OPINION: A championship mentality is why CMU is having success
On Wednesday night, the Central Michigan women's basketball team defeated Ball State 102-91, with a little help from sophomore guard Presley Hudson’s record night in scoring.
With the win, the Chippewas remained undefeated in Mid-American Conference play.
More importantly however, the win handed the Cardinals their first conference loss, keeping CMU atop the MAC West division.
What coach Sue Guevara said after the game really stuck out to me because she was exactly right.
“Every game, especially in the West (Division), is brutal and I mean just brutal,” she said. “Every game we play is a championship game, we have to go in with that mentality and keep developing our inside and outside game to get back to Cleveland. That game tonight was our Cleveland, the game against Bowling Green will be our Cleveland. We have to think that way every night.”
That team has truly bought into that mind set, and games like last night show just how far they have come since last season.
The Chippewas were defeated by Buffalo on a buzzer beater in the MAC Championship game in Cleveland in March. For some teams, it can tear them apart, and for others it can bring them together and fuel them for the following year.
If you guessed the second option for this team, you’re correct.
CMU returned a majority of its roster from the team that felt that heart break 10 months ago, and its games like the one against Ball State that show how mature they have truly become.
Every single time CMU would build up their lead — at one point it was 14 points and another 13 — the Cardinals would strike back and go on their own run.
The Chippewas didn’t let that get to them. They would “punch them back” as Guevara said. They come together as a team, and find a way to win. It’s evident how much they believe in each other.
Hudson has been the player with the hot hand as of late, and rather than the team trying to take contested bad shots, they play their role and find a way to get her the ball. Earlier in the season, before her injury, it was senior forward Jewel Cotton that the team would look to in times of doubt and she would find ways to deliver.
For a team that got absolutely smacked against Notre Dame to open the season and started 1-2, people may have doubted their ability to win the MAC West.
Those doubts have completely vanished after what I saw last night. For most of the games I’ve covered this year, there are maybe a couple students in the student section and not more than a couple hundred fans in the crowd.
On Wednesday night, with the stakes high in a battle between two teams in the top of their conference, the seats were filling up and the student section on one side was nearly full.
When it came down to crunch time and the game was close, Hudson scored the final seven points of the game to secure the victory, and the crowd let them know it.
People seem to be taking notice that this team and program is building up and has a really good chance of winning a division title this year, and I’m one of them.
When you finally think this team will fold and couldn’t possibly have an answer, they always prove you wrong. The mental aspect of the game is there for this team, and you can feel it when you watch them play.
The Chippewas are focused on one thing: getting back to Cleveland for the MAC title game.
Until then, they will just keep treating every game like a championship game. After all that is what championship teams do, isn’t it?
