INDIANAPOLIS – For many University of Arizona fans, the men’s basketball team making it to the Final Four for the first time in 25 years makes this season one for the books during their college experience. But for these four UA students, the money, time and travel are more than worth it to see their Wildcats play in Indianapolis.
The journey was a quick turn around in a matter of 24 hours in order to show up for the big game. The group took a flight from Tucson to a layover in Los Angeles, and then flew into Indianapolis. They originally were going to fly into Atlanta, but their flight got delayed and they would’ve missed part of the game which for them, was out of the question.
Eleanor Cornish, a junior at UA said that they booked the flights right before the game, landed in Indianapolis the same morning and left the day after.
“Other people flying into Chicago and taking the train. So I think we had a pretty nice flight plan. Lots of other people just kind of were winging it, trying to get there whichever way they could.” Andrew Pongratz, a senior on the trip said.
The logistical challenges of the trip didn’t just stop at the airport, but also followed them in how they were going to make it to the stadium in time.
Vasu Kedia, junior, explained that they didn’t even go to the hotel before they were at the game.
“We were really going to take an Uber to our hotel and then the stadium, but our flight got delayed a bit and we wouldn’t have had time. So we just found a hotel 0.5 miles away from the stadium and paid them to hold our luggage and then we just picked it up after the game.” he said.
Despite the various hurdles the group had to jump through in order to see the Final Four showdown, all of them would do it in a heartbeat for reasons beyond the love of the game.
“We just really wanted to support the players and the coach Tommy who we love, so we just really wanted to make it happen one way or another, and it was really an amazing experience” Cornish said.
Two of the friends, Pongratz and Shavim Kedia, are graduating in the spring, which made the trip to Indianapolis even more exciting for them.
“As seniors, this made a lot of sense for us. Whether we were going to win or not didn’t really matter to us.” Pongratz said. “But being able to just make a memory and put this as part of all the other stuff I’ve been doing my senior year, I think, was important for me.”
For Vasu Kedia, growing up in Tucson made the Wildcat’s advancement to the Final Four truly unforgettable. “I’ve been in Tucson my entire life. I’ve pretty much grown up with this team. I have a signed ball from Sean Miller, from God knows how long ago, so being able to see this team go to the Final Four finally, I just couldn’t miss it.” he said.
Despite Arizona’s loss against University of Michigan, the group wouldn’t change much about their trip, and certainly not their team.
“To me Arizona basketball is family. And you always show up for your family.” Shavim Kedia said.
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