Racing to the top: Sarasota native talks his NCAA Tournament experience

Brion Whitley has had a whirlwind of a year.

The last time I spoke to him, it was in a bittersweet goodbye to his Riverview High Rams before the guard jetted off to Murray State University. Since then, the freshman has experienced a lot, perhaps the coolest of which was playing in the NCAA Tournament.

The Racers lost to West Virginia 85-68 in the first round, but simply playing in the tournament that captivates the entire country each March is something to cherish. Whitley said he got his money’s worth, too, despite entering the game with under a minute to go.

“They’re known as ‘Press Virginia’ (for their tendency to play press defense), and they play start to finish,” Whitley said. “So I get in there and they’re at the free throw line. I turned to a kid on West Virginia and said, ‘You guys still going to press?’ and he said, ‘Oh, yeah.’ So here I go, having not played at all, fresh off the bench, and I get the ball, and I hear them say, ‘Go get ‘em.’ Two huge guys come at me. I barely could see my teammates, but I throw it (up the court), and I actually got an assist. I missed the half court shot at the end though, which is upsetting. It went in and out. I thought I was going to make that (laughs).

“It’s something a lot of people will never get to do in their lives. It was amazing.”

The game was something Whitley will never forget, but he has bigger plans in the future. This year was a learning experience, he said, watching heralded seniors Jonathan Stark and Terrell Miller Jr. lead the Racers to a 26-6 record and the Ohio Valley Conference crown. Whitley said he embraced his role from the get-go, staying patient while knowing his time would come in future seasons. He spent time working on his jump shot while embedding himself into the Racers’ culture.

Music is a good example of this. Local basketball fans will remember Whitley’s upbringing and, by extension, his eclectic taste in music. On team bus rides, Murray State sometimes had sing-a-longs to popular songs, even once for “a good hour and a half” on the way back from the University of Evansville. Whitley didn’t hesitate to sing along and add his music to the rest of the mix. The team might have thought he was “different” at first, Whitley said, but everyone accepted him, and he believes he helped others on the team discard any figurative masks they might have been wearing.

“No one was afraid to be who they were,” Whitley said. “They got used to the way I was, and a lot of people on the team opened up and showed their true personality. It brought us closer together and was a part of our identity. Everyone could be as goofy as they wanted to be.”

Whitley was also part of one of the most unusual events of the college basketball season, when, during a game at Austin Peay University, lightning struck the arena roof and tore a hole over the court, causing rain to pour onto the court. The game was delayed three hours while the hole was repaired. That wasn’t the most amazing part, though, according to Whitley.

“We start playing at, like, 11 p.m.,” Whitley said. “We go back out, and there might be 10 Austin Peay fans still there. But there is a sea of Murray State fans.

It’s that type of stuff that made the season phenomenal. I was blessed to be a part of it.”

As his college career continues, I’m sure Whitley will add many more moments to his personal memory bank, and I can’t wait to watch him do so.