Posted by John Antonik on April 3, 2010
(5:58 pm)
Some pregame thoughts and observations …
Unless I hit every spot Michigan State fans were located on my eight-block walk from the Sheraton to Lucas Oil Stadium I would say the Spartans have the strongest contingent of supporters at this year’s Final Four – and rightfully so. Michigan State has been to six Final Fours in the last 12 years.
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I didn't run into these guys, but I did see a lot of Michigan State fans on my walk to Lucas Oil Stadium this afternoon.
Getty photo
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Coach Tom Izzo is considered one of the game’s best coaches despite going 1-4 in national championship games. Too bad football coaches aren’t judged the same way because if that were the case then Larry Coker would still be coaching at Miami.
Butler also has a strong contingent of fans here in Indianapolis with the campus so close, and West Virginia is well represented, too. My suspicion is a good number of the Mountaineer fans are getting prepped at downtown watering holes for tonight’s game and that’s why they were not out and about on the streets in even greater numbers.
I didn’t see a lot of Duke fans this afternoon but that doesn’t mean Blue Devil supporters won’t show up for tonight’s game. It just means Hors d'oeuvres are being served a little later than usual.
The best represented of the non-participants? I would have to say Indiana.
Got on the media elevator with the Butler bulldog and I must say he looks much smaller in person. Also on the elevator with me was Big Ten Network basketball analyst Dan Dakich, who looks much bigger than what I remember from his five days at West Virginia.
It amazes me how well these reporters clean up on game day.
Yesterday the press room was the biggest collection of the worst dressed people in America, the older guys missing belt loops in their trousers, the younger guys wearing old sneakers from their rec league days and some of the others employing color schemes that would have made Timothy Leary uncomfortable.
But I must admit today the press has made a big comeback. Dudes I didn’t even know owned suits showed up in suits.
Come to think of it, it kind of reminds me of my wedding - dudes I didn't think owned tank tops showed up in tank tops on our big day.
Don’t lump Andy Katz, Pat Forde and Jeff Goodman in the above group, though, because those guys dress pretty well. Of course they can afford to.
Pitt’s Jamie Dixon won this year’s Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award announced yesterday while Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim was named National Basketball Coaches Association (NABC) Coach of the Year announced two days ago.
It’s kind of hard to argue either choice.
It is during times when the wireless Internet service is down at Lucas Oil Stadium that I wonder how we all got along before wireless Internet services ever went down.
Indianapolis is a very nice, clean city and Lucas Oil Stadium is a terrific venue to hold an athletic event such as the Final Four. I would probably rate it slightly better than the University of Phoenix Stadium where West Virginia defeated Oklahoma in the 2008 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.
I’ll take a similar result this weekend.
Among former Mountaineers I have seen so far in Indianapolis this weekend: Willie Akers, Maurice Robinson, Darryl Prue, Rob Summers, Darris Nichols, Patrick Beilein and former gridder Avon Cobourne. I’m sure there are many, many more here that I didn’t see or get a chance to talk to.
According to the Charleston Daily Mail’s Jack Bogaczyk, there are a million reasons why West Virginia is happy to be making its first Final Four appearance in 51 years. That is roughly the payout the Mountaineers will receive from the Big East Conference for this year’s appearance.
Compare that to 1959 when West Virginia was cut a check for $14,000 by the NCAA for its Final Four trip. “I don’t recall anyone complaining, though,” said former West Virginia sports information director Eddie Barrett.
Much more after the game …
