Roof fell in, but their fears are grounded

Times staff writer Sam Farmer will be writing about the people he meets and things he sees this week at the NCAA regional in Anaheim. On Wednesday, he found a few stray ‘Cats:

At times this season, Kentucky basketball fans felt like the sky was falling.

And sometimes, they were right.

As if the Wildcats didn’t endure enough turbulence -- a slew of injuries, and home losses to Gardner-Webb and San Diego come to mind -- they also had to contend with a tornado last week that ripped part of the roof off the Georgia Dome.

That twister touched down just minutes before the scheduled tipoff of Kentucky’s game against Georgia in the Southeastern Conference tournament, leaving the court littered with bolts, chunks of foam and other debris. The game was postponed and played a day later at Georgia Tech.

So it’s understandable that Kentucky fan JoAnne Cobble, who was there when the roof went poof, might be a tad nervous about coming to Southern California for the Wildcats’ first-round game against Marquette.

“We just made it through an F2 tornado,” she said. “Please don’t let there be an earthquake while we’re here.”

Because, heaven knows, the 11th-seeded Wildcats are shaky enough as it is.

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Cobble grabbed a brick-sized piece of roof foam and plans to frame it, along with her tickets from the Georgia Dome game that never was.

She was one of a couple dozen or so Kentucky fans who showed up Wednesday for the team’s 40-minute shoot-around at the Honda Center.

It was easy to spot her. She was wearing the white cowboy hat with blue-and-silver band, the blue sweater with a matching scarf and shoes.

“I’m Kentucky,” she said, “right down to my underwear.”

What’s more, she and her daughter chose their convertible rental car because it was -- you guessed it -- Kentucky blue.

“We go as far as they go,” she said.

No need, then, to pre-purchase the full tank of gas.

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Each of the participating schools receives 350 tickets for the first weekend of games, a modest allotment that tends to disappear very quickly.

In the case of UCLA, two notable fans won’t be in attendance.

John Wooden, recovering from a recent fall, is not scheduled to be at the game. Nor is Dan Guerrero, the school’s athletic director, who has been assigned to Denver for this round of games. For the third time, Guerrero is a member of the NCAA selection committee, meaning it would be a conflict of interest for him to be a site representative where the Bruins are playing.

If UCLA advances to a regional game, Guerrero can attend. He would have to recuse himself from any decisions involving the school, however, and watch as a fan.

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In his everyday life, Scott Holder coordinates storm operations for Ventura County.

Now, he’s in the eye of the storm.

Holder, working his first NCAA tournament, will operate the scoreboard today and Saturday at the Honda Center. It’s something he has done for years at the Big West Conference tournament, and before that at UC Santa Barbara.

He and his colleagues are so into the nuances of their job that when they’re watching a basketball game for pleasure, they try to predict when the TV timeouts will be called.

Whenever people discover what he does as a part-time job, they marvel at his luck. After all, he has the best seats in the house. But it’s not all gravy.

“I’ve had players land on the table right next to me,” he said. “Nobody’s landed on me, though. Yet.”

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So what are the chances of an upset in Anaheim? A collection of college basketball experts weighed Wednesday:

Lee Jenkins, Sports Illustrated: “I just don’t see an upset here. I think UCLA playing here has a huge advantage, and Stanford’s size will be overwhelming for any team they play here.”

Roger Rubin, New York Daily News: “You could see upsets in both Stanford-Cornell and Marquette-Kentucky. The teams that have traditionally pulled off the huge upsets are the ones that can shoot the lights out. Cornell is in the top 10 in shooting in field goals, three-pointers and free throws. Kentucky would have a better chance of pulling an upset if [injured forward Patrick] Patterson were playing.”

Ray Ratto, San Francisco Chronicle: “I like Cornell -- huge brains. But I don’t see an upset. This is one of those tournaments where probably only 50 teams belong. The teams that don’t automatically qualify don’t appeal to me. Kentucky could beat Marquette under the right circumstances.”

Darren Sabedra, San Jose Mercury News: “Kentucky could upset Marquette. I just like Kentucky’s tradition, and it’s been playing better lately. It looks like they’ve started to get the coach’s system down.”

Frank Burleson, Long Beach Press-Telegram: “The closest thing to an upset by seeding is Kentucky over Marquette. I see that as a toss-up game anyway. You don’t think of it in terms of an 11 vs. a six when somebody is a clear favorite.”

Josh Peter, Yahoo Sports: “We’ve already seen the first upset of the tournament: At the practice, there were more Cornell fans than Kentucky fans.”

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sam.farmer@latimes.com