GREENVILLE, S.C. -- It is possible almost as many visitors will be in this county seat this weekend as there are residents.
This will make the county fair look like a one-trick pony.
Slightly more than 61,000 people live here. With Duke, North Carolina and South Carolina all playing in the NCAA Tournament here, there will be thousands of ticketless fans meeting in bars to watch their teams unless they can luck into a ticket.
Each school gets just 450 seats to the first round of March Madness. That's a fraction of the crazed fans that will want to be part of the action.
No doubt the schools' administrators had to soothe a lot of hurt feelings this week because the rich get richer. The bigger the donor, the better chance of acquiring tickets. Students better be players, cheerleaders, in the pep band or a dancer.
The NCAA made it easy for the Blue Devils and Tar Heels faithful. Those schools are less than a four-hour drive straight down Highway 85.
The Gamecocks are just 1½ hours away, although they aren't in the same hemisphere when it comes to fans.
Duke and North Carolina, bitter rivals, are two of the biggest names in college basketball, so why the NCAA Tournament selection committee would send both of them here is a bit puzzling.
Either one could have swamped this city by itself. Minutes after the seedings were announced, all 15,951 seats in Bon Secours Wellness Arena were sold.
Just like Tulsa would have been if the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville had been assigned there instead of here.
If you are curious how a small city like this can be a two-time NCAA Tournament site -- and have millions of dollars flowing into its economy over the next four days -- while Verizon Arena can't, it is simple.
Verizon's scoreboard was antiquated the day it opened, and it also needs to add signage around the arena. That's the bulk of the reasons why recent bids were rejected.
So a hamlet at the foot of the Smoky Mountains is hosting eight teams, including the Arkansas Razorbacks who open play here Friday against Seton Hall.
The winner will play No. 1 seed North Carolina, winner of the ACC regular season, after the Tar Heels demolish No. 16 seed Texas Southern in this South Regional. Duke is a No. 2 seed in the East Regional.
The No. 2 seed in the South is Kentucky, and so-called experts have deemed the South Regional to be the toughest of the four. The No. 3 seed is UCLA, an incredibly talented team, and the No. 4 seed is Butler, which has become a national power in basketball.
Although it is usually just the top four seeds that experts go by, the Razorbacks could be a team that merits some conversation if it plays defense for 40 minutes.
Early in the season, the Hogs beat Mount St. Mary's, which made the tournament field and won its opening game Tuesday.
Of course, the Hogs have to get by a tough Seton Hall before they can even think about a Sunday game. The Pirates play in the always tough Big East, home of defending national champion Villanova and a league that got seven bids to the Big Dance.
The Pirates ended in a four-way tie for third in the Big East. They beat South Carolina and lost to Florida early.
There's not much of a difference between a No. 8 and No. 9 seed, so the Hogs will have their work cut out for them, but this is when teams really survive and advance.
It is a good, but not perfect, bracket. Every team in it needs one extra thing, and that's luck.
The Arkansas Razorbacks generally have made their own luck with hard-nosed defense.
Sports on 03/16/2017