March Madness sweeps over Spokane

Spokane was one of the centers of an outbreak of madness that spread around the nation over the past few days.

For the first time since 2016 — it was supposed to happen in 2020, but a different outbreak spoiled that — Spokane Arena was one of the host sites for the First and Second Rounds of the men’s NCAA Tournament. Just a few blocks to the east, Gonzaga’s campus hosted the same rounds on the women’s side of things.

Excluding the hometown Zags, 11 teams and their fans made their way to Spokane for nine games of NCAA Tournament action.

On Friday and Sunday, near sellout crowds packed the Arena to watch teams coming from as far away as New Haven, Connecticut and many places in Alabama.

UPSETS TO SAVOR

For neutral fans, upsets are the fuel behind the glory of the NCAA Tournament. Fans in Spokane were treated to a pair of them on Friday, starting with 13-seed Yale taking down 4-seed Auburn in a thrilling 78-76 win.

The crowd at Spokane Arena rallied behind the underdog from the Ivy League against the big boys from the SEC.

Those in the know understood how monumental of an upset this was, as Auburn ranked seventh in the most recent AP Top 25 poll. Yale, on the other hand, wasn’t even the best team in its league during the regular season and only made the Tourney after hitting a buzzer beater to win the Ivy League Tournament Championship Game.

Even Nate Oats, head coach of Auburn’s archrival, Alabama, jumped on the Bulldog bandwagon. He visited the Yale locker room after the win to congratulate the team.

According to Alabama beat writer Nick Kelly of The Tuscaloosa News, who captured the moment, Oats was simply there to congratulate his friend James Jones, Yale’s coach. It’s much more fun to think it was a petty stab at Auburn, though, and Tigers fans will certainly see it as such.

But the March magic at the Arena wasn't done yet. The evening session brought another upset as 12-seed Grand Canyon took down 5-seed Saint Mary’s.

While technically an upset, this one was a lot more predictable than the first. Saint Mary’s was forced into a near-road game in an arena filled with a contingent of hundreds of Grand Canyon students and fans who made the trip up to Spokane, plus local Gonzaga fans who were more than happy to cheer against their WCC rival.

Speaking of the fans…

FANATICS EVERYWHERE

All eight men's teams were represented by fans who made the trek to the Inland Northwest. Most of the support was modest, however, especially for the smaller programs of Yale, Charleston, UAB and Saint Mary’s

Big-time programs Alabama and Auburn were decently represented despite the distance between Spokane and those campuses, though their fans were largely drowned out by those pulling for upsets.

Western powerhouse San Diego State, last year’s national runner-up, brought a solid contingent into the city, perhaps inspired by previous success their team has experienced in Spokane. The Aztecs won at Gonzaga earlier this season, and won a pair of NCAA Tournament games at Spokane Arena back in 2014.

However, none of those fanbases dominated Spokane the way Grand Canyon’s did. The purple-clad Lopes fans invaded the Lilac City and had no problem making their presence felt.

While the other teams had fans sitting in bunches, the Lopes fans dominated an entire section. They stood for the entire game and started chanting 20-plus minutes before the ball was even tipped on Friday, and again on Sunday prior to their matchup against Alabama.

Their exuberance was spurred by the hundreds of students who made the trip up to Spokane with tickets handed out by the university, and they proved infectious — drawing the unaffiliated locals into cheering along with them.

I choose the word “unaffiliated” over “neutral” because many in the building on Friday certainly were not the latter.

More visible than any team other than Grand Canyon was Gonzaga, despite the Zags men playing their games down in Salt Lake City. Zags fans who didn’t make the trip to Utah flocked to catch some Tourney action at the Arena.

In case you are unaware... Zags fans tend not to like Saint Mary’s very much.

They were not just rooting for an upset, they wanted see their rival's season come crashing down via an early NCAA exit.

Fan is short for fanatic after all, and Gonzaga fans in the crowd were willing to put rivalry ahead of rationality. If Saint Mary’s had won, the West Coast Conference would have received a roughly $2 million paycheck, with a chunk of that going directly to Gonzaga.

For many of the 11,616 in attendance on Friday, seeing pain on the Gaels' faces was worth every non-received penny.

AWAY FROM THE ARENA

The NCAA Tournament is always a boon for business at sports bars around town, but it was especially so this past weekend with the influx of thousands of fans into the city center.

Restaurants around Spokane Arena were packed on Friday and Sunday as fans made their way to and from the games. With games taking place at other sites around the country on the off-day Saturday, out-of-towners had the chance to check out bars and restaurants all around downtown.

A Saint Mary’s fan I know who made the trip up from California stuck around Saturday despite his team’s elimination the night before. They took in other games' action across the river at Brick West Brewing Co. Part of that action was a Gonzaga win over Kansas which... ouch for them.

But it wasn’t just the men’s tournament taking place in Spokane this weekend. With Gonzaga earning a top 4 seed in their region, McCarthey Athletic Center played host to the Zags women and three other teams for First Round action on Saturday.

In those opening-round games at The Kennel, the visiting teams from UC Irvine and Utah were barely represented by fans (while interest in women's college hoops has boomed the past few years, it's still not the same live draw as the men's Tourney). That said, South Dakota State had a dedicated group that filled roughly half of one section. The Jackrabbits fans showed up early and took in the Gonzaga vs. UC Irvine game before — unfortunately for them — sticking around to watch their team fall to Utah. The Zags bounced back after a rough first quarter to win 75-56, while conversely Utah dominated the first quarter (20-3) on route to a 68-54 victory.

The women’s tournament continues at McCarthey on Monday evening with a Second Round showdown between 4-seed Gonzaga and 5-seed Utah at 7:30 pm on ESPN.