‘That’s why we come to Texas.’ Longhorns pushing for that ‘One Shining Moment’ in March
As the Texas Longhorns went through a morning practice session Wednesday at the T-Mobile Center, an interesting song choice blared from the speakers.
The March Madness anthem, “One Shining Moment,” which is played during the national championship ceremony as the winning team cuts down the nets, was part of the playlist.
“I play ‘One Shining Moment’ all the time,” Texas coach Chris Beard said. “Whether I’m in the shower, the car, practice, after wins … that’s why we come to Texas.”
Texas has never won a national championship in men’s basketball, making three trips to the Final Four in its history. But Beard believes this year’s Longhorns team has the ability to get on a run, saying the team has yet to play a full 40 minutes.
He’d like to see UT take a step toward that goal in its opening game against TCU in the Big 12 Tournament. Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
“With our guys, we understand there’s three seasons,” Beard said. “This is the most important. It’s the best. It’s March Madness. Our deal is, ‘Can we play our best when it matters most?’ Easy to sit around here on this plush carpet and talk about it, a little more difficult to go out there and do it against some of the best teams in the country.
“The teams that play their best in March make runs and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
Just one, though, celebrates as “One Shining Moment” is played minutes after the championship has been decided with highlights from throughout the three-week tournament. The song was written by David Barrett in 1986, and was first used for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 1987. The late Luther Vandross recorded the most widely used version of the song.
Along with “One Shining Moment,” Texas’ playlist for its warm-up practice had plenty of variety from rap to country to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” (A fireworks show at an amusement park did not accompany the song this time around.)
“We believe in diversity, variety. It’s a spice of life,” Beard said. “Like I tell the guys, what’s your favorite food? Chinese food. You eat that every single meal every day? No. Music is the same thing. Diversity, variety. We’ve got a playlist.
“Everybody contributes to the playlist. When the team is winning, the percentage is their [the players] way. From time to time, if we get banged around, I get to play more of my stuff. We go from Travis Tritt to Notorious B.I.G. That’s America, man. That’s the way it should be.”
Big 12 flashback
Texas and Texas Tech were scheduled to play the opening quarterfinal game of the Big 12 Tournament two years ago when it was abruptly canceled early on during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beard was coaching Tech at the time and recalled the “surreal” moment.
“We were so locked in our season that we really weren’t, I guess, in the reality of COVID-19,” Beard said. “We were in the hotel, about to play Shaka [Smart, Texas’ coach at the time] and we asked, ‘Are we going to play today?’ The Ivy League cancels and then it’s just kind of a haze.
“I remember telling our guys to control what we can control. Hey, if we play the game, we’re ready. If we don’t, there’s more important things than basketball.”
Longhorns senior guard Andrew Jones had similar memories of the day.
“It was surreal. It was crazy,” he said. “There wasn’t a lot of information out about the virus being spread. The only thing you saw on the news is a lot of deaths and a lot of people being hospitalized, so I’m glad the Big 12 took the precautions it needed to keep everybody — the players, the coaching staff, the fans — safe.”
The Big 12 played last year’s tournament in front of a limited capacity crowd. This year it returns to a pre-pandemic feel with thousands in attendance.
“It’s going to be fun,” Jones said. “I’ve always loved coming to the Big 12 Tournament. The atmosphere is unmatched.”
This story was originally published March 9, 2022 at 1:06 PM.
