With Dreams Of Winning USF Dons, Saint Mary's Gaels, Stanford Cardinal Head Into March Madness
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- Let March Madness begin!
The Stanford University women's basketball team is once again a top seed in the NCAA basketball tournament, but the University of San Francisco and St. Mary's College in Moraga are the only Bay Area schools to make it into the men's tournament this year. And while neither is a big, state-supported school, they both have enough "madness" to believe that anything is possible.
At USF, none of the students were even alive when the school was a basketball powerhouse, winning national championships in 1949, 55 and 56. But that doesn't stop current student Atang Nkonae from dreaming big.
"This is not a 7-game series, it's a one-game elimination," he said. "Anything can happen. So, I believe that we are going to win this."
On Tuesday, as she watched the women's team practicing in the school's arena, Student Body President Marisol Castro admits that, in years past, she would be one of only 3 or 4 students in the bleachers at the men's game. Now, she says the place is packed.
"So, it's just really exciting to see during my last year there's a really big turnaround in our basketball team," she said. "So, this is exciting...I'm excited!"
At St Mary's, students were donning Gaels t-shirts to give the team a proper send-off as they boarded the bus to the airport for to their first game in Portland. Point guard Tommy Kuhse knows climbing the mountain is no easy task.
"It's a great challenge for us," he said. "We've been taking on challenges all year long. We've failed some, we've succeeded in some, and we're just excited to see what we can do here."
But it was their win over Gonzaga, the top-ranked team in the country, that makes everyone believe that anything can happen.
"It was the best team in the country, and we showed them what we're made of," said student Stefano Costa. "And I think you'll see a lot more of that in the tournament."
St. Mary's is a five seed and will take on either Wyoming or Indiana in the first round. USF is a ten seed and will take on Murray State. Both games will be played on Thursday. So, is it madness to think that a small school can win it all? It really doesn't matter to Atang Nkonae because just the thought of it is enough to make for crazy-good fun.
"No one is going to class," he said. "No one is going to do homework or anything. Everyone is going to be excited."