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Jim Bendat has been going to the NCAA Tournament since 1966. On 12 occasions, he has been to the Final Four. But as he sat in a mostly empty arena Wednesday afternoon, listening to a college band play and watching young men from his alma mater run layup drills, those moments could hardly compare.
"This is a special event," said Bendat, a 1971 graduate of Northwestern University. "I've been wondering if this would ever happen."
Pinch yourselves, Wildcats. This is real.
For the first time — ending a 78-year drought — Northwestern has been invited to the NCAA Tournament. But as the first-timers prepared for their opening-round matchup with Vanderbilt on Thursday in Salt Lake City, the Wildcats want more than the invitation.
"Now that we are here, we want to do everything we can to stay here," senior guard Sanjay Lumpkin said. "… It's been a magical season. It's been awesome. None of us want to see the season end."
The Wildcats have taken the long and tortuously winding road to get here. Northwestern hosted the first NCAA final in 1939 but had never played in the tournament, despite being ranked in the AP Top 25 at different points in five seasons.
Give credit to Chris Collins for changing that. The 42-year-old son of former NBA coach Doug Collins grew up just a short ways from the Northwestern campus in Evanston, Ill. He loved the campus. As a high school star, he played the final game of his prep career there in front of a packed gymnasium.
"I just thought if you kind of got the right guy in there and you could get the right players; I thought it could become something special," Collins said. "And maybe a lot of people didn't."
The Wildcats won 14 games in 2013-14, and 15 the next season. All the while, Collins saw a program nearing a breakthrough.
"There were so many wins I was seeing behind the scenes with how guys were working, training, their attitudes, commitment," he said. "But we couldn't get over the hump with the wins."
Last season, Northwestern went 23-11 but still missed out on March Madness. There were times this season, frankly, it looked like the Wildcats were headed for more of the same. Like when they lost twice to in-state rival Illinois, or when they went 1-3 with leading scorer Scottie Lindsey sidelined with mononucleosis.
"You go, 'Really? Is it really going to happen again?' " said Jim Olson, a 1978 graduate who made the trip from Chicago to Salt Lake City this week.
On Wednesday Olson and his friend Steve Christian were all smiles as they took photos with cheerleaders during practice at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
"We had to be here, unless somebody was sick in the hospital," Christian said. "But even then …"
They could joke now. But it wasn't until Nathan Taphorn threw an inch-perfect full-court pass to Derek Pardon for a layup to beat Michigan at the buzzer on March 1, it seemed Northwestern's fortunes had turned around.
"I was running around my house screaming," said ESPN's Darren Rovell.
A sports business reporter and a Northwestern graduate, Rovell booked hotels in seven cities. Then, on a hunch, he purchased a plane ticket to Salt Lake City. Next, he bought a cassette player.
Rovell has lately been listening to — and finally enjoying — recordings of his days broadcasting Wildcat basketball for the student-run WNUR during the 1990-91 season when the 'Cats went 0-18 in conference play.
"We're going to show up in force," Rovell said. "I think we have a greater appreciation of the moment because of our history."
The Wildcats are the tourney's darling and, with the university's school of journalism having produced so many of the nation's most prominent sports writers, that doesn't seem likely to end if they can earn their first tournament victory.
"I'm sure the coverage will be so overwhelming if we reach the Sweet 16 that everyone will be sick of the story," predicted J.A. Adande, a longtime reporter and columnist who now runs the school's sports journalism program.
Adande came to Salt Lake City in 1993 to cover his first NCAA Tournament. He was here in 1997 for Michael Jordan's flu game in the NBA Finals. But there was a different sort of pride as he trekked to Utah on Wednesday.
"The outcome is almost secondary to the mere existence. Simply seeing that purple N in the Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com was immensely satisfying to me," he wrote in an email on his flight to Salt Lake City.
As they settled in for their game on Thursday, however, the Wildcats were looking to shut out the media hype and start writing the next chapter of their incredible story.
It's a story Collins has dreamed of his whole life. As a kid, he would write down the teams listed on the bracket and play out the games by himself on a basketball court.
"I would play the whole game. I would announce all the teams. I knew every player," he said. "Every game came down to a buzzer shot. I would play the whole tournament for hours. My dream in life was to be a part of this. I always wanted to be on one shining moment."
Collins reached the NCAA title game as a player with Duke in 1994. Now, he wants a chance for his Wildcats to shine.
"To me, it's no an end game," he said of the tourney berth. "I want this to be the beginning of our program."
Fans like Bendat would love that, too. He sported a well-worn Northwestern hat and a Wildcat Starter jacket. He was only missing one thing.
"I don't have a game ticket yet, but I'm working that. It'll happen," he said, suddenly a believer.
Twitter: @aaronfalk The NCAAs and Northwestern
• The first NCAA championship game was held at Northwestern's Patten Gym in 1939, but the Wildcats hadn't been in the tournament until now.
• The Wildcats had three wins over ranked teams this season: No. 22 Texas, No. 7 Wisconsin and No. 25 Maryland.