The Justice

CHEERING ON: The Judges' fans show support for the men's basketball team during Friday's game against Trinity College. Photo by Micah Barth-Rogers/the Justice

PROVIDENCE, R.I.-It initially looked like the war of the fans would be lost Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament. But that was before the bus came.

Thunderous chants of "Let's go, Brandeis!" filled the Murray Center at Rhode Island College here throughout the weekend in one of the most enthusiastic displays of fan support in recent memory at Brandeis.

It was the first time in University history that both basketball teams made the NCAA tournament. After traveling to Bowdoin College in Maine to see the women's team compete in its first Big Dance appearance last season, it seemed like most of the Brandeis faithful gravitated to see the men's team play on a national stage for the first time in 29 years. And even though both teams were eliminated Saturday night in the second round, the weekend was filled with memorable moments.

Fans from Trinity College looked like they would overwhelm the Judges' supporters here Friday, as the bus transporting students from Waltham barely made it in time for tip-off. But seven minutes into the game, with the Judges up by seven, the Trinity fans' chants of "We can't hear you!" had been drained out by the kids from Brandeis.

The fans exchanged mass expletives across the floor, chanted "Baldie!" at the Trinity point guard with the shaved head and went wild for star forward Steve DeLuca's '08 late-game heroics.

Scott Zackaroff '07, the captain of the men's soccer team, paced in front of the stands leading cheers of "Defense!" in overtime.

"It's the student body coming together," Zackaroff said of the fan support during a timeout. "It speaks volumes and it's only going to keep growing."

Coach Brian Meehan agreed.

"I think [Brandeis' perceived lack of fan support] is a dead issue at this point," he told reporters after the game."We have the campus behind us, and [Brandeis has] become a really exciting place to be a basketball player."

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