Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - It was great to have March Madness college basketball back in Downtown Buffalo.
While we did not see some of the top seeds in the tournament come to Buffalo this time, we certainly got to see some competitive games at KeyBank Center.
Here are my thoughts from courtside, as I watched the four games on Thursday:
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Providence came in after winning the Big East regular season title and took care of business against a very game South Dakota State in the first of the four games.
The game was down to one possession with under two minutes to play, but Providence got some big defensive stops and made their free throws in the 66-57 win to hold off the Jackrabbits.
The Friars play a very smart, unselfish team game.
I was very impressed with their head coach, Ed Cooley, and his comments after the game. He has established a very nice culture within his team and players. The players seem to have bought into playing an unselfish brand of basketball.
As for Cooley, he is very fun to watch. He is as animated on the sidelines, but does it in such a "cool" way.
The Friars head coach had positive things to say about his time in Buffalo so far. He says he took his team for a dinner to Buffalo Chophouse on Wednesday, and laughed and said that he hopes that by giving the restaurant more love in his press conference, it might get him another meal. Cooley also added he does plan on getting some wings before he leaves town this weekend.
Providence seemed to have one of the larger contingents of fans that made the trip to Buffalo. The sections behind their bench during the first game were very loud and energized in the building. Their fans will also likely be indulging in some wings this weekend.
Providence will face Richmond on Saturday, as the Spiders pulled off the early day upset in the 5-12 matchup against heavily favored Iowa.
The Hawkeyes came out strong in the second half, but did not get much from their leading scorer Keegan Murray. After winning the Big Ten Tournament, they go home without a win in the NCAA Tournament.
Richmond got stronger as the game went on, and clearly fed off the energy in the arena from their well-traveled crowd that sat right behind me on press row. They were loud, and they were into every possession.
Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery is familiar with Buffalo, as he coached here many times with his previous job when he was head coach of the Siena Saints. Of course, Siena plays in the MAAC, which means annual trips to Buffalo to take on Canisius College and Niagara University.
McCaffery has two sons on his roster, Patrick and Connor.
I first noticed on TV during the play-in games that the Wilson brand ball that the teams are using during the NCAA Tournament seems to be a much brighter orange color. Wilson, the company that makes the ball, did come out with a new version of the ball for this year‘s tournament. They are said the new version was made, hoping that there is a better grip for the players, but clearly the brighter color makes it easier to see the brand-name on the ball.
I guess I would call it smart marketing. It does, at times, look like the ball you may have bought to shoot hoops in your driveway outside!
The crowd at KeyBank Center was less than a sellout, but from my vantage point, the lower bowl and 200 level were essentially full. The 300 level was about half-full.
Likely the eight teams that were selected to play in Buffalo didn’t necessarily inspire any last-minute ticket buyers. All of the top seeds seem to be placed in other regions, due to geographic reasons.
The only team in the Northeast that was ranked in the top-10 of the country was Villanova, and the Wildcats were sent, as expected, to Pittsburgh in the other East Region First Round site.
They announced just over 16,000 people for the afternoon session, and the evening session looked a little better, in terms of attendance.
Of course, the buzz of the town for the locals is about the Von Miller signing for the Buffalo Bills. There were plenty of Bills jerseys in the stands on Thursday, and some fans brought a Bills banner that was displayed right behind mid-court.
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In the evening session, another 5-seed went down, as 12th-seeded New Mexico State stayed the course and was not intimated by the UConn Huskies. The Lobos pulled out a win over UConn, who was previously undefeated (4-0) all-time in NCAA games at KeyBank Center. Both times the Huskies were in Buffalo previously, they went on win the National Championship.
In the nightcap, 4th-seeded Arkansas, led by head coach Eric Musselman, made another fashion statement with his sneakers for the game. The Hog on his sneakers were certainly a unique look.
All week, Musselman gained some fans in the Buffalo area with his social media pics of him wearing Buffalo sports gear with the Bills, Sabres, Bisons, Bandits and even Braves.
