One more time. One more game. And this USRT adventure would finally come to an end.

And what a game it was - #3 Louisville playing #1 North Carolina, with the winner advancing to the Final Four in San Antonio.

Following our side trip to the campus at Davidson, we headed over to Tavern on the Tracks, a neat little bar on the south side of town with a real Buffalo feel. We enjoyed a beef on weck and a bologna with onions sandwich, not quite on par with the real stuff in Buffalo but pretty darned close. And since this tavern was really on the tracks, those tracks being the light rail line to the arena, we left our car there and hopped aboard, on a train loaded with red clad Cardinals fans in full rally mode.

That would not be the case, however, once we stepped into Charlotte Bobcats Arena, as the packed house, and we mean packed, over 19.092 fans was largely Tar Heels country, and the building was rocking in anticipation of UNC’s first return to the Final Four since their championship run three years ago. Unlike Thursday’s game which had the feel of an upbeat yet somewhat sane audience, tonight’s game would have the effect of a full throated postseason home court crowd.

And for Tar Heel nation why shouldn’t it? Anyone who bleeds Carolina Blue certainly remembers the massive choke job that their Heels pulled in last season’s regional final as they blew a late ten point lead and lost in overtime to Georgetown. There would be no holding back for fan enthusiasm on this night.

And at first it seemed the Heels would do just that as they broke open a tight game late in the first half and got the lead as high as twelve points and were threatening to break this game open like they had every other in their tourney run.

But this was a Louisville team playing its best ball at the right time of the season that would respond to the challenge in front of them. They slowly crawled back into it, and assisted by a ton of whistles against Carolina wound up tying the score at 59 about halfway through the second.

Finally a competitive game, something we hadn’t witnessed since leaving the St. Pete Times Forum the previous Sunday and better yet for a spot in San Antonio. Carolina held a slim lead for the next few minutes until Carolina began to break the game open on three big shots.

1. Ty Lawson’s 3 with about five minutes to giving the Heels a seven point lead and some real separation from the Cards.

2. Tyler Hansborough knocking down two critical shots from beyond the paint, the second coming with about a minute and a half to go and the shot clock about to run out. The bucket gave the Heels a nine point lead that effectively lit the cigar for them. It was at this moment we spotted a sign in the stands that summed up everything. “Need Tickets For San Antonio!”.

Carolina will face the winner of the Kansas/Davidson game next Saturday. Regardless of opponent there will be a great storyline to the upcoming national semifinal.

Meet Kansas, and it’s Roy Williams facing the school that he coached for fifteen years and left in ‘03 much to the scorn of Jayhawk nation. Oh how Kansasfan is licking their chops at that one.

Face Davidson, and it’s the classic David and Goliath game. The number one team in the nation(and all time where wins/losses are concerned) facing the little engine that could. Who knew when these same two clubs met in this exact same venue(a four point win for the ‘Heels) back in November that they could meet again for a spot in the National Championship.

So after the watching the championship awards presentation it was time to point the car northwards to B-lo and home. In the rear view mirror were the shining lit skyscrapers of Charlotte, and memories of another fantastic sports road trip which we will savor for a long, long time.

Go Wildcats!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much all powder blue inside a SRO arena

Fans and revelers exit the trains at the arena station, just steps from the front door

Plenty of action going on along the bars and bistros on Trade Street

(Note: I’ll be throwing in plenty of quotes and such from the movie Hoosiers. So if you haven’t seen it then A. See it, it’s the best hoops movie ever made, or B. Roll with it and read along. It may still work for you…..)

Scene: Coach Norman Dale driving his beat up automobile down rural highways and byways to get to Hickory High School and begin his tenure as basketball coach.

On our way back to Charlotte from Norfolk we had the opportunity to make a pit stop at the home of this year’s bracket busting Cinderella. Located just a half hour or so north of Charlotte, Davidson College is a tiny institution of under 2000 students (smallest in the field of 65) whose basketball team has defied the odds and the power structure of college hoops to reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Davidson is an upscale and bucolic suburb, and wraps around the beautiful Davidson College campus. As we drove into town this afternoon, we could see that something was different… signs, banners and bedsheets proclaiming support for the Wildcats hung from nearly every house and business. On campus people were stopping by to check out the arena, and take photos of the Wildcat statue outside. In the mouth are stuffed animals of the three schools vanquished so far… Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin.

