University of Wisconsin fans won't recall it fondly, but Davidson's so-called upset of the Badgers Friday was the kind of game that made the NCAA men's basketball tournament what it is today.

The scenario -- an obscure school emerging from the bracket's lower regions to take down the champion of a major conference -- is guaranteed to light up the gym every time.

Yet, even as sweet-shooting Stephen Curry and Davidson were shocking UW in a regional semifinal of what the NCAA calls the biggest sporting event in the world, there were a few things missing at cavernous Ford Field:

Like noise. Electricity. Atmosphere.

Indeed, a building that should have been rocking was barely tapping its toe as Curry shot down UW with 22 second-half points. Despite a record 57,000 fans in the house, the game had less atmosphere than, well, downtown Detroit. And the second game, in which Kansas crushed Villanova after a sizable portion of the crowd departed, had even more dead air than the first.

"I would never say bad, but I would say (it was) pretty indifferent," Kansas coach Bill Self said of the atmosphere. "The fans are so far away. I mean, away. ... When it's less than 50 percent full, I don't think you have that intimate feel like you have if you're playing in a smaller venue."

Welcome to the new world of the NCAA tournament. In an effort to open up more seats for fans and -- oh, by the way -- stuff more money into its CBS-lined pockets, the NCAA experimented over the weekend with a new floor and seating configuration for use in domed football stadiums.

In the past, the NCAA turned the basketball floor 90 degrees and placed it in the end zone, using permanent seating on three sides and erecting a bleacher section on the open side. At regional sites in Detroit and Houston this weekend, the NCAA put the floor in the center of the football field, raised it 27 inches and built temporary seating on all sides that swept back to the permanent seats. The goal was to test the new setup so the NCAA can use it when the Final Four is held in Detroit next year.

A prediction: The new configuration is here to stay.

One can easily imagine the NCAA suits back in a hotel suite after the games, slapping each other on the back and saying, "We should have thought of this years ago." Based on a casual conversation with an NCAA representative in attendance, that was exactly the sentiment they were feeling.

Apparently, they were blinded by Curry's brilliance because the games had none of the atmosphere traditionally associated with the regionals. What noise the fans did make got lost in the vast stadium. And had the NCAA suits mingled with the crowd, they would have learned that many fans were upset with their distant view of the court.

Not only did ticket-buying fans have to sit through extra-long TV timeouts and 20-minute halftimes, they experienced none of the intimacy, the deafening noise, the electricity in the air that makes basketball -- and the NCAA tournament -- so entertaining in the first place. If the NCAA isn't careful, it's going to kill the golden goose in its quest for a few extra pieces of silver.