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MILWAUKEE — While in Charlotte for the ACC Tournament, Seth Trimble chatted with his dad, Trevor, about North Carolina's potential NCAA Tournament destination.
"Man, what if we get a bid in Milwaukee?" Trimble said to his dad. "Like, wouldn't that be crazy?"
Milwaukee rests roughly 20 miles from Trimble's hometown of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, and the city is one of the eight hosting locations for the first round of the tournament. Trimble has always been a fan of the Milwaukee Bucks and attended their games, but through three years of college, he hasn't played a game back in his home state.
But on Sunday, North Carolina's placement into the NCAA Tournament landed the 11th-seeded Tar Heels into the South Region with a First Four game against San Diego State, and their victory on Tuesday sent them to Milwaukee to face No. 6 Ole Miss at Fiserv Forum.
"I'm ready to get on this plane now and get to Milwaukee, man," Trimble said after Tuesday's game. "This will be the first time I'll ever get to play a collegiate game in Milwaukee, in front of my family, in front of my friends in the Fiserv. This is God's blessing."
Trimble played for Menomonee Falls High School under Jason Hallenbeck and won Mr. Basketball for the state of Wisconsin in 2022. Growing up in Menomonee Falls, a village that registered a population of more than 38,000 people in the 2020 census, he attended "at least 40" Bucks games, he said, at Fiserv Forum and the old Bradley Center, where the Bucks played until 2018.
North Carolina practiced in the Bucks' practice facility on Wednesday afternoon after taking a 2:30 a.m. flight out of Dayton. When Trimble walked into Fiserv Forum on Thursday for practice and interviews, he saw a few security guards that he recognized from going to NBA games growing up and shared hugs with them. Trimble was given a total of 24 tickets for Friday's game, supplied by his teammates who offered theirs to share with the junior guard. The standard allotted total is six tickets per player.
"I'm happy for him," Jalen Washington, one of Trimble's closest friends on the team, said on Thursday. "It's just awesome for him to come back and be able to live a dream of his and be able to play in front of his family and friends in his hometown. We just want to be able to go out here and play hard so we can celebrate and enjoy the win."
Trimble suggested the team go to a restaurant called Mo's, A Place For Steaks, where Trimble and his family used to share meals. The family dined there in 2022, the night before he went to Chapel Hill to begin his time in college with the Tar Heels. The team visited Mo's for dinner on Wednesday in a private room, enjoying calamari, steak, and dessert.
Since the team's arrival to Wisconsin, Trimble has shared stories about places he used to go and venues he used to play in. UNC's trip to Milwaukee could last as long as Sunday and end as quickly Friday depending on how it fares on the court.
Trimble said he doesn't make it back home to Wisconsin often. He trains in Los Angeles during the summer, sometimes doing so with his brother and former Tar Heel, J.P. Tokoto. During the school year, he doesn't have many opportunities to go home, either.
"You have to sacrifice sometimes in the offseason if you want to go home and do this and that, or if you want to go somewhere else and do this and that," Trimble said. "So I feel like I'm kind of a good mix of both. I went home this summer for a few days, only really went home for Christmas. That's really been it. I've haven't been home for more than three or four weeks this whole year. So it's not often, but I get to embrace it every time I go home. The comfort, my family, my dog, everything, I love it."
(Photo: Jim Hawkins/Inside Carolina, 247Sports)
When he does go back home, Trimble said he likes to catch up with his friends, see his family and see his 12-year-old dog, Buster, a French Jack Russell Terrier bulldog. He said on Tuesday that Buster will be the "team dog for the weekend."
When Trimble spoke with his dad about a potential homecoming game in Milwaukee, North Carolina's place in the NCAA Tournament wasn't quite secure yet. The team won six of its final seven regular season games before the ACC Tournament started, but even after two wins in Charlotte, its loss to Duke left it with just one Quad 1 win on the season. North Carolina got the nod in the end, though, as the last team in the field.
UNC put itself in a position to make the tournament by picking up its offensive performances in the last month. The team averaged 82.9 across its 10 games before the tournament, and it lit up San Diego State by shooting 52.6% from the field and 14-24 from 3-point range. The 95 points UNC scored were the most that San Diego State has given up since 2006. The Tar Heels dialed into a different mindset after the loss to Clemson, leading them to play their best stretch of basketball at the perfect time of year.
"The team in November, December wasn't a tournament team," Trimble said. "We weren't necessarily ready for that next step, and that's on the defensive and offensive end. But I think now, everybody's bought into it. Everybody's bought into the little details and we've all just followed our principles and it's taking us somewhere, so we just got to keep going."
Trimble played his part in the team's first NCAA Tournament game. He supplied 16 points and three rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench in North Carolina's route of San Diego State. Trimble made it a point to attack the basket and get to the free throw line on Tuesday, and his ability to put pressure on the Aztecs' defense helped UNC break the game open.
"He does a number of positive and great things for us," Hubert Davis said on Thursday. "One of them is being able to attack the basket and get fouled and get to the free throw line. One, because he has the ability to do that. Two, he has the ability to do that consistently and be able to score and finish because of his athleticism and strength. Three, when he gets fouled, he can go to the free throw line and is one of the best free throw shooters in our team and conference. I tell him to attack, attack, attack under control because I think good things happen when he attacks the basket."
Hanging from the ceiling in Fiserv Forum are the Bucks' championship banners from 1971 and 2021, their NBA Cup championship banner from 2024 and the jerseys of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Oscar Robertson, Bob Dandridge, Sidney Moncrief and others.
When Trimble takes the court for the Tar Heels on Friday, he'll play where his favorite players like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday played for years. He often has his family and a strong contingent of fans at UNC's games, but playing in his home state will give him a new collegiate milestone.
"There were so many chills going through my body," Trimble said on Thursday, speaking about his initial reaction to seeing a potential game in Milwaukee for UNC. "It will be the same once I run out of the tunnel tomorrow. To be able to play in Milwaukee, right next to my hometown, play in front of my family, in front of my friends, run out of the tunnel I've always dreamed about playing in, I'm sure it will be an amazing experience. I'm looking forward to it."