I have to say, so far this has been the best Final Four that I have ever attended (6th).
The FanFest in the Convention Center, although crowded, was actually one of the better interactive experiences at recent Final Fours, certainly better than the 2010 Final Four. There are a lot of events, free giveaways, etc. to occupy your time before the games.
As for the games, Lucas Oil is not the best for basketball, but compared to the awful seating at the 1992 Final Four (my fellow IU alums will remember the awful seating for that Ted Valentine debacle), you can see just fine.
If there is one thing that has detracted from the whole event, it is the behavior of UK fans, but that is nothing new. Their chants directed towards Duke and Wisconsin fans were typical and classless, but then again, I won't be seeing any of them in Lucas Oil monday night.
Flash tickets were used by the NCAA this year and it has really cut down on scalping, although I feel bad for people trying to get tickets. It was a minor inconvenience because several of the dumb event staff scanning your barcode on your smartphone were not printing out your seat location and giving it to you. So Lucas Oil needs to get its act together on that....several people walked into the stadium without their tix stub.
As you guys are aware, I am an IU and Michigan State alum, and I hated how Duke was in the double bonus ten min. into each half. The refs ruined the game. Granted, MSU started getting in foul trouble about ten min. in and just never recovered, but people in the stands were seemingly bored by seeing Duke parade to the foul line. It was odd seeing a stadium full of 72,000 fans slowly lose interest as the last thirty min. of the game ended.
As for the UK game, there were several of their fans across the aisle and 4 rows below who stood nearly the whole game, yelling obscenities at Bo Ryan and Kaminsky. Just classless people. I left late after the game ended (our row was full of Wisky fans and we stayed to talk with them). When I got out in front of Lucas Oil, not a UK fan it sight. Driving home: hardly any on I65....they literally must have run to their cars after the game.
But it was funny: the ESPN Gameday crew were setup outside Union Station, and they and everyone gathered were laughing on the large screen of a shot of some UK fan crying like a baby from inside Lucas Oil earlier. To hear everyone laughing and actually revelling in UK's loss just showed me how much other fanbases, tv announcers, coaches, etc. really despise that program and its fanbase.
If you are going monday night, check out the FanFest. Also, I came up early on friday night and caught Weezer and Imagine Dragons at the White River Oark behind Victory Field where the Indians play. There are several activites setup out there as well and I believe they have some bands playing monday too....
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The FanFest in the Convention Center, although crowded, was actually one of the better interactive experiences at recent Final Fours, certainly better than the 2010 Final Four. There are a lot of events, free giveaways, etc. to occupy your time before the games.
As for the games, Lucas Oil is not the best for basketball, but compared to the awful seating at the 1992 Final Four (my fellow IU alums will remember the awful seating for that Ted Valentine debacle), you can see just fine.
If there is one thing that has detracted from the whole event, it is the behavior of UK fans, but that is nothing new. Their chants directed towards Duke and Wisconsin fans were typical and classless, but then again, I won't be seeing any of them in Lucas Oil monday night.
Flash tickets were used by the NCAA this year and it has really cut down on scalping, although I feel bad for people trying to get tickets. It was a minor inconvenience because several of the dumb event staff scanning your barcode on your smartphone were not printing out your seat location and giving it to you. So Lucas Oil needs to get its act together on that....several people walked into the stadium without their tix stub.
As you guys are aware, I am an IU and Michigan State alum, and I hated how Duke was in the double bonus ten min. into each half. The refs ruined the game. Granted, MSU started getting in foul trouble about ten min. in and just never recovered, but people in the stands were seemingly bored by seeing Duke parade to the foul line. It was odd seeing a stadium full of 72,000 fans slowly lose interest as the last thirty min. of the game ended.
As for the UK game, there were several of their fans across the aisle and 4 rows below who stood nearly the whole game, yelling obscenities at Bo Ryan and Kaminsky. Just classless people. I left late after the game ended (our row was full of Wisky fans and we stayed to talk with them). When I got out in front of Lucas Oil, not a UK fan it sight. Driving home: hardly any on I65....they literally must have run to their cars after the game.
But it was funny: the ESPN Gameday crew were setup outside Union Station, and they and everyone gathered were laughing on the large screen of a shot of some UK fan crying like a baby from inside Lucas Oil earlier. To hear everyone laughing and actually revelling in UK's loss just showed me how much other fanbases, tv announcers, coaches, etc. really despise that program and its fanbase.
If you are going monday night, check out the FanFest. Also, I came up early on friday night and caught Weezer and Imagine Dragons at the White River Oark behind Victory Field where the Indians play. There are several activites setup out there as well and I believe they have some bands playing monday too....
Posted from Rivals Mobile
