While concerts, the Braves, tourist traps and many other draws took place around the area, the Final Four was the centerpiece over the past three days in Atlanta for the fourth time in history and third since 2002. The combined attendance of the two nights was 149,676, a record for the Final Four, while the Monday night attendance was 74,326, tops for national title games.
The weekend can be considered a success for Atlanta. The city raked in millions upon millions of dollars from eager visitors, whether they were here for the basketball, the concerts, or as the t-shirt says, the beer. The weather certainly helped as did the competitiveness of all three games. But one thing is for certain, after getting bad reviews from the ’96 Olympics from many across the world, the city has grown up. It is truly a first-class city, not only for tourism, but also for sports.
A tip of the hat goes to the schools involved in the Final Four. Wichita State, the proverbial Cinderella, frustrated Louisville until the end, but the Cardinals prevailed 72-68. Cardinals coach Rick Pitino said after the semifinal win, “It’s tough for Wichita State to lose this game tonight because they played great. We had to dig in. The reason our starters played poorly is because Wichita State is that good.”
Louisville, the No. 1 overall seed, had to come back from a 12-point deficit to dispatch the pesky Shockers, who did not play like they were just happy to be here.
The Saturday night finale was the game fans expected the most from. However, Michigan jumped out to a double-digit first-half lead and withered a couple of muted Syracuse rallies to win the semifinal and advance to the finals for the first time since the “Chris Webber Timeout game” of 1993. The Wolverines won despite star point guard and Naismith player of the year Trey Burke shooting just 1-for-8 from the field. No Michigan player had more than 13 points.
But the Wolverines were able to “survive and advance” past the vaunted Syracuse 2-3 zone defense. Michigan coach John Beilein used his freshman sensation, Mitch McGary, to exploit the defense.
“We studied so many of their games,” said Beilein. “They got a great coaching staff. We knew that was an area that we might be able to exploit if we could pass out of there. We did so many passing drills this year with Mitch pivoting. We say, catch, pivot, peek, make a pass. He did a great job.”
While the semis were both surprising and expected, the final looked to be a great matchup of two teams that came in scoring, shooting at will and making clutch plays in crunchtime. And the Louisville-Michigan game did not disappoint.
Pitino was a busy man this week, as his horse qualified for the Kentucky Derby, his son was hired as basketball coach at Minnesota, he was elected to the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame (and was officially recognized as a member during a second-half timeout in which he was buried beneath his players deep in teaching mode near the Cardinals’ bench), and, Monday night, became the first coach ever to win national titles at two schools.
Like the Wichita State game and, for those that remember, the Syracuse game in the Big East tournament, Louisville fell down by double-digits in the first half. Some guy named Spike Albrecht made four three-pointers and the Wolverines led by a dozen late in the first half. But Louisville’s unlikely hero and the Final Four MVP, Luke Hancock, came off the bench yet again to lead the Cards back from a serious deficit. Hancock, a George Mason transfer, scored 14 straight points, including three consecutive three-pointers, to bring the Red and Black to within one. Montrezl Harrell converted an amazing alley-oop to give Pitino’s group its first lead of the game just before the half.
Hancock cooled in the second, but still finished with 22 points. Louisville seemed to wear down Michigan with its exceptional scoring panache which the prolific Wolverines could not keep up with despite a remarkable first half. Albrecht, a freshman from Crown Point, Ind., was 4-for-4 from three-point land in the fist half, but did not score a point in the second. Another freshman, McGary, was stuck in foul trouble, leaving the comeback up to Burke, who was also saddled with early foul trouble.
In what was roundly called one of the best national championship games ever, Louisville and Pitino joined the elite while Beilein and Michigan gained respect. And Atlanta was never the main storyline, a good thing for a host city. The participants focused on putting on one of the better Finals Fours ever, which at the end of the day, is all that matters in the hospitality business.
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