A large bus rumbles along the highway between Birmingham and Asheville, North Carolina. The atmosphere inside the bus is one of excitement and nervousness. The students who fill the seats try to keep themselves occupied for the six-hour drive, all of them eagerly awaiting the game that lies ahead of them and ready to cheer their team to victory.
On Monday, March 11, Samford University’s men’s basketball team made history with their win in the Southern Conference (SoCon) Tournament over ETSU. However, the players were not the only Samford students at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville that night. Along with the pep band and student workers for the athletics department, a group of about 30 Samford students showed up to the game to support their team.
These students arrived via a “fan bus” that left Samford at 10 a.m. the morning of the game. Each student on the bus paid $50 for transportation and a ticket to the game. According to an email sent to the student body by the Student Government Association on night before the game, the fan bus had 100 open seats for students. However, according to students on the bus, only about30 students ended up riding the bus to the game.
J.D. Roland, a freshman at Samford, chose to ride the fan bus to the game. He said that even though a small number of students signed up, they still provided a much-needed student section for the basketball team.
“Every individual fan that went on the bus, added to the excitement level,” Roland said.
Senior Sam Kuykendall rode the fan bus with Roland and the others to the game. He agreed that the excitement, even on the bus before the game, was on a different level.
“Everyone was excited on the way there and talked amongst each other,” Kuykendall said.
With Samford being six hours from Asheville, it was impossible for many students to drop everything to spend their entire day on the bus and at the basketball game. Kuykendall shared that he had to ask for flexibility from his professors to miss class on Monday. Not only that, but the bus arrived back at Samford around 3:30 a.m. the next morning, so students lost sleep as well. Because ETSU is located much closer to Asheville, however, they had more student fans in the audience.
“With the opposing school being closer, they were able to have more fans, but that did not stop our energy for the entire game,” Roland said. “The alumni and the faculty that were at the game fed off our energy, making the atmosphere electric.”
Kuykendall agreed that the students who came put all their energy into cheering on the team, as they were thrilled to have the opportunity to watch their team play in the championship game.
“The students who did choose to come did so because they were bigger fans than most students would be,” Kuykendall said. “It was an intentional thing to join the bus, so the students that went made sure to be as rowdy and energized as possible during the game.”
Although students missed classes and other responsibilities to attend the game, the win made it all worth it. Kuykendall said that the 12-hour round trip journey on the fan bus would have been worth it whether the team had won or lost.
“I think it would have been disappointing to lose, but I would not have regretted it,” Kuykendall said. “To get to see the team play in the championship game was not something I was going to miss, especially as a senior.”
Despite the long drive and lack of sleep, the students who attended the basketball game via the fan bus got to witness a historical moment for Samford men’s basketball and are now preparing to cheer on the team in March Madness.
Staff Writer
