STORY BY CARLY GRENFELL

We are in the single digits until game day, folks. Welcome to the best time of the year. Well, besides the absurd amount of snow and sub-freezing temperatures.

It never ceases to amaze me how fast basketball season approaches.

At times, it can be hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. You are training day-in and day-out, summer, spring and fall, making games feel like they are forever away.

But it does not really matter because the process is where success begins.

You embrace the grind even when you’re physically and mentally fatigued.

You put your bootstraps on and take the bad days for what they are worth. Before you know it, game day is right around the corner.

There is a refreshed sense of energy buzzing around the gym and locker room. All of the time spent in the gym since June can finally be put to the test.

There is absolutely nothing better than game day.

This year, though, “game day” has a different ring to it.

For the seniors, game day means more than it ever has, which is saying a lot. It is a season of “last firsts” that we will no doubt treasure for as long as we can.

Unless you have experienced playing under game lights, it is hard for me to explain how truly amazing it is.

There are times I sit back and think about how cool it is that each and every one of us is living our dream playing college basketball. Many people lose sight of the fact that playing basketball is, in essence, a full-time job.

And I don’t say that to toot our own horns, but to illustrate how important it is for us to love what we do.

Nobody wants to wake up everyday dreading what is ahead. If they do, success does not look very promising. Game day is our version of a bonus.

We put in the blood, sweat and tears for game day.

We put in the time watching film, getting yelled at, hitting the gym at 10 p.m. or doing extra cardio for game day.

To us, there is a lot that game day has to offer.

It is the most powerful outlet when it comes to showing others how much we love doing what we do.

It is the most powerful outlet when it comes to representing something so much bigger than oneself.

And it is the most powerful outlet when it comes to fighting for your teammates, coaches and fans until the buzzer sounds.

There are around 30 days out of a six-month season we get the chance to do so. You better believe we make the most of it.

Hope to see you at the Knapp this season.