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Pittsburgh loving its NCAA basketball

By Rob Burchianti rburchianti@heraldstandard.Com 5 min read
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PITTSBURGH — There always seems to be a debate raging about if Pittsburgh is a basketball town or not.

It might not be an NBA basketball town, but it surely is a college basketball town, which it has shown several times by hosting NCAA men’s tournament games five different years now.

The NCAA must like Pittsburgh, too, because it will return in 2022 for first- and second-round games at PPG Paints Arena (well, if that’s still the name of the place in four years).

The first day of action at the Duquesne University-hosted event was packed with plenty of drawing power.

Pittsburgh got two No. 2 seeds for the first time this year, in Duke and Villanova, as well as one of the best freshman in the country in Oklahoma point guard Trae Young, and a rumored Pitt coaching candidate in Rhode Island’s Dan Hurley.

The Blue Devils, led by the nation’s most recognizable coach in Mike Krzyzewski, not surprisingly seemed to have the largest contingent of fans, and were featured in the early session on Thursday afternoon while coach Jay Wright’s Wildcats played in the night session.

Both sessions drew “sellout” crowds, according to the announced attendance.

Duke and Villanova won Thursday and were victorious again on Saturday, keeping the possibility alive, for the first time, of two of the Final Four teams coming through Pittsburgh.

While Villanova, being the closest team, brought plenty of fans from the other side of the state, their opponent on Thursday, Radford, had a surprising amount of support from its faithful. The Highlanders are from Virginia and cheered on their team throughout what was a lopsided laugher for the Wildcats.

In fact, after the defeat, Radford’s players and head coach Mike Jones strolled over to the red-clad rows that included their fan base to wave and show their appreciation for their support.

Thursday included two blowouts — the Blue Devils blasted Iona in the second game of the day session — and a pair of thrillers.

Rhode Island, coached by the very animated Dan Hurley, who Pitt is rumored to be very much interested in for its current job opening, outlasted Oklahoma, which featured the nation’s highest profile freshman in point guard Trae Young (27.4 points and 8.7 assists per game), in overtime in the tournament’s very first game, which tipped off at 12:10 p.m.

In the final game, Alabama used its superior athleticism to pull away from Virginia Tech in the final minutes. That game featured another impressive freshman in the Crimson Tide’s Collin Sexton, not to mention an array of crowd-pleasing dunks by Bama.

That game many have had the day’s most controversial call as well when the Hokies’ Justin Robinson was whistled for a charge on a drive to the hoop that looked like it might result in a three-point play with his team down 78-74 and 48 seconds left.

Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams erupted at the call and was assessed a technical foul. The meant instead of Virginia Tech potentially slicing the lead to one point, Alabama was given two free throws and made one to go up by five and all but seal the victory.

While there were eight teams in action, there were plenty of other college basketball fans present, at least if you go by fan attire. Just glancing around during breaks in the action, there were logos and names of 30 to 40, probably more, different schools splashed across spectators’ apparel.

Pittsburgh has had some great luck with a variety of teams over the years in hosting the NCAA tournament, and fans have come in droves to watch.

Their first crack at it came in 1997 when games were played at the Civic Arena. That year, Louisville was the most recognizable team but it was a small school out of Baltimore called Coppin State that stole the show by stunning second-seeded South Carolina in the first round.

People who remember that game may have forgotten that the Bald Eagles, who were so poor at the time that the lettering was starting to peel from their uniforms and were led by a coach named “Fang” Mitchell, almost won their second-round game as well, falling to Texas by one point.

The NCAA returned to the same venue, then called Mellon Arena, in 2002 and fans there got to enjoy a pair of Pitt victories as the Panthers reached the Sweet 16, while also getting to see UCLA and No. 1 seed Cincinnati, then coached by Bob Huggins.

Ten years after that, Consol Energy Center — which is now PPG Paints Arena — hosted Huggins-led West Virginia, Syracuse, Gonzaga and Ohio State. The Mountaineers went one-and-done, but the Buckeyes eventually reached the Final Four.

Three years ago fans got to see another stunning upset of a No. 2 seed when Villanova was stunned by North Carolina State in the second round, and a thrilling overtime victory by Notre Dame over Butler.

There have been some great and memorable NCAA tournament basketball games over the years in Pittsburgh, and there will likely be many more to come.

The NCAA loves coming here, and the fans certainly love it also.

Pittsburgh is most definitely a basketball town.

Rob Burchianti can be reached at rburchianti@heraldstandard.com or on Twitter at @rvburch.

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