Barely 1,000 people were reportedly in XL Center for the start of Villanova-St. Mary'sGETTY IMAGES
Thousands of fans "got stuck behind metal detectors and missed some of the Villanova-St. Mary's match-up" on Friday at Hartford's XL Center, according to a front-page piece by Gosselin & Putterman of the HARTFORD COURANT. The problem was "caused by the game times -- mandated by television -- that ended up touching off a significant logistical mess" of turning the arena around from a 2:00pm ET first session start time for a 7:20pm second session start. XL Center GM Chris Lawrence said, "The turnaround, the timeline, no matter what the building it is, quite frankly, would have challenges moving people that quickly." Villanova men's basketball coach Jay Wright said, "You walk out here tonight, and there's literally no one in the building. It's bizarre. ... We have a lot of guys in the NCAA Tournament for the first time thinking, 'This is the NCAA Tournament? There's no one in the stands'" (HARTFORD COURANT, 3/23). In Philadelphia, Joe Juliano noted there were "barely a thousand people in XL Center" at the start of Villanova-St. Mary's. Villanova G Phil Booth said, "I thought people were going to start filing in. That's the first time I've ever seen an empty gym like that for a tournament game" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/23).
MARKET WATCH: In Des Moines, Allen Vaughan noted CBS' Reggie Miller was "impressed" with the city and Wells Fargo Arena as a host site. Miller said, "I love coming to a place that doesn't get (to host NCAA Tournaments) often. There are a lot of bigger markets that are used to having games in town like this. Des Moines certainly is not taking this for granted" (DES MOINES REGISTER, 3/24).
