ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Severe cramps choked every muscle in Taquan Dean's body in a vise-like grip. He could barely move.
But he wasn't staying off the basketball court yesterday. Not with his University of Louisville team chasing West Virginia in the Albuquerque Regional final.
The Cardinals' toughest player knew he couldn't tough this one out alone, however. So he started talking aloud to the one person who has helped him survive every one of his many setbacks.
His late mother, Felicia.
"I dedicated this game to you, Mom," Dean pleaded, pounding his body in search of relief. "Please give me the strength to get through this."
The junior guard grimaced through the pain long enough to turn in a performance Louisville fans will remember for years. He scored 23 points and made several key plays late as the Cards roared back from a 20-point deficit to a 93-85 overtime victory, earning their first final Four trip in 19 years.
There's no doubt in Dean's mind that his mother helped him do it.
"It might sound crazy," he said, "but I know she was there with me today."
Dean watched his mom die in front of him when he was 6. He had asked her to get him something, and she told him to wait a minute before closing her eyes. She never opened them again.
By thinking of her, he has persevered through all the adversity in his life. He thought of her when his grandparents and uncle died shortly after taking him; when a sports hernia slowed him last season; when mononucleosis zapped his strength this season; and when he sprained an ankle Thursday against Washington.
He thought of her in the first-round squeaker over Louisiana-Lafayette. Before swishing two late free throws, he tapped the tattoo on his left shoulder that has a cross with Felicia's name and the dates of her birth and death.
He thought of her in the second-round rout of Georgia Tech, which came on the 15th anniversary of her death. He noticed that for a while in the second half, the Cards led by 15.
Then came yesterday. U of L trailed 38-18 late in the first half and still was down 71-63 when Dean's cramps hit. By the overtime he was struggling just to shuffle to the bench for treatment. He howled and bit down on a towel as trainer Fred Hina massaged his muscles. His legs, back and arms locked up.
But he kept coming back, and so did the Cards. He drilled a three-pointer in overtime that gave U of L an 82-78 cushion, and moments later he spun in traffic and fed Otis George for a layup before falling down.
"Taquan is a soldier," assistant coach Vince Taylor said. "Even if he had a broken ankle, he would have gone back out there. He wasn't going to let us lose this game."
The Cardinals couldn't have won it without him. Trying to keep pace with West Virginia's ridiculously hot shooting, Dean hoisted 17 three-point tries and made seven. Fifteen of his 23 points came after halftime as he helped carry the load after Francisco Garcia fouled out.
"I couldn't believe what he was doing out there," Garcia said. "I've seen him in play in pain before, but to do it in a game like that
"
The pain -- and the joy -- took its toll. A few minutes after the victory, Dean sat down on the press table and cried. A jubilant Garcia walked over to his best friend and turned Dean's Final Four cap backward.
"Three years we worked for this!" Garcia yelled. "All those mornings shooting in the gym together!"
Dean couldn't respond.
"Everything just hit me," he said. "From shooting into garbage cans as a kid to all the tragedies I've been through in my life."
The moment soon passed, and he joined his teammates in cutting down the nets. One strand of the net, he said, was for Felicia.
Dean wants to dedicate one more thing to his mother. He has promised that if the Cards win the NCAA title, he will bury his championship ring in her plot.
"Every step I take, she's with me," he said. "I know that she's watching me now, and I know she's very happy."
