The NCAA Tournament has come and gone from Wichita: How'd we do?

It’s over.

The four-day period Wichita has been waiting for since November 2014, when it learned it had finally won a bid to host first- and second-round play in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, has come to an end.

The last of the fans from Saturday night’s games will be packing their bags and preparing to head back to Texas, New Jersey and Michigan. And now, Wichita is left to clean up, count its revenue and reflect on what went right and what went wrong during the event it waited so long for — and to decide what to do differently when it gets another chance in 2021.

Wichita has definitely felt like a different place since Wednesday, when excited locals and school children by the thousands filled the arena to watch eight teams in open practices. In the following days, the city has seen raucous street parties, unusual pedestrian traffic and an influx of national media, some seeing Kansas for the first time. Most involved in the planning and execution of the event say it went off without any major problems heading into Saturday night's games, if you don’t count that 11-minute shot clock meltdown on Thursday night.

They say visitors and NCAA officials seemed to have a positive feeling about Wichita and faith that its arena was up to the job of hosting such a major event.

Now that it’s all wrapped up, here’s what tournament organizers, players and visitors had to say about Wichita’s big coming out party.

Tournament organizers: Wichita was impressive

Brad Pittman looked tired by Friday, and he had a right to.

He'd earned it by working some long and stressful days as the director of Wichita’s first NCAA Tournament weekend in 24 years.

“I’m good; you know, it’s been a long, I wouldn’t say year, but it’s been a long few weeks, couple months,” said Pittman, whose day job is associate athletic director at Wichita State University.

“When you see the light at the end of the tunnel it helps. We’re there.”

The only real glitch that was visible to the viewers at home during the first day of the tournament came Thursday night when the shot clocks went off-line and there was an 11-minute delay during the Michigan-Montana game. Pittman said the problem was obvious — the front-row scorer’s table lost power. And the fix was simple: grab a couple of patch cords and tap the power from the second row. Even though the Twitterverse was going berserk, the game was never threatened. Pittman had brought over WSU’s portable clock set and he even had a last-ditch set of flip-boards that could have been used to keep score and timing manually if the power failure had been catastrophic.

Pittman’s main takeaway is that Wichita proved itself when it comes to hosting a big event. The 14,000 people who came to open practice day Wednesday, including 4,000 school children who were bused in by the district, set a mark few if any cities could match.

And with the numerous parties and outside activities to entertain the visiting tourists, “I don’t know if anybody’s embraced the tournament as we have,” he said.

Wichita’s already lined up for the 2021 tournament and while it may be hard to match the excitement of this year, Pittman projects Wichita will win more bids in the future.

“Without a question of a doubt, we’ve helped our chances exponentially as a city, as an arena, as a host,” he said.

Mike Ross, director of media operations for the tournament, said he also thinks Wichita impressed NCAA officials and others with its preparation and hospitality.

“This town has done so much to put its best foot forward,” Ross said. “I think that’s really come off as impressive to a lot of people who have worked a lot of these tournaments before and have seen other places. And that makes a difference.”

After Sunday, tournament crews plan to take some time off and then regroup, debrief and start planning for 2021, when Wichita will once again host first- and second-round tournament games.

“There’s so many details, it will be a good opportunity for us to look back at it after we’ve been done for a little while,” Ross said.

Visiting players: Surprised by hospitality

Rob Gray, the Houston point guard many local fans call “Man Bun,” said he was impressed with Intrust Bank Arena and the enthusiastic welcome his team received from Wichita State fans.

“My family said they’ve seen a lot of Wichita State fans in red yesterday.... They’re supportive because they are our American Athletic Conference brothers,” Gray said. “We’re really thankful for being sent to Wichita. I’ve never played in this gym, but I really like it already.”

Gray’s teammate Galen Robinson Jr. said people in Wichita were “welcoming and friendly.”

“I was watching the news and they did interviews of Wichita State fans,” Robinson said. “And they were like, ‘We’re cheering for Houston.’ And it just felt good. We’re not alone.”

