Army marches into opener with big base

NORFOLK, Va. – Army’s women’s basketball team is becoming quite the craze as the huge underdogs prepare to meet Tennessee today in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Not only at West Point, where the players and coach Maggie Dixon were carried off the court by cadets after winning the Patriot League tournament to earn their first NCAA berth, but seemingly everywhere they go these days.

At a restaurant in Virginia on Friday night, fans yelled, “Go Army” as the team shuffled in. Supporters honk, yell and wave from cars when they see the team outside.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Megan Vrabel said Saturday. “Absolutely amazing.”

The fan interest has been building all season, at the academy and beyond, as the Black Knights showed that Dixon’s arrival meant raised expectations, too.

“By the last game, we had the place packed. We even had offensive linemen with their bodies painted. It was almost like a regular college,” Vrabel said.

The most moving moment, Dixon said, came the day after the tournament victory when 4,000 cadets stood and cheered as the team brought the trophy to the lunch mess hall.