March Madness is here, and as we’ve seen, even this annual sporting pastime can have its share of Mysterious Ways (and I’m not just talking about the upsets).
The semifinals of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament begin tonight, and 16 teams are left in the battle to be named the national champion. One of those teams is the University of Kansas, which plays Friday against N.C. State. The KU women’s team is also in the semifinals, facing off against University of Tennessee this weekend.
I’m not a Jayhawks fan (I’m pulling for Ohio State to win it all), but one story in the news earlier this week made me think it might be good for Kansas to stick around in this tournament a little while longer …
KU’s women’s basketball team was scheduled to play Nebraska in the opening game at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Along for the ride was the KU spirit squad, a group of 28 student dancers, band members and cheerleaders who travel to KU games and root on their team.
At 5:15 p.m., the group headed out of their hotel to load the bus and head to the arena. Then they heard a scream. In a nearby parking lot, they saw a Cadillac with its hood propped open. Underneath, a man was trapped. The car had fallen on him when the jack slipped.
The spirit squad quickly ran over, gathered around the car and with the same unity they displayed while cheering at games, lifted the car. “1 … 2 … 3!”
They lifted the car just enough for the man to crawl out. He was injured but is expected to be OK, thanks to the students.
Soon after, the spirit squad hopped on their bus and cheered the KU women’s team to a 57-49 win.
KU’s women’s basketball team was the number 11 seed in the NCAA tournament this year (out of 15 teams in the division). If they’d been a number 10 seed, they would have been playing in Chicago. If they had fallen to number 12, they would have been in Chapel Hill, NC.
One man is certainly grateful they were number 11. It’s not too often a small army of athletic kids is nearby to lift up your car—and lift your spirits.
I may never understand the wacky mathematical formulas that go into deciding who gets seeded where in these tournaments … but times like this make me think maybe there’s another formula at work, one even the NCAA isn’t aware of.
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