‘Can’t Wait to Be Able to Hold Them’: Players’ Parents in an N.C.A.A. Bubble

Of course, playing near a teammate’s home has other perks. On Wednesday evening, Kiana Williams’s brother’s wife’s grandmother wrapped up two pans of homemade lasagna — one with meat and one without — and gave them to Williams’s mother, LaChelle, who drove them to the team’s hotel. She left the lasagna, cooked with love for the players and staff, with some of the credentialed personnel.

“And it was delicious,” VanDerveer said.

While the parents are excited to see their children to play, they are more thrilled about the prospect of having them come home.

“As soon as the game is over and she gets on the bus and goes to the hotel, we’ll be right behind the bus,” Mike Williams said.

“We have these big chair couches,” Greg Brink said of the family home in Oregon, “so a lot of people can climb on them at one time — a lot of cuddling, the dog is going to be jumping on top of this.”

“Win or lose, I don’t care, I just can’t wait to be able to hold them. But they’re going to fight until the end,” Jaime Hull said, acknowledging that the title game on Sunday could delay the reunions. “So I’ll wait until Monday, if that’s what it takes, or Sunday night. I can make it that long.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/ncaa-tournament-stanford.html