ORLANDO, FLA. –  What a great experience it was traveling with the ORU basketball team to the NCAA Tournament last week, even if the trip was cut short by a first round loss.

It was the first time in many years that I attended the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as a part of team and not just as a media member. As a member of the Pep Band, we were part of a group of about 80 people traveling together. The group was made up of basketball players, coaches, athletic department staff, the cheer squad and the band.

The NCAA charters a plane for each school represented in the tournament to travel to their respective tournament site. For the ORU contingent, we were picked up at Tulsa International Airport by a 737 operated by Hillwood Airways.

Now that I’ve flown on a charter jet to Orlando and back, I’m spoiled. We didn’t have to worry about waiting in line at a ticketing counter to check our bags, there was no long security line, no waiting at baggage claim for 20 minutes in hopes of seeing your suitcase come off that conveyor belt, and no waiting around outside wondering where our charter bus was.

Some may think that since we were going as a group of people, from the same institution, with the same purpose, there wouldn’t be any need for security screening, but that wasn’t the case. However, it was certainly a scaled down version of the what you would be subjected to in the airport. Our carryon bags were examined while a security guard used a wand to survey our bodies for anything metallic. That was it.

I joked that my TSA PreCheck status didn’t mean much at this point of the security screening.

We traveled to Florida on Tuesday even though the Golden Eagles didn’t play until Thursday evening. We were housed in a really nice hotel in Maitland, just 10 minutes west of downtown Orlando.

Wednesday was a day for the team to practice at a local high school gym, have a shoot around at the Amway Center, and do media interviews. For the rest of us, it was a day off to explore shopping and dining locations.

On Thursday, dear longtime friends of mine, came from Leesburg, to pick me up and take me to lunch. Then it was game time.

Prior to leaving the hotel to head to the Amway Center, there was a reception with ORU alumni and supporters in the atrium, then we all formed a human tunnel and the Pep Band played the ORU fight song as the players walked down the hallway headed to the bus. Our bus left the hotel and headed to the Amway Center at about 5:15 for the 7:10 tipoff. The transfer of band and cheer equipment from the bus into the arena went rather smoothly.

The band was positioned at one end of the court on the floor level. The game itself was disappointing, to say the least. Duke jumped out to a 15-0 lead early and ORU never could catch up. We did our best as a band and the ORU cheerleaders, to pump out the ORU team and faithful who were in the stands, but to no avail. There would be no higher-seed upset this time around. Duke won the game, 74-51.

We all flew back to Tulsa on Friday. The adventure was over, but won’t be soon forgotten. Hopefully, this will become an annual event, for the team, the cheerleaders, the Pep Band and the fans.

TULSA BEACON WEEKEND

My guests this week on the “Tulsa Beacon Weekend” radio show will include Karen Knotts, the daughter of Don Knotts, who will be in Oklahoma this weekend, and David Puckovsky, organizer of a group of European Colorado Avalanche fans. The show airs on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. CST on 970am KCFO.