Lifelong friends took the trip of a lifetime when they went to Wichita State’s Final Four game in Atlanta last April.

An “electric” and “surreal” atmosphere created a memorable experience for then-freshmen Sam Harp and Isaac Stine, who made the 14-hour drive through the night to the Georgia Dome.

“I found out that one of my friends [Stine] was going down with some of the members of his fraternity and I got invited to tag along with them,” Harp said.

Their caravan was made up of a few cars filled with WSU Delta Upsilon members, plus a car with Stine, Harp and more of the fraternity brothers. Tagging along with the group meant that Harp was the only non-fraternity member.

“It’s not a culture that I’m used to by any stretch of the imagination,” Harp said. “It was a really big culture shock…but yeah, totally worth it.”

Harp said one benefit was that the group stayed at the DU fraternity house at Georgia Tech.

The cost was “absolutely free,” Harp said.

“One of our members had the president of that chapter’s information, so we contacted him, and they were more than happy to have us crash there,” Stine said. “There were actually DU men from all of the Final Four schools at the house.”

After a long night of driving, the group arrived at the fraternity house, which was within walking distance of the stadium. Harp and Stine decided to walk, rather than trying to find parking.

The rest of the group left without them, and without a map, the two got lost. After finally finding the dome, they couldn’t figure out where to get in. An unlocked back door provided passage five minutes before game time. They ran down the hallways trying to figure out where they should be.

“We get there with, like, three minutes to spare and come to find out that that was the suggested time,” Harp said. “We were actually kind of early — they hadn’t even started handing out tickets — they were just handing out vouchers to get tickets.”

When they finally received their tickets, Harp said they got “decent seats,” better than the standing-room-only area near the floor. Going into the game was a moment he will never forget.

“The place that we all met up was separate from the arena itself. It was connected by a tunnel underground, so it was this really cool moment,” Harp said. “It got you really psyched up for the game, in my opinion. It had that really super surreal feel, like, ‘Holy crap, this is happening.’ It was just one of those moments where you just had to take it all in.”

During the game, there were immediate connections between strangers who were simply linked by the colors on their shirts. Stine recalled how crowds of people were wearing Shocker yellow and black, together cheering on their team.

“The atmosphere at the game was electric,” Stine said “I’ve been to some professional sporting events and they are always a blast, but I don’t think anything will ever compare that game. People all over the country were rooting for us, and you could feel it the whole game.”

Though the team lost, both Harp and Stine agreed it was a worthwhile trip, one that they would take again if the chance arose.

“I guess it did change me, because it created a hunger for wanting to get back there and wanting to be able to have that experience every year after that,” Harp said. “It created an expectation that I have now for them.”

Stine said he would remember the whirlwind adventure for years to come.

“Admittedly, coming to Wichita State, I was a KU fan first, then a Wichita State fan,” Stine said. “Now I bleed black and yellow…I also get to cheer on one of the most exciting teams in the country.”