I remember going to my first UMBC basketball game two years ago. My roommate and I, both sports-obsessed freshmen who considered ourselves diehard Terps fans in our formative years, felt it natural to support our Division I men’s basketball team. We were playing Delaware sometime in December, a non-conference contest that meant practically nothing. Considering the Retrievers were coming off three forgettable losing seasons, the RAC arena was noticeably void of fans. My roommate and I represented two of about 30 less-than-crazed students composing the less-than-intimidating Dawg Pound student section.

I glanced at my buddy, “You think we’ll ever make the Tournament?”

Mostly out of courtesy, he didn’t respond.

At the time, we both realized our men’s basketball team had an arduous journey ahead to become relevant – probably too laborious for us to witness the resurrection in just four years. Hell, all we really wanted was for the Dogs to play a meaningful conference game in February. We weren’t holding our breath.

Last Thursday morning, a hoard of eight of my closest friends loaded into two cars, fueled up on coffee and donuts, and trekked down to Raleigh, N.C. Two weekends prior, we had logged over a thousand miles to support the Retrievers in their quest for a first ever America East Conference title, so following the Retrievers to their first ever NCAA Tournament game seemed only natural. After all, the 300-plus-mile retreat to the Mecca of College Hoops wasn’t a bad way to spend Spring Break.

Upon arrival, we followed Tobacco Road from Durham, home of the rigid, gothic architecture of Duke University, into Chapel Hill, home of the University of North Carolina. UNC’s campus has an overwhelmingly communal feel, highlighted by Franklin Street, a pathway connecting the university with downtown shops, restaurants, and bars. Clad in our gold and black, we felt right at home in the prototypical college town’s expanse of sky blue.

We popped into Carolina Brewery, ordered a round of handcrafted beers, and watched the Duke-Belmont first-round game. The anti-Duke sentiment in the bar was almost humbling. With each clutch, second-half basket buried by the 15-seed underdogs, the lively brewpub crowd erupted in jubilation, as though their Tar Heels were in the throes of a national title game. I couldn’t help getting swept up in the fervor, though I understood this ultimately spelled doom for a Retriever upset tomorrow. There was no way coach John Thompson III was going to let his Georgetown team overlook the lesson learned from Duke’s near-collapse.

The next morning, we visited the team hotel before heading to the RBC Center. The athletic department was hosting a pre-game brunch for family and friends of the team, alumni, and students. The 250-or-so gatherers secured their complementary T-shirt, forked in the free food, and exploded in applause upon head coach Randy Monroe’s prediction that the Dogs would take a bite out of the Hoyas. The pep band bellowed out our fight song, but our players looked justifiably skittish, as though they were firmly aware that this was the biggest singular moment in our university’s history – let alone athletic history.

My friends and I ducked out of the banquet early to attend the Davidson-Gonzaga game scheduled before ours. Our tickets only covered the first two games of Session One, and we wanted to imbibe as much college hoops as possible. Unfortunately, there was a problem. A substantial portion of UMBC fans – mostly students – purchased their tickets under the guise of retrieving them at will-call, but our tickets were stuck back at the team banquet with folks in the athletic department. Hence, about 200 perturbed supporters waited for about an hour, missing a significant portion of the first half of the Wildcat-Bulldog match-up.

We’re new to this.

One goose bump-inducing moment did become of the wait, however. Our student buses arrived in Raleigh as we were hovering around, depositing the crux of our fan base on the arena. Overcome by their excitement, the students burst through the door and ignited a boisterous UM-BC chant amongst the gold-and-black. Fans of the other schools seemed duly impressed, though they might have been trying to deduce what “UMBC” stood for.

Inside the 20,000-person-capacity RBC Center, the crowd was decidedly pro-Davidson (located just north of Charlotte) for the first game. Davidson’s Stephen Curry didn’t disappoint the masses, dropping a tournament record 40 points on Mark Few’s Bulldogs. With each bucket drained, the star shooting guard pointed victoriously to his frenzied well-wishers, inciting further hysteria. When the final horn blared to cap an impressive comeback win, even the small sliver of golden UMBC fans couldn’t help but dole out the standing ovation the Wildcats so evidently earned.

As the two teams were filing into the locker rooms, their respective supporters followed suit, leaving behind a barren arena. Once the court was emptied, Georgetown sprinted out of their tunnel and partook in their pre-game lay-ups. A handful of claps were heard here and there, but the majority of fans were nonpartisan, covered in light blue as opposed to dark.

The Hoyas looked huge, even from the second balcony seats. They casually swooped in for slam dunks, rising off the hardwood floor, twirling about acrobatically in mid-air, and lightly placing the ball through the net. They were huge. And amazingly athletic. This wasn’t an America East team.

