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PROVO — Emily Johnson will head from Omaha to Indianapolis after watching her son, Spencer Johnson and his BYU teammates lose a close game Thursday to Duquesne in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Why Indianapolis?
Emily Johnson, along with her daughter Gracie Johnson, will drive 600 miles east to watch her son, Isaac Johnson, and his Utah State teammates take on TCU in another first-round game Friday. That wasn't in the plans, but with the Cougars' upset loss she figured what's another road trip after all the miles she has logged the past couple of weeks. Besides, she packed an Aggies shirt just in case. She'll meet her husband, Darren Johnson, who is flying from Salt Lake City to Indianapolis for the game. On Saturday, she and Gracie Johnson will drive back to Omaha to fly home.
March really is madness for the Johnson family.
Not only do the Johnson's sons play college basketball, their daughter Gracie Johnson is a freshman forward on the Utah State women's team. There are few, if any, parents who can claim three kids playing Division 1 basketball at the same time. And to have two on different teams in the NCAA Tournament is unusual as well.
"March Madness goes to a whole new level for us. It really is kind of madness in a way. I mean it's great madness. I would never, never trade it," Emily Johnson said by telephone from the Chi Health Center arena in Omaha.
Darren and Emily Johnson have been on the road or in the air this month to watch all three children play in conference and NCAA Tournament games from Las Vegas to Indianapolis and points in between.
"We do it because we love our kids and they worked really hard for this moment. It really doesn't come around very often. You just gotta enjoy it when it comes," Darren Johnson said by phone, with the sound of kids in the background at Diamond Ridge Elementary School in West Valley where he is the principal.
Last week, after watching Utah State play in a first-round loss in the Mountain West Conference women's tournament in Las Vegas, Emily drove to Kansas City to see Spencer Johnson, a senior guard, take the court for BYU in the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. After the Cougars lost in the quarterfinals, she drove back to Las Vegas — detouring to Albuquerque to avoid a snowstorm in Denver — in time to catch Isaac Johnson, a Utah State sophomore center, in the Mountain West men's tournament.
In all, she put more than 3,000 miles on a rental car.
Darren Johnson managed to get away for the Mountain West men's tournament but wasn't able to travel to Kansas City.
While Emily Johnson and Gracie Johnson were in Omaha for BYU's first-round NCAA Tournament game, Darren Johnson barricaded himself in his school office to watch on TV.
"We had to divide and conquer on this one," Darren Johnson said.
For BYU games, the Johnsons don Cougar blue. They change into Aggie blue for Utah State games. Longtime rivals with rabid fan bases, the schools didn't play each other this year, sparing the parents from having to show a split personality. In opposite brackets in the NCAA Tournament, the only way BYU and Utah State would have met was in the national championship game.
"I guess I would say to the fan bases, it's possible to like both universities or multiple universities. You don't have to hate one in order to like the other," Darren Johnson said.
The Johnsons have been able to attend most of their kids' home games in Provo and Logan this season. Traveling for basketball is nothing new for them. Family vacations were planned around various tournaments and showcases across the country for years.
"It has been just wonderful. We've been a basketball family for a lot of years. I'm sure a lot of our neighbors thought we were crazy at the time. But we just feel so blessed that our kids have these opportunities. They don't come around very often," Darren Johnson said.
Emily Johnson expressed the same feelings.
"Why do we do this? Well, I would say these are their dreams. As parents ... sorry it's going to make me cry, actually ... because as parents we want to support their dreams. We love them. We're proud of them," she said. "And if we can help them and support their dreams and just know that this is something that they can do, and the only thing that we can do is just be there and cheer."
While Spencer Johnson's college basketball career came to an end with 11 points and 16 rebounds Thursday, the Johnsons will still have a few more years to cheer on Isaac Johnson and Gracie Johnson. And, no doubt, more March Madness will ensue.
