People Now Have Heard of Where I Went to College: My Bearcats Are Dancing

"Even SUNY Programs Need 2 Dance" (Photo: Pressconnects.com)

Now the rest of the country knows my little school. Binghamton University won the America East Men’s Basketball Championship yesterday, securing their first NCAA Tournament bid. Over 5,000 fans packed into the Events Center to watch the game, and the ESPN2 announcers couldn’t heap more praise onto my trusty little alma mater that could.

“I’ve covered a lot of games,” said one of the announcers. “But this has to be one of the most electric atmospheres I have ever seen for a game.”

The photos from the Press and Sun-Bulletin support the announcer’s statement. You had President DeFleur in the stands in one of the special give-away shirts, then cutting down the net at the end of the game. You had the students with signs aplenty, then storming the court after the win. Students had pictures of Tony Kornheiser in his Binghamton jersey from Friday’s Pardon the Interruption. Watching it on ESPN2, the crowd came across as so loud and buoyant that you couldn’t help but want to join them.

This game meant a lot to this school, and you couldn’t really deny them this, a conference tournament win, a place in the NCAA tournament, on their home court – a court built specifically for such a day, no less. Unlike many other America East schools, who have football or hockey, all Binghamton has is their basketball.  A few years ago, basketball was obviously made a priority by Athletics and the rest of the school, and Saturday was the result.

I get shivers at a lot of fan bases – mostly whenever Boston University wins the Beanpot – but watching yesterday’s game on ESPN2 made me shake. I believed that someday Binghamton would be a contender for a NCAA berth, but I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. This school has been waiting for this for years, and now, Bearcats have something to aspire to and believe in. They could very well get crushed by Duke on Thursday, but this year was just the beginning.  This is a program to be reckoned with for the foreseeable future.

Fun fact: If Binghamton somehow made it to the Sweet Sixteen, they’d play at the TDBanknorth Garden here in Boston. Just saying…