Unless you’ve been living under a rock you probably know that the Final Four is headed to Atlanta this weekend. Besides all of the advertisements posted around the city, television coverage of the games, and endless bracket talk, I’m willing to bet that your Facebook newsfeed has been filled with excited statuses listing all of the visitors flocking from across the country to cheer on their teams. So before the festivities begin, take a few minutes to catch up on the competitors and all of the events taking place:
THE TEAMS
Wichita State University: Out of all of the Final Four teams this Kansas university is most likely the one that you’ve never heard of before. But don’t let that make you overlook this team. Called the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament, the Wichita State Shockers beat favorite Ohio State in the Elite Eight to make it to their first Final Four appearance since 1965.
Mascot: WuShock, a big, bad, muscle-bound bundle of wheat
Colors: Yellow and Black
Players to look out for: Cleanthony Early and Tekele Cotton
University of Louisville: The Louisville Cardinals are hoping to bring the NCAA championship trophy to the state of Kentucky for the second year in a row (rival University of Kentucky took home the title last year). The Cardinals triumphed over the Duke basketball team to reach the Final Four after sophomore Kevin Ware broke his leg during the first half of the game (the best piece of advice I could give you is to never, ever look at the pictures of the injury. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since, in the most gruesome, horrible way possible). Now the entire team is hoping to continue to win in honor of their injured teammate – pretty inspiring stuff. If Louisville goes on to win the final I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a movie version of all of this at some point in the future.
Mascot: Cardinal Bird, sometimes nicknamed Louie or C.B.
Colors: Red and Black
Players to look out for: Russ Smith and Peyton Siva
University of Michigan: It has been 20 years since the Michigan Wolverines have made their way to the Final Four and big blue seems ready for the task. The team beat University of Florida by 20 points during their Elite Eight game and are hoping to be able to bring some of that same magic to their game against Syracuse. Plus, tons of Michigan students are coming down for the game and are staying with Emory friends so be prepared for some Michigan spirit at Maggie’s this weekend.
Mascot: Wolverine
Colors: Maize and Blue
Players to look out for: Trey Burke and Nik Stauskas
Syracuse University: Syracuse’s last and only national championship was won back in 2003 when the team was lead by future NBA player, All-Star, and gold medal winner Carmelo Anthony (Let’s go Knicks!). Coach Jim Boeheim is hoping his team can once again be victorious and take the championship trophy home to upstate New York. Not ones to be out-shined by Michigan, tons of Syracuse students will also be coming to Emory this weekend so rivalries will be going strong.
Mascot: Otto the Orange
Colors: Orange
Players to look out for: Baye Moussa Keita and Trevor Cooney
THE EVENTS
Bracket Town: This four-day fan fest is hosted at the Georgia World Congress Center. According to the event’s website there will be, “almost 350,000 sq. ft. of activities, games, interactive booths, clinics…trivia contests, autograph sessions with coaches and former players, basketball-related entertainment and a traveling version of the NCAA Hall of Champions. There will be a variety of activities throughout the weekend, including a 3v3 tournament for all ages, the Legends Game of former NCAA players and a “Battle of the Bands” competition between the Final Four participating bands and cheerleaders.” Entrance fee is only $10!
Three-Day Big Dance Concert Series: Hosted at Centennial Olympic Park, this concert series is free (Yay!!) and goes on all weekend long. Here’s the amazing schedule:
Friday, April 5 – AT&T Block Party, park opens at 3p.m. featuring
Saints of Valory
My Morning Jacket
Zac Brown Band
Saturday, April 6 – Coca-Cola Zero Countdown, park opens at noon featuring
Yacht Rock Revue
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Ludacris
Flo Rida
MUSE
Sunday, April 7 – Capital One Jamfest, park opens at 2p.m.
Blind Pilot
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
Sting
Dave Matthews Band
So yeah, Emory doesn’t do the whole Division I basketball thing, but – we’ve got Dooley’s Week! Rapper Kendrick Lamar and DJ 3Lau will be performing at Emory this weekend, so get out your togas and your school spirit, and honor our favorite skeleton.