There was a time, early in its existence, when the American Airlines Center was a common site for NCAA Tournament games, hosting the first- and second-round action in its inaugural season of 2001-02 and again in 2006. The Wichita State Shockers use the arena, which holds just over 15,000 for basketball, as an alternate site for select games, including a December, 2017 matchup against Oklahoma. Intrust Bank Arena opened in 2007 and is the primary home of hockey’s Wichita Thunder (ECHL). The arena hosted the women’s NCAA Tournament first- and second-round games in 2011. Intrust Bank Arena makes its men’s NCAA Tournament debut in 2018 and is already tabbed to host early-round games in 2021. The primary home of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins, PPG holds 19,100 for basketball games, and would be the home for an NBA franchise, should the league consider bringing basketball back to the Steel City for the first time since an ABA team played at the old Civic Arena in the 1970s. PPG is already slated to host early-round games in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. This will be the third time the arena has hosted early-round NCAA Tournament games, following the every-three-year pattern that began in 2012, the second year of the building’s existence. And Duquesne is the host program for this weekend’s tournament games at PPG Paints Arena. McConnell, once of Duquesne University, now of the Philadelphia 76ers, is the answer to that trivia question. You know an arena has the chops to be a quality basketball site in a football, hockey and baseball town when the guy who scores the first points in the building’s history goes on to play in the NBA – in the same state! Here is a look at the stages for all the stories as 64 reduces to 1. The First Four begins this week at its traditional home, Dayton’s UD Arena. Then, over the next three weeks, 13 different arenas will become part of the story that is the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, culminating in San Antonio on April 2. And there’s always at least one freshman sensations. There are the small-town underdogs who make moments that last a lifetime. There are the establishment powerhouses from the big American cities. March Madness brings out all that is compelling about college basketball. By Jeff Goldberg on Main Basketball, College
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