LA JOLLA, Calif. (KGTV) - All around UC San Diego, one very specific letter has been crossed off of signs, buildings and even walkways.
The Triton basketball squad will play the Wolverines Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Basketball postseason. The Wolverines' school is in the state that borders the Great Lakes and sits north of Ohio.
Because of that, Triton students taped large "X's" around the school, covering anywhere they saw the letter at the beginning of that state's epithet.
"I support it," says 2nd-year student Jake Leland, who added that he also crossed that letter out around his residence.
"I was just crazy about it," says student Braylon Booker. "[I get] a lot of pride to experience these things. And it's fun to be here."
The X's are a call back to when Ohio State plays the Wolverines. The two schools are bitter rivals. OSU students avoid using that letter at all costs during the week the two schools face off in football.
The idea has now spread across the grounds of UC San Diego.
The school says the effort was entirely student-led, by those in the "Triton Tide," the official fan club of Triton Athletics. The students started putting the tape over that letter on Sunday.
It was their way to celebrate the school's first trip to college basketball's big dance.
"We're super excited," Leland says. "This is the first year we're eligible... So I think it's a big deal we actually did it, and we're the one talked about as an upset in the bracket right now."
Tip-off against the Wolverines starts around 7 on Thursday night. And, if you were paying attention, you'll notice, that letter didn't appear in this story at all either.