Gray said Houston “definitely would have to return the favor” if Houston is a tournament site in the future.

“The energy in the gym yesterday was great and amazing, and we just appreciate the open arms.”

Michigan player Duncan Robinson said he was “pleasantly surprised by the weather, first and foremost.” On Friday, when it was 72 degrees, sunny and windy in Wichita, it was 32 degrees in Ann Arbor, Mich. “A beautiful venue here, and just the hospitality in general has been great,” Robinson said. “A lot of friendly people and a lot of people that really enjoy basketball. So it’s a fun place to play.”

Hotels: Could have been busier

The NCAA Tournament was to be such a draw for the Hotel at WaterWalk that its management built expected revenues from this week into its 2018 budget, said Christine Allen, general manager of the hotel. As soon as the teams were announced on Selection Sunday, Allen said, her staff expected “the phones would start ringing.”

“That wasn’t the case,” she said. “It was a much slower pace, but every day we picked up and had more people coming in.”

Allen said she expected to be full or nearly full this weekend, as both Kansas fans and Houston fans extended their Wichita stays. That variation between expectation and reality also played out at the Marriott East, which hosted at least one of the teams playing here.

The Marriott received plenty of reservations after Selection Sunday but also had “lots of cancellations,” said Amanda Omo, the Marriott’s executive meeting manager.

“I think people were making reservations all over and they would wait to see where their team would end up, then they would cancel or keep their reservation based on whether they picked the right city or not,” Omo said. “There’s been a lot of changes, a lot of moving parts throughout the week. We’re just kind of rolling with the punches here.”

Omo said the hotel was at near-occupancy all week, with a mix of regular business travelers and NCAA fans.

“It’s been pretty much what we expected,” she said. “We’ve gotten good food and beverage revenue from it and banquet revenue. It’s been pretty steady.”

Airbnb, the popular vacation-rental website where people can rent rooms from local hosts, saw a significant uptick in traffic this week, according to a news release from the site. Over the course of the tournament, 230 guests had booked Wichita rooms via Airbnb, generating more than $18,000 in revenue for their hosts, according to the release. About 40 percent of the Airbnb guests were in-state visitors, likely KU fans, according to the site.

Nic Yoxall, assistant general manager at the Fairfield Inn & Suites Downtown, said his team will apply lessons learned this year in 2021, when the city is scheduled to host the tournament again. “It’s a lot of moving parts,” he said. “We’ve been preparing for this for over a year, and we prepared the best that we could, but there’s so many moving parts you can only prepare so much.”

Bars and restaurants: Great for the arena-adjacent

Bars and restaurants in Wichita seemed to be counting on NCAA visitors to swarm them with business this week, though many owners said they had no idea what exactly to expect.

In the end, it appeared that the closer a food-and-drink establishment was to Intrust Bank Arena, the better it performed.

At Lou's Place 220 S. Commerce, which sits directly east of Intrust Bank Arena's north entrance, owner Erica Lopez-Davis said that her and her father, Luis Lopez's, gamble to hire 30 extra workers and put together a huge NCAA party paid off. The restaurant, which struggles during non-arena activity because of its secluded location, was slammed throughout the tournament, she said. Thursday, when four games were played, was the craziest of them all.

"Things went better than expected," she said. "We exceeded anything we’ve ever done."

Before and after the games, fans milling about the arena would stop in when they spotted the party. Davis said she's sure she got as many Wichita visitors who previously had been unaware Lou's Place even existed as she did out-of-towners, and that was her goal.

Lou's sister business, Emerson Biggins, also had record sales, boosted by the fact that Houston alumni designated the bar at the corner of Douglas and Rock Island their official meetup spot.

"Honestly I was nervous. I was so nervous," Davis said. "And it was a lot easier going home last night knowing that I feel confident that we financially are going to be in a good place and cover all of our costs."

Doo-Dah Diner, which is several blocks south of the arena at 206 E. Kellogg, also benefited, said owner Timirie Shibley. Their business was up 25 percent on Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday was as busy as a typical Saturday, when the restaurant is always packed.

