Aggressive. Angry. Determined.

Those three words describe the Wichita State Shockers who made it past No. 1 seed Gonzaga, La Salle and Ohio State. On the other hand, they could be the dictionary definition of Shocker Nation.

The Shocker Faithful, as fans of the Shocker basketball team are otherwise known, have traveled to Los Angeles to watch them play in the Elite Eight, and now a multitude of them will be journeying to Atlanta to watch them play in the Final Four this weekend.

Students were sent an e-mail around 4 p.m. Tuesday informing them that the only way to get the 700 available student tickets was to purchase them online. They went on sale at 4 p.m. April 1 at $40 each and the deadline for purchasing them was Tuesday, April 2 at 5 p.m.

Students weren’t previously made aware that this was the only way to obtain tickets. Members of Delta Upsilon stood in line for over nine hours Sunday night in front of the athletics ticket box office in hopes of snagging tickets.

“My fraternity brothers and I got there at 11 p.m. on Sunday night,” said Tyler Hockenberry, a member of Delta Upsilon, who was able to purchase tickets online.

“It means a lot to me to go see the Shockers play in Atlanta,” he said. “We owe them the support with all the hard work they put in day in and day out in the gym.”

Another student who also stood in line Monday morning for over two hours was Michaela Liebst.

“This guy came out (at about 8:30 a.m.) and said that student tickets were going to be sold online,” Liebst said.

Senior Julie Scherer, who drove to Los Angeles to see the team play in the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight, will also be traveling to Atlanta to see the Final Four games.

“The moment we won, I was thinking ‘I need to get my hands on those (Final Four tickets),’” Scherer said as she watched WSU defeat Ohio State.

Senior Matt Baker said work and school factored into his decision to journey to Atlanta to see the Shockers play. Ultimately his wild side got the better of him.

“I said it doesn’t really matter and ordered tickets Tuesday morning,” Baker said. “I built a bracket and I have them in the Final Four. I am speechless, so thrilled and so excited for the Shockers.”

A fraction of the 700 student tickets went to WSU Greeks. Sigma Alpha Epsilon President Tyler Nepote said more than 200 Greeks will be traveling to Atlanta, including 38 SAE members.

“We will be using two 15-passenger vans and an SUV,” said Nepote, who told his men all they had to do was buy their tickets.

SAE’s Tate Blanton and Nepote planned this while watching WSU play Ohio State and 24 hours later it was decided they would be staying at Georgia Institute of Technology’s SAE chapter house along with SAE chapters from Louisville and Michigan.

The Shocker men’s team earned their golden ticket to the Final Four and the Shocker Faithful will be right alongside cheering them on. 

“We get to take the Shocker Nation to the Final Four,” said coach Gregg Marshall. “And go they will.”