Farewell Tour Stops in Ohio for a Multi-Night Run

   As you may or may not have read today in The Breeze, this week's residency in Dayton is a homecoming for fifth year seniors, Devon Moore, A.J. Davis, and Rayshawn Goins. This week also is a farewell tour to their college careers. A voyage into the NCAA tournament isn't a bad song to choose for the encore.

More than just a tournament, it's an experience of a lifetime

   As Rev. Jesse Jackson said, "March Madness cannot bring May Sadness." All three players are set to graduate in May and pursue their careers outside of JMU, but there is still work to be done on the hardwood. Whether it's tomorrow or in future professional basketball pursuits.

   "The biggest thing for us is just enjoying the experience, man, having fun," Goins said. "A lot of people don't get to experience this. We came in, we're being ourself, man. The pressure ain't on us. They're the No. 1 team in the country. We're just going to go out and play our best basketball." 

   As they lay in bed tonight and send out their final tweets of the evening, these three guys will once again go to bed knowing tomorrow may be the last time they slip into purple and gold.

   "Just enjoying this moment," Moore said. "It's the same thing that we've been doing. Just having fun and being blessed to be here."

Davis celebrates MVP honors 

   Tonight will be the fourth time in just couple weeks that these seniors will ponder whether they'll get to play again. Twice during the CAA tournament went to bed in the Richmond Marriott knowing that anything less than the championship win would end their careers and then again Tuesday night before they took on LIU. 

   "This is what you play basketball for," Davis said. "To win a championship, to be in an NCAA tournament. The journey I've been on with these two guys and just knowing them for years that we've been playing basketball is just amazing."

   For Moore, this is about all his hard work and challenges finally paying off for him.

   "Me, ups and downs," he said. "The highs and the lows definitely, but I wouldn't take it any other way. I definitely enjoy that university, and I'm definitely going to miss it."

   Goins went through the hard route to get where he is today and he knows he may have never made it out of Cleveland.

   "For me, it's about a blessing to be here," he said. "To be a Division I basketball player because I went to junior college, and a lot of people don't make it out of junior college."

   Goins spent his first two seasons at Columbus State and Cincinnati State respectively, both part of the NJCAA. 

   "So I just kind of had to grind it out," he added. "It's a blessing to be at James Madison University, experiencing it with our seniors and young group guys, man. Words can't explain it. It's unbelievable. 

   This farewell tour may run out of music tomorrow afternoon, it may not. In the end this is a great way to conclude great college careers for three well deserving Ohio natives.

   "Everything that we've been through is finally starting to come to a peak," Moore said. "And it's a great feeling because we're going out with a bang."