NCAA remembers the Alamodome, which is again a No. 1 spot for the Final Four

By Canadian Press on April 4, 2025.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The NCAA has certainly remembered the Alamodome, which has again become a No. 1 spot.

All four No. 1 seeds in this season’s NCAA Tournament made it to the Final Four. Auburn, Duke, Florida and Houston will play Saturday just blocks from the famed Riverwalk. They will be in the same building that hosted the only other time since seeding began in 1979 that every top seed made it to the national semifinals.

That was 2008, long before the wide-open transfer portal or players being well-compensated financially in the era of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL).

Bill Self won the first of his two national championships that season at Kansas, which in the title game stunned a 38-win Memphis team that later had to vacate all of those victories due to NCAA sanctions. The other teams in San Antonio then were North Carolina, which had Associated Press national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough, and a UCLA team featuring Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook.

This is the fifth time for the Final Four to be played in the Alamodome, all since 1998. Only four buildings have hosted more, though three of those had their last more than a half-century ago.

Back in 2008

Mario Chalmers made a 3-pointer for Kansas with 2.1 seconds left to force overtime in that 2008 title game, after the Jayhawks overcame a nine-point deficit in the final 2:12 of regulation to beat that John Calipari-coached Memphis squad led by one-and-done standout Derrick Rose.

Self’s first national title ended a 20-year championship drought for the Jayhawks.

Kansas had advanced to the championship game with an 84-66 win over No. 1 overall seed UNC in the semifinal game. Memphis won 78-63 over UCLA, which was in its third consecutive Final Four — without a title in any of them.

The NCAA later ordered Memphis to vacate the record 38-win season, ruling a player believed to be Rose was ineligible that season. The NCAA Committee on Infractions also noted that Memphis was a repeat violator, having also had its 1985 Final Four berth vacated for violations under then-coach Dana Kirk.

First in Texas

Houston is the first team from Texas to make a Final Four played in the Lone Star State.

This is the 11th time the national title will be decided in Texas.

“The bus we were on had the Final Four logo with our team, the team we’re staying at … the staff was awesome. We had a mariachi band,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said. “That’s what this is all about. It’s a reward. They should be rewarded for what they’ve accomplished.”

Final Four hosts

Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City was the site of a record nine Final Fours from 1940-64, and Madison Square Garden in New York hosted seven from 1943-50.

Two venues have had six Final Fours: the Superdome in New Orleans and Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The Superdome last hosted in 2022, which came 53 years after the last national title game decided in that historic Bluegrass State arena.

Indianapolis will be the site of next year’s Final Four, and again in 2029. Those will push the total to five for Lucas Oil Stadium, the replacement for the RCA Dome that held four before being demolished in 2008.

Final Four sites are set for the next six seasons. Besides the two in Indianapolis, they will be played in Detroit (2027), first-timer Las Vegas (2028), Arlington, Texas (2030) and Atlanta (2031). That last one will be fifth in Georgia, spread over three different buildings, and also be where the 2020 Final Four was to be played before being canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Stephen Hawkins, The Associated Press

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