Let’s take a moment and get something straight.

If it’s spring break at Marquette, where should you find yourself?

If you said “at home,” then I’m sorry, but you are sorely mistaken. There is a reason why Marquette schedules its spring breaks around one of the most important weeks of the year: the beginning of the men’s college basketball tournament.

It gives any student with ambition and a mode of transportation to go anywhere they want in the country to see a March Madness game, something that only a handful of people can say they have done.

Last week I found myself in Arizona, far from my native Rhode Island, and took the opportunity to watch two tournament games in one day. Sporting a gold Marquette shirt, I journeyed with my aunt and uncle to Tucson for my first-ever March Madness game.

I suppose the first piece of insight I should let you in on is that acquiring tickets for such an event is not nearly as stressful as it is advertised. Yes, grabbing seats behind the bench requires consistent donations to the school, but digging a bit deeper and buying tickets for mezzanine seats at center court is easier on the wallet.

The not-so-obvious factoid when looking at second-round ticket possibilities is that your seat is good for two games. Wisconsin vs. Belmont and Kansas State vs. Utah State were the two match-ups slated for our visit. Being in Arizona, a relatively far location from competing universities, I thought the fan representation for all four schools would be scarce.

Boy, was I wrong.

The winner for “Most Spirited Fan Section”  indubitably gets awarded to the team that had to travel the farthest to get to Tucson, Belmont University of Nashville, Tenn. A rather rowdy Belmont student section stood for the entire game and donned the look-alike sweater vest attire that head coach Rick Byrd sports.

You must understand, watching tournament games on television is deceiving. All the courts look identical and the crowds appear the same when you’re sitting comfortably on the living room sofa. Students and alumni will show up to support their team even if it means putting themselves in seats the furthest away from the action and away from TV view.

I had been to last year’s NIT Tournament semifinals in New York, but these games were somehow different. There is so much more on the line in the NCAA tournament. People have a passion for these games. It’s not just about getting a perfect bracket or hoping for that improbable upset. It’s about having that one chance per year to go cheer for your team when they need it the most.

It’s about the Utah State fans who wander around the arena and paint their faces and hair blue and white or the Kansas State fans waving humongous purple flags to celebrate after a dunk. That’s where the emotion and intensity of the tournament comes from.

And although I incorrectly picked both winners on my bracket (Wisconsin and Kansas State won their respective games) it didn’t have an effect on me. I glanced around the McKale Center on the University of Arizona campus and thought to myself, “I’m here. I’m finally here.” Nothing else mattered at that point.

So let’s try again. If you’re on spring break at Marquette, where should you find yourself?

I’ll leave it for you to decide.

Kyle Doubrava is a freshman in the College of Communication