I was in the stands in Indy for this game. Here are a few memories.
- Winners of the ticket lottery were notified by phone. I remember getting the call and the joyus disbelief at scoring tickets. My luck is normally pretty bad with this stuff.
- Just walking into the Hoosier Dome and it hitting home that the Gophers were really in the Final Four. I'd always hoped for it, but never imagined it would happen. Given all that's gone on since, it makes that weekend even more special.
- The Gophers couldn't take everyone. Loge and Sanden, who were redshirting, made the trip and took the layup line, but the Sanford Twins weren't suited up despite playing that year in garbage time.
- Bobby Jackson's swoop shot. The charging call. The rough start. The fight to get back into the game. The sinking realization that the comeback wouldn't make it all the way.
- The seating in the Gopher quadrant put the students in front of the regular season ticket holders to get the kids closer to the floor. Of course they stood the entire game. That meant the older fans that sit on lower deck between the baskets at Williams Arena had to stand if they wanted to see anything. To say there were some unhappy people among that older crowd is a vast understatement, and not just for a few minutes. Some people were shouting "sit down!" and "act like you been there before" the entire game and left more bitter about that than the loss and end to a great season. I was fine with standing on the other hand, being in my mid 20s only a few years out of school.
- Ticket scalping is legal in Indianapolis to the extent that people were very openly soliciting Gopher fans for their Monday night tickets as semi-final came to a close, unconcerned about ushers or security. Most fans sold up and went home. Very few Gopher fans stayed for the Title game.
- The Kentucky fans patronized Minnesota fans in the most condescending manner possible, mocking the #3 team in the country and its fans as if this was a mid February game against Ole Miss or some mid level SEC team at Rupp Arena, completely expecting to roll the Gophers by a huge margin. It was great to see them lose on Monday night, especially considering how cool the Arizona fans largely were.