Mustang Mania
SMU was a presence at Sunday night’s NCAA Women’s Basketball Dallas Regional, even if the Mustangs weren’t playing. The red Mustang accompanied by “SMU” in block letters was on the bottom left part of the court. SMU was also listed with Conference USA as hosts of the tournament on the scorer’s table. SMU banners and logos were also in various parts of the arena.
First time in a long time
The last time SMU had hosted an NCAA basketball tournament before this year was so long ago that no one with the tournament was able to find out a year. SMU hosted last year’s C-USA women’s basketball tournament at Moody Coliseum.
Band fashions
The bands at the Dallas Regional all had a look of their own. The Purdue band is apparently sponsored by Nike, as the entire band wore black headbands with the trademark swoosh facing forward along with a gold long-sleeved Nike shirt. The Georgia band sported red hockey jerseys with the ‘G’ on the center of the sweater. The GW band wore gold basketball jerseys with each band member’s graduation year as their number, while the Carolina band wore dark blue track warmups with sky blue t-shirts.
USA! USA!
The Georgia team entrance caught some people off guard. Their cheerleaders ran out with an American flag
followed by the Georgia basketball flag and then individual flags spelling out Georgia. Why the American flag? According to cheerleader Luke Dunn, a junior from Rome, Ga., it’s a tradition for all Georgia sporting events. “It’s the one thing that unites us all,” he said.
Best seat in the house
Athletic Director Steve Orsini has choice seats for the Dallas Regional. He is sitting at center court in the second row of the press seating behing the scorer’s table.
Maybe they were napping…
While Purdue’s mascot is the Boilermakers, they could have been mistaken for the Badgers, as the Purdue band and cheerleaders often had to prod their fans into making noise.
Tar Heel blue tears
The announcement of the score from the men’s game between North Carolina and Georgetown drew a muted response from the Reunion Arena crowd. That probably has a lot to do with the fact the North Carolina fans in attendance were trying to forget the overtime meltdown by their men’s team.
In the background
If you watched any part of Sunday’s two games on ESPN you probably saw Jordan Hofeditz and me. Our seats were behind Purdue’s bench for the first game and GW’s bench for the second.
Gary Glitter = death
Demerits to both the Georgia and Purdue bands for the overuse of “The Hey Song.” Contrary to popular belief, playing the song in different keys or arrangements doesn’t make it unique or better.
Tobacco Road invasion
North Carolina easily had the largest number of fans at either of the games Sunday. Not surprising, considering they were the biggest name in the bracket. Organizers were hoping a Texas team would make it to Dallas and bring their fans along. Texas A&M eliminated UT-Arlington in the first round and then lost in the second round to GW. The announced attendance for Sunday’s game was 3,875.
Not so mellow yellow
The small yet passionate group of GW fans had the most distinctive look of the evening. Some of them sported bright yellow colonial foam hats.
He’s here and he’s angry
The chattiest coach of the evening was GW’s Joe McKeown. And by chatty, I mean he would not leave the referees alone the entire game. McKeown constantly questioned calls and demanded answers out of the officiating crew.
No, not Laura Bush
GW’s dance team is called “The First Ladies.” I love it. I think it’s the best dance team name I’ve ever heard. They performed at halftime of the GW/UNC game.
Getting to know you…
Most surreal moment of the night? Seeing the North Carolina and GW mascots taking a break during halftime and talking with each other in the cheerleader area by the locker rooms. Both guys had their respective mascot heads off and seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.