Belk Arena blew us away… modern, elegant, architecturally stunning. The other schools in the Elite 8 have their shrines back home… Dean Dome (UNC), Freedom Hall (Louisville), Pauley Pavilion (UCLA), Allen Fieldhouse (Kansas). But as for nice buildings amidst pleasant surroundings, Davidson’s venue can’t be beat!

Scene: Principal Cleatus’ farm outside of town:

Coach Dale: I don’t know why people keep going on and on about Jimmy, because in my book no one is irreplaceable.

Coach Dale: Really? What’s that?

Cleatus: In the forty years of watching basketball and seeing all this state’s ever seen. I have never seen a player like Jimmy Chitwood. Never!!

Yes, Davidson has its own Jimmy Chitwood in Stephen Curry. While no one would put him in the category of greatest player ever (not now anyhow), he certainly has been THE player of the tournament in scoring over one hundred points in the Wildcats’ first three tournament games in single handedly carrying Davidson to its first Elite Eight since Lefty Driesell roamed the sidelines back in 1969.

Curry is the son of long time NBA standout Dell Curry and despite the bloodlines never got a shot to play at an ACC school coming out of college. Hey Virginia Tech, I’m thinking that if you had given the son of your most well known basketball alum a scholarship that maybe you wouldn’t have had to cry about not getting an at large bid. Ya think???

Scene: The Hickory team bus being leading a long caravan of cars heading to its next road game.

The Wildcats earned a berth in the Midwest Regional after a tight win over Gonzaga and a thrilling come from behind win over Georgetown. Seeing that the school may not be well represented in the Motor City, the college made a stunning offer to the students of their tiny school. Game tickets, transportation to and from, and lodging in Detroit would be provided free of charge to any student wishing to attend. Nearly three hundred students, nearly twenty percent of the enrollment replied. So rest assured Davidson would be represented at massive Ford Field and its capacity of over seventy thousand.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know what scene I’m going to next……

Scene: The Huskers enter the Butler Fieldhouse prior to the championship game. The enormity of the venue clearly overwhelms them upon first glance. Then Coach Dale has a few words.

Coach Dale: Jimmy, Ray….measure the distance from the backboard to the foul line. (they measure)

Ollie: Ten feet.

Coach Dale: I believe these are the exact same dimensions that you’ll find back at our gym in Hickory. (Players somewhat bewildered) C’mon. Let’s get ready for practice.

So tomorrow the Wildcats take on the top seeded Kansas Jayhawks for the right to go to the Final Four. Bigger, taller, and deeper this looks like the club that may end the fairytale short of a happy ending.

I’d imagine the pre game pep talk may go something like this:

Player: Let’s win this one for all the small schools that never had a chance to get here.

Player (Curry?): I’d like to win this one for my Dad.

Player: Let’s win for coach. Who got us here.

Chaplain: And David slung a stone that struck Goliath in squarely in the forehead, killing him.

Be watching tomorrow for us, we’ll be driving back to Buffalo listening on the radio.

While Tampa was a bit of a snooze when it came to NCAA excitement, Charlotte, the home base of the East Regional, was brimming with enthusiasm. The streets of Uptown were packed with basketball revelers, bars and restaurants were packed and overflowing onto the streets. Outside, stages were set up for live bands and other venues for games of skill and outdoor basketball. Of course the weather was perfect, mid 70s and sunny. And best of all, we were here to soak it all in, probably the marquee event of the trip as four schools - North Carolina, Washington State, Louisville and Tennessee would battle it out over two days, with one team earning a berth to the Final Four in San Antonio.

We got the chance to ride Charlotte’s LYNX light rail line, which just opened a few months back and connects Uptown with the south part of Charlotte. Clean, fast, efficient and on time and fare round trip was only $2.60. Best of all the line runs almost completely at grade and integrates local streetscapes into its stations, and plenty of free park and ride lots adjacent to most stations. How awesome would it be to build an identical setup to connect Buffalo’s Canalside out to the Airport. The rail right of ways sit in place, unused and abandoned, just waiting for the will and the funding!

Back to the events of the day… we got to the will call window at Charlotte Bobcats Arena to pick up our tickets… and… no tickets! So a bit of concern and consternation set in. What if our contact doesn’t make it here? What if something went wrong?

We called the cell phone number given to us by Ron Bertovich, and got a voice mail recording. We headed back outside into the Charlotte evening, only to see oceans of people holding fingers up or pleading for tickets, with scant few to be found.

