The Assist 281-338

Summary
For the future of Ridley, he went to the University of Toledo. He was a freshmen for college where as a freshmen, he could not get a lot of play time. But, when the final game of the regular season came along, Toledo was playing against CMU. Off the bench, Ridley had a decent 6 points and 3 rebounds, they were in the lead. Toledo began getting sloppy, where CMU came back and tied the game. With a few seconds on the clock, Ridley was still in the game, where one of the coaches told him to leave him in the game. So the play was mapped out, where the team captain was to make a close-range jumper. He shot the ball and missed, where Ridley with his high vertical leap, tipped the ball in and won the game. Toledo won 66-64.
Toledo had made it to the championship game, and it was on ESPN. During the championship game, all his family and friends at home were watching, looking at Ridley on the bench. He was the only player that never was put into the game, and Toledo lost.

For the future of Hood, he went towards a downfall. He had an incident with his friend Pookie in a car, where they were charged with a possession of a gun. They were both sent to jail. O'Brien still had faith in him and tried to motivate him into going to college. O'Brien said, "Jail don't change you. Jail just gives you something to talk about when you get out."

Decisions, decisions, decisions. Jack O'Brien is deciding to leave Charlestown High, but Fung, the headmaster bribed O'Brien to stay, where he is left with an indecisive choice. O'Brien wanted to coach at another school at Lynn, but his pride to belong in Charlestown was more important. His attachment to his players was intense that he doesn't want to leave. He had till June 30, to make his decision. Until late August, O'Brien surprisingly entered Fung's office and decided to stay because he doesn't want to abandon the people who need him most. But, another coach was assigned the job, Cassidy, where he and O'Brien worked it out that O'Brien would be the head coach. Lynn was still stumbling on O'Brien's decision. He called the Lynn principal, Mr. Fila, and said he just could not do it.

Quote
"It's Jack O'Brien. I'm sorry. I just can't do it" (Swidey 338).

Reaction
This is the end of the book, where Jack O'Brien called Mr. Fila and refused to become a coach for Lynn. His reputation as a Charlestown coach was to meaningful, where his hard work paid off. To be able to win as much State Championship games is outstanding with the help of the basketball players. O'Brien was like another father figure to his players; through all the struggles of win or losses, O'Brien kept pushing them to strive to success.