It was a brief detour in downtown Toronto. A quick 5-minute stop into an underground parking garage.
 
But the message delivered to the Brock Badgers men's basketball team Tuesday morning as they made their way to USPORTS National Championships was an important one: "give everything you've got and have no regrets."
 
Almost as important as the message itself was the person delivering it: Toronto Raptors guard Fred Van Vleet, who jumped on the Badgers team bus for a brief motivational speech thanks to the connections of Brock head coach Charles Kissi.
 
The Badgers made the stop in the underground parking garage of the Air Canada Centre as they made their way toward Billy Bishop Airport, the first leg of their day-long journey to Halifax, where the USPORTS Final 8 tournament awaits.
 
The Badgers earned a wild-card entry to the tournament taking place Thursday to Sunday, marking the first time since 2007-08 that the men's team has played in the Nationals. The goal, of course, is a repeat of that tournament when Brock won its second national championship.
 
"I remember these moments more so than some of the plays now," Van Vleet said. "You're about to go to battle with your brothers. The guys sitting next to you is all you've got and nothing else matters."
 
The second-year NBA player said he cherishes his time playing college basketball with Wichita State.
 
"No matter what I do in the NBA, I can never get my four years in college back or those memories with those guys back," he said. "Go out there, leave it all on the floor and just have fun. That gets lost in a lot of what we do. Enjoy it because you could be doing a lot of worse things right now. "Play as hard as you can and you'll be fine living with the result."
 
Second-year Badgers forward Daniel Cayer said the message meant a lot coming from a NBAer who went to the NCAA Final Four.
 
"He's someone who has been through it," said Cayer. "So for him to give us some pointers on how to stay focused and just have fun out there means a lot."
 
He said the message about enjoying the moment wasn't lost on the Badgers players.
 
"A lot of times we come into practice and it always feels like business. But we're still young. It's important for it to be a good experience and for us to just go out there and work hard and do our best."
 
 
The Badgers will have their first practice session at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax Wednesday morning at 9:20 a.m. AST. That will be followed by a media conference and then the USPORTS awards gala Wednesday night.
 
The first tournament action will come Thursday at 2 p.m. AST (1 p.m. EST) when seventh-seeded Brock faces the second-seeded Calgary Dinos in the quarter-final round.
 
During downtime on the trip to Halifax Tuesday, Kissi and his assistant coaches gathered around a laptop watching game film and plotting their strategy.
 
Kissi knows the Dinos are a strong team, but said he feels the Badgers match up well.
 
"We're going to have to really focus on our defensive gameplan, and then share the ball offensively," he said. "We have so many weapons that if we don't have anyone trying to do it themselves, we'll create some good opportunities."
 
For those not making the trip to Halifax, a free viewing party for the quarter-final game will be held in Brock's Market Hall Thursday at 1 p.m. EST