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It has taken a few games for Tyler and his teammates to click in Augusta, and the Eagles have opened Peach Jam play with three consecutive losses. The first half of game four against the Warriors gives the impression that the team is about ready to roll over and die. With her sons down 41-26 at halftime, Tami Wheat, resplendent in Capri pants, a stylish denim jacket and pink rhinestone sandals, is being chatted up by an NCAA official. Seated on the opposite sideline, University of Kentucky coach Tubby Smith -- rumored to have been first runner-up in the Tyler Hansbrough pageant -- nods at Wheat, who smiles back. She knows Smith, and likes him, but the two are forbidden by NCAA rules from talking to one another. This, after all, is July, an NCAA "quiet period" during which coaches are prohibited from consulting with recruits or their coaches or parents.

Awkward as it may be, Smith believes the rules are an improvement over the vigilante olden days.

"You used to have coaches waiting in line to talk to a kid," the coach recounts. "We're not prostituting ourselves, so it's better now. But it is unnatural."

In Smith's immediate vicinity are Carolina's Roy Williams, University of Florida coach Billy Donovan, Texas coach Rick Barnes, Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Arizona's Lute Olson, the last of whom has been dubbed "Midnight Lute" for his ability to persuade recruits to renege on oral commitments to rival universities hours before signing their official letters of intent. (Mizzou's coach Quin Snyder was barred from attending all but the first day of Peach Jam action, owing to the university's self-imposed sanctions for rules violations involving former Tiger Ricky Clemons.) Ready with a wink and a nod should a boy they're wooing shoot a glance their way, Smith's assessment is correct in that these silent types would never be mistaken for stiletto-heeled denizens of a red-light district. But in their own middle-aged come-hither way, they're still adjunct practitioners of the oldest profession.

The Warriors-Eagles second half starts with two more Illinois buckets, pushing the margin to nineteen points. Ben, who was an end-of-the-bench afterthought in his team's first three games, is in at point guard and appears to have decided that if the Eagles are going to chip away at the lead, he and his big brother are going to be the ones who do the chipping. On consecutive possessions he rotates the ball to Tyler, who had tallied a modest ten points by halftime. Tyler converts both layups, touching off a 22-0 St. Louis run that puts the Eagles up by three with eight minutes to play.

An Illinois jumper finally stops the bleeding. Moments after Ben is removed in favor of sharpshooter Landon Shipley of Lafayette High, Tyler steals a Warrior pass and goes coast to coast for a dunk. On the Eagles' next possession, Farmer receives the ball in the high post and swiftly dishes to Tyler, who uses the rim to shield himself from his defender on an up-and-under stuff. The Eagles lead 54-47 and Tyler heads to the bench for a breather with six minutes left.

By the 1:38 mark, the Illinois team -- which will eventually claim the Peach Jam championship -- has clawed back to even at 59-59. All three of the Boot Heel boys are in the game. Tyler quickly grabs a defensive rebound and outlets to Ben. Steadying the tempo as his big men to assume their positions in the paint, Ben feeds Farmer, who hits Tyler down low for another up and under, this one abetted by a timely pump fake. Fouled on the play, Tyler converts the bonus shot.

Another Illinois miss begets a rebound by Farmer, who feeds Ben for a floater in the lane that salts the game away with 45 seconds to play. With six seconds remaining, Tyler hits two free throws to give him 33 points on the day to go along with 12 rebounds. Farmer finishes the 69-63 contest with a solid eleven points, nine rebounds and two critical assists. And after struggling through his team's first three games, today Ben has tallied four points, three rebounds, two assists and a hard-earned measure of respect from his teammates for captaining the second-half comeback.

The next morning, before the team's final Peach Jam game against the Alabama Lasers, Coach Claggett assembles his thirteen Eagles in a small room in the bowels of North Augusta's Riverview athletic complex.

"There's nothing better than a bus ride home after a win," the coach intones. "Besides, we owe them one," he adds, in reference to a loss at the hands of the Lasers earlier in the year.

Before the team takes to the court, assistant coach Long launches into a soliloquy regarding the type of interior tenacity it'll take to get off clean shots against Alabama's Richard Hendrix, a six-foot-eight, 260-pound man-child whom the pundits had ranked ahead of Tyler at power forward heading into Peach Jam. "You've got to go up strong against Hendrix -- otherwise he will put your stuff on the glass," Long stresses.

As the team prepares to break for pregame warm-up drills, Tyler raises his voice.

His teammates cut the chatter, anticipating a Gipper-esque speech from their stoic star.

"Eric!" he says, fixing his gaze on Webster Groves swingman Eric Jones. "You got that CD?"

Despite the relaxed mood heading in, by halftime the Eagles have dug themselves a ten-point hole and trail 34-24. Tyler, however, is playing a level game and has outscored Hendrix 13-10. More crucial, he has managed to coax two fouls out of his counterpart, putting the Alabama star in a precarious position entering the second half, which commences with Eagles guard Arthur Sargent sticking a long jumper and Tyler dunking in Hendrix's face.

With the Eagles down by six, Tyler draws a third foul from Hendrix. After a few fast breaks stretch the Lasers' lead to twelve, Tyler coaxes yet another Hendrix foul. The Laser luminary is forced to take a seat on the bench, cueing a furious Eagles run that results in a tie score at the end of regulation -- and, ultimately, a 68-63 Eagles victory. And as his players will proceed to prove on a raucous trip home, their coach knows what he's talking about:

There is nothing better than a bus ride home after a win.

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