But our connection did arrive with time to spare, called us on the cell and was still at the will call area when we scampered inside to get our precious cargo, so we got to meet our benefactors in person. And Holy Crap! “Founders Level” seats in the premium club area, complete with captains chairs and countertop seating with TV monitors. Are you freakin kidding!!! And to quote Bob Uecker, we were in the front row! Unbelieveable!

In plenty of ways, the differences between the events in Tampa and Charlotte were like night and day. The atmosphere in Tampa was filled with plenty of basketball fans wearing apparel from dozens of schools across America, and by and large these fans were neutral in their rooting interest. But the close proximity of Charlotte to the North Carolina campus combined with the ‘Heels popularity in these parts completely eliminated the neutral court atmosphere that was in Tampa and generally the norm elsewhere. Quite simply, roughly 80-90 percent of fans not sitting in the designated fan sections of the four schools were rooting for Carolina and proudly wearing the sky blue colors.

This regional also lacked the presence of a true underdog as the East region was the only one to have all four of its top seeds advance to Charlotte. How nice would it have been for a Butler to beat Tennessee in round two. Think of it, a school from a mid major conference that plays its home games in the same venue that was used in the iconic underdog basketball movie “Hoosiers”. But we had what we had and hoped for some good games pitting four ranked clubs.

Game one was Washington State/ North Carolina. The ‘Heels had been the most impressive club in the field in hitting the triple digit mark on the scoreboard in its first two games. And in the Cougars they would find the anthesis of themselves as Wazzu attempt to play their deliberate and defensive style to keep themselves within striking distance. It worked for most of a half until Carolina went on a run and expanded the lead to double digits by halftime and from there they rolled to a 68-47 win in front of over nineteen thou(fifteen k in Carolina blue).

Couple of notes about Wazzu: the numbers on the back of the jersey are way oversized, so no it’s not your tv if you thought the same. And MAJOR props to the large amount of fans to make the journey all the way form eastern Washington. While still bringing the smallest contingent of the four schools they held themselves up well to the other schools who were all within(UNC-141m, UT- 244m, UL- 489m) driving distance of Bobcats Arena. To add to that, the Washington State tees sold at souvenir stands in the arena were the first(and only) to sell out!

I had higher expectations for game two with a former #1 in Tennessee and a Louisville team that had come out of the first two rounds playing some of their best ball in rolling over Boise State and crushing Oklahoma in round two. But once again we’d be rewarded with another dull game as Louisville raced out to an early sixteen point lead and held off the occasional Tennessee run to cruise to a 79-60 and a date with the ‘Heels on Saturday night.

A note about the crowd in general during game two. We wondered if the UNC fans would stick around after the ‘Heels win to watch the UT/UL game and we were pleasantly surprised to see that while there was some people headed to exits, the solid majority stuck around for most of the second game until UL took command about midway through the second half. Unfortunately, the concept of staying for the second game was too much for the bandwagon hoppers sitting next to us.:(

We took the light rail back to the hotel and rolled in at about 1AM. Another long drive awaits as we head out to Norfolk for a night of AHL hockey at The Scope before returning to Charlotte for the grand finale of the East Regional Final.

We took Charlotte’s newly opened light rail to the game - deposited us right outside the arena

Plenty of music, games and entertainment outside before and after the game

A packed house of over 19,000 in the arena, and boy was this one tough ticket to score!

Tampa has Channelside, an exciting mixed use development of condos, shops and restaurants; Buffalo has Canalside, a newly dug slip, gravel strewn empty lots and two eyesores awaiting demolition. Tampa has 80 degrees in March, Buffalo has 40 degrees. Tampa has sunshine, Buffalo has clouds. Tampa has sex appeal and star power; Buffalo is, well… a rust belt city in the northeast.

And take a lesson, NCAA, because when it comes to putting on an event like a basketball subregional, Tampa can’t hold a candle to Buffalo!

This past weekend we got to experience one of the most fun sports experiences of all - two days and six games of basketball in the NCAA tournament. Survive and advance… the struggle between the country’s elite and the upstarts from the small conferences… One Shining Moment and games that sear memories into one’s mind forever. We were not disappointed - the Tampa games offered upsets, shattered records, overtimes, buzzer beaters and outcomes that had the whole country riveted.

But as for the event itself, there was little buzz on the streets of Tampa. Check out the photo above. Thousands of empty seats in the arena, here in a market that is 2 1/2 times the size of Buffalo. As we drove around the city, we saw little of billboards, banners on the poles, signs in restaurant windows, or anything to show that there was an event of this magnitude happening in town.

