Brian De Los Santos was the Editor in Chief of the Mustang Daily last school year. He is currently in graduate school at Northwestern University in Chicago.

When Cal Poly made the NCAA Tournament, he got on a bus to Ohio and was in Dayton in time for the Mustangs’ First Four matchup against Dayton. Using his (and current Mustang News JJ Jenkins’) personal “YOLO” clause, De Los Santos was also in attendance at Cal Poly’s loss to Wichita State on Friday night, after which he wrote this for Mustang News.

I asked him to write something to describe his feelings as a recent Cal Poly alumnus who traveled to see Cal Poly’s historic run. What follows is his submission. I enjoyed it. I hope you do, too.

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“Where the hell is Dayton, anyway?”

That’s what I asked myself when I found that Cal Poly’s basketball team — one I had covered for five years — was making history by heading to a small town in southwest Ohio for the team’s first-ever NCAA Tournament berth.

Chris Eversley and the Mustangs showed Dayton fans at UD arena what they were capable of and, in the process, made Brian and other Cal Poly fans even more proud of the Green and Gold. By Owen Main

A week prior, while in my winter quarter of graduate school at Northwestern University, a friend had asked me if I wanted to head home with him to Cleveland for Spring Break since I had no way of getting back to sunny California. It wasn’t the Bahamas, but I thought it sounded more fun than sitting in a broom closet-sized studio in frozen Chicago for two weeks.

So I told him I would, but after learning the proximity of where I would be staying in respect to the first venue of Cal Poly’s historic berth — just a three hour drive — I tried to see if I could make a whirlwind trip to the NCAA Tournament work.

I phoned my friend, Connor, and told him the plan.

“Dude, I’ll pay for your ticket if you drive us to Dayton,” I said.

“Well I’ll have my car, so we should be able to make it no problem,” he responded.

For a split second, I paused. You have to understand, I am a graduate student at a private university headed into a field not known for its large paychecks. So anytime I am about to toss a handful of federally loaned Benjamins at anything, I contemplate whether or not I can — and should — make it happen. I considered the odds: What are the chances
Cal Poly makes the tournament again? What are the chances they play close to where I live? What are the chances I can afford tickets? I can’t imagine all these stars would line up again anytime soon.

“Let’s make this happen.”

So two days later I packed myself into a car and headed to a city I’d never heard of with a friend that was very gladly and willingly ready to jump on the Mustangs bandwagon. We got there checked into our hotel — which turned out to be the team’s hotel as well — and then headed to the stadium shortly after. And when we got there, it immediately felt like I became a hired spokesperson for Cal Poly.

“Where is that school located?” spectators would ask me, looking at my green Cal Poly sweatshirt.

The questions didn’t stop there.

“Is it nice?”

“What did you study?”

“It’s in Pomona, right?”

The last one, of course, made me cringe, but it felt great to be able to tell Midwesterners of the school I’d spent the past five years falling in love with. And during the game, it felt like most of the fans were falling in love with it too. By the time the smoke cleared and Cal Poly very impressively defeated Texas Southern — believe me, I still can’t believe it either — any fan wearing Mustangs gear became the popular kids in the stands. I felt like the cool kid who would walk into an 8th grade party that would cause all the girls to swoon. You know, the kid you always wanted to be, but never could. Well maybe
that’s just me, but people started staring at the name of the school on my chest, asking even more questions.

I’m still trying to come down to earth after that win, even if CalPoly did end up falling to Wichita State in a landslide 64-37 loss in the next round. As the famous “CP” logo was shown all over SportsCenter and CBS all week, no one really understood how big a trip this was for Cal Poly. The first year I was on campus, the football team won more games than the basketball team. And five years after getting a new coach, the team’s now dancing. It’s mind boggling to me and most, I’m sure, in the city of San Luis Obispo.

A 16 vs. 16 game meant something to the wide range of Cal Poly students and alumni, even if no one could comprehend the magnitude.

Perhaps — at least — the people of Dayton, Ohio do now.

Joel Awich throws one down. by Owen Main

Cal Poly took a 44-32 lead into halftime in Dayton.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

On this episode, I was joined by Cal Poly forward Zach Gordon and play-by-play announcer Tom Barket to talk about the Mustangs’ improbable Big West Conference Tournament run and what Dayton has in store for them.

Gordon, of course, is the Mustang who took the “charge heard ’round the world” on Saturday night, basically icing the tournament championship for Cal Poly.

This week, Joe Lunardi picked Cal Poly to win their opening round matchup against Texas Southern.

Here is the charge Gordon took, in case you missed it:

Enjoy the podcast. Feedback is welcomed.

Joe Lunardi is a “bracketologist” and it looks like he’s picking the Mustangs to “upset” Texas Southern, the team with the better record on Wednesday in Dayton.

Cal Poly’s chartered jet arrived in Dayton to a warm welcome today.

