March 17, 2015
Perhaps the biggest storyline surrounding the 2015 NCAA Tournament is Kentucky’s pursuit of the perfect season. The No. 1 Wildcats have gone a flawless 34-0, secured the SEC tournament championship and will now begin their quest in the tournament at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville this Thursday.
The KFC Yum! Center will welcome several enticing matchups over the next week, including No. 8 Cincinnati vs No. 9 Purdue for the Midwest region, No. 6 SMU vs No. 11 UCLA and No. 3 Iowa State vs No. 14 UAB in the South. While Kentucky awaits the winner of the Manhattan/Hampton game Tuesday night, they are set to play in the 9:40pm game on Thursday.
Game 1 will be played between UAB and Iowa State at 12:40pm and will be followed by UCLA vs SMU at 3:10pm. Game 3 will be held at 7:10pm between Purdue and Cincinnati and Game 4 will feature Kentucky and either Hampton or Manhattan.
On Saturday, Round 3 will feature the winner of Game 1 (UAB/Iowa State) against the winner of Game 2 (UCLA/SMU). Game 3’s winner (Purdue/Cincinnati) will face Game 4’s winner (Kentucky/Hampton/Manhattan).
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An All-Sessions Pass to Rounds 2 and 3 currently averages at $609.09 on the secondary market. The KFC Yum! Center will see the biggest price difference between individual sessions among all eight hosting venues in Rounds 2 and 3. Session 1 (Iowa State vs UAB/SMU vs UCLA) owns a secondary average of $76.58. Session 2 (Kentucky vs TBD/Cincinnati vs Purdue) sees a $195.73 secondary average, marking a premium of 155%, the biggest difference between two sessions at the same venue. The cheapest ticket to Session 1 is currently $6 while Session 2 sees a get-in price of $69.
Session 1 is among just three individual sessions in the entire tournament that owns a secondary average below $100. The two other sessions will be Session 1 at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena ($50.42) and Session 2 at the Moda Center ($93.22).