When the NCAA’s came to Buffalo in 2000, 2004 and again in 2007, Buffalo put its best face on to welcome the schools, their fans and supporters, and other visitors to our town. Hospitality tents, rail maps, restaurant and nightlife guides were widely available. Events were set up on the off day between games. Restaurants and eateries put on extra staff to accommodate the throngs of fans. Street poles were decorated with banners. Host hotels went the extra mile to make the visiting teams feel special and welcomed. The Buffalo organizing committee, including host schools Canisius and Niagara, the Sabres and HSBC Arena staffs, and local civic leaders made it happen to make our event one of the best anywhere.

Best of all, Buffalo fans responded each time by snapping up all available tickets. For each tournament in Buffalo, the streets of downtown and the businesses were packed with enthusiastic fans and the streets were teeming with people. We received high marks from everyone involved as to how great the entire event was in Buffalo.

The NCAA subregionals return to Buffalo in 2010, and by then hopefully the Inner Harbor project will be in the full throes of progress and construction. If things go the way they have in the past three events, we will once again show the nation that Buffalo shines above all the rest.

So take that Tampa Bay!

And Buffalo… hold your heads up high! We can go dancin’ at the NCAA’s with the best of them!

The title of this post pretty much sums up the day at the St. Pete Times Forum as the two #12 seeds went head to head with the #13 seeds in an unprecedented second round doubleheader.

Cinderella’s clock struck midnight here(if you want to see it that way) as the two higher seeds won out. Villanova’s stifling interior D picked up right where it left off from the Clemson game as they suffocated MAAC Champion Siena to 36% shooting from the floor in an easy 84-72 win.

Game two was a bit more enticing as Western Kentucky raced out to a big second half lead, yet unlike Siena the Toreros of San Diego would make a bit of a game of it. They rallied to take a lead with about six minutes left, but two quick threes by the Hilltoppers gave the lead back to Western Kentucky and they never relinquished it holding on for a 72-63 win.

Villanova and Western Kentucky now head to their respective regional semifinal matches playing the role of giant killers. Each gets a #1 seed for their next game (’Nova/Kansas and WKU/UCLA). The road probably will end for both with their next game, yet that’s the magic of March Madness and the NCAA tournament. You never know until the games are played.

And like that it was over, another great subregional in the books. It was our fifth and quite frankly it’s one that’s highly unlikely to be matched anywhere anytime soon. Two overtime buzzer beaters, two double digit seeds heading out to the regionals, four really competitive games (all not involving Siena). It was more than worth the price of admission.

So now its on to a few days of spring training ball, an intermission before we head back north with stops in Charlotte (still no tix for regional semis yet, yikes!!!) and Norfolk before returning to Buffalo next weekend. Stay tuned for more!

Wow!

After listening to all the first round snoozers on the radio a day before, I was only hoping for competitive games as we approached the St. Pete Times Forum for yesterday’s quadrupleheader.

We left the venue about twelve hours later having witnessed possibly the greatest first round subregional since they expanded the field to 64 back in 1985.

It had everything that a bracket junkie loves about the NCAA Tournament. It opened with an buzzer beating overtime upset thriller in Drake/Western Kentucky that would have more than paid for the price of admission for the entire day. That one would immediately be followed by yet ANOTHER fantastic finish as San Diego would stun two time national champion Connecticut.

And the evening session would feature two more upsets as MAAC champion Siena would handle fourth seeded Vanderbilt with ease and Villanova would complete the underdog sweep in rallying from an 18 point first half deficit to defeat Clemson.

Four games, four underdog winners. That’s an NCAA tournament first(no site ever produced even three first round upsets).

Another fast fact: The Drake/Western Kentucky game was a long range shootout as the two clubs combined for 30 three point field goals and 70 attempts from behind the arc. Both are records.

What the heck, let’s see the record breaking three pointer again(from a vantage point in the upper deck).

If there is a bit of a downside to this it’s that the second round matchups aren’t very enticing for the average fan. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a scintillating doubleheader featuring Western Kentucky/San Diego and Siena/Villanova??

Other random notes…..

Tampafan didn’t exactly embrace the event as the upper deck was filled with oceans of empty blue seats. I don’t know what the official count was but I’m guessing about five grand short of a sellout. It’s no wonder why the NCAA keeps coming back to the packed houses in Buffalo on a regular basis.

With the exception of San Diego, the eight schools brought pretty healthy fan support with them. I’m giving Drake and Clemson the nod for largest contingents.

