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Ticket orders will be shipped out prior to the date of the Final Four via FedEx or any other shipping option selected during checkout. If you are traveling to the game, we can send your tickets to your hotel with written authorization.
Final Four Information
It's hard to imagine but the NIT used to be the elite college basketball tournament in this country. The NCAA Final Four tourney played second fiddle to it for some time. Even when the NCAA's started to catch up, it still lacked the esteem that we've come to accord it these days. The NIT waits around like a hungry Beagle for teams not selected for "The Big Dance", picking up the scraps and happily moving on. This is not to disparage the NIT's in any way; it's just a fact of life. There isn't room on the sports landscape for two tournaments of note, so one has to suffer. Until the folks at the NIT figure a way, they'll just have to keep that fiddle tuned up. So if you are considering the purchase of Final Four tickets, you've chosen correctly.
DePaul coaching legend Ray Meyer had a goal every season; make the Final Four. Some coaches shoot for the playoffs; some shoot for the brass ring. They are both worthy goals. But Meyer surmised correctly that The Final Four, like the World Series, put you in a position to win it all. In order to get there, you have to wade through some competitive waters. And when you get there you know you've earned it. Even in a sixty-five-team field, the journey is fraught with danger. It's not like the old days when eight teams received an invitation.
The highly charged win or go home atmosphere of this and all post-season get-togethers makes for exciting basketball. Even sixteenth-seeds feel the pressure and sometimes make a formidable showing. But as the tournament progresses and the weak perish, the best teams gravitate to their rightful level.
Getting back to Ray Meyer, he certainly felt the pressure back in 1979 when he participated in a Final Four that included Penn, Michigan State and Indiana State. The latter two featured future starts Magic Johnson and Larry Bird respectively. DePaul Freshman Mark Aguirre made the All Tournament team. All three went on to star in the NBA. This was Meyer and DePaul's first Final Four appearance since 1943. When a coach like Meyer gets there just twice in such a storied career, it tells you something about the challenge. |
