Des Moines hasn't had a signature moment in NCAA Tournament yet, just a bunch of fun ones

Seconds after Arkansas’ win over Illinois on Thursday, Razorbacks coach Eric Musselman raced across the court to the opposite sideline and ripped a headset from a member of his program’s radio crew.

“C’mon, Razorbacks fans! C’mon!” Musselman bellowed into the microphone, a smile plastered across his face with enough wattage that the glow could be seen back in Fayetteville, before darting back to be with his team.

It was one moment of many across the day at Wells Fargo Arena that served as a reminder of the wonderful alchemy that occurs when you put eight basketball teams, tens of thousands of fans and a single-elimination tournament under one roof.

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The NCAA Tournament is simply one of a kind.

Where else could you see the Vice President of the United States cheer on her alma mater?

Or would Ving Rhames, the actor famous for numerous roles like those in "Pulp Fiction" and "Mission: Impossible" otherwise be in Des Moines if not for his son playing for Howard?

Sure, the Bison were Gone in 40 Minutes, but the city had some celebrity cred. Not exactly a Lakers game, but we’ll take it.

And while we didn’t have the signature moment on Thursday like Kihei Clark’s ill-fated pass that helped Furman upset Virginia or a 15-seed toppling a 2-seed like Princeton over Arizona, we'll get another crack at it during the second round Saturday. Still, the beauty of a first-round site is the smaller smiles that accumulate over an event that encompasses darn near 12 hours in a confined space.

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Like Illinois’ Matthew Mayer playing something like 2 minutes with a single shoe, having lost his bright orange Nike nowhere near a whistle.

Or Howard’s Kobe Dickson, still in full uniform, making his way into the stands after the program's first NCAA Tournament game since 1992 to give hugs and take pictures with the Bison faithful.

And even if we didn’t get an upset or a finish like Furman and Princeton delivered, we got to experience them together. The jumbotron above the floor played the ends of both games, eliciting huge cheers when both games went final.

It was like having 16,000 friends in your living room to watch the game on your 385-inch TV.

Colgate didn't exactly push Texas, but the Raiders gave us burly big men Jeff Woodward, with a beard worthy of an Iowa winter, and Keegan Records, with a FIFA-ready headband and man-bun, as they bullied their way to awkwardly fun buckets.

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It gave us a chance to again see Tyrese Hunter, who, despite his exit from and subsequent reception at Iowa State, has a story worth rooting for.

Kansas and Howard was a blowout, but it gave the end-of-benchers a chance to get some action in an NCAA Tournament game. That’s a box score they can proudly show their grandchildren decades from now.

We had Texas A&M coach Buzz Williams dressed in a three-piece suit, looking ready to take on Wall Street. Down the sideline, we had Penn State coach Micah Shrewsberry in sweats, looking ready to take on the grade-school drop-off line.

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We saw "wedgies," the ball getting stuck between the rim and the backboard, four times.

We didn’t have the big moments on the opening day of play. We didn’t have history. We didn’t bust many brackets.

We still had a helluva lot of fun.

Travis Hines covers Iowa State University sports for the Des Moines Register and Ames Tribune. Contact him at thines@amestrib.com or  (515) 284-8000. Follow him at @TravisHines21.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines' Wells Fargo Arena home to heaps of NCAA Tournament fun