The morning was young. Warm light filled the room and the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans cascaded throughout the venue as people gathered to discuss basketball.
To give players from the men’s and women’s basketball teams an opportunity to answer questions from attendees, staff from Frank & Joe’s Coffee House hosted a meet and greet on Feb. 8 in which players from both the men’s and women’s teams answered questions from those who attended the event .
Around 10 people congregated in the small coffeeshop venue for the event that lasted two hours. Many people said that the atmosphere matched the event well.
Local customer Braden Cecil said, “I’ve been coming here pretty regularly for a couple of months and I love it. I’ve never really been to a more friendly place. It’s pretty cool that they’re doing this. And I wish that people did stuff like this when I was in school, because I would have liked to meet the stars.”
Devante Pullum, guard and business senior, said he enjoyed the event and the opportunity to meet new people.
“[I enjoyed] drinking a cup of coffee or two and meeting a lot of people. It’s fun to meet new people, especially around a familiar place,” Pullum said.
According to Hannah Reynolds, center and health science freshman, the meet and greet was a good chance for two different communities to merge together.
“It’s going to be great for the team and it’s going to be great for the community to come together and see what we can do,” Reynolds said, “it’s two groups of people that bring their own people together.”
In addition to the players attending the event, the baristas wore basketball jerseys throughout the entire day to show their support for the teams. The teams also held a free raffle and gave tickets for a future basketball game to one lucky winner, encouraging more attendance to the event.
“It’s cool to see a local restaurant help out and support a basketball team, from the local college. It’s just a pretty good way to show that people care about each other and want to build a community,” Cecil said.
