Michigan State Rep. Appears To Get Duped By Buses Carrying NCAA Tournament Teams For 'Illegal Invaders'

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Two of the eight Sweet Sixteen games in the NCAA Tournament will be held at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Friday evening with an Elite Eight contest set to follow on Sunday. One would imagine State Rep. Matt Maddock (R) would be aware that one of the biggest sporting events in the United States would be taking over the largest city in his state for the weekend, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

Maddock jumped on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday night and shared a photo of three buses parked outside of Detroit Metro Airport and another photo of half of an Allegiant plane as well. He claimed that the "three buses just loaded up with illegal invaders" and tagged Pete Hoekstra, chairman of the Michigan GOP, in the post.

Given that the United States' southern border is wide open and undocumented individuals are being flown and bused to certain cities around the country, Maddock's assumption was somewhat understandable. He appeared to see an opportunity and wanted to share a scoop on illegal immigrants being bused around Detroit. 

The first and most important rule of breaking news is to make sure that news is accurate.

It appears Mr. Maddock forgot that rule.

All signs point to the three buses Maddock claimed were carrying "illegal invaders" were actually there to pick up Gonzaga's basketball team and support staff. Gonzaga takes on Purdue in Detroit on Friday before Tennessee and Creighton square off in the second game of the night.

The Bulldogs' official X account shared a video of the team touching down in Detroit on Wednesday, and the quick clip shows the team boarding an Allegiant plane just like the one in the photo Maddock shared.

Tennessee, Creighton, and Purdue all shared videos and photos of their teams arriving in Detroit on Wednesday as well.

Someone suggested in Maddock's mentions that the buses could be there to pick up the teams arriving at the airport, but the Michigan man doubled down on his take and called the person a "kommie."

It's fair to say that Matt Maddock is not a big college hoops fan.

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Mark covers all sports at OutKick while keeping a close eye on the world of professional golf. He graduated from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga before earning his master's degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee. He somehow survived living in Knoxville despite ‘Rocky Top’ being his least favorite song ever written. Before joining OutKick, he wrote for various outlets including SB Nation, The Spun, and BroBible. Mark was also a writer for the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate in 2016 when the team won the World Series. He's still waiting for his championship ring to arrive. Follow him on Twitter @itismarkharris.