Oklahoma City was caught off-guard by the invasion of Nebraska Cornhuskers fans for the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Thousands of people in red took over the arena and downtown eating and drinking establishments. Young men made celebratory dives into a nearby canal after wins. Word spread that some of the bars ran out of the beer of choice, Busch Light. A good time was had by all.
Now the Big Red bandwagon is headed to Houston for
the Sweet 16, and the fans are going to be extra frisky with rival Iowa as the opponent for Thursday night's game at the Toyota Center.
A sign that Houston is prepared: Tom's Watch Bar, designated the official headquarters for Nebraska fans, has opened an outdoor overflow area and rented refrigerated trucks to keep cold drinks at the ready for when the taps run low inside. With Sweet 16 games at night and the Houston Astros' season opener down the street in the afternoon, an estimated 3,000 patrons are expected, said Brooks Schaden, co-CEO of the Denver-based chain with 19 Tom's locations.
Nebraska basketball caught on with the masses in the Cornhusker State largely because the program's turnaround was so dramatic. The Huskers had never won a game in eight previous NCAA Tournament appearances, and they still haven't won a conference championship since 1950. At a time when the Nebraska football team hasn't given fans much to cheer about, the basketball team's 20-0 start under Fred Hoiberg attracted new followers.
Jim Holloway, a research engineer at the university's Midwest Roadside Safety Facility, hadn't attended a Nebraska basketball game in many years and his wife, Jessica, isn't even a sports fan. But after Nebraska beat Vanderbilt to make the Sweet 16, a game Jim watched alone on TV, Jessica surprised him by buying tickets from an online broker.
The Holloways loaded up their dogs in their recreational vehicle Wednesday and began the 13-hour drive from their home in Raymond, Nebraska. The fact the RV gets about eight miles per gallon at a time of rising gas prices didn't faze Jim.
“I like the Hoiberg story, him being from the Midwest and all that good stuff that comes with it,” he said. “I watched him in the pros, watched him at Iowa State, knew of him. That’s my leading interest. And just the fact they’re having a good season and wanting to be supportive."
Hoiberg said he and his players appreciate all the support. After the win over Vanderbilt, the players did a victory lap around the arena to high-five the fans. Hoiberg said he had never seen one fan base dominate a venue at a neutral site like that.
“It’s what made that event so unforgettable for so many people,” Hoiberg said. “For our guys to go around and show the love to the fans... There’s no doubt they had a huge impact on us winning those two games just with the energy, how charged-up it was, and it was really fun to be a part of that. Husker fans are going to remember that forever.”
Dawn Friedrich said she and her husband, Jeff, sure will. She said they might attend three Nebraska basketball games per year along with some football and volleyball games. They've never traveled for a basketball game.
Now they're hardcore. They drove to the games in Oklahoma City, then back home to Wausa, Nebraska — population fewer than 600 — on Sunday. They turned around Wednesday and began their drive to Houston, nearly 1,000 miles away.
“We weren’t 100% sure we were going to make the Houston trip," Dawn Friedrich said, "and then Monday sometime we decided, ‘Yeah, what the heck.’”
Following the Huskers isn't cheap. Ticketing technology company Victory Live, which analyzes prices across multiple re-sale platforms, reported the average price paid for an all-session ticket to Thursday’s games in Houston had increased 22% since Nebraska earned its spot in the Sweet 16.
The average price paid Wednesday was $524, up from $429 before Nebraska’s win over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
“We told our son last night that we guess we’re spending all your inheritance,” Friedrich said.
Dustin Hahn, an associate professor of in TCU's school of communications, researches fan behavior and said he isn't surprised Nebraska fans have traveled in such large numbers with the basketball team. Nebraska traditionally has had a large road following for football and the Huskers are a unifying force in a state where there are no major professional sports, same as Iowa.
Other factors, he said, are that the basketball team's accomplishments are unprecedented and that Nebraska's flagship sport, football, has been in an extended down cycle.
“It’s almost like a hunger that wasn’t being satiated elsewhere," Hahn said, “so now it makes sense for a lot of those fans to go with basketball.”
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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-mens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
