Tourney + Spring Break = Free Trips

With the end of this year's tourney (Congrats Kentucky by the way) it reminds me of my Tourney days.  And after drafting this post it's come to my attention that it all started TEN YEARS AGO.  Boy, do I feel old. 

Here's the gist of it all.  UNC-Charlotte doesn't have a football team (ah, I should now say they DIDN'T have a football team because as of next season they should be starting their first year!).  So anyway, since we didn't have football at the time Basketball was the main sport that ruled the school.  And since no football, no marching band.  So what comes with basketball was the Basketball Band! 

Love this collage!  The best part of being in the "Pep Band" of course is not only going to all the home games but also getting to travel to all the Conference Tournaments - for FREE, paid for by the school.  And even better is that it's all during Spring Break.  The women's team always started off with their tournament and then the men's would follow.  So basically, two trips during Spring Break for free.  Yep.  Awesome.  AND, even better, if we made it to the NCAA tourney we would get to go to that as well.  Except that's when they would limit the number of people.  Yeah, I got to go to some of those too!  Now those weren't during Spring Break obviously.  Those were extra bonus days that we would get to skip classes!

So, without further ado, below are the stats from my four years at UNC-Charlotte (GO NINERS!) which were also the last four years they were a part of Conference USA.  The locations in bold are the places/tourneys I actually travelled to.  And boy were those some fun times.  I won't go into any details because just like Vegas, what happens on a Spring Break trip should stay on a Spring Break trip.

2001-2002

Women:

Conference USA @ Chicago, IL - First Round versus Memphis 58-46; Second Round versus Houston 68-65

*No NCAA or WNIT appearance

Men:

Conference USA @ Cincinnati, OH - First Round BYE; Second Round versus Tulane 78-69; Third Round (Semifinal) versus Cincinnati 71-55

NCAA @ Greenville, SC - First Round versus Notre Dame 82-63

2002-2003

Women:

Conference USA @ Memphis, TN - First Round versus Marquette 67-65; Second Round versus TCU 78-65

NCAA @ Athens, GA - First Round versus Georgia 80-61

Men:

Conference USA @ Louisville, KY - First Round versus UAB 85-61

*No NCAA or NIT appearance

2003-2004

Women:

Conference USA @ Fort Worth, TX - First Round versus ECU 74-61; Second Round versus TCU 89-73

WNIT - First Round versus Clemson (@Clemson) 78-71; Second Round versus Western Michigan (@ Kalamazoo, MI) 85-83OT

Men:

Conference USA @ Cincinnati, OH - First Round versus Tulane 78-48; Second Round versus UAB 77-66

NCAA @ Buffalo, NY - First Round versus Texas Tech 76-73

2004-2005

Women:

Conference USA @ Charlotte, NC - First Round versus Cincinnati 63-46; Second Round versus Houston 76-73

WNIT - First Round versus Wake Forest (@ Winston Salem) 100-75

 

Men:

Conference USA @ Memphis, TN*** - First Round BYE; Second Round versus Memphis 83-69

NCAA @ Worcester, MA - First Round versus NC State 75-63

***Note: I opted not to go to Memphis my final year since I'd gone before and my Fiancé had taken a job in Wisconsin.  So I opted to travel to Wisconsin instead!  :)

 

Now, for a few pictures from those trips.  Enjoy!

 

Athens, Ga

Louisville

Louisville

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas

Front of shirt: "Special Ed Loves Trish & Kristi..."

Back of shirt: "...Nightly"

Memphis

Note: I did a poor job of record-keeping with these photos and I can't tell you which trips some of them were from.