NCAA Tournament Returns to San Francisco and 'Madness' Follows
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- The first NCAA tournament games played in San Francisco since 1939 lived up to the hype. Hoop dreams were made and dashed. A raucous crowd witnessed a March Madness upset along with a piece of college basketball history.
Distinctive hog calls from Razorbacks fans echoed around Chase Center as college basketball lovers from Arkansas, Duke, Gonzaga and Texas Tech converged on the San Francisco waterfront Thursday for back-to-back Sweet 16 playoff games.
Texas Tech fans were confident that an upset was in the making as their team took on Duke and its NCAA coaching legend known to all as Coach K.
Elliott Nixon and Chad Chamberlin indulged in a little pre-game trash talk. "Where does Mike Krzyzewski have a tee time tomorrow? That's what we want to know because today's his last day at work!"
Krzyzewski walked to the locker room escorted by his wife. During his 42-year career Coach K led the Blue Devils to five national championships.
"It's almost as long as I've been alive. I just don't think we'll see another coach like him so it's fun to be part of history," said Matt Walker, a Gonzaga fan.
Duke survived to face the Razorbacks on Saturday after Arkansas knocked out number one seed Gonzaga.
"It was really tough. I don't think it was a great finish for Gonzaga. It's sad they go out like this every year. It's really disappointing honestly," said Zags fan Owen Apfel.
While fans packed Chase, local businesses scored as well.
Earlier in the day, orders kept pouring in to Yummy Home Plate. It was a huge win after the lean years of pandemic.
Yummy Home Plate owner Reza Khajenouri was delighted. "That will help us tremendously to catch up with some of the losses we had all year."
Chase Center had a sellout crowd of 17,514 and the fun begins again on Saturday when Duke faces Arkansas.