Sunday, March 8, 1998
Screaming and yelling and jumping and, yes, dotting, the Aggie Pack brought March Madness to Hamilton Court in a big, big way.
UC Davis' student cheering section demonstrated over the course of the NCAA Division II West Regional this weekend what college athletics is all about.
Yes, it's about the basketball. And winning games like UCD did Saturday to reach the Elite Eight for the first time in school history makes it even better.
But a Sweet 16 victory tastes even more sugary when a dedicated set of fans are there to share it. First and foremost, the college experience is all about getting rowdy.
Rowdy? That's something the Aggie Pack specializes in. Check.
Or is that Chuck?
Seattle Pacific center Chuck Carter, who had outstanding games the first two nights of the tournament, was the beneficiary of the Pack's wrath for much of the night.
``CHUCK-IE!, CHUCK-IE!, CHUCK-IE!'' they screamed.
Chuckie responded with a meek eight points and six rebounds. He couldn't get in any kind of rhythm from the free-throw line, dot zone creating a nauseous sea of orange and black behind the fiberglass backboard.
His teammate, Jeff McBroom, was affected a little less than Carter. But he acknowledged how much of an impact the crowd had on the game.
``When there's 3,000 people out there screaming at you, it has an effect,'' McBroom said.
Does it ever.
But even in losing, opposing teams realize that this is the pinnacle -- to come into another school's arena and get hounded for a full 40 minutes.
``They have a dedicated set of fans, I'll tell you that,'' said Cal State Los Angeles forward David Rickenbacker, an All-West Region tournament selection whose team lost to UCD on Friday. ``It brings the element of a big game. We watch ESPN every night when we're on the road, and that's the type of big-game stage you want to play on.''
The only game that comes close to the atmosphere Friday and Saturday was Break the Record Night against Chico State. Having 4,000 more people there that night may have had something to do with that.
The crowds this weekend may have been twice as small, but they were more than twice as loud. And rowdy.
``They've been like this all year,'' Aggie guard J.C. Timmons said. ``It's hard not to come out and play pumped up when you have a crowd like that. If you can't, you must not have a pulse.''
The man who has the slowest pulse of all, Aggie center Justis Durkee, verbalized his feelings about the crowd the best. Durkee, who has more ice coarsing through his veins than Batman's Mr. Freeze, walked off the court to a standing ovation Saturday, yet his lips barely parted wide enough for a smile.
He may have even caught a quick nap on the bench for the final minute or so.
``It was a great experience to play here with this type of crowd and this type of atmosphere with the Aggie Pack going,'' Durkee said. ``We had to walk through the fire, but the Aggie Pack and all our supporters handed us that asbestos suit.''
Some of us are old enough to remember what it was like B.A.P. (Before Aggie Pack). Bouncing basketballs echoed throughout the empty and spacious Rec Hall rafters.
With the excitement these last few years have created, with the success of both the men's and women's programs, those days are unlikely to ever return.
Don't forget what this was like, UCD, because this is truly as good as it gets.
-- Marc Erwin is sports editor of The Enterprise. Phone: 756-0800, ext. 249. Fax: 756-1668. Mail: 315 G Street, Davis, CA 95616. e-mail: marcjerwin@aol.com
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