The men's basketball team lost its semifinal matchup to Ohio, 77-74. But the atmosphere of the city made the trip to Cleveland well worth it.
I left at about 1:30 p.m. on the day of the 9:30 p.m. game. The three hour drive with two fellow members of The Spectrum felt pleasantly short compared to the lonely seven hour drives from Buffalo to Long Island I make four times a year.
We arrived in Cleveland and dropped off my stuff with the editors I would be staying with and went to the arena. My two travel-mates and I did the tourist thing and walked around to look for a local joint to eat dinner, settling on a place with a bowling alley in it.
Probably my favorite part of the trip was the fact that every bar near the arena was host to a different team's fan base. The Buffalo Alumni Association appropriately chose "The Harry Buffalo" as Buffalo's private party venue. The bar was covered in Bulls' blue with free food and Alumni Association swag for all of the Bulls' faithful.
After dinner, we grabbed our tickets and went into the arena. We watched a majority of the other semifinal game between Akron and Kent State. Both teams are within an hour of Cleveland and sold out its student ticket allotment, filling up most of the arena's seats.
The Buffalo/Ohio game didn't have quite as many people but those there were just as supportive. I didn't cover the game so I put on fan face, which was composed of a Blue and White "UB" on my face.
One of travel-mates and I snuck down to the lower bowl and ended up sitting in the adjacent section to where the students had gathered. It was the Alumni Association's section and they were just as emotional as the students.
Ohio guard D.J. Cooper lit up the Bulls from beyond the arc in the first half. It looked like he took three steps over the half court line and put up shots that always seemed to fall. The man next to me had to leave in disgust after Cooper's fourth three of the half.
The Bulls trailed by 11 at intermission and as much as 15 in the second half. Things looked bleaker than a winter in Buffalo.
Others from this paper - and many of the Buffalo fans from that night - will tell you how horrific the officiating was in this game and that it was screw job in favor of the home team. But, it was consistent. Consistently bad, but consistent.
I heard a hand-on-arm slap during a Zach Filzen three-point attempt from the other side of the arena but nothing was called. But the Bulls got away with a sure And-1 for Ohio.
In the first game between Kent State and Akron, the refs - who were most likely a different crew - were letting the crowd call the game. Both sides were calling for travels within a minute. After both sides howled, the refs called a questionable, at best, travel.
But through of all that, the Bulls battled back to a one-possession game. They missed three game-tying shots in the last 15 seconds, culminating in a Jarod Oldham almost half-court, buzzer-beating heave that bounced off the back rim and the Bulls out of the tournament.
The sunken shoulders and blank stares said it all for the Bulls. The same reaction of disappointment and disbelief filled the Bulls' cheering section. After a silent dozen seconds, the crowd gave one last standing ovation to its team before stomping out of the arena. The members of the crowd left the arena with the mixed emotions of anger about the outcome and overall satisfaction with the run the team had this year.
The night out after the game with the fellow editors started with melancholic analyses of the game but was perked up with a few beers and impromptu trip to White Castle.
The storybook ending would have been the "I believe that we have won" chant by the Buffalo fans to signify a trip to the big dance. But watching four mid-major schools takeover part of an NBA city in search of a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA tournament is something I won't forget.
Email: bryan.feiler@ubspectrum.com
