Congratulations on making it to March Madness.
Oh, wait a second. Not really.
The NCAA acknowledged Thursday that a staff member sent a text message to the South Carolina athletic department staff during Selection Sunday notifying the Gamecocks that they had made the NCAA Tournament.
Well, not exactly. The Gamecocks were one of the last four teams left out.
"Unfortunately, during the selection show a junior men's basketball staff member mistakenly sent a text message to a member of the University of South Carolina athletics department stafff via an app we used for the first time during the 2016 tournament," Dan Gavitt, the NCAA vice president of men's basketball championships, said in a statement. "The text was supposed to go to all teams, congraulating them for making the tournament. Regrettably, a text meant for another institution went to South Carolina instead."
"This wasn't salt in the wound. This was pouring an entire case of Morton's into open-heart surgery," David Cloninger of The State in Columbia, S.C., wrote.
The NCAA issued the statement in response to a report by Ron Higgins of NOLA.com in his "Three in the SEC" mailbag column posted Wednesday.
"Sources told me that the person that makes travel arrangements for NCAA tournament teams had actually called South Carolina, told the Gamecocks they had been invited, then said to hold and they would call back in 10 minutes," Higgins wrote. "South Carolina never got the return call."
The NCAA did not clarify which institution was supposed to get the text message instead of South Carolina. It also said that while it apologized for the mistake, the Gamecocks at no time were voted into the 68-team tournament.
Can't keep him down
While other children were celebrating Sunday with egg hunts and family gatherings, 5-year-old James Evans of San Antonio has an Easter story he can share for years to come.
David Evans, James' father, said his son has been going to San Antonio Rampage hockey games since he was 6 weeks old. The season ticket-holding family arrived early for Sunday's game, as usual, so James could fist-bump the players through the protective glass.
It was just an ordinary game until a Texas Stars player hit a puck that flew over the wall and hit James in the head.
AT&T Center paramedics advised that James' cuts would require stitches, so he was taken to Children's Hospital of San Antonio, where he was only worried about one thing.
"He told the doctor, 'Can you hurry so I can get back to the game,' " David Evans told the San Antonio Express-News.
The Evans family made it to AT&T Center with two minutes left in regulation and were able to watch the final 30 seconds, which led to a 3-2 overtime victory for the Rampage.
"He went right back to the glass. No fear -- he's afraid of very few things," David Evans said. "He says they won for him."
Sports on 04/01/2016