March Sadness?
Not In Pittsburgh, As Tournament's Popularity Grows
By Paul Paterra

It's the time of year when sports fans seem to turn their collective attentions toward college basketball.

In fact, it almost sounds like they're all contracting an incurable disease.

It's March Madness, the nickname that has been hoist upon the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Madness is a pretty good term for what happens for those three weeks in March when the tournament takes place.

Check most offices throughout the country. It's a good bet that a pool is floating around as people do their best to try to see who will win the "Big Dance." Yes, that's another nickname for the tournament.

People who don't even follow college basketball take a look at a field that used to contain 64 teams and try to figure their paths on the road to an NCAA championship.

That field has increased to 65 teams this year. That's right another team has been added to the "madness."

Yeah, the tournament seems to play everywhere from Pontiac to Peoria.

But how does the tournament play in Pittsburgh? Does the Steel City get caught up in the madness?

It's no secret that Pittsburgh is not a basketball town. There are reasons for that, such as the fact that the city has not had a professional basketball team since the days of the American Basketball Association.

Also, college teams in this city have not had a lot of success in the NCAA tournament.

Duquesne - once a powerhouse in college basketball - has not even qualified for the tournament since 1977.

The University of Pittsburgh has been absent from NCAA tournament glory since 1993.

The early part of the '90s found Robert Morris a regular participant in the tournament, but that program has fallen on hard times and is now in a rebuilding stage. Even when it made it, the Colonials usually were one and done, opening as one of the tournament's lowest seeds and drawing first-round opponents like Indiana or UCLA.

But the tournament did make an appearance in Pittsburgh in 1997. It was received mighty nicely, thank you. Sellout crowds filled the then-Civic Arena to get a taste of "March Madness."

They got caught up in the hysteria when little-known Coppin State upset second-seeded South Carolina in the first round and then came within a whisker of advancing to the Sweet 16.

Duquesne Athletic Director Brian Colleary was one of the driving forces behind bringing a regional to Pittsburgh.

"Once I came to this city and saw how convenient everything was, I felt this would be a good place to do it," he said. "I just thought it was a good thing for Pittsburgh to host this type of thing."

Pittsburgh proved to be a worthy host.

"Out of the eight first and second round sites, I think we were the top as far as ticket sales, revenue produced, hype, excitement," Colleary recalled. "The people of the NCAA were very happy with Pittsburgh."

There were some 17,300 people in attendance at those games, which means they were the largest crowds in Pittsburgh to ever witness basketball games.

There was plenty of excitement for the games that year as Colleary said the margin of victory in each game was five points. The largest margin came in the game that was perhaps the biggest upset in NCAA history as Coppin State downed South Carolina by 15 points.

Colleary is at it again as a women's Eastern Regional will be coming to Pittsburgh March 24 and 26.

"It's going pretty well," Colleary said. "It's surpassed our initial expectations. We still have a long way to go."

Last year's women's Eastern Regional saw an average attendance of 5,500 in Richmond, Virginia. A regional in Kansas City averaged 5,700.

"We'd like to surpass last year's top attendance," Colleary said.

That was in Memphis, where the presence of perennial powerhouse Tennessee helped to bring an average of 7,800 fans.

Colleary feels the tournament is popular in Pittsburgh, especially because of its national scope.

"It's a national tournament that's popular everywhere you go," Colleary said.

"College basketball is going through a time where there are so many games on that some games may not be as important to people in some areas as they are to others. Once the season ends, the tournament becomes the national focus. It's popular everywhere by the way it comes to a Final Four and an eventual winner."

Colleary also has discovered the way Pittsburgh teams are followed almost religiously and he feels if any of the city's teams went on a long run in the tournament, excitement would be generated.

"This city would be behind it," Colleary said. "Pittsburgh is a great sports city, but you have to win. When the professional teams do well, that's when more fans are behind them. You have to win to generate a lot of excitement in Pittsburgh."

Dr. Susan Hofacre is the athletic director at Robert Morris and has some fond memories of the days the Colonials participated in the thing called "March Madness."

Robert Morris qualified for the tournament three out of four years from 1989-92. Hofacre was not the athletic director at the time, but was with the school and traveled with the team.

"It was a tremendous experience internally and externally," Hofacre recalled.

"There's just so much that goes with it. You're extremely visible. The national press is covering it. It was just a great experience."

Hofacre recalled going to Boise, Idaho in 1989. Sure, the Colonials lost in the first round to Arizona - which was the top-ranked team in the country at the time -- but Hofacre remembered the players really enjoying the experience.

"They received a police escort from the airport. This was a huge deal," Hofacre said. "They were the toast of the town. They wanted to go back to Boise."

Hofacre also feels that the tournament plays in Pittsburgh.

"There's a pretty good following," Hofacre said. "People really get into it. There's a lot of interest in it. "

Darelle Porter currently is the head men's basketball coach at Duquesne, but he played at the town's other major school - the University of Pittsburgh. He was on three Panther teams that made their way into the NCAA tournament in 1988, 1989 and 1991. None of those Pitt teams ever made it past the second round of the tournament, but Porter remembers the times fondly.

"It was a great experience," Porter recalled. "Just the coverage, the atmosphere, it was amazing. There were 1,000 people at practice. They couldn't get tickets to the game, so they came to watch practice."

Porter feels it would be even more special if he could coach a team - such as his Dukes - in the tournament. "That would be the ultimate goal."

Porter also recalled fondly when the tournament made its appearance in Pittsburgh in 1997. He feels that's proof that there is a following for the NCAA Tournament in the "Steel City."

"They know it's a tournament anyone can win," Porter said. "They enjoy watching it, because there are always a lot of upsets."

He agrees with Colleary that if a team from this city ever got on a run in the tournament, that team would garner an avid following.

"It would be great," Porter said. "This city is waiting for a winner."

But the City does seem to have no problem being a part of that affliction called "March Madness."

It plays in Pontiac, it plays in Peoria and it seems to play in Pittsburgh.

Paul Paterra is a news reporter with the Greensburg Tribune-Review.