Dickies Arena prepares to roll out red carpet for NCAA tournament
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March Madness in Fort Worth
Dickies Arena will be a host of the men’s NCAA March Madness tournament. Here’s everything you need to know.
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The opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament is considered one of the best sports weekends of the year with so many games being played over a four-day period. And it’s returning to Cowtown for the first time in 52 years.
Dickies Arena will host six of the 48 games to be played next weekend when the three-week event — known as March Madness to the millions of fans across the country — returns to venues from coast to coast, essentially without restrictions for the first time since 2019.
The 2020 edition was one of the first major domestic sporting event to be scuttled by the COVID-19 pandemic. And the entire 2021 tournament was held in near empty arenas in and around the NCAA’s Indianapolis headquarters as programs were still battling with breakout cases as vaccines were in the early stages of being administered.
But the 2022 tournament is harbinger of not just spring, but a sense that pandemic may finally be receding. Dickies Arena has been preparing for this moment since it broke ground in 2017.
“We announced winning this the day we broke ground on the arena, so to see it come in full circle is really remarkable,” Dickies Arena president and general manager Matt Homan said. “It’s great for Fort Worth. It’s going to bring a lot of out of town visitors in. We’re going to create a great student-athlete experience at one of the best arenas in the United States. We’re excited about it.”
Like seven other cities from San Diego to Buffalo, New York, Fort Worth will host four first-round games and two second-round games. Dickies will be one of four sites to host games on Day 1, Thursday, March 17, and then the venue will host another two the following Saturday. Teams won’t be seeded and revealed until Sunday night — aka Selection Sunday — although venue-host TCU will not get the hometown draw.
The NCAA’s policy states that host schools can’t compete at the venue. For TCU, the idea of being the host school for the first tournament games at Dickies Arena outweighed the remote possibility the selection committee would grant them a hometown draw.
“This is a big moment for TCU, Dickies Arena and the entire city of Fort Worth,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said. “It’s been amazing to see so many people in our community working together to put on the tournament. I have no doubt we will collectively deliver a world class experience.”
Even though TCU won’t be staying home, most experts project that either Baylor or Texas Tech will draw the Fort Worth site. And there’s a chance a blueblood program such as Kansas is headed here, although the Jayhawks are 0-4 in the state of Texas this season.
Whatever teams ultimately make the trek to Fort Worth won’t dampen the significance of the event returning to town.
The old Daniel-Meyer Coliseum hosted the opening round of the 1969 and 1970 NCAA Tournaments, the only time the opening weekend games were played in Fort Worth.
Dallas’ American Airlines Center was the last to host the opening weekend in the DFW area in 2018. They also hosted the rounds in 2002 and 2006. Arlington’s AT&T Stadium hosted a Regional (Sweet 16, Elite Eight) in 2013 and the Final Four in 2014.
But Fort Worth is back in the mix these days, thanks to the $540 million Dickies Arena that opened in November 2019. The venue can hold up to 13,550 fans for basketball games.
“Every concourse level you walk down and the upper bowl is only eight rows,” Homan said. “There’s not a bad seat in the house. For basketball, it’s great venue.”
What is March Madness?
March Madness is the phrase used to describe the NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament.
According to the NCAA, March Madness was first used by an Illinois high school official, Henry V. Porter, in 1939. It went mainstream, though, when then-CBS Sports broadcaster Brent Musburger used it during the 1982 tournament.
It’s been a staple for the event ever since.
What’s the format?
The NCAA selection committee will seed a field of 68 teams on Sunday. There are 32 automatic qualifiers for the tournament as conference champions from every NCAA league are awarded a spot.
Then the selection committee hands out 36 at-large bids. The first games are played in what’s known as the “First Four” in Dayton, Ohio, where “bubble” teams and lower-level conference champions compete for a spot in the Round of 64.
The field dwindles from that point on. There will be 32 teams left standing after the first two days, and 16 teams standing after the opening weekend. Then it goes down to eight, four, two and eventually one.
Did you know? The first NCAA Tournament in 1939 had eight teams. The field has grown over the years. It was pushed up to 16 teams in 1951; 32 in 1975; and 64 in 1985. The “First Four” has been played since 2011.
Tell us about the upsets
Upsets are part of the beauty of March Madness. Any team can win on any given day.
