Saint Louis knew it had clinched a spot in the NCAA tournament after winning the Atlantic 10 tournament on Sunday, but that didn’t make the Selection Show any less exciting. Finding out who your opponent is in The Dance and seeing your school’s name on ESPN is one of the most exciting moments of a collegiate athlete’s career, so the Billikens had to go to great lengths to make sure they were able to witness it.
The Atlantic 10 tournament was in Brooklyn, and Saint Louis had to take a bus to its charter flight at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey after winning it. As they sat in traffic with the clock getting dangerously close to 6:00 p.m., the team decided it would be best to pull into a Best Buy in Secaucus, N.J. to catch the action.
“The plan was to watch the Selection Show in the terminal,” Saint Louis sports information director Brian Kunderman told ESPN.com, noting that the traffic quickly became a concern. “So someone saw a Best Buy and we pulled in. It was awesome. And thank God we stopped because we were announced pretty quickly.’’
The team’s official Twitter account shared a photo of the Billikens soaking up the big moment in the store.
Selection Show watch party at Best Buy in New Jersey! twitter.com/SaintLouisMBB/…
— SLU Men’s Basketball (@SaintLouisMBB) March 17, 2013
“I brought them in the Magnolia room and the next thing I know there 30 guys there,” store manager Jen Hart said. “A couple of minutes later, they all started screaming. They thanked us 100 times, helped move the chairs back and got on the bus. Customers were asking what was going on. It was really cool. They were really nice guys.”
Moments like the one Saint Louis enjoyed and crazy finishes like these are the reasons we love March Madness.
