Basketball at the American Airlines Center looked different on Friday night.
Instead of Mavs mania, fans from four colleges packed the arena: NC State, Marquette, Duke and Houston, where the Carter family is a house divided.
“Originally I was going to buy her a ticket just to see Duke but when Houston showed up I said we fixin’ to get three tickets now,” said Lawrence Carter.
Thousands lined up long before tip-off to get inside and grab merchandise before watching two teams move on to the Elite Eight.
We found fans from as far away as Wisconsin where Alex Liss and her friends graduated from Marquette.
Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters.
“I will be here Sunday if they make it. You'll see the cow hat again -- dairyland,” said Liss.
Dereck Whittenburg came from North Carolina where he won a national championship with NC State in 1983.
“I want them to experience it in the worst way. We're on our way, got a lot of confidence and I'm in the great city of Dallas,” said Whittenburg.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
A Final Four game will be at the AAC on Sunday.
The three games are expected to generate at least $14 million for local businesses.
