Every basketball fan should attend a Final Four

Every College Basketball fan, or for that matter, every basketball fan should go to a Final Four. The last Final Four that wasn’t in a dome took place in Denver in 1990. Since then, the NCAA has only played the Men’s College Basketball Championship in Domed Stadiums!

This year, and for the second time since 2011, The Final Four will be held in Houston’s NRG Stadium. North Carolina is the favorite, but I don’t think anyone that’s followed the NCAA Tournament this year, or college basketball all year, would be surprised if Oklahoma, Villanova or even 10 seed Syracuse cuts the nets down Monday night.

But the Final Four isn’t about the basketball games Saturday night and Monday, I mean, it is, but it isn’t. It’s about the people you’ll see and the events around the Final Four.

In addition to the four teams playing, the Final Four is also the site of the National Association of Basketball Coaches. Thus, nearly all 300 Division one college basketball coaches, their entire staffs, coaches from smaller divisions, and high school are there well. Also, the College Basketball Hall of Fame introduces it’s class annually at the National Championship, so those honorees are just hanging around town. Because it always features future pros, tons of NBA front office execs and scouts are in attendance as well.

And, if you want to know where to find lots of who’s who of college basketball past and present, just hang out in the lobby of the “Coaches Hotel.” Now, with thousands of coaches in town, they use several hotels, But, the “Coaches Hotel” is the main hotel where most Division 1 Head Coaches stay. And the lobby should really be called Grand Central Station, because the amount of people coming and going is crazy.

The NABC Convention is what you’d think it is. There’s an expo with vendors pushing their wares trying to get Coaches and Ops directors to buy the latest technology or for smaller schools to perhaps change workout gear, etc…There’s, of course, coaching clinics where you might have Mike Krzyzewski giving a clinic about teamwork or Mark Few may be talking about winning at a smaller school or Jim Boeheim about zone defense, and so and so forth. And, there’re all types of meetings going on at the Coaches hotel which always reminds me of one my favorite Final Four moments ever.

In 2005, I was working at SIRIUS Satellite Radio with the late Jerry Tarkanian. And you want to talk about a Rock Star, Jerry Tarkanian is as big a star among basketball coaches as there ever was. So, we’re doing a show downstairs at the Coaches Hotel in St. Louis and it’s a 12 segment show. Tark was so beloved, that we had 17 guests in a 12 segment show over 3 hours. In fact, Bill Self stood and waited for 20 minutes while Jim Calhoun finished his interview because he was so excited to talk to Tark. But one Coach that didn’t make it on that day was Tubby Smith. Tubby walked by and waved at Tark, who asked him to come on the show real quickly. Tubby politely declined, apologized, but said he had to get to a meeting, which we all saw him walk into. No big deal, that’s part of the radio biz, you can’t get every guest, even when you know someone really well. As he walked away Tark turns to me and Dave Sims, his co-host and said, “A meeting…in 40 Fu*king years of Coaching, I went to maybe 2 meetings!” He said. “How in the HELL is a meeting going to help me Coach my team better!” That was Tark…one of a kind and, honestly, I’ve never seen anyone walk through the Coaches Hotel lobby or at the Final Four itself, not even Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, who was stopped more than Jerry Tarkanian.

In 2011, I was at the media hotel and Dennis Rodman was being inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame that year, so he was at the Final Four. He comes into my hotel lobby later in the night, and he, like most of the folks that night had definitely had a few soda pops…having seen him on Celebrity Rehab, I wasn’t surprised that it wasn’t sticking. But, I knew he was former teammates with Scott Hastings, who I worked with at the time. They won a title together on the second of the back-to-back Bad Boy Pistons teams. So, as Dennis walks by, I say, “hey Dennis, I work with your old teammate Scott Hastings.” And he responds with…”Scott Hastings, he’s white!” And that’s where the conversation ended. The Worm’s friends he was with were white, so it wasn’t a racial thing, but in the state he was in, about all he could muster was that remark about Scotty, before being ushered upstairs to his room.