One great thing about a subregional is that it’s a celebration of collegiate sports as everyone is wearing something of their favorite school whether they’re playing hoops or not. I saw apparel of several dozen schools being worn(even a Bona tshirt was spotted). But the winner(or is it loser??) for me went to someone wearing a Jimmy Chitwood Hickory Huskers tshirt.

Thanks to the two overtime games, the afternoon session did not end until roughly 6:15 PM. This significantly cut into the break time between sessions and forced many into grabbing a quick bite to eat, if anything at all before the night session began roughly an hour later.

We left the venue at 12:30 AM knowing that we’d be back just 36 hours later, and that it couldn’t come fast enough.

Downtown Tampa’s beautiful skyline as we cross the Hillsborough River

The plaza in front of the St. Pete Times Forum

Clemson and Villanova square off in the last game of the night

The Shops at Channelside rev up to greet and serve hungry and thirsty fans

Another shot of the front of the St. Pete Times Forum

Our biggest road trip of 2008 is finally upon us!

This Wednesday afternoon, we point the car south… to warm and sunny Florida, just in time for spring break and a full week of sporting events in the Sunshine State. We’re breaking down the drive down into two days, and will roll into Tampa on Thursday night.

Friday at the St. Pete Times Forum we enjoy a full day of basketball, as the NCAA men’s basketball subregional goes into full swing. The day session starts at 12:30PM with two games, with the evening session underway at 7:20PM. Yes our game tickets are in hand, and we even got ‘em below face value on eBay. At the end of this post I’m breaking down our four games and my predictions.

We will be staying in Orlando at Sheraton Vistana Villages, an awesome timeshare I bought on the cheap a couple years ago. Saturday we’ll be hanging out at the resort. Yeah I used to stay on Treasure Island in the St. Pete area, but cashed out of there a while back, and it’s a real relief that I don’t have to risk going on vacation and running into the remnants of the Cheektowaga riff raff which still dogs it around those parts.

Sunday is round two of the subregionals, so back to Tampa we go. Depending on the game time, we might just drop into Buffalo Bisons training camp in Winter Haven on the way and see what’s shakin’ with Torey Lovullo and the boys.

For the next three days we switch to baseball and the Grapefruit League… Monday it’s the Cleveland Indians at Winter Haven, Tuesday we travel over to Clearwater and Brighthouse Networks Field to watch the Philadelphia Phillies, and on Wednesday it’s the Houston Astros close by in Kissimmee (playing the Tribe). All 1PM starts.

Cock a doodle doo! on Thursday morning as we leave Orlando for the 540 mile journey to Charlotte and the East Regional Sweet 16 games at Charlotte Bobcats Arena. With North Carolina in the East bracket, this is gonna be one tough ticket but we’re watching the auction sites and failing that, will try our luck on the street. And thanks to some good tips from the Bfloblog community, we got our sights set for Tavern on the Tracks in Uptown Charlotte, a good Buffalo joint, for some postgame libations.

Want more? On Friday we drive over to Norfolk, Virginia to catch a game of the Norfolk Admirals at the Norfolk Scope, one of the few remaining AHL arenas left on our “to do” list. In fact, only Chicago, Rockford, Quad Cities and Iowa, all midwest destinations, will remain. Wouldn’t that be a cool road trip all on one swing, if a schedule would come together, combined with a Sabres at Chicago game? But that fertile mind attack will be on the future planning matrix.

Saturday we head home. All in all we should log about 3000 miles on this nine day odyssey to Florida and back to Buffalo. Of course, we will have daily updates, reports and photos right here so you can follow along with us!

So last night Pete and I watched the announcement of the field of 65 with greater interest than usual, since we will be in the building for the subs in Tampa. Here are my comments on the four matchups we will be watching:

12:30PM (5) Drake v (12) Western Kentucky - Not only did Drake win the Missouri Valley in the regular season, but blew through their conference tourney and even the final was a laugher. This team is smokin’ hot right about now. Look for Drake to roll.

3:00PM (4) Connecticut v (13) San Diego - I’m picking this one as my upset special. Hey remember San Diego did knock off Gonzaga in the WCC tournament.

7:20PM (4) Vanderbilt v (13) Siena - How does Siena draw a 13 seed, when Niagara got relegated to the play in game as a 16 in last year’s tournament? MAAC schools rarely get out of the first round… look for this trend to continue.

