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I couldn't take the time off today and tomorrow and it is a 13-hour drive from where I live to Indy, but the experience was totally worth it. We arrived at around 3 a.m. on Sat. morning. We slept then got up at around 11:30 a.m. and headed downtown to pick up tickets (we purchased them with RazorGator).
We got a Final Four lanyard for our tix. It was overcast and raining a bit, so we went to the designated Duke restaurant (they had designated four restaurant/bars for each team) - Buffalo Wild Wings. Ironically, the place (each TV was showing Duke games) was full of West Virginia and Michigan State fans. So we left and ended up walking inside the mall in downtown Indy which was -predictably- a mad house. We made our way through the stores and madness and ended up on the third floor by the food court, when my boyfriend noticed someone in a corner table who looked very familiar to us, avid college basketball watchers of the Atlantic Coast Conference. A few people were taking pictures with him and he gracefully obliged.
Now, both my boyfriend and I are wearing our Duke shirts at this point. Well, we both finally figure out who he was... none other than the 2010 ACC Player of the Year Greivis Vasquez of the Maryland Terrapins, whom we cussed out on TV several times ... LOL
Anyway, we go up to him and my BF says, "We know you're busy but we wanted to tell you you are awesome!" We both shook his hands and off we went, leaving him alone to enjoy lunch with his family.
By then, we headed to Victory Field, a very nice baseball field, where Duke alumni and friends held a private Duke pep rally and party with great food and drinks, including wine and beer. The Duke band and cheerleaders showed up and started playing/cheering.
The Duke devil mascot also showed up. I now have three great pictures with 'it.'
After that, we headed to the Indianapolis Convention Center where Brackettown and the Fan Experience were. We didn't want to pay for Brackettown so we headed for the Fan Experience, which was free since we purchased our tickets with RazorGator. Nothing special, there, but we got coupons for free drinks, so we took advantage of that.
By the time we were done, Lucas Oil Stadium doors were already open (this was about 4:30 or so), with the first game beginning at 6:07 pm.
We went in and found our seats in Section 544. Despite our location, the view of the court from our seats was excellent. To be honest, there are very few bad seats in that stadium. It is a magnificent facility, obviously not designed with basketball in mind, but it was announced at halftime of the second game that this Final Four had the second highest attendance in NCAA hoops history with a little over 71,000 people present.
Obviously, Butler fans easily outnumbered everyone else. We were right above the Duke section of the court, and Duke fans were certainly not in the majority. Besides Butler with the highest number of fans, West Virginia had a large representation. Then, Michigan State.
We had a couple of Butler fans right behind us who were very vocal and funny, even if their knowledge of basketball was at times lacking... An example: the board was showing name scrambles to keep people entertained... One scramble: rarly drbi. Easy enough, especially - one would think - in the state of Indiana. When the scramble was revealed as "Larry Bird" these girls behind us said, "Who?"
Prior to the first game, they had a boy scout troop unravel a huge US flag and the anthem was played. And then, the first game got under way.
I must say that watching a live game without any commentary or analysis gives you a much better perspective on what's going on with the game without the bias of analysts and commentators. Well, in my mind, the first game was actually very boring and disappointing. Both teams failed to score on numerous easy occasions. Michigan State, in particular, had that game in the palms of its hands for much of it. They turned the ball over without even being forced by Butler. Fouls were called when they should not have been and obvious fouls were not called.
I had no dog in that fight, so I was just observing, but neither team was playing up to its potential, in my opinion. It was a very low scoring game and in the end Michigan State made some boneheaded moves and it took a couple of fouls that were not called against Butler to turn the game around in Butler's favor. Tom Izzo was visibly upset toward the end of the game that he had to be restrained by one of his players.
Of course, the Butler fans were ecstatic, while many Michigan State fans left the stadium. During halftime of that game, a few coaches were introduced for their accomplishments (the national coaches' association was also meeting in Indy that weekend). Bill Guthridge, who coached UNC-Chapel Hill a few years back got an 'interesting' reception from the Cameron Crazies :) ... LMAO
The second game, the one most people considered the marquee matchup, WVU v. Duke, was scheduled to tip off 40 minutes after the end of the first. So we got some food, ate in a hurry and went back to our seats, with about 10 minutes to go.
For some reason, the WVU fan contingent was not as animated as I had expected them to be. Anyway, the game got underway and any basketball-savvy person could tell that the tone of the game in the first five minutes was going to spell trouble for the Mountaineers. Even if Duke had defensive lapses that allowed WVU to score easily, Duke was just as able to penetrate the zone and find openings for three pointers which Scheyer, Singler and Smith sunk with ease. I must say that watching Duke live and without commentary was particularly different, in that you got to see exactly how well they work together and try to exploit each player's abilities. Brian Zoubek, who has quickly become a favorite of Duke fans, was a delight to watch as he moved around very well without the ball and created screens with his massive 7'1" frame.
I think even WVU fans knew early on in the first half that this was not going to end up well. On paper, this game was supposed to be a brawl of two teams that play defense well and can score. It didn't turn out that way. Duke was able to close off a lot of easy opportunities for WVU and, for the first time in several games, Scheyer, Singler and Smith were firing on all cylinders. A few Butler fans were cheering for Duke as well, because the Plumlee brothers are Indiana natives and Jon Scheyer is from nearby Illinois.
A few WVU fans were already trickling out at halftime. During halftime, the 2009 and 2010 inductees in the Basketball Hall of Fame were introduced. The ones who got the best reception were Jerry West (WVU) and the infamous/famous Christian Laettner. There were a couple of Kentucky fans down in another section who were booing... LMAO... still sore from 1992, I guess.
Anyway, the second half began and it was much like the first half, with Duke adjusting its defense to prevent easy WVU opportunities and WVU... not changing much, really. Then, Da'Sean Butler, arguably WVU's best player and top scorer, got tangled up with Brian Zoubek. Da'Sean got called for a charge (an offensive foul) and went down to the floor in agony. You could tell he was in a lot of pain. The whole stadium went silent. Coach Bob Huggins made his way to Da'Sean who was in pain. He mumbled something to the referees and got angry at them. Then, a choir of "Asshole!" started, directed at the refs.
Eventually, teammates got Da'Sean up and carried him to the locker room. Everyone stood up and gave Da'Sean a standing ovation. Cameron Crazies started chanting "Da'Sean Butler!" I thought that was a nice gesture of sportsmanship. It turns out Da'Sean has a torn ACL, a torn MCL and two bruised bones. I wish him a speedy recovery.
By that time, even he had been unable to stop Duke from amassing a fairly large lead. WVU fans started leaving en masse. With 2 minutes left in the game, the fans in attendance were die-hard basketball fans, Butler fans or Duke fans. Everyone else had left.
The game was then over. We watched as CBS interviewed Coach K and Jon Scheyer. Then we left and bought a few more souvenirs. MSU and WVU items were 50% off and fans of those teams were selling their championship night tickets to Duke and Butler fans (although Butler fans seemed to be in greater numbers).
We arrived back at the hotel at 12:40 a.m. or so. We got up yesterday at about 8 a.m. and we began our trek home - a 13-hour drive. Between stops and traffic jams, we arrived back at midnight. I wish I could have had the time (and money) to attend tonight's game, but I'm glad I was able to experience the atmosphere.
On a side note, everyone was generally nice, but some fans from a particular school were very obnoxious. We overheard fans from other teams who said the same thing about that particular group of fans, so we knew we were not biased and/or the only ones who thought the same thing.
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