How Khamil Pierre's shoes serve as reminder of motivation entering March Madness for Vanderbilt
DURHAM, N.C. — Jada Brown woke up the morning of March 4, and the first thing she heard from her roommate, Khamil Pierre, was a piece of surprising news.
"'You'll never believe it,'" Brown remembers Pierre saying. "'I didn't get anything.'"
Pierre was referring to the All-SEC team, where she was not one of 17 players named to the first or second team despite finishing the regular season fourth in the conference in scoring, second in rebounding and second in steals.
The snub came as a shock and dismay to the Vanderbilt women's basketball team and its players. Coach Shea Ralph had touted Pierre as a breakout player from the beginning of the season. Now, Pierre and teammate Mikayla Blakes are leading the No. 7 seed Commodores (22-10) into March Madness, where they will face No. 10 seed Oregon (19-11) in the first round Friday (4:30 p.m. CT, ESPNews).
Pierre has always been motivated by her doubters, and the All-SEC snub was no different. Bored in their dorm room one day, she and Brown came up with an idea to use her shoes as a reminder of the people who have doubted her. She took a pair of sneakers and wrote on the back, "No team SEC," then wore them on the court during the SEC tournament.
After Vanderbilt got home, Pierre posted the photo of her shoes in her locker on Instagram with the caption, "the disrespect was enough closure."
"It's just a simple reminder," Pierre told The Tennessean on Thursday. " ... Just to remember, like, I wasn't picked. I feel like I put a lot of work in this season, so to not get recognized, it kind of sucked, but I know I'm doing my part to help the team to win, so at the end of the day, there's really no pressure, and that's all that matters."
Pierre said she wouldn't be wearing those shoes during the NCAA tournament, but the snub still motivates her.
When Ralph saw that Pierre was left off the All-SEC teams, she too felt strongly that Pierre was snubbed − enough to release a statement later that night. But while Ralph supported her player, she also emphasized to the team that this squad's goals are things you can't vote on. The Commodores are eyeing a run beyond the first weekend of the tournament after losing in the first round a year ago.
Ralph had a sneaking suspicion that Pierre's snub would help motivate her to be even better during the SEC tournament. That ended up being the case as she put up 16 points and 15 rebounds in a first-round win over Tennessee, a win that likely bumped Vanderbilt from an 8-seed projected to head to Los Angeles, to a 7-seed. She put up another double-double in a quarterfinal loss to South Carolina with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
"I think it really did surprise her," Ralph told The Tennessean. "And anytime you can utilize stuff like that to give a player an extra edge is great as a coach, and I think it's really served her well. I hate that it happened, but I think it's made her better.
" ... Ten, 15 years ago I would have been like, don't do that (write on her shoes). But every kid, they need to do what they need to do to motivate themselves. And that was something that I think was important to Khamil, knowing that people are recognizing her improvement. So what I think it's teaching her is that even when you don't get the recognition, the work that you do in the dark will always come to light."
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Khamil Pierre's motivation entering March Madness for Vanderbilt
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