Lisa Byington remembers the butterflies she felt as a little kid watching the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
She was a basketball player herself, and with men’s games televised much more frequently than the women’s, March Madness was always her favorite event.
Byington paid more attention to the players than the announcers—she dreamt of being an athlete, and would imagine herself as a college player, hearing “One Shining Moment” or emulating Keith Smart’s 1987 corner-jumper game-winner for Indiana.
She may not have foreseen making it to March as the one calling, instead of taking, the shots. (Although she would do that, too, helping Northwestern to an NCAA tournament appearance as a point guard in 1997.