When the NCAA announced that the entire 2021 tournament would take place in Indiana, I immediately began planning to attend this unique experience. For me, the attraction is visiting venues that rarely host college basketball, and out of the five places that would be welcoming fans, two are not regular home gyms. The first is Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Colts and Indy Eleven play; the second is Bankers Life Fieldhouse, home of the Pacers. As soon as the announcement was made in early January, I booked mileage flights on Delta for the first weekend, and later found a downtown hotel with a March Madness rate of $79, less than half of what was being charged by the time the actual schedule came out. Unfortunately, Delta moved my Friday afternoon flight to the evening, so I would only be able to see one game that day, but at least I was able to capture the shot below as we flew over downtown. That's Lucas Oil Stadium in the middle, with Victory Field (home of the AAA Indians) to the northwest.
When tickets went on sale, I focused on finding games at those two locations, both a short walk from the hotel. As intriguing as a game at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse or IUPUI's Farmers Coliseum would be, I preferred to keep those for future visits when I could see the home team in a normal setting. In the end, I purchased four games: three at Lucas and one at Bankers. Because teams and game times were not set when tickets went on sale, I ended up with a game that started as my flight was scheduled to land. Fortunately, Purdue was slated for that game, so I had no trouble selling the pair at a tidy profit. The other games ended up being Morehead State vs. West Virginia, UCSB vs. Creighton, and first overall seed Gonzaga against either Norfolk State or Appalachian State. Friends had an extra for Clemson and Rutgers, which was taking place at the same time as Morehead/WVU, so I sold my pair at cost and joined my buddies for a more interesting matchup.
My flight arrived a bit early and after we landed, I checked rideshare prices while we taxied to the gate. It would cost about $20 to get to the hotel, but by the time I had deplaned and made my way to the pickup area, the price had increased to $50 as there were few drivers and plenty of passengers. Yikes! Fortunately, there is a bus that heads straight downtown that happened to be leaving at the same time. It cost just $1.75 and I was the only passenger for most of the ride, which got me to the hotel at the same time as if I had waited for the rideshare with everyone else. Always know your options before you arrive!
After dropping my stuff off, I walked over to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the first game. Along the way, I stopped at JW Marriott to look at their giant bracket on the front of the hotel (above). This was one of several downtown hotels that was housing the teams and it was protected liked President Biden was inside, with cops and security everywhere. Even all that did not help VCU, who had a COVID case and were sent home without playing a game.
Before entering the venue, I met up with Andrew and Peter from the Ultimate Sports Road Trip, who had sold me their extra ticket. With several games already having been completed and a few upsets in the books, there were a lot of college kids partying along Meridian Street, with no regard for the pandemic. Some bars were obvious COVID hotspots, with hundreds of patrons in close quarters. We found one with an outdoor patio and grabbed a quick beer there, complaining about the lost year and amazed at how the kids couldn't care less.
Entry into the stadium required that we answer three COVID related questions (none of which was "Were you recently at a COVID hotspot?"), and that was it. With only 4,500 fans in attendance (capacity is 20,000) and bags prohibited, there were no lines, and concourses were empty with few concessions operating. Inside the bowl, the majority of fans were sitting in the upper reaches of this vast venue, so the atmosphere was very muted. Rutgers fans outnumbered their Clemson counterparts by about 5-1, not surprising as Newark airport has several daily direct flights to Indy. Face coverings were required at all times unless "actively eating or drinking" and if you had your mask off, an usher would approach you and hold up a sign politely asking you to wear it.
The game was quite entertaining, with 14 lead changes in the first half alone and only 12 fouls. Down 37-34 early in the second period, Rutgers, a favourite despite being the 10-seed, went on a 16-2 run, but the Tigers responded with 10 straight, eventually tying the game at 55 with 4:12 left. Geo Baker immediately hit a trey to give the Scarlet Knights the lead, and then the bricks came out. Over the next three minutes, the teams combined for eight misses and three turnovers, with Clemson notching a single free throw during that time. With 40 seconds left, the Tigers committed yet another turnover and as they were not in the bonus, they elected not to foul. Rutgers killed the clock and then scored a beautiful basket by Baker with just ten ticks to go. When Clemson missed a desperation three, Rutgers had won their first tournament game since 1983.
The next day saw a number of our sports travel group reunite at Lucas Oil Stadium for #5 Creighton (Big East) taking on #12 UCSB (Big West). Note the sign on the front; Indianapolis was originally to be the site of the Final Four, but the NCAA decided to move the entire tournament to Indiana to minimize travel for the schools. Of course, having fans from all 68 participants walking around town and eating and drinking at bars is probably going to lead to some COVID outbreaks when they return home, but with vaccinations proceeding quickly (I myself have had both shots), I don't expect the impact to be that large.
Exact attendance figures for these games are not available, but with fans limited to no more than 25% of capacity, empty concourses were prevalent here as well.
The venue was divided into two courts, with one named Unity and the other Equality, demonstrating the NCAA's commitment to inclusion and social justice. This commitment obviously does not extend to the women's tournament or its weight room. Anyway, the photo below is the Unity Court taken from the 600 level, which is where my seat was located. I can only imagine what the Final Four will be like with just one court in the middle of the stadium. Binoculars are very helpful if you want to see the action.
With these seats so far away, I moved around a bit, sitting with some friends on the 300 level behind the net before moving over to spend the last few minutes in the 400 level, a substantial improvement.
This ended up being another good game, with a similar pattern down the stretch. Creighton had a 47-37 lead with 13 minutes to go, but UCSB went on a 21-5 rampage and led by 6 with 5:32 on the clock. The Bluejays responded with 9 straight but Amadou Sow made a layup and then sank two free throws on the Gauchos next possession to give UCSB a 62-61 lead with 37 seconds left. The majority of fans were cheering for the upset and the place was loud as Creighton called timeout. Coming out of the break, Damien Jefferson missed a jumper but Christian Bishop grabbed the offensive rebound and was then needlessly fouled by Sow as he tried to dribble away. With Creighton only in the 1-and-1, Bishop had to make the first free throw, which he did to tie the game. He made the second as well, and with no timeouts, UCSB had to run a play. A floater from Sow did not fall and Creighton escaped with the 63-62 victory.
After a break for dinner, I returned to Bankers Life to see the top overall seed take on Norfolk State. The only question here is whether Gonzaga could cover the 33-point spread, and as you can see below, they did.
There were more games Sunday but with everybody else having left, I did not bother buying a ticket as there was no need to return to Lucas and the other venues were rather overpriced for single tickets. Instead, I went to the NCAA Hall of Champions, a small museum that has displays on all NCAA sports as well as interactive exhibits. It takes about 45 minutes to see it all and is well worth the $5 for any sports fan. The highlight was seeing the two basketball championship trophies, though I don't think these are the ones that are actually given to the winners, as there was no security whatsoever.
Having been vaccinated, I also had dinner and a couple of drinks inside a bar, the first time to do so in over a year. All in all, a great weekend trip and the start of what promises to be an exciting summer of sports travel.
Notes
Both venues had scale models, which I always enjoy seeing. The Lucas Oil one is just inside the door of the suite level, so you might not be able to get in when the Colts are home.
The Fieldhouse is on the lower concourse and has the roof removed.
Next Up
Back to Arlington in early April to see the Blue Jays officially open up Globe Life Field. Of course, I was there for the World Series, but this trip is necessary as I plan to complete seeing the Jays in every road ballpark this season. Check back for recaps then.
Best,
Sean
