Men's Basketball
Fuss-Cheatam, OSU Teammates,
Dealing with Tragic Loss
By John Porentas
"As a coach, you don't get much practice on what
we had to deal with," OSU Head Coach Thad Matta said describing
the scene last night when the OSU basketball family learned of the
death of the mother of Brandon Fuss-Cheatam
"When you see a player go through what Brandon
did last night, it puts a lot of things into perspective," Matta
said.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with
Brandon and his family," Matta said.
Matta described a situation last night
in which it was known that Fuss-Cheatam's mother had been killed,
but the condition of his father was as yet unknown.
"His teammates last night were incredible,"
Matta said. "They were there for him in support. It's hard to
even think about the season today when one of your players is going
through this," Matta concluded.
Matta actually drove Fuss-Cheatam to a rendezvous point
between Columbus and Pittsburgh where they were met by members of
Fuss-Cheatam's family who took Fuss-Cheatam to Pittsburgh, his hometown
and the place where the auto accident occurred.
"We dropped him off at about 1:00 AM," Matta
said.
Fuss-Cheatam's father suffered a broken back and other
injuries in the wreck. Neither he nor his wife were wearing seatbelts
at the time of the accident. Mr. Fuss-Cheatam was actually ejected
through the back window of the vehicle in the crash.
"I've never had this type of situation before in
my coaching career," said Matta.
"A couple of players said last night that she was
a like a team mom for us," Matta said.
"She was around a lot. She was here these past
two weekends," Matta said.
"It's probably one of the hardest things I've ever
gone through as a coach. The players are your kids and you don't ever
want to see them hurt," Matta said.
"This puts a lot of things into perspective,"
said an obviously emotional Matta.
"When you're sitting in a room helping a player
deal with something like this, a missed passed or block out doesn't
mean a whole lot to you," Matta said.
"Someone asked me recently when I thought this
would be 'my' team. I can tell you right now, these are my players,"
Matta said.
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