Fans show up to welcome the UC Davis men's basketball team, the Division II National Champions, after the Aggies' title-winning trip to Kentucky. Photo by Wayne Tilcock / Aggie

The Aggies had taken a piece of Davis with them on their quest for gold, and when the game ended and UCD was proclaimed national champions, the vastly outnumbered Davis fans deafened a humbled Kentucky crowd.

"After (Kentucky Wesleyan College) fouled (UCD point guard) Dante (Ross), it hit me, I was pretty much in tears," said Travis Burns, student conductor of the Cal Aggie Band-Uh! "We've been waiting for a national championship and this was one of the best times of my life.

"We were sitting around hugging," he added. "It was pandemonium. The game was just unbelievable."

Back at The Graduate, UCD students packed the establishment for perhaps the first time on a Saturday morning at 9.

Senior Tai Le recalls feeling exuberant, as unintoxicated fans danced in the streets.

"We were dancing like it was 1999," Le said. "It was perhaps the single most greatest moment in my life here in this boring-ass town."

Other fans, like senior Melissa Ashby, were excited by the school being in the national spotlight.

"When Greg Gumbel said 'UC Davis,' I freaked out," Ashby said. "I was screaming and running around because I was so excited."

The celebration lasted until the team's return, with hundreds of appreciative fans crowding the bus stop in front of the Memorial Union to take in the plaque.

Most prevalent in the rowdy crowd were other UCD athletes, who feel the victory solidified the athletic reputation of the school on a national scope.

UCD quarterback Kevin Daft, who led the football team to a third-place finish this season, came out to see national champs.

"This is huge for the athletic program," Daft said. "Being a nonscholarship school, with all the time the athletes and coaches put into it, it's nice to finally get some respect."

Runner Mitch Townsend, the middle-distance ace for the UCD track team, echoed Daft's sentiments.

"The win establishes UCD as a powerhouse, not only for football and track, but hoops," he said.

When the bus finally arrived and Ross held up the plaque for the 1,000 fans that had gathered, they exploded.

Senior Erika Boone, co-captain of the women's track and field team, noted that the win exemplified all that the school stands for.

"A nonscholarship team winning the national championship says everything about the UCD program in that we're about hard work, determination and desire, and not about money," she said.

Senior wing Justis Durkee proposed that the win was not only because of hard work or a heart-burning desire, but because of superstition and overwhelming support from the student body.