The April culmination of March Madness was on full display Friday in downtown Minneapolis as tens of thousands of basketball fans hit the streets and skyways, reveling into the night in activities that stretched from U.S. Bank Stadium to the Minneapolis Convention Center and along Nicollet Mall.
Hoops mania got an early start, with the stadium opening its doors to the public at 10 a.m. for a free daylong look at the reconfigured interior and the four remaining teams in the NCAA men's basketball tournament.
The fans blew the doors off. Some 36,000 of them showed up — far more than the pre-event estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 — to watch the teams practice before Saturday's semifinal games in the one-and-done tournament.
Ten-year-old Fen Stumpf of Columbus, Ohio, was in the stadium Friday after his two grandmas told him they'd take him on a dream birthday trip of his choice. He picked the Final Four, and 12-year-old cousins Johnna and Morgan Miller got to tag along.
They waited in the longest line in the stadium for more than an hour to get more than a dozen autographs from collegiate all-stars, including Stumpf's favorite, Kyle Guy of Virginia, who happily posed with the birthday boy.
Stumpf, a guard on his traveling team back home, shrugged off the gray, rainy weather.
"It's awesome," he said. "I've always wanted to come."
When at last they reached the front of the line, Johnna Miller took off her sneakers and had the players sign them.