9:50PM (5) Clemson v (12) Villanova - I’ve been on the Clemson Tigers bandwagon ever since we visited Death Valley back in 2006 and had a kick ass good time there. Clemson marched through a difficult ACC field, beating Boston College, Duke and taking North Carolina to the limit on the finals. This game should pose no problem for the Tigers.

So there you have it. Cheers!

-Andrew Kulyk

We interrupt the constant barrage of negative local hockey stories to bring you a feel good piece on the “true American sport(so sayeth the author)….”.

Last night College Station, Texas was host to one of the great college basketball games in recent memory. It took the allotted forty minutes plus five, yes FIVE overtimes for a winner to be determined between #25 Baylor and host #16 Texas A+M before Baylor was able to pull off the 116-110 upset.

What’s even more amazing is the fact that Baylor is even ranked and with a 16-2 record. Five years ago this program was on the verge of being eliminated amidst a scandal which involved the murder of one of the players(Patrick Dennehy) by his own teammate(Carlton Dotson) and the subsequent coverup by the coaching staff in an attempt to portray Dennehy as a drug dealer. Coach Dave Bliss left in disgrace and with players free to transfer the Bears lost plenty of talent including John Lucas Jr.(Okla St.) and eventual SEC Player of the Year Lawrence Robert(Miss. St.)

It looked bleak, and for a program that hadn’t made “The Tournament” since 1988 it was a low point especially for an historically mediocre hoops school such as Baylor. To be blunt, until last week Baylor hadn’t been nationally ranked since 1969.

In stepped Scott Drew, the hero of Valparaiso’s run to the Sweet 16 in 1998 to clean things up. A herculean task it was dealing with multiple NCAA sanctions as he had to play two seasons with only half his team on scholarship, and yet another season was played without any nonconference games. Drew’s first four seasons in Waco resulted in a 36-69 record(12-52 BigXII play) and only last season did the Bears get out of the opening round of the Big XII tournament.

Which brings us to this season and last night, Baylor began the season with some respectable road wins over Wichita State and Notre Dame to gain some notice that things were changing for the better. Yet for the most part the team was racking up the W’s at the expense of some very mediocre competition…three SWAC teams, Brown, Florida A+M….Wayland Baptist…is that Division I??? And its only game against a ranked opponent was a close home loss to #6 Wazzu.
A road trip to Texas A+M would be a good guage for the the progress of the Bears.

One longest game in the history of the Big Eight/XII Conference later we had our answer and with that, the return of a program five seasons ago left for dead as the win put them off to a start not seen in Waco since the Truman administation. This will be a team worth rooting for regardless of how the rest of the season plays out for them.

Click here for game recap and box score.

At one time, Louisville was making noises to become an NBA city. Well by 2010 they sure won’t be lacking for a suitable facility, as they today unveiled plans for their magnificent new downtown arena, which will sport an amphitheatre style glass entrance and dancing fountains.

The $252-million facility will house the University of Louisville basketball programs as its primary tenant.

More from the Louisville Courier-Journal.

The USRT last visited Louisville in 2003… add the Louisville Slugger bat factory and museum, Churchill Downs, Louisville Slugger Field, a nice downtown, and now this venue… and you have a great sports road trip destination.

Here in Buffalo we might covet an exciting and vibrant downtown core - something like Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, but over in Baltimore, they covet something that WE have (and no I’m not referring to Willis McGahee and his progeny). They would love to be in the rotation for an NCAA basketball event, and as Baltimore Sun columnist David Steele points out in his column, Baltimore does not have the facility to support a tournament of this magnitude. The 45 year old First Mariner Arena in downtown Baltimore was once the home of the NBA Baltimore Bullets, but that was a lifetime ago.

One quote from the column:
“This time, Maryland and seven other schools traveled to drab, bone-chilling Buffalo, thin on top-notch hotels and nearby amenities….”

Ouch!

No amenities? Perhaps next time we need to get the good Mr. Steele up to Fort Erie and a visit to the Canadian Ballet. Or maybe he was in a surly mood because his Terrapins got themselves a good whoopin’!

Sigh…..

The anticipation of an NCAA Subregional coming to your town builds for weeks, months, even years. Then the time comes, fans have a blast, wild times ensue on and off the court…then it’s all over before you know it and fans are left thinking along the lines of “three years til the next one….”. Count me in with that line of thinking.

Saturday’s doubleheader was another classic day of hoops with game one featuring ACC power Maryland versus midmajor darling Butler. Butler’s slow paced style of play was a throwback to another era from the days before the existence of a shot clock.

