Tampa Bay's March Madness® Spotlight Shines Bright

By Joey Johnston

Just when the defending national champion and No. 1-seeded Florida Gators appeared to be safe — orange-and-whew? — Sunday night’s NCAA Tournament second-round game headed for an unforgettable finish at the Benchmark International Arena.

Iowa 73, Florida 72.

We got an instant classic.

The No. 9-seeded Hawkeyes, who watched their 12-point second-half lead evaporate, surged back ahead on Alvaro Folgueiras’ corner 3-pointer off a pass from Bennett Stirtz with 4.5 seconds remaining.

After a timeout, the Gators had a chance to win it. But Thomas Haugh couldn’t get a shot after fumbling an interior pass from Xaivian Lee, who drove the length of the court on the inbounds pass.

“It’s a tough way to go out,’’ Gators head coach Todd Golden said. “It’s a tough one for us to swallow.’’

Iowa, meanwhile, registered one of the greatest wins in program history.

“Tough kids … we have tough kids,’’ Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum said. “They exemplify everything we want Iowa basketball to be. We worked like crazy, and we wanted it more.’’

Iowa’s upset of Florida — coupled with the convincing victory by No. 4-seeded Alabama against No. 5 Texas Tech — put an exclamation point on a spectacular weekend of NCAA basketball and wall-to-wall enjoyment by the 55,880 fans who came to the three sessions.

“I’d give it an A-plus or an A-plus-plus if that’s possible,’’ NCAA Basketball Selection Committee member John Wildhack said. “The whole thing has been a lot of fun and pretty awesome. The feedback we have received from the eight participating teams has been extremely positive, off-the-charts, really.

“The weather has been great. There’s so much for the fans to do on the off-days here. Tampa has a long tradition of being great at putting on the big events, so this one was no different. We have nothing but terrific reviews all around.’’

Wildhack praised the cooperation and coordination of the University of South Florida, the host institution, along with the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and the Tampa Bay Lightning, which seamlessly converted the arena from hockey to basketball.

NCAA Basketball Tournament games first came to Tampa in 1983 at the on-campus USF Sun Dome. Since then, nine more NCAA hoops events have been held in the area (including a quartet of Women’s Final Fours and the 1999 Men’s Final Four at St. Petersburg’s Tropicana Field).

NCAA hoops will be back — more sooner than later.

Before entering the Benchmark International Arena on Sunday night, the visiting fans from Alabama, Iowa, Texas and all parts of Florida sampled a gorgeous sun-splashed day of activity throughout the Tampa Bay area.

As usual, that was a very good thing.

There were constant reminders of why Tampa is such a desirable venue for NCAA events.

“I’ve definitely had no complaints being here,’’ said Texas Tech fan Betsy Rodgers of Odessa, Texas. “This town has been spectacular. We’ve had a wonderful time.’’

“Best experience I’ve had at an NCAA Tournament event,’’ said Alabama fan Ted Strobel of Mobile, Ala.

The Riverwalk was packed.

On the outskirts of town, tee times were happily made.

The last games of spring-training baseball were an afternoon hit — along with the final round of the PGA Tour’s Valspar Championship.

Water taxis and boats cruised along the downtown corridor.

Restaurants and bars were crowded (outdoor seating, please!)

As fans found their seats for the Florida-Iowa opener, day-long temperatures in the 80s had “dipped’’ to the high 70s. (As a public service, the early evening temperature in Iowa City was 41).

“We lucked out because we had previously planned a beach vacation (to Indian Shores) and we fell into Iowa basketball at the NCAAs,’’ said Hawkeyes fan Brett Kruse of Cedar Falls, Iowa, who was accompanied by his wife, Karen. “Beach today, followed by NCAA basketball tonight. Spring training on Monday. Fishing on Tuesday.

“Not a bad place to be. We have enjoyed it thoroughly, although we were most certainly outnumbered by the Gator fans tonight.’’

The Gators were boosted by a partisan orange-and-blue crowd. Fans drove from places such as Gainesville, Orlando, Fort Myers, Jacksonville, Miami, and towns throughout the Tampa Bay area. UF fan noise was deafening at times, making it into Exactech Arena South.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the support,’’ Golden said before facing Iowa. “It started at our hotel, coming down to get on the bus for the game. It was just awesome to see how many people were here to support us. It’s a great advantage finishing where we did (winning the SEC regular-season title) and being able to stay close to home, and playing in Tampa. It’s something we definitely don’t take lightly.’’

On the flip side of that, there was the “disadvantage’’ of being a Gator opponent in Tampa.

On Friday night, there was an obvious mismatch when the Gators overwhelmed Prairie View A&M 114-55, marking the second-largest victory margin (59 points) in NCAA Tournament history.

Prairie View head coach Byron Smith had the line of the tournament when he was interviewed by TNT sideline reporter AJ Ross during a first-half break.

“We need some help from the Lord,’’ Smith said after watching his team get worn down by the Gators.

It wasn’t that desperate Sunday night for the rugged Iowa Hawkeyes, who embraced the environment’s challenging setting.

“It makes it more fun, doesn't it?’’ McCollum said in a prophetic statement before the game. “I mean, you’re probably going to enjoy it more. I think the fans and players will enjoy it more. It makes for a cool venue. I’d rather have it this way. I’d probably rather have it black and gold (Iowa’s colors), but we’ll take this.

“We loved it here. Tampa is one heck of a beautiful city.’’

It was also one heck of a memorable weekend.

And one heck of an unforgettable basketball game.