Only in the NCAA Tournament could two college basketball locker rooms feature polar opposite atmospheres.

But such is the nature of March Madness. In the first night of Carrier Dome action for the weekend, with the entire nation tuned in, fourth-seeded Louisville (27-8) held off No. 8 seed North Carolina State (22-14), 75-65. Not long after, seventh-seeded Michigan State (26-11) upended No. 3 seed Oklahoma (24-11), 62-58, to clinch the next spot in the Elite Eight.

And after the final buzzers, all kinds of emotions were on display and the unusual moonlighted as the usual.

Fifty-plus reporters pack into the tight, smelly confines of MSU’s locker room to access the players, and Spartan forward Colby Wollenman has to slip his 6-foot-7 frame around two cameras and teammate Bryn Forbes just to reach the showers.

Down the hall in Oklahoma’s locker room, three Sooners sit in a row in identical positions — leaning back in a chair, head down, focusing on nothing but an iPhone. Dishearted sophomore Frank Booker is barely audible from 4 feet away. And junior guard Buddy Hield, a notably fast speaker, is subdued to the point his speech is worlds clearer than a day earlier.

Just hours earlier and a locker room over, the N.C. State atmosphere was comparable.

Forward Abdul-Malik Abu looks down at the floor, speaking with his volume turned way down from the previous day’s open locker room. Forward BeeJay Anya somberly scratches his beard as he answers questions.

And hiding behind Anya, with his jersey tucked over his eyes and his head buried in his hands, is senior Ralston Turner, who is now 20 minutes into being a former Wolfpack.

And the stagnant guard’s only signs of life are two twitches of his right index finger and, two minutes later, a sniffle.

But 36 paces down the Carrier Dome hallway is a boisterous Cardinals locker room, and its hero of the night hasn’t even gotten there yet from the interview room.

Freshman Chinanu Onuaku anxiously paces around the room, asking NCAA personnel when he can leave to scout Michigan State and Oklahoma’s game.

Sitting up straight, star guard Terry Rozier smiles, incites laughter and credits the old streetball game of “33” as being the reason he rebounds so well — and did it 14 times Friday night. When reflecting on the magnitude of the win, he takes a deep sigh, grins again and tells reporters, “We’re not done yet.”

But despite his 17 points, questions are still asked about a teammate who contributed just as much down the stretch.

And then the door from the hallway opens.

Enter Montrezl Harrell, a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference big man and the game’s highest scorer with 24 points.

And he introduces the player a group of media is dying to speak with.

“There’s Anton Gill!” Harrell exclaims, pointing to the reserve guard behind him, as he walks to his locker across the room from Gill’s.

Nine reporters follow the star to his locker. Twelve flock to the locker of the sophomore who, before this night, hadn’t scored since Feb. 28.

But in this Sweet 16 showdown, Gill netted all seven of his points in a span of 2:20 in the last six minutes of the game to spring the Cardinals past N.C. State.

“You dream about stuff like this,” Gill says.

But only in the NCAA Tournament is when this stuff becomes reality.

Published on March 28, 2015 at 12:00 am

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