How many times did Butler toss the ball around spending a minimum of 25 seconds before calmly, and I do stress that word, putting up a good shot. Many teams constantly panic when faced with taking a shot in the dying seconds of the shot clock. Not these guys…I could almost see Butler coach Lickliter playing the role of Norman Dale in “Hoosiers” telling his players: “I want FOUR passes before any shot!!! FOUR PASSES!!”

I don’t know what it was about Maryland that I didn’t like. Were they the anti-Butler because Butler’s skills were that good, or was it just that the Terps were’nt that sound in general and only had the advantage in talent. Either way, Butler managed to hold off the Terps to go to their second sweet 16 in five seasons.

Game two featured Cinderella VCU against Big East powerhouse Pitt….Pitt’s inside game v. VCU’s guardplay. For the first thirty minutes it was all Pitt as they held a commanding double digit lead….then VCU put on the full court press….and god did things change….

Pitt was incapable of handling the pressure committing turnover after turnover while the Rams closed the gap, and with it the gap narrowed and the crowd began to buzz.
By the time the game was knotted, HSBC Arena had become Richmond North..booing lustily over the lame foul call in the dying seconds of regulation(justice was served when Pitt missed both free throws).

But like Ohio St./Xavier, the extra frame gave the favorite new life and Pitt would go on to win and reach the sweet 16.

For fans in the building that night and on Thursday, it was money well spent and a time well spent. Thanks to the eight clubs and their fans for livening up our city for a weekend…

1093 days(give or take a couple) till it happens again here…yes I’m counting.

History would not be made on this night.

There would be no upset, not even a scare.

The eyes of a nation would not be focused on the United Center late in the second half.

In truth, it was just your basic 1 v. 16 (mis)matchup as the (much)taller and (far more)talented Kansas Jayhawks steamrolled the Purple Eagles in a game that was no longer in doubt after about the midway point of the first half. Kansas was not only the better club, but it looked and played the part of a power conference club that had been eliminated in the first round the past two years running by a 13 and a 14 seed and sure as hell wasn’t gonna have that happen again.

The score was tied at 12 then the Jayhawks opened that up to a ten point, then twenty point lead prior to halftime and the urge to switch to another game was on.

I caught a glimpse of Danny Manning on the bench for the Jayhawks. Apparently he’s serving in an assistant coach’s role or something. Perhaps that’s an omen for Kansas as he led, no wait, carried the Jayhawks on his back to the NCAA title in 1988. You just may see them do it this spring in Atlanta.

Niagara has nothing to bow their heads about regardless as they’ve come a long way from the difficulties of the early season with all of the suspensions to come back and play in the Big Dance. They’ve become the premier Big 4 program in recent years and well deserved.

Other notes….

For being such a knowledgeable hoops analyst, did Billy Packer spend more than thirty seconds looking at the scouting report for Niagara? Packer constantly harped on the notion that the Purple Eagles should play a slowdown game to beat Kansas. Maybe so, but Billy was probably clueless to the fact that the up tempo style of play is how Niagara does things. That’s inexcusable for being CBS’s top analyst and shows a lack of preparation that I’d expect from a Billy Jo Hobert before Packer.
Heh, heh, another reason not to like Packer….

Yep, an NCAA Subregional is about the best sporting event one can attend in their lifetime. I mean where else can one spend a day witnessing four games in one day spanning a twelve hour period of time and still leave the venue feeling as if they didn’t get enough?

This is my fourth subregional attended and third one in Buffalo and the action of yesterday may have been the best first round I’ve ever attended. You had your “mid major scares power club before fading” game (DAV/MAR), your “dull and boring yet competitive” game (BUT/OLD), your “complete mismatch high seed v low seed” game (PIT/WRI), and your “memorable upset” game (DUK/VIR).

It was a memorable outing, and cheers to Buffalo as they seemed to correct the crying need to feed its patrons during the between sessions break with food stands just across the street, at Dunn Tire Park and with the help of an army of local volunteers to aid out of town fans in finding refreshments and such to cure their hunger pangs. And props go to the cops for coming to their senses and putting off the sniffles for another day.