On Saturday, Shibley said, about 70 percent of diners were out-of-towners, all dressed in shirts promoting their own teams. On a typical Saturday, the crowd is about half visitors and half locals.

"We've had all hands on deck," she said. "It's been wonderful for us."

A little farther away from the arena, The Anchor, Wichita's go-to bar at 1109 E. Douglas, was busy and steady but it never was overrun with business it couldn't handle, which managers had feared as the tournament approached. To prepare, the restaurant had limited its menu offerings to take pressure off its kitchen staff — and had even added an up-charge for its coveted fries (which normally come with a burger or sandwich) during tournament time.

But preparation made the difference, said Naomi Shapiro, a spokeswoman for The Anchor.

"We've been busier than usual but not overrun, thanks to planning ahead," she said. "We opened early for breakfast hours so our kitchen wouldn't be slammed right at opening and that strategy seems to have helped pace our days."

Fan parties: Pure craziness

At least five big fan parties were staged nearby the arena for game days: Two to the north on Waterman, two to the west on Emporia, and one to the south on St. Francis.

Organizers said the parties were definitely worth their time and investment, especially on game days. Before the Thursday KU vs. Penn game, the parties were shoulder-to-shoulder with KU fans. Saturday pre-game was packed with both basketball and St. Patrick's Day revelers.

"Thursday we got creamed," said Wichita Brewing Company co-owner Greg Gifford. "It was crazy. On Thursday, I went to the bank twice for change and had to go to Goebel for more liquor."

The parties were less busy on Friday, the off-day for tournament play. Wichita Brewing Company, which threw a big party a the corner of Waterman and St. Francis, had planned to stay open late on Friday. But after Wichita State University lost in its opening round game, the vibe died and the crowds went home. Crazy wind gusts were also threatening to pick the party up and blow it away, so they shut it all down around 7 p.m.

Crystal McDonald, whose XClusive Events threw a block party on Commerce Street, wasn't permitted to close the street on Friday. but Thursday and Saturday were good days for her three mobile liquor trucks and the several food trucks who had set up to feed and lubricate fans headed into the games.

"We didn’t really know what to expect," she said. "It’s been busy, and everyone’s been just so accommodating. We’ve had positive feedback from everybody, and I’m glad we did it. We are super stoked."

Intrust Bank Arena: It was a good week

Wichita can be pretty hard on its 8-year-old arena and is often quick to point out when its expectations aren't being met, from concert selection to seat comfort to snack quality.

But this was a good week for Intrust Bank Arena, said its general manager A.J. Boleski.

The building performed how its managers promised the NCAA it would on Thursday, and it even outshone other venues around the country in a few areas.

One of its most notable accomplishments, Boleski said, was filling up the arena up to near-capacity with school kids and excited local fans on Wednesday, which was open practice day. That never happens in other venues, and people took note.

"The practice day was just a home run," Boleski said. "A lot of the players were really impressed that they saw that many people there for practice day," he said.

Visiting national media also was impressed.

"In my three decades associated with college basketball, I've never witnessed an NCAA first round practice session quite like the one the Jayhawks had Thursday," said Steve Lavin, a Turner Sports NCAA analyst in town for the game. "It was not only a large crowd but the energy was palpable. "

The arena also was able to empty out one session and refill it with the next quickly on Thursday, and that's something other venues have struggled with.

The Wi-Fi worked. The bathroom lines were manageable. People got in and out quickly.

The arena's good week is largely due to the improvements the county allowed the building to make in advance of the tournament, including an $1.68 million expansion of the north entrance and the installation of powerful new public Wi-Fi.

The best part is Wichita gets to continue enjoying those improvements now that the tournament is gone.

"Overall, it's gone fantastic," Boleski said. "We've head a lot of comments from out of town guests who have been at other NCAA sites who say it ranked up there with the atmosphere of a Final Four."

This story was originally published March 18, 2018 at 7:04 AM with the headline "The NCAA Tournament has come and gone from Wichita: How'd we do?."