It’s the first day of the March Madness tournament. Here’s a timeline of The All State‘s day thus far.
7:02 a.m. – The buses departed APSU with 112 people including the men’s basketball team, the coaches, the managers, the APSU Pep Band, cheerleaders, dance team, sports information team, Athletic Director Ryan Ivey, President White and her husband, The All State and more.
7:43 a.m. – The buses endured some stand still traffic and comments were made about missing the flight.
“The one thing I know about Charter flights is that they won’t leave without us,” Ivey said.
8:38 a.m. – The buses arrived at the airport in Nashville, Tennessee.
8:44 a.m. – The third bus encountered and stared at a man taking a cat nap while driving his car.
8:45 a.m. – He woke up and left, but he may have fallen asleep again for another 30 seconds.
8:46 a.m. – President White and Ivey discussed their options if APSU wins.
8:47 a.m. – President White and Ivey established the court will be rushed if APSU pulls off the biggest upset in NCAA March Madness history (along with every other APSU fan. Better to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, right?).
9:07 a.m. – Alaric Klinghard grabbed the microphone on the bus.
“This is your captain speaking,” Klinghard said. “It appears we have run over a Jayhawk on the way.” Getting into the March Madness spirit early, I like it.
10 a.m. – Everyone began boarding the plane that was supposed to leave at 10 a.m. Oops.
10:25 a.m. – Chris Horton tweeted, “I gotta take the senior exit exam soon.” Because you know, grades come first, even in March Madness.
12:07 p.m. – The plane landed in Des Moines, Iowa. All right, here we go.
12:35 p.m. – Everyone got off the plane, onto the bus and eventually checked into their hotel rooms.
It’s the first day and it may be early, but the energy is high. Despite a No. 16 seed never beating a No. 1 seed, and APSU having an 18-17 record while Kansas has a 30-4 record, nobody can convince anyone on the bus of 112 that Kansas is going to win.
“Any team can beat any team on any day,” White said.
That’s the spirit everyone else seems to have too. Several people on the bus talked about the potential upset and how they’re going to be flying their families out to Iowa on Friday after APSU pulls off the biggest upset in March Madness ever.
So here’s to the next two days of preparing for what might be the biggest upset in March Madness.