The University of Idaho marching band swapped its black and gold uniforms for blue Yale T-shirts this weekend at March Madness.
UI was the host for the Spokane March Madness games. Idaho Athletics traveled to the Spokane arena to be the staff for the first and second rounds this weekend. What they didn’t expect was for the UI marching band to travel as well.
Yale played Auburn in the first round of the NCAA March Madness tournament yesterday in Spokane. The Bulldogs ranked No. 13, upset No. 4 Auburn 78-76 in one of the closest games of the tournament so far. Some think the win could be credited to the UI marching band.
“Well, I’m biased. I think without us they wouldn’t have won. We supplied the energy 100%. I mean, I’m biased, but you know, go Vandals. Go Bulldogs. Go VanDogs,” UI band director Spencer Martin said after the game.
Yale’s band was unable to make the cross-country trip to support the Ivy League school in its biggest game of the season. Yale men’s basketball Head Coach James Jones called UI on Sunday, asking if the Vandals would be interested in substituting. Jones felt the Bulldogs would need some sort of home-court advantage, even if they were playing on the other side of the country.
Martin sent out a sign-up sheet to the Vandal band members Sunday night, and the 29-member ensemble was put together Monday morning, according to junior trumpet player Rachel Rose.
“I saw that it was an NCAA game, a March Madness game, and I thought ‘I have to jump on that,’” Rose said.
Rose, a section leader for the band, said the entire experience was almost a whirlwind. The call to play came on Sunday night, but the band did not get Yale’s music until Friday morning.
“We got the music at 9 a.m. and were up in Spokane for the 1:15 p.m. game,” Rose said.
The band practiced in the Kibbie Dome Friday morning before hitting the road to Spokane. When they arrived, the atmosphere was more energetic than any of them had expected. Junior percussionist Cali Dunn said she was used to playing at Idaho basketball and football games, but this was on another level.
Rose said the biggest event she had played at was the Big Sky Tournament in Boise.
“This was 100 times bigger than that,” Rose said.
All 29 band members walked into the arena wearing blue Yale T-shirts. Nobody knew they were Vandals.
“Everyone thought we were the Yale band, which was funny,” Dunn said. “When the news got out that we were the Idaho band, I got messages from my friends, family, and really everybody saying how exciting it was.”
Dunn and Rose agreed that it was weird cheering for a team other than Idaho at the beginning, but they were so appreciative of the opportunity to support a team in the March Madness tournament.
“At first, I was yelling ‘Go Vales.’ But after one or two cheers, we fit right in,” Dunn said.
Yale pulled off a major upset with the help of the Idaho marching band in the stands. Jones set the wheels in motion. He was the band’s main contact at the game, Rose said.
“I saw them out there and they had their sheets, so they knew the music in terms of what to play,” Jones said after the game. “It was great. Having that atmosphere and the people coming out and supporting us, there’s nothing better than that, and we can’t appreciate them more than to be Bulldog fans.”
“A lot of times when you’re on the road and you’re the underdog, the crowd goes in your favor and that helped a little bit tonight, too.”
The Idaho marching band will be cheering as “VanDogs” once more. They will travel to Spokane on Sunday to support Yale when they take on No. 5 San Diego State University at 6:40 p.m.
Joanna Hayes can be reached at [email protected]