Crowley, who was named the Sun Belt's Preseason Player of the Year. Not to mention the immediate impact transfer players, that included the likes of Victor Iwuakor and Andre Curbelo, who have played pivotal roles in keeping the season alive.
"The guys who came here for two years just landed the 41st win in two years, plus the tournament and the two games we have left," Cardona said. "There is something to be said about that. There's no way in the regular season that for two years in a row, we have a positive record."
All of that had created the making for Southern Miss basketball to have another exciting season…or so we all thought.
Southern Miss learned just less than two weeks before the start of the year that star point guard Neftali Alvarez suffered an eventual season-ending foot injury, while newcomer Lieb Yat, Golden Eagles' first signed seven-foot player in over a decade, required ACL surgery.
Tegra Izay was still recovering from a broken wrist that limited his action early on and mitigated the eventual forceful presence he became inside of the paint.
"Everyone gives their all, so it's disappointing when guys go out and get injured," said senior guard Tate Ryder, who initially joined the team as a team manager. "You know they want to be out there and help.
"If we were healthy, the sky is the limit for our team. We have every piece you need."
Perhaps the most frustrating storyline was the uncertainty over Andre Curbelo's transfer waiver due to the NCAA's unfair transfer assessment that puzzled Southern Miss and other programs.
The loss of Curbelo and Alvarez forced star Austin Crowley to play point guard, keeping him from utilizing his best abilities. It wouldn't be until 10 games into the season that USM would finally be allowed to play Curbelo due to a court ruling.
There was a brief glimmer of the team's fullest potential in early January led to Southern Miss' first upset over a top-25 team in 13 years, and yet it was short-lived. Curbelo dealt with an apparent concussion, and Victor Hart hyperextended his knee, sidelining both of them for just over a month.
Let's also not forget the Golden Eagles dealt with illnesses during a four-game road stretch that, at one point, required four players to receive IVs before a pair of games.
"I'm not a big what-if guy," said senior guard Austin Crowley, who scored 18 points in the win over UL. "We have so many valuable pieces that when you put them together in the puzzle, it makes for a great picture. It would have been nice to have a perfect season of having nobody injured, but it's the ups and downs for life. I'm glad we are able to get our team together right now and peak at the right point.
"We don't worry about the name on our back. We worry about the name on the front."
As if Ladner's heart attack wasn't enough, which he suffered back on Feb. 11, the roster then dwindled even more with the likely season-ending injury to starter Donovan Ivory.
Ivory's injury left interim coach Juan Cardona with as few as 10 players. But still, without several players, their head coach, and an endless string of bad luck, Cardona and the Golden Eagles have managed to go 4-2 in the last six games and still have the makings as a team to make a run for a conference championship.
Quite simply, it's incredible that Southern Miss even has a winning record and defies sports logic.
"This is Coach Ladner's program and basketball team; we have his back here," Cardona said. "I don't live my life thinking about what could happen because then you aren't living in the moment."
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