As this has been a soul-crushing week of work for most of us, BON has been largely silent over the upcoming UNC-UT tilt at JerryWorld tomorrow. While I'll leave the chalktalk to Wiggo, I did want to briefly comment on the location of the game.
I've gotten a lot of texts, e-mails, etc, asking if I'm going to the game tomorrow. Even though I'll be in Dallas with my family, I just couldnt bring myself to drop the money for the tickets. Apparently, I'm not alone. In discussing the game with several friends, most of us were more excited about attending the Erwin Center tilt with Michigan State, especially after our Houston Regional experience at Reliant Stadium. Additionally, after my sister and I have spent $600 (!!!) for football season tickets, OU tickets, and our Stampede passes, it was a little too much to spend another $150 for two tickets to this game. It might have been different if there were student tickets available for this game, but, as that probably would have required people to do some work, that was a lost cause.
There has been a lot of discussion on the interwebs about the future of college basketball involving big games played in football stadiums. The attractions--and detractions--of these games are rather obvious, and it's not my intent to simply rehash the points over depth perception, safety, money, or the awful viewpoints for the fans. I really just wanted to briefly mention the lowlight of my Reliant Stadium experience when we played Memphis--the noise level. That was perhaps the most pumped I've ever been to attend a basketball game. My friends all talked about how our crowd would help take the team to another level. Within 2 minutes, it was clear that wasnt going to happen, and it wasnt entirely because of a lack of effort. The setup, including the lack of locational unity for the fans, wasn't conducive to generating (or sustaining) a lot of noise. It felt like watching basetball in a vacuum. I'd be curious to hear if anyone else had a different opinion over that game and venue.
That said, I'm still jealous of the BON'ers going to the game. I'll be very interested to hear the feedback on watching the game at the stadium, which has become as big a story as the game itself, and I hope several of you provide recaps. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, the story will be solely focused on our convincing victory over the Tar Heels.
Hook 'Em!