Wildcats fans may have a harder time getting to their bar or restaurant of choice for Saturday night's game as police presence near the UA campus and downtown Tucson will be upped for Arizona's Final Four matchup against Michigan.
Sgt. Beau Wilson, a Tucson police spokesman, said Wednesday that there will be "enhanced law enforcement presence" along West University Boulevard near Main Gate Square, along North Fourth Avenue and on West Congress Street Saturday night for Arizona's Final Four game.
"The units that will be out there for the game are members of our Community Network Team," Wilson said.
Those officers will have "Bear Down with Pride" bracelets to hand out to fans in the area, he said.
Those planning on watching Arizona's first Final Four berth in a quarter-century as close to campus as possible may need to find different transportation to their venue of choice, as Tucson police plan to block off University Boulevard with barricades ahead of Saturday night's game, Wilson said, "with the exception of pedestrian traffic, bicyclists, the streetcar and food deliveries."
Parking meters will be hooded along University Boulevard Saturday morning, Wilson said, and the barricades will go up "a few hours before the game."
The arrangements being made are based on past fan reactions during UA NCAA Tournament appearances.
In 2001, following Arizona's loss to Duke in the national championship game, fans showed their dismay by rioting on Fourth Avenue, with vehicles being lit on fire. Police eventually began firing rounds of less-lethal projectiles, which resulted in then-Arizona freshman Jeff Knepper losing an eye after a police beanbag hit him.
Tucson Police officers rush out of their line to take a man into custody who had been taunting them and riling up a crowd of fans in Maingate Square, March 29, 2014.
Then, in 2014 following Arizona's Elite Eight loss to Wisconsin, hundreds of people left area bars and restaurants and congregated on University Boulevard, which resulted in police declaring an unlawful assembly. Pepper ball rounds were shot to break up the crowd after Tucson police officers had beer bottles, cans and firecrackers thrown at them. That incident resulted in 15 people, nine of them UA students, being arrested.
After the Wildcats won the national championship in 1997, jubilant fans overturned cars, shimmied up light poles and scrambled onto rooftops to proclaim their triumph over the University of Kentucky.
