Virgen: Anteaters happy to take on Louisville

Together they sat and watched a projection screen, with anticipation. The UC Irvine Anteaters began to get excited when they saw Louisville (24-8) flash up as the No. 4 seed in the East Region during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Selection Show on CBS.

Together they erupted as they saw they’re the No. 13 seed playing on Friday in Seattle, Wash.

“Someone said that we would get a 13th seed,” UCI senior Will Davis said. “When we saw Louisville we started to think we would probably get Louisville. When we saw Louisville everybody already had the butterflies in their stomach. Then we finally saw our name pop up, it was just a great feeling to see our name in the bracket. We were just excited. It was a great experience. It was cool to see our own reactions on TV.”

Before the excitement came, the team ate lunch together. Then when they were sitting together, they sat close to each other. The big fella, 7-foot-6 Mamadou Ndiaye, had his arm draped over 5-10 Jaron Martin, his roommate, as they sat on the ground together.

They were excited to be the team that ended UCI’s NCAA Tournament drought, as this is the first year the Anteaters (21-12) have made the dance.

“A lot of us have been waiting a long time for this day,” said Bob Olson, the UCI sports information director who is in his 33rd year with the Anteaters. “We’re just ecstatic that it finally happened. It couldn’t have been done by a nicer group of guys. You always get your hopes up every year going into that Big West tournament. Now it’s just a tremendous feeling. We finally got in.”

Olson said he has been bombarded with interview requests since UCI defeated Hawaii to win the Big West Conference Tournament Saturday night and earn the NCAA Tournament berth.

Davis said the season had ups and downs with injuries causing challenges for the team. Each of the players wore a piece of the net from Saturday night’s game on their hat, while they watched the selection show at UCI’s Newkirk Alumni Center.

The UCI cheerleaders and Peter the Anteater joined the event to make it festive. The UCI players cheered and laughed together during the show.

They didn’t seem too concerned, yet, about taking on Louisville, a program with far more NCAA tradition and experience than UCI.

“I’m excited for this experience,” Davis said. “It’s a great team with great history and obviously Rick Pitino is a great coach. It’s a great feeling to know that we’ll play in this game.”

UCI fell behind early to Hawaii during Saturday night’s Big West tournament title game at Honda Center, but Davis kept telling the Anteaters they would win. Several players said they never had a doubt about winning on Saturday night.

Then several fans stormed the court to celebrate with the team. Davis said they were on the court for more than an hour just celebrating. Among those to congratulate the team was Jerry Green, a former UCI standout, Stacey King, also with UCI sports information, said.

“It’s crazy,” UCI junior Aaron Wright said. “Two years ago we were in the [Big West tournament] championship and we lost and last year we were in the semifinals and lost. This year we finally won it. This is what I’ve been waiting for since I signed here. I still can’t even explain how I feel about it. It’s still crazy to me. It’s everything I’ve wished for.”

Scott Brooks, also a former UCI star, expressed pride to the media after the big win. UCI gained attention in athletics with its strong men’s volleyball and baseball programs. Recently the university received negative publicity about a few students who wanted to ban the American flag and all other flags from a small area on campus.

There was also national attention when President Barack Obama delivered the commencement speech last year at Angel Stadium.

Now the Anteaters are becoming known for basketball for the first time.

“National exposure has just started to build,” Olson said. “And, it’ll get bigger and bigger as the week goes on.”