Hartford..where have you gone??

As I watch the tournament there are always a half-dozen cities that seem to host the early rounds every year or every other year.

Today it was Winston-Salem, N.C. and Wake Forest's home court which seems to have games every other year. Then you have Boise, Salt Lake City, Tucson, Greensboro and even Indianapolis in the Hoosier Dome.

Hartford used to be in that mix. The Civic Center hosted the 1st and 2nd rounds in 1983, '85, '88, '90 and '98

In 1985 Georgetown played in Hartford as the tourney's overall No. 1 seed in Patrick Ewing's senior season at the height of Hoya Paranoia . The Hoyas beat Lehigh and then Temple. Another highlight was a Loyola-Chicago team that featured a prolific scorer named Alfrederick Hughes who had never met a shot he didn't like and earned the nickname "Alfredbrick." Although he certaianly made his share as well. Loyola won two games in Hartford also, but lost to Georgetown in a Sweet 16 matchup at Providence.

The Hoyas went on to the Final 4 and beat St. John's before losing the title game to Villanova in one of the classic college basketball games ever played.

1985 was also the first year of the 64-team tournament. The "Modern Era" perhaps.

More on Hartford later....