UMBC trumpeted out to an impressive ovation from the black-and-gold-clad supporters. Despite being engulfed by the arena, the couple hundred of us successfully reverberated our love for the team. The players looked uneasy, mimicking the anxiety showcased in the hotel lobby, desperate to shake those inevitable nerves accompanying such an integral moment in their athletic lives. Finally, pre-game warm-ups had concluded, starting lineups had been announced (by the way, if Jay Greene is a “6-foot” guard, I’m at least a 7-footer), and the culmination of 21 toiling years of Division I basketball competition had hit its apex.

The first 15 minutes were played tightly. On the offensive end, the Retrievers were finding a way to get open looks from the perimeter to counter Georgetown’s overwhelming height advantage. On defense, our match-up zone struggled to pinch in on Roy Hibbert while simultaneously getting an outstretched hand in the face of kick-out deep threats. We actually held leads of 7-5 and 12-7 at separate points in the first half (I photographed the scoreboard for visual proof), but, as expected, the Hoyas didn’t take us lightly.

Suffering through an extensive offensive drought, UMBC started to lose sight of Georgetown in the waning minutes of the first half. But much to their credit, following Monroe’s timeout, the Retrievers whittled the lead down to nine points after a few made baskets, underlined by a thunderous dunk from Cavell Johnson on a delicious drive-and-dish from Greene. The play would’ve been a huge momentum booster heading into halftime, but the Hoyas countered with a last-second three-pointer, extending the lead back to double digits, thus thwarting any accumulated Retriever momentum.

The second half played out mostly as we thought it would: Georgetown out-manned and out-athleticized us. Though, we had several bright spots. Darryl Proctor, who has been – without fear of delving into cliché – an absolute beast all season, came one steal away from tying the tournament record for steals in a game, and Greene proved he was one of the best pure point guards in the nation. We suffered a 19-point defeat, which, though a comfortable margin, certainly isn’t embarrassing. Most encouragingly, four of our five starters return next season to the team that made the NCAA Tournament.

The modest black-and-gold contingent of supporters offered up their adulation for the players and coaches at the end of the game. No one was particularly surprised by the result, nor was the result terribly important. This game was about UMBC – not just the men’s basketball team – receiving national attention. It was about giving our 41-year old university a face. The scale of this sort of marketing came from a group of student-athletes playing a basketball game. We wanted to win, of course, but simply playing the game was most important. In a sense, we were just happy to be there.

My friends and I drove home that afternoon, not one bit remorseful about the final score. We were just thrilled to be a part of history.

Hell, we played a meaningful game in March.

The Red Birds come into Baltimore on a high as they finally won a game it looked like there wouldn’t and evened their record at 1-1. A late forced fumble set up the game-winning field goal against the Seahawks. Yes, that’s right. For once in the Cards’ long history they had good luck instead of bad.

OFFENSE
The offense has been as advertised with new head coach Ken Whisenhunt. They’re a hard-nosed team who have run the ball as many times as they have thrown it this year.

Edgerrin James has carried a majority of the offensive load as he has run 50 times for 220 yards and 2 touchdowns so far. His field vision is back to what it was when he was in Indy and the revamped offensive line has managed to open holes wider then Paris Hilton’s legs (just ask Matt Leinart).

Speaking of Leinart, he bounced back after a difficult game one against the 49ers. He’s still going through the growing pains of a second year quarterback but he has dedicated himself to showing up at the practice facility at 5:30 AM to study film and being the last one to leave. The Ravens defense is probably the toughest he has faced in his young career so he will have to minimize the mistakes if the Cardinals are to win.

Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin are as advertised, continuing to catch more balls than people in Baltimore catch STD’s. They both have over 100 yards receiving thus far this season. Boldin has become a focal point of the offense being used in the backfield and in trick plays the same way Whisenhunt used Antwan Randle El in his time in Pittsburgh.

Tight End Leonard Pope has also emerged as a weapon in the red zone. He also can help spread the field as he had a 30 yard touchdown reception in last weeks match up.

DEFENSE
The defense has been a pleasant surprise as they shut down both Frank Gore and Shaun Alexander in consecutive weeks. They have only given up a combined 83 yards rushing in two weeks and only 190 through the air.

The new 3-4 defensive scheme has proven to be solid despite players playing out of position. The secondary is probably the weakest part of the defense as Eric Green is undersized and they have yet to intercept a pass.

They have been able to control the line of scrimmage recording 4 sacks in two games, 5 tackles for losses, and forcing four fumbles.

SPECIAL TEAMS
The return game leaves something to be desired for the Red Birds. They average 19 yards per return on kickoffs and only 6.8 yards on Punts.

Kicker Neil Rackers continues to be solid making 4 of his 5 attempts and hasn’t missed from under 50 yards. His long was a 52-yarder. This game could very easily come down to the leg of Rackers as it did last week.

PREDICTION
This is a tough game to figure out as the Ravens offense has injuries. With McNair recovering from his groin and Ogden out, the Cards’ defensive job is easier than it could have been. The Ravens defense will have the early advantage but if the offense can withstand the early onslaught they have a very good chance to take this game. In the end though the Ravens will pull out a defensive battle by the score of 20-16.