New Orleans in March for NCAA 1st and 2nd Round Basketball

San Jose and Spokane didn't appeal much to us this year. Since we'd had such a great time in Chicago 3 years ago, we decided to go out of region again. The choices were pretty much New Orleans or Wilmington, NC. For us, it was an easy choice: New Orlens!

Rodney had enough frequent flier miles to get a free ticket and we found hotel suites in the Residence Inn just off the French Quarter. He arrived in the late afternoon, since the only other option was to had to be at the airport at 5:00 AM. He met others in the airport to share the cab ride to the hotel and contact David and Jim, who had been at Patty O'Brian's all afternoon! Needless to say, they were a bit along their way already. After a quick hit of Happy Hour at the Residence Inn, we all met at Dickie Brennan's for dinner. It was spectacular! Rodney had a rib eye smothered in crawfish.

The next day was the full day of games at the New Orleans Arena. The slate was a good one with Notre Dame vs. Old Dominion (Old Dominion won in OT), Baylor vs. Sam Houston State (Baylor won after SMS got tired in the second half), Kentucky vs. East Tennessee St (Kentucky blew them away) and Texas vs. Wake Forest (Wake Forest won in double OT). The food was great, with Po' Boy Sandwiches, BBQ Pork, Catfish fingers, etc. We had Abita Amber beer and some Sierra Nevada Pale Ale to quaff as well.

The next day started with the free breakfast at the hotel, followed by the tradional off day basketball game. The weather was mercifully low humidity, so we played 3 games. We followed this by heading into the French Quarter to find games to watch. We landed at the Crescent City Brewery for lunch (baked Saffron Oysters, yum!), beer, and basketball. That night, we had reservations at Muriel's on Jackson Square. They had a 3 course meal for $35 that couldn't be beat!

The next morning, we ate at the hotel again, then had lunch at the Irish Bar around the corner while watching more basketball. The games started latest for us, so we had until about 4 PM to burn. The Baylor - Old Dominion game was first and was a good game, but Baylor won. No upset. Kentucky killed Wake Forest in the second game. I though for sure they'd win it all, but they ended up losing in the elite 8 and Duke won the tournament this year. Next year, Denver?