One game matched Hall of Fame coaches. The other contest included a No. 1-seeded team that was within driving distance for its rabid fan base.
So it’s no wonder anyone who wanted last-minute tickets Sunday had to pay premium to see the St. John’s-Kansas and Utah State-Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena.
Xander Roker and Kirf Olander, San Diegans by way of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, respectively, were tardy to the party, but had no complaints about paying twice face price for the privilege.
Even though they had no allegiance to any of the participants.
“I’m a Duke fan,” Roker said. “Just some great matchups. We found out yesterday the Kansas-St. John’s was in San Diego.”
Kirf Olander, left, and Xander Roker smile during Sunday’s NCAA Tournament Round of 32 games at Viejas Arena. (Kirk Kenney, U-T)
They bought their tickets about an hour before tip between the Red Storm and Jayhawks for $350 apiece. That was about twice face value, but a relative bargain with what few tickets remained, most of them priced in the $400 to $600 range.
It was quite a contrast to Friday, when the get-in price dropped to $60 a few minutes after Arizona opened Session 1 against No. 16 Long Island.
Virtually every seat was sold, even on the secondary market, by the time Session 3 began. Except for a pair of tickets offered by some knucklehead for $1,436 apiece on StubHub. Then again …
“Great matchup, with (Kansas guard) Darryn Peterson being a top prospect,” Olander said of the St. John’s-Kansas game. “And seeing Arizona, a No. 1 seed. For two games, I thought $350 was fine.”
“There was a little bit of hesitation, but there’s not a lot of basketball to watch in San Diego,” Roker said.
Why not get the tickets months ahead of time like many college basketball fans did?
“I didn’t want to buy until I knew what the matchup was,” Roker said, “and Kansas-State-St. John’s was one of the best matchups this round.”
The game lived up to its billing with No. 5-seeded St. John’s beating No. 4 Kansas on a last-second layup,
As lineups were being announced for Arizona’s game with No.9 Utah State, Roker said, “We’re rooting for overtime here.”
That seemed like a bit of a stretch, although the Aggies made a game of it until late in the second half.
NCAA photographer Jamie Schwaberow finds himself at the bottom of the celebration when St. John’s guard Dylan Darling was mobbed by teammates after game-winning shot.(K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune)
Remain calm, all is well
St. John’s guard Dylan Darling was mobbed by jubilant teammates right after his game-winning layup to beat Kansas 67-65 and send the Red Storm to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 26 years.
“Everybody jumped on him,” teammate Zuby Ejiofor said, “and I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I hope somebody doesn’t get hurt!’ “
NCAA photographer Jamie Schwaberow was thinking the exact same thing — about himself.
Schwaberow was at the bottom of the pile when chaos ensued.
“I’ve been shooting this for a long, long time,” said Schwaberow, who has been an NCAA photographer for the past 25 years. “That’s the first time I’ve gotten inundated like that.
“I saw the celebration coming, kept shooting, kept shooting, and eventually I was at the bottom of the pile. I can’t believe I didn’t break my back. It was wild.”
St. John’s band members try to distract Kansas players at the free-throw line. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Tooting their own horn
Members of the St. John’s band shouted “Throw it in the tuba! Throw it in the tuba!” whenever a Kansas player went to the free-throw line in the first half. They appeared quite pleased with themselves when the Jayhawks’ Darryn Peterson and Paul Mbiya both missed free throws, though the shots were off the rim and nowhere near the tuba player in the fifth row behind the basket.
The St. John’s mascot goofs around during a timeout against Kansas. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Birds of a feather
Game 1 matched up a pair of fine-feathered mascots, St. John’s Johnny Thunderbird and Kansas’ Big Jay, who both strutted around throughout the game.
At one point, Johnny clowned around behind CBS sideline reporter Lauren Shehadi right before she did a quick hit during a first-half timeout.
Big Jay wasn’t as free range, sticking close to the Kansas cheerleaders.
Some chirping from a Red Storm fan was noted during the first half.
“Your mascot is a flightless bird,” a man shouted toward the Kansas players on the court.
Oooh, burn.
Oh, wait. Both mascots are mythical creatures.
Big Jay is a blue jay/sparrow hybrid created. St. John’s Johnny Thunderbird is said to represent the spirit of “thunder and lightning believed by some Native Americans to take the shape of a great bird.”
The St. John’s bird does predate his Kansas counterpart. Johnny was created in 1909. Big Jay three years later.
Now, that’s a point of pride. Then again, St. John’s fans could have just pointed to the scoreboard.
The Kansas mascot joins the Jayhawks cheerleaders courtside during the game against St. John’s. (Kirk Kenney / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Going bananas
A St. John’s staffer ran into the bowels of the arena frantically looking for bananas at halftime of the St. John’s-Kansas game.
It seems one of the Red Storm players was cramping and potassium-rich bananas is one way to make muscles relax.
The staff was so panicked that he nearly broke into CBS Sports’ private stash. Game management ultimately located some bananas for him.
“It was a banana crisis for a second, but everything’s fine,” a game official said.
It’s possible a banana shortage was created by cases and case of the yellow fruit being delivered downtown, where the Savannah Bananas were performing before sold out crowds over the weekend at Petco Park.
Putting it down, picking it up
The NCAA used to use the home floor of the host school, but has been putting down its own March Madness floors for several years now.
John Zemonovic from Los Angeles’ McWil Sports Surfaces and his crew have been putting it down and picking it up — all 255 interlocking pieces — the past three times regionals have been hosted at Viejas Arena.
Zemonovic has been doing floors for the past 25 years. It includes three special outdoor occasions in San Diego, for the North Carolina-Michigan State game in 2011 on the USS Carl Vinson, the Syracuse-SDSU game in 2012 on the USS Midway Museum and the USD-SDSU game in 2015 at Petco Park.
They put the March Madness floor down on Monday in six hours. The installers are so experienced that it’s like watching an Indy pit crew.
“Kind of,” Zemonovic said. “You give me an open area and we can throw these down pretty quick.”
And pick it back up even faster.
“We’ll be here tomorrow morning at 8 o’clock and break it down,” Zemonovic said. “The truck is showing up at noon to start loading it up.”
Parting thought
Sunday was the one-year anniversary of the death of Union-Tribune columnist Bryce Miller, an Iowa native who would have been all over a San Diego bracket that had Northern Iowa among the participants. And our colleague Bryce would have found it difficult to keep his composure when TVs in the media tent showed Iowa’s thrilling, last-minute upset of No. 1 Florida for the Hawkeyes’ first trip to the Sweet 16 this century.