Heck, just four years ago provided fans with a thriller when 16-seed UMBC knocked off 1-seed Virginia 74-54 in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It’s the first – and only – time a 16 seed has defeated a 1 seed.
There’s sure to be an upset or two at Dickies Arena. Here’s a look at how often the following upsets occur in the first round (since 1985):
10-seed over a 7-seed: 39.5%
11-seed over a 6-seed: 37.5%
12-seed over a 5-seed: 35.4%
13-seed over a 4-seed: 21.5%
14-seed over a 3-seed: 15.3%
15-seed over a 2-seed: 6.3%
16-seed over a 1-seed: 0.7%
Dickies and hoops
Dickies Arena isn’t a stranger to college basketball, hosting a number of games in the last two-plus seasons.
TCU and USC played the first-ever college basketball game at the venue on Dec. 6, 2019 followed by Texas A&M vs. Texas the next day.
The arena has since hosted other marquee matchups as well as the American Athletic Conference tournament.
Former Texas A&M forward Josh Nebo described the basketball setup as “beautiful” following the UT-A&M game in December 2019.
“Probably one of the best arenas I’ve played in throughout my whole career,” Nebo said.
Big 12 teams coming?
There’s a chance that one, possibly two, Big 12 teams will draw the Fort Worth site. We look at the top three possibilities:
Baylor: The Bears are the reigning national champions and have positioned themselves to make another run at the championship. Teams with experienced backcourts tend to fare well in March and that’s what Baylor has behind senior guard James Akinjo and junior guard Adam Flagler. And Matthew Mayer provides a versatile big man who can be dangerous if he’s feeling it from 3-point range.
Coach Scott Drew has also proven himself as a tournament savvy coach over the years, capped with his run last season. Drew, who has won three consecutive Big 12 coach of the year awards, has reached the Sweet 16 five times since the 2009-10 season.
Baylor has never played at Dickies Arena, but it fared well the one time it played in the state of Texas on opening weekend during the 2014 tournament. The Bears defeated Nebraska and then Creighton during first- and second-round games at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders are among the surprise teams under first-year coach Mark Adams. Tech hasn’t lost a step even with Chris Beard bolting to Texas.
In fact, Tech will be favored to make a deeper run than UT.
The Red Raiders are a defensive-first team that held opponents to 60.7 points per game in the regular season. They are led by forward Bryson Williams, who earned first-team All-Big 12 honors after averaging 14.0 points and 4.3 rebounds a game.
Terrence Shannon Jr. is another player to watch on Tech’s roster. He flirted with going to the NBA last offseason, but returned for his junior season. He’s averaging 10.4 points per game.
Tech has never played at Dickies Arena but it started an Elite Eight run in 2018 at Dallas’ American Airlines Center. The Red Raiders defeated Stephen F. Austin and then Florida to advance out of that site.
Kansas: The Jayhawks haven’t enjoyed their visits to the Lone Star State this year, falling to every conference school in the state on the road (Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor and TCU). But KU is once again a threat to make a run in March Madness, and would gladly take a Fort Worth bid.
The Jayhawks have a large alumni base in the area and it’s within driving distance (eight hours) of their campus.
KU has several players of note, headlined by the Big 12’s player of the year Ochai Agbaji.
The Jayhawks have played a number of NCAA Tournament games in the state, including winning the national title in San Antonio in 2008. But they’ve never played an opening weekend in Texas.
The last time KU visited Texas in the NCAA Tournament was at the 2018 Final Four in San Antonio. The Jayhawks lost to eventual national champion Villanova in the semifinals.
How to purchase tickets
Tickets are only available through the secondary market for the time being. Dickies Arena has sold its allotment for all-session tickets and the eight schools playing will have an opportunity to purchase their allotments. If the schools don’t purchase their full allotment, those tickets will then be released back to the general public for purchase.
On StubHub early this week, all-session tickets were available starting at $335. Individual sessions were available for purchase at less than $100.
Fans who want to experience March Madness without purchasing a ticket will have that opportunity on Wednesday. Teams will run through open practices that are free for the public to attend all day Wednesday. Dickies Arena is also hosting a fan fest on its plaza throughout the weekend.
This story was originally published March 11, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
