Tournament time

In 2001 the NCAA added a 65th team to Division I's annual basketball tournament in 2001. That also meant the need for a play-in game, now referred to as the Opening Round Game, to keep a workable number of teams in the brackets. Each year Dayton has served as the host for this game, probably because the University of Dayton Arena has plenty of experience with tourney games and local support for college basketball. I'd never attended but was feeling the itch to go this year.

I was going more out of a sense of curiosity about the event than a desire to see the teams playing. Let's face it: the two schools squaring off tonight were competing for the right to get drilled by their top-seeded opponent on Friday. No #16 seed, which is where these two teams are slotted, has ever beaten a #1 in tournament history, and based on what I saw this evening, Arkansas-Pine Bluff won't be the first. Congratulations on the win! Now get ready to lose by thirty or more in three days!

Although I was seated about half a section behind the Winthrop band, most everyone around me was probably from the area. A little over eight thousand people showed up for some post-season hoops, but there's no way that a significant percentage of them were from Arkansas or South Carolina.

As a kid I started attending games at UD Arena in the late 1970s or early 1980s. The closest I'd ever been to the court was when I had a seat on it during my high school graduation. We had season tickets in the third row of the upper arena, so that's where I'm most used to watching the action from. They were fairly good seats, but of course there's always a wish to be closer. I sat in the lower arena a few times at some high school tournament games. Tonight, though, I may have witnessed a game from the closest I ever have in the place. I admit that was part of my reason for wanting to be there. In that way the experience didn't disappoint.

Sure, the game was pretty much a dud. Both teams shot under 30% in the first half. Scoring didn't pick up much in the second half. But who cares? I cheered for both teams when they made good plays, and the score stayed relatively close until the last five minutes. All I was hoping for was a good view of a close game, and I got it, more or less. When I return tomorrow night to see the Flyers play Illinois State in the first round of the NIT, then I'll be more invested in the outcome.