COLUMBUS, OH — The provost of Marquette University has to face the ultimate loyalty test during this year's NCAA Tournament. Who does he root for, his employer or his alma maters?
Dr. Kimo Ah Yun, the second highest-ranking official at Marquette, has a great problem to have. All of his teams are playing each other.
"One of the things the east bracket people are calling the Kimo bracket," he said.
Dr. Ah Yun went to Sacramento State for his undergraduate degree, Kansas State for his graduate degree, and Michigan State University for his Ph.D. Coincidentally, in the eastern region of the March Madness bracket Kansas State, Michigan State, and Marquette are all on a collision course.
Marquette will take on Michigan State on Sunday at 4:15 CT. If MU wins, the Golden Eagles could play Kansas State if the Wildcats win their matchup too.
"As soon as the brackets came out, my phone blew up," he said.
He has been talking to friends from his alma maters ever since the games were announced. What's more, his daughter goes to the University of Southern California, which lost to Michigan State in the first round. So there have been a lot of closely watched games for Dr. Ah Yun and his family.
"The schools where you go to you follow those teams, and so I follow all of them closely," he said.
The big question is this - who is he rooting for overall? Will he choose his employer or one of his alma maters?
"Obviously, there’s some conflict. But at the end of the day, it's all Marquette for me," he said.
Dr. Ah Yun made a few bets with his friends from MSU.
“A lot of bets that we are making that there will be several people wearing Marquette shirts on Michigan State's campus after we win tomorrow.”
While filling out a bracket on Saturday after the Golden Eagles' win over the Vermont Catamounts, he put Marquette winning the entire tournament. Even if the team doesn't come out on top, he said the national exposure for the school is a win.
"It's great for the city of Milwaukee. It's great for Marquette University. It's great for our students and alums."
Side note for the fans following the tournament, he has no. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson winning one more game before losing to Duke.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
