It only took a few hours into this year’s NCAA Tournament for a longstanding March Madness tradition to continue.
In one of the early tips on Thursday, No. 10-seed Utah State lost their first-round game to No. 7-seed Missouri. While the Aggies held the lead with 9:30 left in the game, Missouri closed on a 27-14 run to put them away by a 76-65 final.
As the Tigers were shooting free throws with a double-digit advantage and just over one minute remaining in the contest, the TNT broadcast caught a Utah State cheerleader crying on the sideline. The cheerleader was visibly emotional, lips quivering. Knowing that they had found an image, the broadcast twice turned to the poor young woman.
That is a sight that we see all too often during March Madness. A few years ago, it was a crying member of the Villanova band who went viral. And who could forget the infamous crying Northwestern kid from the 2017 tournament?
Utah State and head coach Ryan Odom, still had a successful season despite this sad end, working to a 26-9 record while finishing second in the Mountain West Conference. At least this loss for the Aggies was not as demoralizing as an earlier one.
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