Play on! IU Marching Hundred instruments finally arrive in Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. (WISH) — The biggest winner so far on Thursday at the NCAA Tournament? The stellar Indiana University Marching Hundred band who woke up to great news in Portland.
As we shared at length on Wednesday, the Hoosiers attempt to depart Dayton for Portland early Wednesday was a mess. The aircraft coordinated by the NCAA was too small, and the team’s entire traveling party was stuck on the tarmac in Dayton until after 4 a.m. EST.
This included the band, who despite finding seats after switching planes, were unable to store some of their instruments for the four-and-a-half hour trek to the West Coast.
Instead, the instruments had to be shipped with the hope they would arrive before tip-off between twelfth-seeded Indiana and fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s Thursday afternoon at the Moda Center in Portland.
Good news! The instruments made it to the team’s downtown Portland hotel at 1:45 a.m. PST on Thursday.
Mike Woodson’s team will need an extra jolt on short rest and the IU Marching Hundred will be firing on all cylinders ahead of tip-off.