The lights went down and the volume went up. The Comcast Center crowd cheered one last time in salute and appreciation of seniors Greivis Vasquez, Landon Milbourne and Eric Hayes. But for the seniors in the stands, the raucous ovation served as their own sendoff, too.
This was the last home game for these seniors. The visiting Blue Devils and high stakes just provided the tassels on the graduation cap.
“It’s very, very bittersweet,” senior sociology major Gabrielle Cohen said while sitting on a newspaper on the sidewalk outside of Comcast Center, where she’d been for more than an hour. “I’m not excited to leave.”
While the senior students are still here, their farewell could not be grander.
Hated rival Duke in town? Check. An ACC regular season title on the line? Check. Oh, and ESPN, starring sideline reporter Erin Andrews, was there to document the proceedings. In all, there was more hoopla than Vasquez could shake his shoulders at.
And so throngs of students waited in the dreary weather, their sense of anticipation hiding any discomfort. The seniors in the crowd hoped their last seat at Comcast would be front-and-center for one more classic contest.
“I’ve never been out here this early, but this is the biggest game of my four years,” said senior engineering major Kevin Buckley, who arrived at 2:40 p.m., more than six hours before tip off. He was still several hundred people away from the front of the line.
Circumstances aside, this would always be a special moment. The senior students still remembered entering the building for the first time, along with four years of growing pains and memories shared with friends and peers.
“It’s been exciting seeing the progression of Vasquez, Milbourne and Hayes and sort of graduating with them,” senior marketing major M.J. Kurs-Lasky said. “It’s exciting to be here.
“It’s the one thing that everybody on campus — no matter what program they’re in, what major, where they’re from — everybody shares this Terps spirit.”
That spirit was in full effect from the moment Group 1 student ticket holders flooded the lower bowl.
Posters were raised. Venezuela and Maryland flags were waved. Cheers rang out with a full line left in the national anthem.
By tip-off, the crowd had worked itself into a frothing frenzy.
The crowd bobbed up and down to Zombie Nation, mirroring Vasquez, the conductor, at center court.
Forty minutes of basketball later, those same fans bobbed up and down on the court alongside the team. It was one last party at Comcast Center.
“It’s always a great feeling,” Eric Hayes said. “It’s happened a couple times since I’ve been here. It’s always great to see the fans and the support that they had for us. They were on their A-game today.”
One last memory made on everyone’s home court. It’s something these fans will keep with them.
Well, at least until next year.
“It won’t be the same next year,” Cohen said. “But we’re definitely going to have to try and sneak down to the student section.”
mkatz@umdbk.com
