While watching Michigan State dispatch Georgia last weekend in the “second round” of the NCAA Tournament, I thought back to a few years ago when I went to the Round of 32 on a whim with my roommate. It was held at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, a 45-minute drive from where we lived in San Marcos.

We tried to go the previous year when Austin’s Frank Erwin Center played host, but tickets were hard to come by. My roommate was (and probably still is) a huge Florida fan and the Gators ended winning two games in Texas (beating Northwestern State and Minnesota) en route to the Elite Eight.