By
Keith Carmona
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Gene Edgerson takes teacher role to encourage Wildcats against MSU
MINNEAPOLIS - Everything you need to know, you were supposed to have learned in kindergarten. And that goes for NCAA Tournament basketball, too.
But if your attention was waning all those years ago, Arizona's resident kindergarten teacher is here to reiterate the lessons.
It was storytime for the Wildcats Friday night, less than 24 hours before they would defeat Michigan State, and Mr. Edgerson was the narrator.
Friday's bedtime story was about an egg, a carrot and a coffee bean.
"This guy had a daughter and his daughter was complaining about life," said Mr. Edgerson, relating the story. "So he took an egg, a coffee bean and a carrot and put it into a pot that was boiling at 212 degrees."
Just like the 5-year-olds in his class, Edgerson's teammates gathered around him. They were restless, teasing their team captain.
"Of course Gilbert (Arenas) and Richard (Jefferson) and Jason (Gardner) were making fun of me, saying 'What the hell do you want to talk to us about,'" Edgerson said.
But he kept reading.
"The egg got soft, the carrot got soft, but the coffee bean got stronger in such a hot environment," so the story goes, according to the 6-foot-6-inch afro-wearing narrator.
"My point to the team was that we were going to be heading into a fire (Saturday)," Edgerson said. "I asked everybody, 'Were you going to be the carrot, are you going to be the egg or are you going to be the damn coffee bean?'"
The wiser, elder Edgerson told his teammates, "You better be coffee beans."
By the end, Mr. Edgerson had his teammates practically bumping chests, energized for the game.
After he was all done, Mr. Edgerson sent his team to bed.
The next day, they woke up and thumped Michigan State 80-61 to advance to the NCAA title game.
Maybe it was head coach Lute Olson's game plan or the Wildcats' execution that has the Wildcats playing for the National Championship Monday night.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was storytime that inspired Arizona.
"In the huddle, Coach was getting fired up and I just started yelling about coffee beans," Jefferson said. "Let's be coffee beans out there. When the pressure turns up, let's make the best of that."
Like a good teacher, Mr. Edgerson was able to tame the rambunctious group while still charming their interests.
"At first, they were goofing around, not taking me seriously," Edgerson said. "But once they started comprehending what I was reading, they really enjoyed it. And they came out and played like coffee beans."
Edgerson said a friend e-mailed the story to him just a few days before leaving to Minneapolis, and he was reluctant to share it with the team.
But as the player with the most experience, he said he wanted to inspire them the night before the biggest basketball game of their lives.
"I wanted to win badly (on Saturday)," he said. "My job was lighting that fire under everybody so we could get the job done, so we could survive and play another game."
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Gene Edgerson assumes kindergarten teacher role to encourage Wildcats against MSU
MINNEAPOLIS - Everything you need to know, you were supposed to have learned in kindergarten. And that goes for NCAA Tournament basketball, too.
But if your attention was waning all those years ago, Arizona's resident kindergarten teacher is here to reiterate the lessons.
It was storytime for the Wildcats Friday night, less than 24 hours before they would defeat Michigan State, and Mr. Edgerson was the narrator.
Friday's bedtime story was about an egg, a carrot and a coffee bean.
"This guy had a daughter and his daughter was complaining about life," said Mr. Edgerson, relating the story. "So he took an egg, a coffee bean and a carrot and put it into a pot that was boiling at 212 degrees."
Just like the 5-year-olds in his class, Edgerson's teammates gathered around him. They were restless, teasing their team captain.
"Of course Gilbert (Arenas) and Richard (Jefferson) and Jason (Gardner) were making fun of me, saying 'What the hell do you want to talk to us about,'" Edgerson said.
But he kept reading.
"The egg got soft, the carrot got soft, but the coffee bean got stronger in such a hot environment," so the story goes, according to the 6-foot-6-inch afro-wearing narrator.
"My point to the team was that we were going to be heading into a fire (Saturday)," Edgerson said. "I asked everybody, 'Were you going to be the carrot, are you going to be the egg or are you going to be the damn coffee bean?'"
The wiser, elder Edgerson told his teammates, "You better be coffee beans."
By the end, Mr. Edgerson had his teammates practically bumping chests, energized for the game.
After he was all done, Mr. Edgerson sent his team to bed.
The next day, they woke up and thumped Michigan State 80-61 to advance to the NCAA title game.
Maybe it was head coach Lute Olson's game plan or the Wildcats' execution that has the Wildcats playing for the National Championship Monday night.
Or maybe, just maybe, it was storytime that inspired Arizona.
"In the huddle, Coach was getting fired up and I just started yelling about coffee beans," Jefferson said. "Let's be coffee beans out there. When the pressure turns up, let's make the best of that."
Like a good teacher, Mr. Edgerson was able to tame the rambunctious group while still charming their interests.
"At first, they were goofing around, not taking me seriously," Edgerson said. "But once they started comprehending what I was reading, they really enjoyed it. And they came out and played like coffee beans."
Edgerson said a friend e-mailed the story to him just a few days before leaving to Minneapolis, and he was reluctant to share it with the team.
But as the player with the most experience, he said he wanted to inspire them the night before the biggest basketball game of their lives.
"I wanted to win badly (on Saturday)," he said. "My job was lighting that fire under everybody so we could get the job done, so we could survive and play another game."
