Laura and I love March Madness for all it’s underdogs, clutch plays, and dramatic finishes. However, we are rarely connected to the teams in the tournament because our alma mater, Clemson, does not have a strong basketball program. However, I am officially a Wahoo now, which means we have some skin the game. The UVA Cavaliers battled amongst the top 5 throughout the regular season, losing only twice to Duke, and landed a 1st seed in the NCAA tournament. This year the drama started early as the world watched to see if the Cavs would find redemption after a mortifying loss as a 1 seed to a 16 seed in the opening round of last year’s tournament. As you could guess they overcame that hurdle and continued through the entire tournament to the championship game where they would meet Texas Tech in a power defense battle.

A variety of viewing parties were prepared all across Charlottesville to watch UVA’s first ever trip to the championship game. The biggest of which was a viewing party on the Cavaliers home court, John Paul Jones Arena. Laura’s friend Adam made the drive down from DC with a couple of his friends to join the festivities, so we met at the stadium about an hour and a half before the game started. There were no tickets, just free general admission, so finding a seat was a free-for-all. We found a row of seats just off an entrance in the middle deck, and waited for the show to begin. A half hour before game time the stadium was packed and the atmosphere was electric.

The game was shown on the stadium Jumbotron, which had been lowered to a comfortable eye level. The crowd roared at each mention of UVA during the pre-game broadcast and booed when the analysts gave Texas Tech a shred of a chance. Then the game started. The first five minutes of game clock passed with only 5 points scored between the two teams, and the tension was intense. Soon however the game opened up, and the offense got rolling. For much of the game UVA felt fairly dominant, but twice Texas Tech reeled in a 10 point deficit to take small leads. UVA’s fate was not looking good near the end of regulation time, but a clutch 3-point basket from De’Andre Hunter with mere seconds remaining sent the game into overtime and the crowd into hysterics.

Overtime was as exciting as the game, but this time UVA broke out to a lead and kept it. When the final seconds ticked off the clock with the Cavaliers in a decisive lead the stadium erupted and students rushed the previously empty stadium floor. Everyone was yelling, cheering, chanting, hugging, and smiling. Clemson got it’s big sports moment just a year after I graduated, so I missed the community celebration. This time I was at the epicenter. Even though I haven’t been a Wahoo for very long, I felt like a member of the family and was so excited to see my new school celebrating such a big win. In the past year, I’ve celebrated winning a NASCAR championship, Clemson winning a 2nd football championship in 3 years, and now UVA winning its first basketball national championship. I could get used to this.