Final Four Crowd Control

You would be hard pressed to find a more diverse pairing of Final Four teams this season. From talent level, to head coaches, to team profile, to school size, athletic funding, program prestige, and tournament experience. Everything about these four teams is completely different.

The uniqueness of the teams and their fan bases was on full display at Reliant Stadium on Saturday afternoon. For VCU alumni and fans, there is no telling if or when the Rams will make a return trip to the Final Four. For members of Big Blue Nation, this was just another chance to remind the country that they are the most powerful fan base in college basketball. For people like myself, with no dog in the fight, mingling amongst the masses, it was a chance to take in the varying fan support from the four remaining teams in the country.

There was no denying fans of Virginia Commonwealth the opportunity to wear their school's colors on their sleeves in Houston. Of the four schools being represented at Reliant Stadium, VCU was the only one not wearing blue.

There was no ignoring the large section of bright yellow Ram supporters, not even if you had tried. On the concourse, small hoards of VCU fans walked with a slight bounce in their step.

They were smiling, they were cheering, they were goading other fans into shouting matches, basically anything they could do to acknowledge that their team had made it, and at least for the moment, there was nothing we could do about it.

During the contest, the VCU faithful cheered with an unadulterated ferocity. You could hear every word of every cheer they recited. It was almost like the fans knew this might be their only chance to support a Final Four team. If any of the supporters were to have bled, I am more than certain that their blood would have been yellow.

But it wasn't just the alumni and fans. The Ram's pep band hit their strokes with a combination of passion and soul. They weren't just playing music, they were setting the tone. The conductor did more than just conduct, he flailed his arms, thrust his hips, and perspired enough to necessitate multiple wardrobe changes. The student section was more mosh pit than anything else. They were provided with more than enough space to fit their faithful followers, but the co-eds clearly are not fans of "personal space".

Overall, watching the VCU fans express themselves was refreshing. There wasn't the feeling of a routine, like they had been there before. It was off-the-cuff, make-it-up-as-you-go, and displayed with a sense of reckless abandon.

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Of the four fan bases being represented, the Butler support group provided arguably the most realistic view of their program and school. Their entourage was not overwhelmingly large, but it was prominent. They were loud and proud, but never with the slight tinge of hysteria that the VCU fans provided.

It seemed like, after having been here once before, the Bulldog fans knew the routine. It wasn't cut-and-dry, but it wasn't over-the-top. Their support was very well, blue-collar. Every Butler fan could be identified, but none made themselves an eyesore. Their band was loud, and energetic, but their musical selection seemed to draw inspiration from the classic standard-issue band numbers. This is not to say that they were boring, just that their creativity was limited. But their passion was most certainly not.

On a somewhat-unrelated note, I had made it a personal goal of mine before this adventure began that I would seek out Butler's Blue II for a photo-op. I circled the lower level of the stadium numerous times in hopes that he would be out greeting the fans on the concourse level, but came up empty. Monday night will be different.

Back to the topic at hand, Butler's crowd support was a perfect representation of what school's public opinion: bigger and better than you would expect for a school of that size, but with a traditional style lacking the feathers, ruffles, bells and whistles.

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Only 847 miles separate Lexington Kentucky and Houston Texas. But based on the number of royal blue shirts roaming the grounds and the percentage of seats filled by "Big Blue" it would be understandable if you believed this game was being played in Kentucky.

Big Blue Nation's presence is and was overbearing. They were everywhere. T-shirts, hats, signs, pom-poms, costumes, face paint, and body paint. There were blue-and-white versions of Darth Vader and Ironman’s headgear. I saw an elderly lady donning a personalized #33 blue Kentucky jersey with the name "Shea Butta". As long as you were in blue, anything was allowed. The t-shirt selections we all over the place: "Free Enes", "UK2K", "Got Jorts?", "Calipari is my Homeboy", and even an "I Hate Louisville".

(Credit: Kentucky Sports Radio)

Prior to Saturday, I tried to prepare myself for BBN and what we would be in store for. I envisioned entire families decked out in "jorts", knee-high socks, fanny-packs and mullets. By the end of Saturday night, I saw no mullets, maybe one or two fanny-packs and only seven pairs of "jorts". Well, let me change that. I saw a lot of extremely attractive females wearing jean-skirts and jean-shorts, but I saw little-to-no homemade "jorts".

The announced attendance for Kentucky/UConn semifinal was said to have been a record of 75,421. OF these 75-thousand people, 25-thousand of them must have been Kentucky fans. They were loud, really really loud. But if there would have been the same number of VCU or Butler fans, Big Blue Nation would have been drowned out.

Yes, BBN had power in numbers, but nothing about their crowd presence was overwhelming, other than the sheer size and well, the noise level. It's interesting, because that is the perception of the Big Blue fan base. Yes it's the largest fan base in college basketball, but nothing about their presence during the game was unique, or original.

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No team or fan base had to travel further this week than UConn. 1530 miles separate the small New England town and the massive southwestern metropolis.

Less than a month ago, UConn fans took over Madison Square Garden for the Big East Tournament. Chants of "UCONN...HUSKIES" echoed through the arena and drowned out other cheering sections. Even against Syracuse, who travels as well as UConn on the East Coast, was no match for the UConn support group.

But in Houston, Husky fans were few and far between. By the end of Saturday, there were as many lingering VCU fans in the student section as there were UConn fans.

(Credit: Luke Winn, Sports Illustrated)

It seemed somewhat pathetic. This is UConn after all. They've won two national Championships since 1999 and have to be another Final Four.

So, with the seemingly non-existent student section, and only one un-color coordinated section of the stadium, you would not expect them to have been drowned out by Big Blue Nation. And this could have not been further from the truth.

Led by "Big Red", UConn's cult-icon, Husky fans were as loud and as supportive as Big Blue Nation was. The student section could not have had more than 60 members in attendance, but based on noise level, you would have never noticed.

Visually, everything about UConn was unassuming. They lacked size and had little-to-no color coordination. But what they lacked in size they made up for in school spirit.