California State University Bakersfield’s men’s basketball team just made the jump across the country for the biggest game in program history.
23ABC Sports Director Stephen Hicks made the trip to Oklahoma to cover the team and said that the Roadrunners haven’t taken a bigger trip all year. “They’re set to take on the #2 seeded Oklahoma University Friday at 3 p.m. PDT. On these big trips, the team tries to manage every little detail but things went wrong right from the start.”
The Runners left on a team charter at 7 a.m. Wednesday out of Meadows Field but quickly had to change plans after a non-team medical emergency forced them to land in Las Vegas.
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It was reportedly nothing major other than a medical issue for one of their staff members and after a 90 minute delay, they were back in the air.
While things maybe didn’t start as expected, make no mistake, The Runners are expected to be in the big dance and aren’t content with just playing an extra game.
Rod Barnes, CSUB Roadrunners coach said, “As crazy as it may sound, they expect to fly back here on Sunday night after beating probably VCU and going to the Sweet 16. Now what does that do and you ask me the question - it takes the pressure off of them.”
CSUB has never had this kind of national attention. Get ready for that to ramp up even more the closer we get to tipoff Friday. In the media hotel in Oklahoma, CSUB pennants are flying all over the main lobby.
On Thursday, the team will head to a noon practice at the Chesapeake Energy Center, which is usually home to Kevin Durant and The Thunder, for this week, Bakersfield gets to call it home.
