MILWAUKEE, WI – It took Seth Trimble a return to his hometown while in college to play on a floor he’s seen in person so many times.
A native of Menomonee Falls, WI, Trimble is a Milwaukee guy. Born and bread. He jokes about how North Carolinians handle snow. That kind of Wisconsin guy.
He’s also a UNC basketball player, and Friday will play inside the home of the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time in his life. Trimble has been a regular in what is now called Fiserv Forum, but he’s never scored a point or even run out of the tunnel for a game here. But he will Friday.
“I’ve been in here for many, many Bucks games, but never played,” he said sitting inside Carolina’s locker room in Fiserv Forum. Moments later, Trimble did technically run out of the tunnel, but it was for practice.
“Walking in this building, walking through, I saw a couple security guards I used to see all the time coming to Bucks games. They gave me a huge hug. It’s amazing, it’s amazing. I’m sure the feeling once I walk onto the court will be double.”
Taking on Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Tournament will be the real thing.
The game tips at approximately 4:05 EST and on hand cheering the local star and former Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin will be a throng of Trimble’s family, friends, and fans. Each player in the NCAA Tournament gets six tickets per game to distribute however they want, but Trimble needed more. A lot more.
So, he began the quest of wheeling and dealing with teammates trying to satisfy as many requests as possible. His total haul?
“Guys have really blessed me,” he said. “I’m super grateful for it. I have a total of 24 tickets for tomorrow.”
Naturally, college dudes being college dudes, he now has a bunch of favors to return or possibly had some weird requests in return.
Not really. It’s a teammate thing. A brotherhood thing. A Tar Heel thing, he says.
“No, no. We do favors for each other all year, whether it’s giving each other gifts, giving each other tickets, whatever it is, giving somebody a ride home,” Trimble said. “It’s the little things that add up all year that we do for each other that we’re always paying each other back I feel like.”
The NCAA Tournament is all about dreams coming true. For Trimble, his was twofold, beginning with Sunday evening when he not only learned the Tar Heels would make the field but then had a chance to play in Milwaukee.
Of course, UNC had to beat San Diego State in Dayton first. They did that. Now for the other Trimble dream that will soon come true.
“Seeing it on TV, I was in shock, honestly,” he said about Sunday’s announcement. “I got chills. A couple of days before that, I was talking to my dad about how crazy it would be if we got a bid in Milwaukee and it came true in that moment. I was literally just kind of stuck on a coach with a blank expression.
“There was so many chills going through my body, and it’ll be the same once I get to run out of that tunnel (Friday).”
