Senior Send-Off: Portland’s Bobby Sharp

When I think back of all the University of Portland games I’ve watched over the last 10 years, there are a lot of good memories: beating Gonzaga, being ranked in the top 25, beating a number of top 25 teams. But out of all those wins, there is only one individual performance that sticks out and that is Bobby Sharp’s magnificent night against BYU in January of 2014. To put it into perspective, there have been a number of times the Portland fans have rushed the court, but I’ve never seen them pick up a student-athlete and give him the Rudy treatment like they did with Sharp.

As Sharp moves on to the next phase of his career, he will always be remembered for that game, and his sharp shooting ability. Sharp came to the Pilots from Santa Rosa JC and filled an immediate roll of a shooter. The Pilots had struggled during the 2012-2013 season finding space on the offensive end and despite the fact that Sharp only averaged 8.4 points per game, the threat he created opened up the floor a little more. While the Pilots struggled with consistency in the 2012-2013 season, they did have two of their biggest wins in the Reveno era, Gonzaga and BYU.

Sharp struggled a little more in his senior season and with additional shooting on the court, he saw his minutes and production drop. That said, Sharp was always a fun player to watch. He is the type of shooter that you just believe it’s going in every time, and despite his boyish look, the 6-2 guard was never afraid to be physical with anyone. His feisty-ness on the defensive end was refreshing. His hands and feet were always moving, and his effort was a big reason he saw the minutes he did.

We will miss seeing Bobby out there, and wish him the best of luck. This isn’t a time for sadness, rather it’s a time for us to remember: we’ll always have the BYU game!