Tournament time is serious business. We’re talking top button fastened, wear your best tie and grimly assess the day’s successes and failures serious. It’s certainly no laughing matter.

Enter the Emporia State men. Saturday night they became the first eight seed to reach the tournament final in the 27-year history of the MIAA basketball championships. But they represent more than history; they’re doing their part to make tournament time fun.

With DeAndre Townsend as the ringleader, the Hornets are becoming as memorable for their antics as their upsets. After Emporia’s 71-63 win over Fort Hays, seniors Townsend, Jordan Fithian and Andrew Davison took turns complimenting each other on their respective press-conference quotes, chest bumping their coach and generally acting as if this is all fun and games -- both of which are true when the Hornets are playing.

Their Fort Hays counterparts weren’t so jovial. I guess trying to catch Townsend for 40 minutes can kind of be a kill joy. Tigers coach Mark Johnson admitted afterward his team’s game plan was to let Townsend have a big game and shut down everyone else. I don’t think it really mattered how the Tigers drew it up, they weren’t going to stop Townsend. He got to any point on the court he wanted, scored his 30 points and needed just 17 shots to do so.

The defining play came when Townsend drove the lane in the second half, pump faked and got three Tigers to jump in unison to block his shot. All three landed on Townsend, who went to the free throw line and extended Emporia’s lead. A minute later, he did the same thing, prompting Fort Hays’ Terry Jeffries to slam the ball in frustration. And through it all, Townsend continued to be his demonstrative, vocal self, making him pretty much my favorite player in the league to watch.

Whether tongue lashing the officials, flipping hand signals at Fort Hays players or setting the ball down in front of the Tigers’ bench after the final buzzer, he was in fine form Saturday. And luckily for everyone in Kansas City’s Ice Box, we get at least one more show Sunday.

--- The higher seeds are 2-4 on the men’s side and 3-3 on the women’s through three days of games. Baptist women’s coach Jim Middleton summed it up best after his press conference Saturday. He took a sip of his water, glanced at the box score and said “yee haw.” Indeed.

--- Speaking of, I developed a theory that can possibly explain all the upsets -- at least on the women’s side. Emporia coach Brandon Schneider and Washburn’s Ron McHenry both wore ties when their teams lost, while their coaching counterparts did not. So my advice to Jim Middleton and Steve Tappmeyer for today’s finals would be to unbutton that top button, let a little chest hair out and find your best gold chain. Ties show vulnerability. It’s also in keeping with the Emporia tone for this tournament. It should be noted, The Emporia Gazette’s Jesse Newell helped spawn this theory. You have to give credit where credit is due.

--- I knew Northwest’s students were tough when a few of them showed up shirtless for the playoff game against Grand Valley, but they really earned my respect braving the elements of Kansas City’s Ice Box on Saturday. They even conserved enough body heat to provide the rest of us with some pseudo play-by-play, chanting “dribble, dribble, dribble, ppassssss, shhoottt” during various opponents’ possessions. Annoyingly effective.

--- And finally, Saturday’s highlight has to be when power went out at our hotel, which necessitated carrying a suitcase up the stairs to the 16th floor of Hotel Phillips. It almost offset the nauseating amount of Minsky’s Pizza I ate in the past three days. Almost. But there is nothing like winding your way up a concrete stairwell in the dark with glow sticks on the floor as your only guide. Somewhere a serial killer or Hollywood director missed a wonderful chance to add to our nation’s storied history of creepy hotel occurrences.