With a group of fourteen guys, I attended the second round NCAA basketball tourney live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. While we were not treated to some of the stunning upsets of the day by Dayton, Harvard and North Dakota State, it was some great basketball and definitely a different view than my usual perch from watching television at home.
BMO Harris Bradley Center Venue:
First, the venue itself. The most noticeable difference entering the venue for the NCAA basketball tournament game was that the only advertising you see is for the NCAA itself. All other advertising has been covered in black tarp or removed. The NCAA controls every aspect of what can be viewed by a ticketed fan and the television viewer. The courts are all NCAA sanctioned and similar in every region.
Second, there are no alcohol sales for any of the four games. This is fairly standard practice for college events. Frankly, sitting through four games, it was a good idea to just drink water. Lastly, the Bradley Center does not have the best legroom. Several of us are over six foot four inches tall and we were pretty cramped by the end of the day.
West Regional Games:
The first two games of the day were the West regional games. In the first game, University of Wisconsin opposed American University from Washington D.C. The crowd appeared to be 90% Wisconsin supporters. It was a sea of red. It is not surprising that there was such a turn out for the Madison, Wisconsin squad and it was a decided advantage. The game was close early as Wisconsin came out tight. However after a 20-20 tie, it was all Wisconsin. The Badgers were simply too much for American and their sixteen turnovers.
The second game was Brigham Young University against the University of Oregon. My first impression when I saw the size and athleticism of the Oregon players was why did I ever pick BYU to win this game in my NCAA pool? Oregon were huge and very, very quick.
The neon bright yellow uniforms of the Ducks were also intimidating and distracting. Some of us joked that the uniforms were even distracting the referees. This ref crew was by far the worst of the day as they were extremely inconsistent in their calls the entire game.
Nevertheless, BYU fought back and pulled within three points with twelve minutes to go in the game. However, that was it. Oregon got serious and put on a serious pummeling the rest of the way. It was clear from BYU’s poor shooting percentage that they were not used to the size and quickness of Oregon that could contest shots that BYU normally made. That was the difference in the game.
Midwest Regional Games:
After a break to clear the arena, we returned for the second two games from the Midwest region. The first game was the University of Michigan against Wofford College from Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Michigan players were noticeably taller and more athletic than the Wofford players and the result seemingly should have never be in doubt. However, Michigan seemed a bit arrogant and lackadaisical throughout most of the game. Wofford stayed within ten points most of the game despite being clearly overmatched in talent. In the end, Michigan cruised to a 57-40 victory. The main difference in the game was the poor shooting percentage of Wofford.
The last game of the night turned out to be the best. The Arizona State University against the University of Texas. It was the nationally televised game and the NCAA picked the right game of the four to showcase.
First, Texas center Cameron Ridley appeared to be the biggest human to ever play basketball. He got off to a great start and it seemed that ASU center Jordan Bachynski was going to foul out quickly or get hurt. However, Bachynski was up to the task and very tough. He took some hard shots throughout the game and stood tall and outscored Ridley. Ridley seemed to be off and on dominant and was rested conservatively all game.
It was a close game with Texas holding a 41-36 halftime lead. Texas started to pull away during the second half until ASU started hitting three point shots. From 55 to 46 down, ASU pulled to 62-59. Another three 66-64. Another three 73-70. With 2:19 left in the game, ASU took its first lead 81-80.
However, ASU just did not have a killer instinct. Each time they had Texas on the ropes, they made some silly error or poor play allowing Texas to keep regaining the lead. However, with 16 seconds left, ASU took a one point lead. Texas came down and missed the shot, rebounded it and put in with .1 second on the clock. The shot looked good live and was held up after review. Great exciting game. However, one that ASU should have stolen. They only have themselves to blame.
Closing Thoughts:
It was definitely far different and more exciting to view the games live and in person. I was struck by how noticeable size differences were between teams. I never got that feeling as much watching games on television. I also noticed the differences in the referee crews. Only one crew seemed really poor and inconsistent. However, each crew had their own particular style of calling or missing fouls.
Some of my crew were commenting on the differences in pom and cheerleading squads from school to school. You had a lot more down time to pay attention to the cheerleaders with all of the television time outs and other delays. Also, the twenty minute halftimes seemed to drag out the overall length of games.
Two more games Saturday. Oregon against Wisconsin and Texas against Michigan. Great matchups. I am looking forward to them. Now, to find tickets.
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