Steve Wright remembers the thrill of stepping on the basketball court for the first time in a Francis Scott Key uniform when he was nothing more than a wide-eyed freshman.
He recalls three long years of seemingly endless struggles to gain some respect for the Key basketball program, especially in the Monocacy Valley Athletic League.
The 6-foot-2 senior center also can't forget the pain he and his teammates have felt while enduring several lopsided losses in the MVAL over the past three seasons.
All he could do was hope for better days sometime before his career was over.
Those days seemed to be on the horizon last November when the Eagles reported for the first day of practice.
Topher Casserly was back with all his skills, Mike Crawmer was returning with a reputation as a big scorer, and Wright was back for a fourth season as a starter.
Take those three standouts and add an up-and-coming Chris Richardson and a much-improved Cortney Woodyard to the mix, and it was easy to see why people were calling the Eagles the best team in Carroll County.
The aura around the Key team grew even more positive when it handed North Carroll a 44-point beating on Dec. 9 for a 2-0 start.
When the Eagles improved that start to 4-0, Wright and everybody else around the team believed their time finally had arrived.
But suddenly Key went into a five-game losing streak from which it has yet to recover, falling to 7-8 overall and 5-6 in the league entering the final seven games of the season.
"We play hard in practice and then in the games we just show up and aren't into it," said Wright of the 3-8 Key skid.
"We're just there for someone to play. We have the talent but we're not using it. We don't come out expecting to win. I think we give the other teams too much credit. This was the year I thought we'd build some basketball tradition here and give the younger kids something to look up to."
Key coach Jeff Cook is as baffled as anyone by the slump.
"Maybe we don't have as much potential as people say we do," said Cook. "Or maybe the 44-point win over North Carroll was the worst thing that happened to us. There was no way we are that much better than they are."
It's not too late for Wright and his teammates to reverse the recent trend and make a strong run for a state 1A championship.
Cook says Wright, who is averaging 14.8 points and 7.5 rebounds, is a major key to the team's hopes down the stretch.
"When Steve's on, we seem to always do well," said Cook. "When he's off, the team suffers. We need him to be effective down low for us. He has to think pass first and shot second when he's being triple-teamed."
Wright said he is trying to concentrate on "kicking the ball back outside to Toph [Casserly] and Mike [Crawmer]" when he gets in trouble on the low post.
Wright also said he is working hard to improve his defense and trying to impress upon the whole team how important defense is.
Cook likes to hear that kind of talk, but he is getting impatient waiting to see the results.
"Steve is a natural offensive player and he can be a good defensive player," said Cook. "But when things don't go well on offense, he tends to slack up on defense. I keep telling all the players we could be more successful if they played strong defense the entire game. Defense is always going to be there for you if you work at it. Everybody knows offense comes and goes for most players."
For Wright, there is one phase of his game, outstanding leaping ability, that will always be around no matter what.
He won the state class 1A high jump gold medal last spring with a leap of 6 feet 6 inches.
"Jumping and instincts are the main reasons I've become a good rebounder," said Wright. "I seem to know where people are going to be when that ball comes off the backboards."
Wright was such an accomplished jumper as a freshman that he received overtures from Mount St. Mary's about possibly competing in the decathlon for the Emmitsburg school.
Even though Wright said he would love to compete in the Olympics, he never took the decathlon talk too seriously and has enlisted in the Navy.
He will report to Great Lakes, Ill., July 25 and begin working toward becoming a pilot.
"I hope to play basketball and compete in track somewhere in the Navy," said Wright.