And by the way are you puzzled by the acroynms above identifying the teams? Yep, such is what it’s like to attempt to read the out of town scoreboard at the HSBC Arena. Unlike other difficulties from past NCAA events that have been tweaked and solved, this anomaly remains. The acronyms were difficult in ‘04, downright impossible during the ‘05 MAAC tournament(those who attended had to chuckle at the sight of scores of games featuring TEX against TEX and SOU vs. SOU). And this season fans were treated to the sight of EAS v. NOR…isn’t it obvious to anyone that that is the acronyms for Eastern Kentucky v. North Carolina? That BYU is actually BRI? UNC is really NOR?

Heck, headlines across America this morning tooted the horn of giant killer VCU, yet if that game was in any other building but ours that scoreboard would have said “VIR”. Can’t you hear those students now….V! I! R!! V! I! R!!

This really shouldn’t bug me, except that it has been an ongoing situation at the arena with no real attempt to fix despite numerous comments from media in the past. Perhaps with a brand new videoboard over center court/ice we’ll get some new out of town boards with acroynms that are universally understood(outside of said venue).

In other news, had we been the type to actually gamble on this type of thing then I would have collected quite a pile in going four for four in picking Thursday’s games. But since we’re playing “for entertainment purposes only”…snicker, snicker.

Little over an hour until the greatest upset in tournament history commences, and roughly 21 hours until tipoff downtown.

Check out this billboard along the Kensington Expressway, which was along the travel route for the Wright State Raiders from their headquarters hotel at the Holiday Inn-Airport.

Some very buxom revelers greeted our group at the door to Fat Bob’s as we made our way inside for barbecue and libations between the two sessions.

Check out the packed house of almost 19,000 fans. Many were on their feet cheering as the VCU celebration unfolds down on the court.

I had the time of my life.

What can be better than getting together with a group of good friends, a bunch of true sports guys, and sharing a full day of NCAA basketball? That was the case yesterday at HSBC Arena, as the sub-regionals came back to Buffalo for the first time since 2004.

Participating in our gang was myself and Peter; Peter’s brother and dad John Sr and John Jr; Our buddies Bill Zilliox and Chris Mach; and the Toronto group - Alan Bossin, Ephraim Fiksel and Harold Cares. We managed to organize some great club seats, got ourselves a dinner reservation at Fab Bob’s in Allentown for between sessions, Pete organized the pools. It was all good.

The highlight of the four games we saw, and making national headlines, was Duke’s upset loss at the hands of Virginia Commonwealth. Now granted, the Blue Devils aren’t the force they were when guys like Boozer, Duhon, Battier and Redick held sway. But they are still a force, and when you play them, you’re playing against a mystique.

It all came down to the final minute, and a sophomore guard for VCU named Eric Maynor was absolutely filthy, taking the ball down the court himself and nailing clutch buckets. When Duke tied it with 8 seconds left, Maynor waved off any thoughts of a time out, running down the court and hitting a 17 foot jumper with 1.8 seconds to go. The crowd went wild! And this time, Kryzooski didn’t have any horseshoes left up his ass. Final score VCU 79, Duke 77.

Off the court - Much of the problem from 2004 centered around the difficulty fans had finding restaurants, eateries, bars or other places to hang out between sessions. Well this time Buffalo was ready! Metro rail and shuttle busses were lined up outside the front door to ferry people throughout downtown. Many restauranteurs were promoting their establishments, and Organizing Committee volunteers were passing out maps and offering directions. We ended up taking the Metro rail to Allentown and enjoying dinner at Fat Bob’s on Virginia Place. Reservation for 11 and our table was waiting! And after dinner we just walked back to the arena… yeah it’s almost 2 miles but it was a nice day and we had the stamina and a chance to walk off some the big meal we had just enjoyed.

It was great seeing all the people on the streets of downtown Buffalo. Great but also sad. For a shining few days, we get to feel and experience what a bustling and electric city should feel like. Come Monday it will be back to silent echoes down the vehicle-less Main street, and tumbleweeds bouncing down the light rail tracks.

As the night wore on and the finale of the evening became more and more of a laugher (Pitt v Wright State), one by one the group bailed - first the Toronto guys, then John and John Jr (all had long rides to their comfy beds), then Billy Z. But Peter, Chris and I made it to the bitter end.

As we left the already much empty arena, we bid the security guy at the door a good night and said “see you tomorrow”. He replied “you mean Saturday”. Yes… but tomorrow is Saturday… the clock read 12:20 AM and it was Friday morning; we had been at the arena and around downtown for 13 hours.

And best of all, we do it all again Saturday - two games starting at 3:20PM; we should be out by 8PM and an evening of St. Patty’s Day revelry then awaits.

Yes, the time of my life!