Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
By Tom Archdeacon
The silver-lining moment came during a timeout with 15:50 left in their first round game of the NCAA Tournament against mighty Arizona Friday evening in San Diego.
Wright State, which had trailed the whole way and by as many as 16 points minutes earlier, had cut the deficit to seven points. When time was called, the Raiders were down just eight.
During that surge back to respectability, the Viejas Arena crowd – where Wildcats fans far outnumbered the modest contingent for Wright State – suddenly had begun cheering for the Raiders.
It wasn’t as loud as two nights earlier – when the chants ‘Let’s Go Raiders” rocked UD Arena late in the second half of WSU’s stirring First Four victory – but it was noticeable.
Over in the other huddle, Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd heard what was happening:
“You could feel, when they made the run, I think more fans got behind it than just Wright State fans.” He thought the followers of both Seton Hall and TCU, who were playing in the next game, all started cheering for the never-quit Raiders, who Las Vegas bookmakers had as a 21.5-point underdog and history books made even more of a longshot.
