TAMPA, Fla. – The Western’s men’s basketball team sat patiently in the locker room Thursday morning waiting for their time to step on to the floor in preparation for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003.
The No. 12 seeded Western kept it simple in their 40-minute public shoot-around at the St. Pete Times Forum Thursday afternoon before the match on Friday against fifth-seeded Drake.
A spattering of Western fans made their presence known, cheering for the Toppers as they made their way onto the floor.
The events in Tampa this weekend are what coach Darrin Horn and the Toppers have been talking about since they first took the floor in October.
Horn joked before leaving Bowling Green that the Toppers would use their time on the floor to do some loose ball drills and run lines.
Western did neither. It was a fast-paced workout that involved plenty of shooting.
“I think we are really prepared and we can’t wait,” junior Orlando Mendez-Valdez said.
Magley back home
Freshman forward D.J. Magley said he was shell-shocked when he found out Sunday that the Toppers first-round game in the NCAA Tournament would be played in Tampa.
Magley is a Bradenton, Fla. native and grew up about thirty miles from Tampa.
“For us it’s just another game,” Magley said. But for me it’s a little bit more because it’s kind of in my backyard.”
Magley was drawing plenty of attention from the media Thursday morning and was the subject of numerous interviews.
C’mon kids, we’re going to Tampa
Tom Hardcastle, a 1986 graduate of Western, who now lives in Bowling Green decided with his wife to make the trip with their three boys to Tampa to watch the Toppers.
The family draped red towels over the railing in the front row of the arena while they watched Western in their shoot-around.
Hardcastle said in addition to watching the game on Friday, the family planned on making a trip to nearby Busch Gardens and a stop at the beach.
More degrees than threes
Drake senior Adam Emmenecker has a 3.97 grade point average with majors in management, business, finance, and entrepreneurial management with a concentration in insurance and economics. His degrees double the two three-pointers Emmenecker has attempted this season. He missed both attempts.
That’s entertainment
Two players, guard Desire Gabou and forward Japeth Aguilar played very few minutes throughout the season, but when Horn cut the players loose in the last five minutes of Western’s shootaround, the duo provided plenty of entertainment.
Gabou and Aguilar took turns showing off their dunking abilities for the small crowd that gathered in the Forum.
Reach Andrew Robinson at sports@chherald.com.
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