From Wisconsin to the Big Dance: Grant Leonard leads Queens into NCAA Tournament
"Go Badgers, go Bucks, go Packers and now go Royals."
Grant Leonard's favorite teams are exactly what you'd expect from a Wisconsin native. But he learned a lot more than just fandom here.
"The biggest thing for me that I always take from Wisconsin is how you treat people," said Leonard. "Wisconsin is one of the friendliest places I've ever been. I think it's carried over in recruiting our program. Character is everything and I learned the foundation of that in Wisconsin."
That foundation has led Queen's University and their head coach to the first NCAA Division 1 Tournament in program history. A long way from Leonard's first coaching job as a volunteer assistant at Shorewood High School in 2004.
"It's life changing for all of us. The school has over a billion impressions on social media. This is just neat, (talking in) hometown. I grew up watching channel 58 so it's been awesome," said Leonard.
The 15th seeded Royals are big underdogs Friday against Purdue, but with Buddy the Street Dog serving as their spirit animal and going to every game, they embrace the "underdog" role.
"We don't want to come here just to smell the roses. We want to bang heads. We want to make some noise. We're going to go there and show the world what Queens basketball is about. We play fast; we score a ton. We're going to try to be Cinderella," said Leonard.
Don't be surprised to see a lot more of Leonard and the Royals this week. Buddy tends to get some attention. So do coach's festive sweaters. He tells me he'll be going with a St. Patrick's Day theme Friday.