Students courtside
The NCAA’s First Four returned to Dayton last week as eight college basketball teams battled to keep a spot on the March Madness bracket. While the Flyers didn’t make the cut, several University of Dayton students were courtside and in locker rooms helping the tournament run smoothly behind the scenes.
Hours before the games took place, first-year finance major Mike Topp and senior communication major Calli Fenik were ushering players and coaches to interview rooms and moderating press conferences.
Coming from a big basketball family, Topp said his older siblings encouraged him to work the tournament after they had a similar opportunity as UD students.
“They said, ‘You’ve got to work the First Four. It will be one of the best things you get to do in college,’” Topp said. “So, [when] the opportunity came up … I knew that was something I really wanted to do.”
Fenik has experience at UD Arena, having covered several Flyer basketball games since she transferred to UD last spring. She said the First Four is basketball on a larger scale than she’s used to, and she was excited to make connections and learn from new people.
“I think it's a great opportunity for me to learn and see the different areas of working in athletics that I enjoy the most,” Fenik said.
UD students also helped out during the games by running statistics, creating scorecards, writing up game notes and taking photos.
University of Dayton Magazine photographers Mary Kate Fleisher, a photography junior, and Meredith Robinson, a junior human rights and sustainability double major, sat at the ends of the court taking pictures of the players as the games unfolded.
Robinson said she felt a little bit intimidated as a student photographer because of how large the event was, but she was excited to have the opportunity to be at the First Four. Fleisher shared a different fear from her role: the struggle between wanting to get the perfect shot and not getting run over as a 250-pound basketball player barreled toward her.
Seniors Reed Van Tiem, a digital marketing and international business double major, and Alec Bertok, a finance major, served as microphone holders and note-takers during press conferences, among other jobs. They said they loved seeing the whole tournament come together.
“I think it's really cool to see how much more this game matters,” Bertok said. “Just with all their families traveling, there's so much more that goes into it.”
Van Tiem added, “I've seen the theatrics in it from the fan standpoint and working hands-on with it, being here this early before the game, seeing all the coaches, all the players during practice, hearing what they have to say is really cool. It's really just a unique experience that I think, based on what I've seen so far, UD Arena executes pretty flawlessly. It's the perfect place for March Madness games.”
Photography by Mary Kate Fleisher '23 and Meredith Robinson '23.