Tulsa, Oklahoma – BOK Center (March 18 & 20: Rounds 2,3)
Why your dad likes Tulsa: Fair to say some dads don’t even know what state Tulsa is in. Most common incorrect guesses: 1) Texas 2) Nebraska 3) Saskatchewan. I mean no disrespect to the fine people of Oklahoma, your love for the OKC Thunder is proving that you can support a big time sports franchise. I do intend to imply that Tulsa seems like a rather random choice to host the NCAA tournament. I wonder how the NCAA chooses host cities. I’m guessing the location must have a sizable arena to fit a large crowd and a local university/athletic conference to sponsor the event but beyond that…
Signature Food/Drink: Tulsa seems like your quintessential steak and potato type destination. Of course, I associate any state referenced in Lonesome Dove as having good steer. Speaking of good steak from the Great Plains, I had an Omaha steak a few weeks ago, not terrible but definitely not worth the hype. Perhaps the fact that they’re delivered frozen had something to do with the overall quality.
College Basketball History: Tulsa hasn’t hosted a NCAA tournament game since 1985. It also boasts the second smallest population, a little over 900K, of any 2011 host city. Smallest? Dayton, Ohio. If the city of Tulsa can successfully pull this weekend off and attract people to the arena/downtown area there is a chance the tourney could return to Oklahoma in the future but only after Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Portland, Maine get their fair shot first.
Bracket Predictions: Round 2 – (13) Oakland over (4) Texas, (5) Arizona over (12) Memphis, (1) Kansas over (16) BU, (8) UNLV over (9) Illinois Round 3 – Arizona over Oakland, Kansas over UNLV