Go Pack!

I am a great fan of my alma mater's athletic programs. A season ticket holder to the last several year's worth of football games has been average, but hardly exemplary. But as great a football fan as I am, I believe that Reno will soon become a basketball town all year long.

For as long as I can remember, basketball has been but a stepchild to the much talked-about football team. The most exciting times of the athletic schedule were once the sole property of the football department, but that time is no more. For only the second time in school history, the Pack has gone to the NCAA basketball tournament for the second year in a row. Twice we went in the mid-eighties as the Big Sky Automatic Bid. Then last year, we went and won - not just once, but twice. The town was elated, but slowly returned to normal.

Expectations were low this year - a new head coach, and an almost completely new starting lineup. Gone were the frightening guards Okeson and Snyder. Gone was the presence of Sean Paul and Garry Hill-Thomas. And, the final blow - gone was the coach who had built the program. Picked to finish in the middle of the conference, there was optimisim, but perhaps little more.

Then we lost - on our home court. That had never happened in the whole previous season. The mystique may have shattered then, but it did not.The team played reasonably well, competing in every game it played, winning most. By the end of the season, the Pack had managed to close out a 9-0 conference record on the road. We had broken into the AP poll, ranked #25, #25, and #24 in consecutive weeks. Expectations were once again high as the conference tournament approached - our team as the #1 seed, the tournament on our home court - life was indeed good.

Crushing, heart-wrenching disappointment. The Pack, playing a lackluster game against #8 seed Boise State had but a two point lead with 3.3 seconds left in the game. Their player drove to the hoop and drew a foul. First shot... good. Nail-biting had worn our fingers raw. Second shot... bounced off the rim... it's in the air... it's grabbed by a boise player 5 feet from the rim... he shoots... he scores! NO! The shout echoed between the mountains in the valley. The home team... the number one seed... the automatic bid. All gone.

The pundits had said that Nevada had wrapped up an automatic berth, but all was now uncertain. A couple days later, our fate was announced: #9 seed in the Chicago bracket. Huzzah! Our first ever at-large berth to the tournament. Our highest seed ever.

The game was tense, and both teams gave it everything they could. Neither team ever led by more than 6, that only once, and even 5 points was a rarity. Nevada had a 5 point lead with 7 minutes to play, by 2:30 left Texas had taken a 4 point lead. Nevada narrowed it to 1 with 1:24 to play, and took the lead with under 50 seconds to play.

Had the game been a minute longer, the outcome may not have been what it was. Now, perhaps the best team Nevada has ever played. A team that has lost but once all season long. A team picked as the top overall seed in the tournament.

Back-to-back tournament bids with back-to-back first round wins. A shot at upsetting the best team in the tournament.

Football is dead. Long live the denizens of Lawlor Events Center!