DAYTON, Ohio — Rich Anthony was stunned. The Dayton native, and Syracuse University Class of 1997 alumnus, didn’t think Syracuse had any chance of garnering an NCAA Tournament berth. He had even been given free tickets for the First Four games through his job at the Air Force, but gave them up to some friends.

When Anthony found out SU was going to be playing in his home city, he decided to throw a pregame party. He started reaching out to alumni who lived in Dayton, but also those in Cincinnati, which is roughly 50 miles south.

“You wouldn’t know it, but there’s 300 alumni in this southwest Ohio region,” Anthony said. “And basically, it just blew up and we had to move it out of my house.”

Anthony connected with Katie Baran, ’09, who runs the Syracuse alumni chapter in Cincinnati. Together, they planned a pregame event at Warped Wing Brewery in Dayton for Syracuse fans to get together before the No. 11 Orange (20-13, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) take on No. 11 Arizona State (20-11, 8-10 Pacific-12) in a First Four matchup on Wednesday night.

Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Baran helps run events throughout the year, including taking a group down from Cincinnati to go see Syracuse football and men’s basketball games at Louisville. This year, though, she didn’t watch even the selection show because she didn’t think SU would make it.

Then on Sunday night, right before she was going to leave for dinner, Baran got a text from a friend who lives in Columbus, Ohio, saying that Syracuse was in the Tournament and would be playing in Dayton.

“She was like, ‘So, are we going?’” Baran said. “I said, ‘Yeah we’re going. I’ll see you there.’”

Some fans, like Mike Slifka; his mom, Cindy; and his friend, Mike Brown, came all the way from Syracuse to Dayton. The Slifkas are season ticket holders. Brown is not, but joked that “I poach on whatever (Cindy) doesn’t go to.”

Brown thought that Syracuse had no chance of making the Tournament, expecting to go with Mike Slifka to an NIT game at the Carrier Dome this week. Slifka said he gave the Orange a 50 percent chance by the selection show. He’d never seen SU play in the NCAA Tournament game in person, so he decided to look online for tickets Sunday night.

“I bought one ticket and (Cindy) was like, ‘What the hell!?’ So, I bought her a ticket,” Mike Slifka said. “And then I told Mike about that, and he was like, ‘What the hell!?’”

The three of them left from Syracuse on Wednesday at 6 a.m. and knocked out the eight-hour drive. They came straight to Warped Wing after seeing social media posts promoting the event.

For locals, like Guy Wetsig and Roger Reynolds, this game provided them the rare chance to see their favorite team in person. Wetsig is from Carthage, New York, and Reynolds from Oswego. Both grew up Orange fans but now have lived in Ohio for the majority of their lives.

Wetsig, donning an orange No. 20 Syracuse jersey over a long-sleeve Orange T-shirt —before eventually pulling out a giant orange Afro-like wig — and Rogers, wearing a blue sweater with a Syracuse logo on it and a blue hat with a block Syracuse ‘S’, were two of the first people at Warped Wing. The two met through their lines of work — Wetsig saw Rogers wearing a Syracuse hat, and they bonded over their common interest.

Two Syracuse fans who live in Ohio, Roger Reynolds (left) and Guy Wetsig (right) were excited that the Orange were playing in Dayton. Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Neither one of them thought Syracuse would have an actual chance to make the Tournament. Reynolds thought that Syracuse was done after it lost to Boston College in its second-to-last game of the regular season. In the end, though, Syracuse barely making the Tournament and having to play in the First Four was good for the fans from Ohio.

“In a way, yes, I am happy,” Reynolds said when asked if it was good that Syracuse lost the Boston College game.

Reynolds actually attended the University of Dayton, and even attended the game between SU and UD when the two schools met in the NCAA Tournament in 2016 in St. Louis. He said he roots for the Orange in those matchups.

Both noted that Dayton, which has hosted the First Four since its inception in 2011, has done a good job with the event. But this year, it’s different because of the Syracuse fans.

“UD fans like good basketball,” Wetsig said. “They love seeing good basketball, so they’ll come to these games.

“I’m only coming here for Syracuse.”

Published on March 14, 2018 at 7:53 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer