And the bands play on at the Final Four
That brass section could be worth two points, or one highly viral Internet meme
HOUSTON— Michael Auslander wasn’t even a gleam in his trumpet-playing father’s eye in 1985, but he can quickly recite a quote that has been passed down to him through his past four years at Villanova University.
“Rollie Massimino, he was our coach in ’85 when we won the championship. He said, ‘The band is worth two points,’ ” Auslander said on Friday, decked out in his school’s blue and white, holding a trumpet of his own.
His school is back in the NCAA Final Four for just the second time since it won its only national championship 31 years ago. Playing in the Villanova pep band, the 22-year-old senior and engineering major has had a front-row seat to the Wildcats’ spectacular season and if you ask him, he and his band members have played their own small part in it, too.
“We’re not the ones playing on the field, but at the same time, those two points when it comes down to it might be because we got the crowd into it,” he explained, channelling Massimino’s words. “Everyone’s going crazy and that makes the players play better, slightly.”
Pep bands are with a multitude of their college programs year-round, but they’re a fixture of March Madness, gleefully providing the background noise that you’ve been left humming as you go about your day long after the dramatics of this month-long tournament have continued to play out.
The music has to play on, no matter how dire the situation might seem.
When 10th-seeded Syracuse fell behind by15 points in the second half to No. 1 Virginia last weekend with 10 minutes to go in their Elite Eight match-up, the basketball-viewing world began to write them off.
Except for the 29 members of the Sour Sitrus Society, the Orange’s never-say-die band. Mention the comeback win and three of their members — band director Andrew Leathem, tenor saxist and tuba player Randal Brown and flutist Valerie Lattell — all give the same answer: “Which one?”
“It’s tough because that’s kind of how Syracuse plays. They have the term the Cardiac ’Cuse,” Leathem said.
“My nail beds are terrible right now,” Lattell added. “But at the same time we have to be the ones to (keep cheering) because we have to show the team that they’re not alone, we’re still with them in this.”
“If we don’t do it, no one else will,” Brown said.
Both schools’ bands might be the happiest of the court teams to be in the tournament, two wins away from a national title.
Syracuse was watching from afar last year, penalized by NCAA sanctions that left them out of the tournament. Villanova, a top seed, fell in the round of 32, stunned by the eighthranked North Carolina State Wolfpack. That loss featured another prominent band moment, as piccolo player Roxanne Chalifoux was shown on national TV crying while playing.
The footage went viral and ended up becoming a positive for the departing senior, landing her a spot on stage with The Roots on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She led the hip hop icons in playing the school’s fight song, V for Villanova.
The salty-fluid torch was passed this year to Kentucky, as a saxophone-playing member of their band openly wept as her Wildcats were sent home early, the band member getting the royal meme treatment as well.
It’s a commonly discussed topic among both bands this year.
“We make the joke, ‘Just keep your faces up,’ ” Brown said. “One of our bandmates, she has orange hair and she’s the prime target for media attention.”
“Everyone goes right to her,” Leathem said.
Auslander was there for his friend’s brush with fame/infamy last year. He said it comes with being emotionally attached to your team and with having those prime seats.
“We joke about it all the time,” he said, laughing. “If we lose we should probably cry so they’ll put the camera on us, and we’ll be on Jimmy Fallon again.
“There is an awareness, but . . . It’s just kind of the nature of the game. We’re in the front row all the time, so the camera’s going to be on us.”
When you’ve been a part of something for years, Auslander said, it’s natural to get emotional. The Syracuse members all agreed that their involvement in the band has shaped their social experience on campus. Whether it ends on Saturday or Monday, good or bad, all bets are off on how it’ll be handled.
“This is my senior year. If we lose (Saturday), I don’t know. I’m a 22year-old guy,” Auslander said. “Like, I might be bawling my eyes out.
“It’s just so exciting, win or lose, especially now in the Final Four. Only four schools a year, only four bands a year get to come down and play in the Final Four and the fact that I got to do it out of my four years at Nova is incredible.”