{"id":10939,"date":"2017-03-13T21:51:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T05:51:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/a-dream-come-true-as-new-orleans-plays-in-the-first-four\/"},"modified":"2017-03-13T21:51:00","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T05:51:00","slug":"a-dream-come-true-as-new-orleans-plays-in-the-first-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.info\/content\/a-dream-come-true-as-new-orleans-plays-in-the-first-four\/","title":{"rendered":"'A Dream Come True' As New Orleans Plays In The First Four"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Goldman<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n New Orleans Privateer guard Nate Frye signs autographs after a Monday practice at the University of Dayton Arena. Frye, a senior, joined the team when it was going through a difficult period of deciding whether it had the resources to compete in Division I.<\/p>\n

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Tom Goldman\/NPR<\/p>\n

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Tom Goldman\/NPR<\/p>\n

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The NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament begins today with a game, if history holds, that will have absolutely no bearing on the ultimate tournament outcome in early April.<\/p>\n

The University of New Orleans and Mount St. Mary’s kick things off at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio. Both teams are No. 16 seeds, the lowest, and they’re playing for a shot at the highest seed. The winner moves into the main draw to play Villanova \u2013 the tournament’s overall No. 1.<\/p>\n

No 16 seed has ever beaten a 1 seed.<\/p>\n

But New Orleans head coach Mark Slessinger refuses to see his Privateers as potential cannon fodder.<\/p>\n

“It would be hard for me to believe that anybody [in the tournament] could appreciate this moment more [than his team],” Slessinger said Monday in Dayton.<\/p>\n

Today is New Orleans’ first tournament appearance since 1996. But what really makes the Privateers appreciate this moment is the fact that within the last five to 10 years, there was a very real chance this Division I basketball team would be no more.<\/p>\n