How facing Rutgers is the perfect ending for this Seton Hall transfer
By Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
SOUTH ORANGE - Christena Simmons saw all of her daughter's home games at Seton Hall this year, almost always arriving in her own uniform: A blue knit cap with the U.S. Postal Service logo on the front, a matching light blue shirt and gray pants.
She would make short drive up South Orange Avenue immediately after leaving her mail route in Newark to make sure she didn't a miss a minute. She was never the only family member cheering for her daughter Daisha - in fact, for one late-season game, there were nearly 40 friends and relatives crammed behind the bench to cheer her on.
So even now, with the Pirates preparing to face Rutgers in a first-round NCAA Tournament game this weekend, Christena Simmons has a hard time believe how this year began. Even now, after the happy ending everyone wanted, she struggles with the acrimonious beginning.
Why would anyone and anything - namely her former coaches at the University of Alabama and the dumb NCAA rules - not want Daisha to have this kind of support for her final season of college basketball?
And how could anyone not understand just how much support Daisha herself could provide her family when she moved back to her native state this year, just a few miles from where she grew up in Jersey City?
"These are adults, people that we entrusted our child to," Christena Simmons said. "They're supposed to be role models to these kids, and in some aspects, parents to them. How could they? No compassion."
This was a happy night, just moments after Seton Hall learned it was returning to the NCAA Tournament field, so nobody wanted to relive that past. Still, it should be remembered, both for the callous decision by Alabama leaders not to release Daisha Simmons, but by the social media outrage that forced them to change their mind.
Simmons was granted to her release to play immediately, but only after the intense pressure from big names in college basketball like Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale. It took the outrage, in the form of a #FreeDaishaSimmons hashtag, to change Alabama's decision. But it didn't change the fact that the NCAA and its members still have too much control over the young adults who are playing for their teams.
That, really, was lost in this. Simmons is 24. She completed her undergraduate degree. Her reasons for wanting to come back home were real and serious - her brother, Chaz, is awaiting a kidney transplant and needs dialysis three days a week - but even if it wasn't, why shouldn't be allowed to choose where she plays?
"It's crazy," Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella said. "It could have been very under the radar with no storyline, and unfortunately, it became a big storyline. In the end, Daisha grew stronger as a person, and we grew stronger as a team knowing that, you know what, fight for what you believe in.
"And you know what? The girls know that in life now. Fight for whatever you believe in."
Bozzella remembers the emotional day this fall when Simmons got her good news, the way the players and the coaches hugged at center court before a practice. She was in tears then, relieved and happy.
Six months later, there were tears, just joy when the name Seton Hall popped into the tournament bracket. Simmons is one of the biggest reasons why, averaging 16.9 points a game and earning the Big East defensive player of the year honors.
That she'll play Rutgers, the program where she started her college career after graduating Gill St. Bernard, is just one more way her whole career is coming full circle.
"I thought enough of her to start her as a freshman so that tells you a lot," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "It's too bad. We'll see what happens with that. Long story short. We'll see what happens."
If that sounded like one more challenge, Simmons is ready for it. She said she's exactly where she wants to be, back home where she can drive Chaz to his doctor's appointments (his transplant is expected this spring) and pick up her mom from her second job at Target.
She's doing well in her sports management classes, a program she plans to finish after she chases a professional basketball career in the fall. Plus, she said, she saw just how many people had her back at the toughest point of her life.
"To know I had the support from people I didn't know, that was the greatest part of this whole thing," Daisha Simmons said, but even after the happy ending, you still can't help but wonder why she needed it at all.
Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
This post was edited on 3/18 10:30 AM by Halldan1
http://www.nj.com/setonhall/index.ssf/2015/03/how_facing_rutgers_is_the_perfect_ending_for_this.html#incart_2box_sports_index.ssf
By Steve Politi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
SOUTH ORANGE - Christena Simmons saw all of her daughter's home games at Seton Hall this year, almost always arriving in her own uniform: A blue knit cap with the U.S. Postal Service logo on the front, a matching light blue shirt and gray pants.
She would make short drive up South Orange Avenue immediately after leaving her mail route in Newark to make sure she didn't a miss a minute. She was never the only family member cheering for her daughter Daisha - in fact, for one late-season game, there were nearly 40 friends and relatives crammed behind the bench to cheer her on.
So even now, with the Pirates preparing to face Rutgers in a first-round NCAA Tournament game this weekend, Christena Simmons has a hard time believe how this year began. Even now, after the happy ending everyone wanted, she struggles with the acrimonious beginning.
Why would anyone and anything - namely her former coaches at the University of Alabama and the dumb NCAA rules - not want Daisha to have this kind of support for her final season of college basketball?
And how could anyone not understand just how much support Daisha herself could provide her family when she moved back to her native state this year, just a few miles from where she grew up in Jersey City?
"These are adults, people that we entrusted our child to," Christena Simmons said. "They're supposed to be role models to these kids, and in some aspects, parents to them. How could they? No compassion."
This was a happy night, just moments after Seton Hall learned it was returning to the NCAA Tournament field, so nobody wanted to relive that past. Still, it should be remembered, both for the callous decision by Alabama leaders not to release Daisha Simmons, but by the social media outrage that forced them to change their mind.
Simmons was granted to her release to play immediately, but only after the intense pressure from big names in college basketball like Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale. It took the outrage, in the form of a #FreeDaishaSimmons hashtag, to change Alabama's decision. But it didn't change the fact that the NCAA and its members still have too much control over the young adults who are playing for their teams.
That, really, was lost in this. Simmons is 24. She completed her undergraduate degree. Her reasons for wanting to come back home were real and serious - her brother, Chaz, is awaiting a kidney transplant and needs dialysis three days a week - but even if it wasn't, why shouldn't be allowed to choose where she plays?
"It's crazy," Seton Hall coach Tony Bozzella said. "It could have been very under the radar with no storyline, and unfortunately, it became a big storyline. In the end, Daisha grew stronger as a person, and we grew stronger as a team knowing that, you know what, fight for what you believe in.
"And you know what? The girls know that in life now. Fight for whatever you believe in."
Bozzella remembers the emotional day this fall when Simmons got her good news, the way the players and the coaches hugged at center court before a practice. She was in tears then, relieved and happy.
Six months later, there were tears, just joy when the name Seton Hall popped into the tournament bracket. Simmons is one of the biggest reasons why, averaging 16.9 points a game and earning the Big East defensive player of the year honors.
That she'll play Rutgers, the program where she started her college career after graduating Gill St. Bernard, is just one more way her whole career is coming full circle.
"I thought enough of her to start her as a freshman so that tells you a lot," Rutgers head coach C. Vivian Stringer said. "It's too bad. We'll see what happens with that. Long story short. We'll see what happens."
If that sounded like one more challenge, Simmons is ready for it. She said she's exactly where she wants to be, back home where she can drive Chaz to his doctor's appointments (his transplant is expected this spring) and pick up her mom from her second job at Target.
She's doing well in her sports management classes, a program she plans to finish after she chases a professional basketball career in the fall. Plus, she said, she saw just how many people had her back at the toughest point of her life.
"To know I had the support from people I didn't know, that was the greatest part of this whole thing," Daisha Simmons said, but even after the happy ending, you still can't help but wonder why she needed it at all.
Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
This post was edited on 3/18 10:30 AM by Halldan1
http://www.nj.com/setonhall/index.ssf/2015/03/how_facing_rutgers_is_the_perfect_ending_for_this.html#incart_2box_sports_index.ssf
