“WE DID THIS TOGETHER” Lance Thomas reflects on the four-year journey
By Lance Thomas Senior Captain, Duke ’10
I haven’t been this excited in a long time. Especially with what we have gone through these past four years, to actually come out on top, it’s a little hard to put the emotion into words. I definitely appreciate it a lot more now that I’ve been through all the tough practices and everything we’ve been through to get to this point.
You get stronger when you go through tough things. Our class, we’ve been through a lot of tough things, leaving the tournament early our freshman year. Between freshman and senior year, we got a lot better. We knew we had to bring leadership and really count on each other. There were obstacles we had to overcome.
I came in as a freshman, I thought I was a lot better than I was… a LOT better than I was. Coach was like, “You think you’re good enough to be in the pros, but you have a LONG way to go, a long way to go.” As a player I had a nice ego coming out of high school. I was like, “alright,” and he didn’t play me. That was probably the wake-up call. He didn’t play me when we were at the Garden. That was motivation to listen. Whatever Coach told me to do, I would do it. If he said, “Lance, run to Chapel Hill and back” I would do it, and I wouldn’t question it.
After three tough years, I was placed in a leadership role this season and I didn’t want to let my teammates down. I was very hungry this year, the hungriest guy out here. I knew I had to go all out. I didn’t give up on any play, and I tried to make every play that was there in front of me. We’ve always been a good defensive team and that has been our bread and butter, but we wanted to take that to another level, especially in the frontcourt. We had guys who could block shots with Brian and the Plumlee brothers, and I am able to guard every position. We used the best of what we had.
I didn’t want to act out of character while playing. I didn’t want to lose any sprints in practice, I didn’t want my teammates to ever see me weak or tired. And I wanted to set the tone for Miles and Mason. They’re going to be great. They’re really good players, and I hope they saw the confidence I had this year. Once they get their confidence, they’re going to be great.
Looking back on this year, I am just going to think about how much I love my teammates. I am going to enjoy that I have a championship ring, but I would have said that if we didn’t win it. We did all of this together. No one gave us anything. The staff pushed us harder than any team in the country, and we earned it.
It means the world to me. When I come back in this gym and have a national championship banner that I was a captain for -- it’s always going to be with me. It’s going to be in that gym even when I am long gone. To be a part of something that special, I really don’t have words.
I couldn’t have asked to leave Duke any better way. I’ve been through a lot here and it made me stronger, so I’m ready for whatever life has to throw at me. I’m not even nervous about it. Nothing’s going to stop me. I have the best coach to thank for it.
178 DUKE 2010
LANCE THOMAS
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