We had warm welcome from the people in Dayton, Ohio! Thank you Dayton!! http://t.co/GPWnQCozmN

— Cal Poly Basketball (@calpolymbb) March 17, 2014

Joe Callero doesn’t seem put-off by being the team with the worst record in the tournament. Whatever happens, it’s a historic day for Cal Poly and fans in San Luis Obispo.

Landed safely in Dayton ..The road to the final 4 starts here ! #DreamBabyDream #BruceSpringsteen pic.twitter.com/Yew9VwNqkl

— Joe Callero (@CoachCallero) March 17, 2014

I know who the champion of this year’s tournament is going to be. Could it be Duke, a number-one seed with all the moxie that a defending national champion should have? Is it Notre Dame, with their rich football tradition and their more-than-budding basketball dominance? Does a team like St. John’s have a chance? They’ve played a really tough schedule all year and proven they can beat anyone. Is there a star ready to emerge? Who is really favorite this year?

The favorite, and undisputed champion of the tournament every year is, in fact, The Unexpected.

Last season, it was Butler, whose poise and talent led them to the final and a half-court heave away from a National Championship. Though the perennial Horizon League heavyweights are always good, they are still from the Horizon League and yet, they still made it to the championship game.

When talking about the unexpected, we can talk all about Bryce Drew’s Valparaiso team making it through to the Sweet 16. Western Kentucky, Davidson, and George Mason all come to mind when talking about tournament surprises. When Princeton beat UCLA, it was my first experience of being, literally, upset by the outcome of a game (Go Bruins).

Upset City?

Though there will be some upsets this year—there always are—I want to make an argument for going “with the chalk” while filling out your brackets. In the 24-hour news cycle sporting world, there is so much information that it’s hard to sort it out. This is the untenable job of the selection committee.

Where there might have been systems in place 20 years ago to ensure correct seeds, it was an inexact science. Committee members had to tout the teams that they saw from their region. Perennial powers were given the benefit of the doubt because there just weren’t as many opportunities to watch basketball or gather the statistical information that is now available.

Like the rest of America, I’m left in the dark about the exact process for seeding the teams, but I think it’s safe to say that the gentlemen in the room have more information at hand than ever before. This is why I am predicting that, starting about five years ago, there was more “chalk” than people expect, despite the parody we have seen in college basketball over the past 10-20 years.

This was my prediction in the past as well. A few years ago, the one 12-seed I picked to win was the only one that lost. While my general “when in doubt, go with the chalk” mantra might not ring true over one year or even two, I think it will start to move more and more that way.

Look out West in 2011

I’m not revealing all of my quality picks (sure to go wrong) yet, but I will say this: The Pac-10 will surprise people. Everyone has been so down on the conference all year, and for good reason. Games seem long, teams grind, and there aren’t a lot of flashy stars. But UCLA, Arizona, and Washington all have a realistic chance of some upsets.

UCLA could match-up with Florida in the second round, and you know that Ben Howland would like nothing more than to get Billy Donovan’s team back for the butt-kickings they took in the championship game and the Final Four in recent years past.

Washington is, without question, the most talented team coming from the Pac 10. Lorenzo Romar and Steve Lavin were both assistant coaches on the 1995 UCLA championship team, and Romar seems to have channeled Lavin in his ability to recruit top-notch talent. While Romar’s teams still manage to lose games they shouldn’t throughout the year, they are too talented to be ignored. Having a very good, experienced, and talented point guard in Isaiah Thomas doesn’t hurt either.

Arizona is on the rise too. While I don’t have them going as far as UCLA or Washington, Derrick Williams (The Whole Enchilada from La Mirada) is a dominant player. Talent usually prevails in the tournament and, like Washington, Arizona has a lot of talent.

Look for the Pac-10 to offer some surprises.

Are there too many teams in the tournament?

While amid conversation this week, I realized that there are games starting on Tuesday night and that the four games that are being played before Thursday aren’t just the eight worst teams. Two of the games will be played by four at-large teams; presumably the four ‘last’ teams to get into the field of 68. I’m still trying to process how I feel about:

a) the first “round” of the tournament now being 6 days long, and..

b) 12-seeds who have to play a “play-in” game.

Call me a purist, but I think I’d prefer to stay with the 64-team field. Long and spread-out events like the NFL Draft (is it 3 days now?) or the BCS, seem to water-down the actual event for me. Part of what makes the tournament fun is that we haven’t had any basketball for a week now, and then there are 48 games crammed into 4 days on the first weekend – all of which are important.

In it’s “new” format, the tournament loses some of that “excitement” and “frenzy,” as the games are spread out over an entire week. I’m 29 and probably the demographic that the tournament committee wants watching the games, but I’m also busy. I have other things in my life, including a job. Being focused on the tournament for six days instead of four is a little too much for me.

I’ll take my four days of joy – tracking who gets upset and who can achieve what every team strives for – to survive. And advance.

owen@fansmanship.com