NEW ORLEANS — Jimmy Carr may be the only basketball fan in America rooting for a tie in Monday night’s NCAA championship game.
More specifically, Carr says the angel of his late son, Brayden, is hoping Kansas and Kentucky tie and both teams walk away as equals.
“A little angel is watching over their season,” Carr told SNY.tv by text. “He is rooting for a tie tonight.”
Brayden Carr was the son of Natalie and Jimmy, the former Rutgers Director of Basketball Operations who recently joined Dan Hurley’s staff at Rhode Island as an assistant. Brayden passed away last May at the age of 2 1/2 after battling seizures for his entire young life. (My original story on Brayden is here.)
Both Kentucky coach John Calipari and Kansas coach Bill Self took time out of their busy schedules last Sept. 30 for the inaugural Brayden Carr Foundation clinic at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Naismith Hall of Fame coach Bob Hurley of St. Anthony, former Knicks and Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, former NBA coach Larry Brown and Rutgers coach Mike Rice also gave clinics to more than 500 coaches.
“Jimmy is one of those guys, when he called about it to say, ‘Cal, can you help me?’ He told me his son had passed, his wife and he wanted to start a foundation in honor of his son,” Calipari said here Sunday at the Final Four.
“I said, ‘When do you need me there? What’s the date and when do you need me there?'”
Calipari added: “To have someone like Jim, who is a terrific guy, to have that. I have children. I have two daughters and a son. Just couldn’t even imagine if that had happened to me. I couldn’t imagine.”
Self echoed similar sentiments.
“I was asked to do it,” Self said. “I would do anything that I possibly could to help a situation like that. Jim and I stay in touch…
“He’s a good man. Through sports, you know, we have a platform sometimes for whatever reason that people want to see you or whatnot….I wanted to be a part of that and help family out that was struggling, to give them a little joy.”
Carr, who will soon move to Rhode Island from New Jersey, has texted both Calipari and Self and members of their staffs in the last few days to wish them both luck in the biggest game of the year.
“They all respond and check in with me,” Carr said. “It was really a special day just to have Brayden’s name mentioned by them as they play the biggest game of the year.
“Me and Nat are just blessed to have them in our life.”
