A college basketball game without a band present ... it's just not the same, is it? Drake's women's team was facing that, though, for its WNIT opener Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa. The school is on spring break, and the Drake band members aren't on campus.
However, Drake got a capable substitute: The Kansas band was in Des Moines for the Jayhawks' NCAA men's tournament game Thursday afternoon.
After the top-seeded Jayhawks beat Austin Peay 105-79 at the Wells Fargo Center in downtown Des Moines, the Kansas band traveled the 3½ miles to Drake's Knapp Center to play at the Drake-Sacred Heart women's game.
The KU band went 2-0, as the Bulldogs won 95-59.
Drake coach Jennie Baranczyk told espnW that Bulldogs athletic director Sandy Hatfield Clubb has gotten to know Kansas athletic director Sheahon Zenger over the years, and she called him to ask if KU's band might be able to help out. Zenger gladly arranged it.
"How cool is that?" Baranczyk said. "They even learned our fight song. I'll be cheering for Kansas men to win."
She might, however, be a little torn if the Jayhawk men end up facing Baranczyk's alma mater, No. 7 seed Iowa, in the NCAA South region final.