Palace and back.
"I didn't believe it at first," senior gaurd Tony Bennett said.
"It's kind of funny," Tauai said. "It's exciting to see what new car they're going to use each day. Yesterday it was a Charger. Today it was a Trailblazer."
These are new trails the Braves are blazing. Bradley hadn't won an NCAA game since 1986 until the Friday night victory over 12th ranked Kansas. Now the Braves will try to win two in the same NCAA tournament for the first time since 1955, when they won two before losing in the West Regional title game.
That could take a little getting used to.
Bradley fans have been so starved for a big winner, the temptation is to be satisfied with one triumph over one of the biggest names in college basketball. There is danger in turning the win over Kansas into something bigger than life.
"We're not done," Bennett insisted Saturday afternoon, as he nursed a strained neck suffered when 6'11 Kansan Sasha Kuan dived on top of him Friday night.
No, Bennett and his teammates would like to enjoy the royal treatment and the TV exposure and the adulation of their fans as long as possible. These are the things coach Jim Les promised then would come, if they would commit to his program and bond together and play the game with passion and purpose.
These are the things Les remembered form his days as the BU point guard on that last team to win an NCAA tounament game, and they are part of his quest to put Bradley back on the basketball map.
The Braves could get used to this.
Golf carts carry them down hallways to their appointed media interviews in the Palace.
"It's a two-minute walk! And we're riding golf carts!" Bennett said with a giggle. "They treat use like pros."
The Braves returned to their headquarters, the Somerset Inn in nearby Troy, after the win over Kansas and were welcomed by cheering fans.
They retired to their rooms and found the doors decorated with signs---congratulations on whipping the Jayhawks and good luck against Pitt---left by the cheerleaders from Missouri Valley brother Southern Illinois.
Their getting telephone calls from everywhere.
Junior forward Zach Andrews said he had 32 voice mails and 41 text messages awaiting him after the win. He stayed up till 5 a. m. and answered every one.
People are buzzing about Bradley basketball again, and everybody in the program could get used to this , right quick.
"I never really went to a Bradley game until they started recruiting me," point guard Danil Ruffin said.
Ruffin is the son of a former Bradley player and a lifetime Peorian. That tells you how far off the local radar the Braves had fallen in the past 20 years. It was reflected in recruiting, asPeoria high schools annually churned out all-staters and Bradley could barely get them to consider staying in town. Who would go to BU if there was an opportunity to play for a big-name program?
But here are the Braves today. Conquerors of a ranked team that represents a school with more victories than all but two in the history of the sport, one win away from being the Cinderella in the Big Dance, and about to take the floor on national network TV for the second time in two weeks.
Ruffin finds himself recognized around town now. He hears people talking Bradley basketball. He hears young kids excited about the program, and the former Peoria High School star has one thought:
"The better players in Peoria should stay home and play here, because we can win," Ruffin said.
Yes, everybody associated with Bradley basketball could get used to this.
