By Ryan Cloutier, News Staff
If I hear one more person talk about how awesome it is that Dallas Maverick J.J. Barea was once a Northeastern student, I am going to commit seppuku out of rage and annoyance.
Now, many of you probably do not know what seppuku is. Also known as hara-kiri, it was a form of ritual suicide that samurai performed once they were either defeated or shamed. The ritual itself involves the victim stabbing himself in the stomach with a short sword and moving the blade from left to right in a slicing motion, followed by an assistant removing the victims head with a sword.
The idea was to avoid shame. Unfortunately, the idea of avoiding shame and disgrace by any means necessary is something contemporary society has lost. Long gone are the days where men would throw themselves upon their swords rather than face defeat. Thus, losing has become an acceptable part of life.
This, however, is a discussion for another time.
Why would I do this to myself in the face of Barea’s newfound popularity on the court and ESPN, you ask?
Well, all this Barea talk isn’t nearly as positive as everyone thinks it is for the school and its sports programs. Sure, you get to tell all your friends he went here, but it doesn’t actually mean anything.
What’s meaningful is that he was the second-highest scoring player ever in Northeastern’s basketball program (behind Reggie Lewis), and yet he sits on the bench in the NBA. Yes, he is most definitely a key player on the Dallas Mavericks from an offensive standpoint, sometimes scoring upwards of 20 points a game, but for all his talents, he is still a background player.
That’s got to be a negative message to potential recruits; our second-best basketball player of all time can’t get a starting job, couldn’t get drafted and had to sign as an undrafted free agent.
Cue the sad violin music, the woe is me, the “this isn’t a sports school” whining — oh wait, never mind. As much as old people like to tell us the past matters, it doesn’t. We have a lot to look forward to as the school seeks to establish itself as an athletics powerhouse, even if right now it is more or less the little engine that could.
Barea and his successes are version 1.0, a decent attempt, but ultimately one that isn’t indicative of the near future as far as our athletics profile is concerned. We do have some promising light at the end of the tunnel in the form of freshman Jamie Oleksiak, a hockey team defenseman who is currently participating in the NHL Scouting Combine – a team may draft him in the middle of the first round.
In addition, there is always the slew of Olympian-level athletes that make their way through the revolving doors that are Northeastern’s athletics such as in rowing and women’s hockey.
The point is, while it is “cool” that you can chill with your bro, drink a 12-pack of Natty Ice and watch a dude who used to go to your school drop 20 points in the Western Finals, the future of athletics is in attracting high profile talent that is good enough for teams to draft. Sadly, we are far away from being competitive in that arena when it comes to basketball.