The Final Four doesn’t just attract people directly related to the game. There are always tons of celebrities from the sports and entertainment world just there to see a game. Last year, noted Duke fan Tony Romo made his way to Indy to cheer on the Blue Devils alongside his brother-in-law, Chace Crawford of “Gossip Girl” fame and now on ABC’s “Blood & Oil.”

When North Carolina won in 2005, Jay-Z was about 20 rows from the court sitting next to T.I. That same weekend, Illinois fan, Vince Vaughn was seen all around St. Louis. Of course, Ashley Judd is always there to support Kentucky, whenever her Wildcats make it to the Final Four. Funnymen Rob Riggle and Jason Sudeikis do the same when their beloved Kansas Jayhawks advance to the big weekend!

In addition to the games, there’re numerous events around town, including “Fan Fest” which always features autograph signings with legends of the game. Denver’s own Chauncey Billups is set to sign autographs this Monday in Houston.

And, one of the most under promoted elements, unless you’re in the Final Four city, is the free three nights of music put on by Coke, AT&T and Capital One.

The NCAA started offering free concerts in 2005, on Sunday between the Final Four and title game. I remember because I was walking from the Coaches hotel to my hotel across downtown and stopped and saw a stage and about 10,000 people listening to what appeared to be Kelly Clarkson. It prompted this exchange between me and a passerby: I was asked, “Has she played, ‘Since You’ve Been Gone?” which is still probably her biggest hit to date. I said, “I don’t know….” The thing was, I was pretending to be cool, but, I definitely knew, and luckily for me and the guy who asked the question, she hadn’t so we heard that to close out her set.

Those concerts have only gotten bigger. In recent years, KISS, The Black Keys, and Jimmy Buffett all headlined in New Orleans. To be fair, when you let “The Kiss Army” and Buffett’s “Parrot Heads” know they are in driving distance of their favorite band, they often shell out big bucks. So, in 2012 in New Orleans, I’m not convinced the 100,000 fans that saw those bands play on Friday and Sunday, respectively that weekend, were necessarily big hoops fans, but, I suppose they may have bought a Final Four shirt or hat passing by. Zac Brown Band played in 2013 on Friday in his native Georgia, when it was in Atlanta. That was followed by Ludacris and Rihanna the following night and Sting and Dave Matthews Band on Sunday night. In Dallas, Fun opened for The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, who played 3 full hours despite a driving rainstorm. Last year, Zac Brown Band played the Sunday night Capital One show, as Lady Antebellum opened for them. This year will not disappoint either, as Fall Out Boy and Panic at the Disco headline Friday night. Saturday, Jason Derulo and Kendrick Lamar perform, and Sunday Maroon 5 headlines a show featuring Pit Bull and Flo Rida as those performances will be simulcast with the iHeart Music Awards! Now, those shows will be big time, but I can’t imagine Houston’s “Discovery Green” will be as crowded as it was in 2011 when Kenny Chesney, arguably Country Music’s biggest star played a free show. The line literally stretched for miles. Because, again, these shows are ABSOLUTELY FREE!

The Final Four is the only place you can share and UBER with “Thunder” Dan Marjele, the legendary 3-point shooter with the Suns who currently Coaches Grand Canyon State, or share a cigar with “The Big O,” Oscar Robertson, or have a beer with your favorite Coach, Bill Self…all three of those things I’ve done. In fact, I did them all last night!

I think you get the point. The Final Four is a one of a kind event. And a couple of tips if you do plan to go: 1) Book your flight early. Next year’s Final Four is in Phoenix, a pretty easy flight from Denver. 2) Reserve Your Hotel Early…they good ones in the best areas book up quickly. 3) Try to get tickets on the NCAA website, but if you don’t, know that you can always find tickets on secondary markets, but be forewarned, Saturday tickets can be hard to track down at times. However, Monday tickets, if you’re at or near the stadium on Saturday night, are the easiest tickets in the world to buy, and for under face value, because 50% of the fans of the Final Four schools are heartbroken because their team loses, and they just want to dump their tickets and get the hell out of town.

As I embark on my 11^th Final Four in the last 13 years, I couldn’t be more excited…my only hope is that not only are my Jayhawks here next year, but you are too!