From a campus steakhouse to a mock airplane cabin for students, High Point is no ordinary Cinderella

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — High Point's bracket-busting NCAA Tournament upset has put the spotlight on the private school in North Carolina that offers some unusual perks for its student body.

The campus, home to some 6,300 students, has a steakhouse that’s part of the meal plan where reservations are required; there's a dress code and no cellphones are allowed. There's also a mock airplane cabin on campus where students can rehearse talking up executives during a flight.

“Their president, I got to meet this guy sometime. I mean, he goes and builds a five-star restaurant that the students go to once a week. What? I’m going to go to school there. They have an airline where they go and show you how to sit in an airplane and talk to a CEO who you happen to be next to,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said.

In other words, Cinderella's slipper might not fit for this school.

High Point, the No. 12 seed in the West Region, pulled off the biggest upset of Thursday's first-round slate, an 83-82 victory over Wisconsin. The Panthers (31-4) will face Calipari's fourth-seeded Razorbacks (27-8) in the second round on Saturday.

High Point, located outside Greensboro, describes itself as a “life skills university” that teaches students the know-how to be successful. One of its more celebrated alumni is basketball coach Tubby Smith, who led Kentucky to the 1998 national title and later coached his alma mater for four seasons, stepping down in 2022.

“All the things they do are student-driven, which means their basketball players and their students are confident because someone really cares,” Calipari said.

For some of High Point's players, the focus has been on basketball, not the fine dining experience. Guard Rob Martin and forward Owen Aquino went to to the steakhouse during their campus visits, but guard Cam'Ron Fletcher has never been there.

“It’s really nice, really nice,” Aquino said.

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness