Had some issues trying to post a reply on the FF4 thread so I thought I'd try a new post.....was able to attend the FF Saturday & Monday and wanted to post about some things I observed...
---Indy looked fantastic...everything was clean, orderly, no drunks, 1 or 2 homeless, a real vibe. Almost everybody parked north of L.O. as there basically isn't anything south other than the interstate, so prior to the games there were thousands of fans all moving south at once toward the stadium...everybody into it. Downtown in that area has many oldish buildings which were lit up to good effect....
---Hard not to notice the demographics........fans were about 90% white and 65% or so male....the street merchants & scalpers were almost all AAs.
---Illinois fans were dominate on Friday night. I thought about 5x as many fans as any other school, including Michigan. Maybe 25000 "unaffiliated" fans like ourselves who were there for the show. Almost all the Illinois fans stayed for Michigan-Arizona, but I'd say 80% sold their tickets for Monday night, almost all of which ended up with Michigan fans.....There might have been 30000 Michigan fans on Monday night. All of which reinforced what I already knew about Big 10 BB fans.....the most passionate are from IU, Illinois & Purdue. Michigan bball fans are fair weather, for sure. If IU had a team like that that won a NC in Indy the roof would come down.
---Lucas Oil looked spectacular in person but is, of course, a horrible venue for a basketball game. We were sitting about 10 rows from the top of the third deck and watched about 50% live and about 50% on the big screen. But it wasn't all bad, because we could see the pattern of the play from on high. One thing I really struck me....how great Michigan's D really was. And not just from having athletic players. They were coached and executed at a very high level on D. Very few blunders and maximum effort. U Conn was running some great O and had a hell of a time getting any open shots.
---U Conn's D was also fantastic, especially the guards and Reed. U Conn's guards were not elite offensively, which is why Michigan was able to prevail, but they were nasty on D. And very aggressive....hacked the shit out of the Michigan guards.
---Don't know how much play the IU '76 team got on TV, but in person it was extremely well done, MCed by Don F. Almost all the guys looked great (Kent B. was a little worn). All were introduced and all wore matching IU gear that looked sharp as hell. It was sad as hell watching that and then watching the Michigan fans celebrate.....but at least it was a BT team and not U Conn/Hurley!!
Had some issues trying to post a reply on the FF4 thread so I thought I'd try a new post.....was able to attend the FF Saturday & Monday and wanted to post about some things I observed...
---Indy looked fantastic...everything was clean, orderly, no drunks, 1 or 2 homeless, a real vibe. Almost everybody parked north of L.O. as there basically isn't anything south other than the interstate, so prior to the games there were thousands of fans all moving south at once toward the stadium...everybody into it. Downtown in that area has many oldish buildings which were lit up to good effect....
---Hard not to notice the demographics........fans were about 90% white and 65% or so male....the street merchants & scalpers were almost all AAs.
---Illinois fans were dominate on Friday night. I thought about 5x as many fans as any other school, including Michigan. Maybe 25000 "unaffiliated" fans like ourselves who were there for the show. Almost all the Illinois fans stayed for Michigan-Arizona, but I'd say 80% sold their tickets for Monday night, almost all of which ended up with Michigan fans.....There might have been 30000 Michigan fans on Monday night. All of which reinforced what I already knew about Big 10 BB fans.....the most passionate are from IU, Illinois & Purdue. Michigan bball fans are fair weather, for sure. If IU had a team like that that won a NC in Indy the roof would come down.
---Lucas Oil looked spectacular in person but is, of course, a horrible venue for a basketball game. We were sitting about 10 rows from the top of the third deck and watched about 50% live and about 50% on the big screen. But it wasn't all bad, because we could see the pattern of the play from on high. One thing I really struck me....how great Michigan's D really was. And not just from having athletic players. They were coached and executed at a very high level on D. Very few blunders and maximum effort. U Conn was running some great O and had a hell of a time getting any open shots.
---U Conn's D was also fantastic, especially the guards and Reed. U Conn's guards were not elite offensively, which is why Michigan was able to prevail, but they were nasty on D. And very aggressive....hacked the shit out of the Michigan guards.
---Don't know how much play the IU '76 team got on TV, but in person it was extremely well done, MCed by Don F. Almost all the guys looked great (Kent B. was a little worn). All were introduced and all wore matching IU gear that looked sharp as hell. It was sad as hell watching that and then watching the Michigan fans celebrate.....but at least it was a BT team and not U Conn/Hurley!!
Thanks for taking the time to post your reflections on the Final 4 experience. Much appreciated! You are right on target regarding the Michigan fans. When it comes to basketball they blow like the wind. Lived in Ann Arbor for 25 years and never had difficulty getting basketball tickets. Witnessed the Fab 5 lose twice to IU. Man was that fun!!!
Wayne Radford looked like he still laces them up and plays regularly. He doesn't age.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan. POTFB
Its weird how some guys can be 70 and look 90, and others can be 70 and look 50. How you take care of yourself (and some genetics) makes such a difference as you age.
Wayne Radford looked like he still laces them up and plays regularly. He doesn't age.
Who gives a shit? Ordy can EABD. He still claims he had to ban me when he was a mod on peegs, despite the fact I never posted there. I had no idea he died. I can't win 'em all.
Hope is not optimism, which expects things to turn out well, but something rooted in the conviction that there is good worth working for. - Seamus Heaney, Irish poet and likely Hoosier basketball fan. POTFB
