[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]They came with a small group of fans and far less believers. Their band did not make the trip. Cinderella arrived at the ball in a borrowed T-shirt.

The Northern Iowa pep band was the first to adopt the rag-tag squad. After watching their Panthers fall to Wisconsin earlier in the afternoon, the UNI band donned Bucknell T-shirts and played for the band-less Bison. With mighty Kansas on the docket, the borrowed musicians were meant to play Bucknell’s final chorus.

The Patriot League long shot was unknown and overmatched. Chris McNaughton against Wayne Simien. Kevin Bettencourt against Aaron Miles. Charles Lee against J.R. Giddens. Pat Flannery’s squad should have stayed in Lewisburg.

But a funny thing happened. The team that couldn’t win, won. Bucknell had beaten Kansas.

Bill Self’s squad was stunned. The crowd didn’t know what to do. As the jubilant Bison met at midcourt, three fans rushed the floor. A Bucknell assistant tore off his suit jacket and joined the celebration.

When the triumphant bracket busters returned to their hotel, the Northern Iowa pep band greeted them with a hero’s welcome.

“Where we stayed at the Holiday Inn — or wherever the No. 14 seeds go — the UNI band was playing the Bucknell fight song and wearing orange Bucknell shirts,” Flannery said. “And a rec-league team was cheering from the balcony.”

Bucknell had made history. Flannery’s squad was the first Patriot League team to win a game in the NCAA tournament. It was the biggest win Bucknell had recorded since, well, longer than most can remember. The last time the Bison took down a national juggernaut, in a meaningless regular season contest against Pitt earlier in the year, the Bucknell faithful had to look deep into the history books to put the moment in perspective.

“The Pitt win early in the year compared to our Orange Bowl victory in like 1814,” head coach Pat Flannery said.

Bucknell quickly became the toast of the town. When the Bison took the floor against Wisconsin, much of the 18,567 in attendance had adopted the Lewisburg underdog. Bucknell’s meager cheering section had swelled, and the sea of orange was littered with signs urging, “Believe.”

The majority of the stadium wore a different shade of orange, as the hometown Cowboys of Oklahoma State took on an upset-minded Southern Illinois squad. But after the Pokes had taken care of the Salukis, the Oklahoma City crowd rallied behind the underdog.

“I was listening a little bit outside of the huddle, mostly listening to Coach Flan, I heard the OSU fans start to chant — I think they were doing B-I-S-O-N,” Bucknell forward Charles Lee said. “It really shocked me.”

This time, the Oklahoma State band played for the Bison — wearing the same Bucknell T-shirts the Northern Iowa musicians had worn two days earlier. The scene was straight from the pages of a fairy tale. For their part, the Bison kept their focus on how they got there.

“Before we go out there on the court, we say to play for each other, and that’s who we worry about,” guard Kevin Bettencourt said. “It’s great to have the support of everybody, but we’ve been the ones fighting since October as a team. We were doing it for ourselves. We weren’t trying to be a nationwide story or do it for anything else. We were just trying to keep our dream season going.”

The dream would end that afternoon, but the Bison spent the next 40 minutes proving they belonged on the national stage. Two days after pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament, Bucknell played like a team that deserved to reach the second weekend.

Led by center Chris McNaughton, Bucknell took Wisconsin down to the wire. Flannery’s squad refused to let up, erasing a 13-point first-half deficit. The Bison took the lead with nine minutes to play before bowing out to the Badgers, a team that would give UNC all it could handle in the Elite Eight.

“Wisconsin knew very well they were in a tough ball game,” Flannery said.

Still unknown, still overmatched, Bucknell was not ready to go down.

“I think you’re looking at a coach up here and kids sitting up here that really believed that we could get this done tonight,” Flannery said after the game.

In the post-game press conference, the 14-seed did not talk like a starry-eyed group that was just happy to be there. Flannery’s squad was a team that had just lost a basketball game.

“If there were smiles in that locker room, I would have really been disappointed,” Flannery said.

But in the end, the coach couldn’t keep a smile from crossing his own lips.

“I don’t want to sit up here and act like we’re some giant program,” Flannery said. “I’m proud as heck.”