Final Four weekend will offer tons of activities for fans and locals
Lots of activities, concerts and events are planned throughout the city for the final weekend of the college basketball season.
Final Four
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Juzang sends No. 11 seed UCLA past Michigan to Final Four
The Wolverines missed their final eight shots, including a 3-pointer by Mike Smith with a couple of seconds left and another by Franz Wagner at the buzzer that sent the Bruins (22-9) flying off the bench in a wild celebration.
Gonzaga’s bid for a perfect season moves on to Final Four
Gonzaga (30-0) has been an offensive juggernaut rarely seen in college basketball. Fast moving and free flowing, the ultra-efficient Zags have steamrolled everyone in their way, winning a Division I-record 27 straight games by double digits.
NCAA adds team field trips to help alleviate bubble boredom
March Madness is taking on a whole new meaning for athletes, coaches and support staff, who are largely cooped up for the duration of the tournament, which ends with the championship game April 5.
Adam Shunk & Kai Bates-Diop: How social isolation affects sports performance
Social isolation effects will be compounded by an isolation bubble with a reduced number of fans, restricted zones of access and restricted contact with family, friends and spectators.
Picture yourself at the Final Four—as a cardboard cutout
The NCAA is giving fans an opportunity to buy cardboard cutouts of themselves to be sent to the games at a cost of $100 apiece, with a portion of the purchase price going to the United Way of Central Indiana’s COVID-19 relief effort.
No positive COVID-19 tests yet for March Madness teams in Indy
Forty-six teams had arrived in Indianapolis for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament by late Sunday, and each was given a COVID-19 test upon arrival.
March Madness TV-rights price tag continues to soar
The media landscape is in the throes of dramatic change that creates uncertainty but also adds to the value of events like the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament that attract huge live audiences.
Local restaurants hope to supply food for teams during NCAA Tournament
The NCAA, Indiana Sports Corp. and Visit Indy are developing a program to help match teams with restaurants that are prepared to deliver.
Baker takes leave from Women’s Fund to be March Madness ringmaster
Over the past few weeks, Jennifer Pope Baker has spent pretty much every waking moment overseeing Indy’s effort to host this year’s NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament.
Ryan Vaughn: The NCAA tournament is uniting our city
It’s taken thousands of Hoosier residents willing to put community first in order to take Indy’s success to the next level.
NCAA tournament will be no party for event venues
Other than a few facilities that will be COVID testing sites, team lounges or overflow areas, most event spaces that usually glean revenue from tournament gatherings could be left out in the cold.
March Madness will help restaurants. But how much?
The city will host an unprecedented number of games with the entire tournament being played in Indiana. But the pandemic will limit capacity at both games and restaurants.
Tournament’s economic impact will turn on number of fans who come
Even after the NCAA said Feb. 19 that some spectators will be allowed at the games, local tourism officials and economists are still tempering their financial expectations.
Small labs try to nab testing work at big sports events
A huge event that kicks off next month is hanging like a plum: the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Media exposure from 3-week NCAA tournament could pay off big
Coverage from Selection Sunday on March 14 to the championship April 5 should bring an enormous payoff to Indiana, which will host all 67 games, and to Indianapolis specifically, which will host 55 of them.
Virus curtails tournament’s festivities; organizers still engaging community
The pandemic that landed March Madness in Indianapolis is also the complication that will strip some of the tournament’s ambience, but local officials are organizing safe activities.
City, groups launch beautification effort to prepare for March Madness
Local officials are scheduling neighborhood cleanups, public art initiatives and a slew of other efforts to help the city put its best foot forward when March Madness takes over downtown next month.
Downtown properties scramble to ramp up for NCAA influx
Five of the city’s most prominent hotels, accounting for more than 2,800 rooms, will house the 68 teams in the three-week NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament that tips off March 18.
IBJ Podcast: What must Indy do to be ready to host all of March Madness?
The logistics needed to pull off the entire NCAA tournament are incredible. But Indianapolis officials tell IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey they are up to the task. So podcast host Mason King talks with Shuey about what he’s learned and what’s left to figure out.