For fans, some losses hurt because your team has a chance and is filled with hope that turns to heartbreak when victory just slips out of reach. Other losses are like a slow train wreck. You can only sit there and watch as the inevitable unfolds.
The Northeastern Huskies' 87-53 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks in the first round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament in Salt Lake City on Thursday was definitely the latter for students at a campus watch party.
Before the game, the crowd was fixated on a wild contest between Auburn and New Mexico State. The air was filled with chatter of how badly everyone's brackets looked and questions about if there was still any free food.
Freshman Diego Louvat watched both the game on the large screen and multiple games on his laptop at the same time. He took several days to research and watch video before selecting how to fill out his bracket.
He said coming into Northeastern, there wasn't the expectation of a sports culture. But like other students at the watch party, the success of the men's basketball team had Louvat excited for the matchup with Kansas before the game.
"I like our chances," he said. "I think we're one of the better mid-majors in the tournament. So I think at the very least, it will be a competitive game. So just to see that, for us the students, it's really exciting."
When the game started, the room felt like the student section at a packed arena. There were cheers when Northeastern players got a close-up on screen and boos when Kansas players popped up. There was even applause when the network showing the game played a commercial for Northeastern.
But the Huskies, who were the 13th seed in the Midwest region of the tournament, simply couldn't get going against the 4th seeded Jayhawks. The Huskies shot 28 percent from the field for the game and star player Vasa Pusica, who averaged 17.6 points a game this season, finished with only seven points on Thursday night.
The crowd was uneasy as the Huskies went into halftime trailing by 12 points, but that unease began to turn to dread as Kansas went up 53-32 about halfway through the second half. That's when some started heading for the doors.
By the time the clocks read zeroes, most of the students had left in a mass exodus, but freshman Cameron Gleichauf stuck around until the end and clapped in support as the season came to an end for the Huskies.
"I mean, a couple of things fall our way, maybe it's a more competitive game," Gleichauf said. "But I didn't think the effort was great towards the end."
Still, for a program that's only been to the NCAA tournament nine times, the run the team went on this year had an impact on Gleichauf and his classmates — even if the final result wasn't what they wanted.
"Things didn't go the way they wanted to here, but they had a hell of a year," he said.
