{"id":413331,"date":"2023-03-15T22:18:07","date_gmt":"2023-03-16T03:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/?p=413331"},"modified":"2023-03-16T07:57:08","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T12:57:08","slug":"ncaa-tournament-chicago-college-bars-bracket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmatter.com\/chicago\/ncaa-tournament-chicago-college-bars-bracket\/","title":{"rendered":"The Official UrbanMatter Chicago Collegiate Bar Bracket Showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are a handful of times you think on something and you can pinpoint the exact moment that\u00a0thing<\/em> changed. The NCAA Tournament is that moment and the thing that changes is my productivity level. Now, it’s been that way since like middle school but there’s certainly no denying this coincidental habit only grew once I hit college. I’m not telling an original story here, you know exactly what I’m talking about.<\/p>\n

There’s something special about watching your team at a bar<\/a> that feels like home with a bunch of your brothers and sisters in mascot. Just because you’re not on campus doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t have such a place and Chicago is home to almost all of them.\u00a0It’s a thing of pride and that’s why we wanted to honor those bars around Chicago providing safe haven for dedicated alumni from around the country.<\/p>\n

So here’s what we did. We took the actual NCAA Tournament bracket and we tried to find a bar for every team that made it into the Field. Now, obviously small mid-major schools and extremely obscure subregional high schools didn’t find their way on. Unfortunately there aren’t many Montana State bars. So, we linked up 32 and figured for the sake of time we’d rock with this.<\/p>\n

Here’s How It Works<\/h2>\n

First off, follow @urbanmatterchicago<\/a> on Instagram. If you’re not, you deserve a first round bounce. You’ll also need it to vote throughout the tournament so, while this is a shameless plug to follow us on social it’s also a functional request. If you don’t your bar might go home.<\/p>\n

Voting begins at 11am on Thursday and will feature 16 randomized matchups between the 32 bars listed below.<\/p>\n

Voting will continue for 24 hours. Once we have 16 winners, we will randomize 8 more matchups and begin the 2nd round on Friday. So on and so forth until a champion is crowned on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Stay tuned to this article as it’ll be updated as results come in!<\/p>\n

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Highline Bar & Grill<\/h2>\n

169 W Kinzie St, Chicago, IL 60654 | Your Home For: USC Trojans<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Highline has one of the best bang for your buck brunches and arcade games for days, match that with basketball and you have the pride of Southern California (kinda, I guess) right in River North.<\/p>\n

Houndstooth Saloon<\/h2>\n

3369 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Alabama Crimson Tide<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Like the ‘L’ runs directly over Houndstooth the Alabama Crimson Tide are a runaway train heading straight for a championship. Houndstooth is a Wrigley staple, and a damn good representative in the tourney this year.<\/p>\n

Fireplace Inn<\/h2>\n

1448 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60610 | Your Home For: Purdue Boilermakers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

With vodka lemonade’s as big as Zach Edey, this Old Town watering hole is where you need to be watching the 1-seed Boilermakers go on their run to the Final Four.<\/p>\n

Kirkwood<\/h2>\n

2934 N Sheffield Ave, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Indiana Hoosiers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Kirkwood ranks firmly in the Top 4 of the best beer garden’s in Chicago on the super-exclusive Top 10 Beer Gardens of This Guy list. Inside or outside, Kirkwood reps Indiana and they rep Indiana well.<\/p>\n

Waterhouse Tavern & Grill<\/h2>\n

3407 N Paulina St, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Auburn Tigers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Tots. Get the tots I’m telling you. But aside, you might find it rare to just be strolling through West Lakeview and next thing you see is a giant Auburn flag flying in the wind. If you do see that, though, that’s Waterhouse and it’s fantastic.<\/p>\n

Four Shadows<\/h2>\n

2758 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 |\u00a0 Your Home For: Iowa Hawkeyes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Four Shadows is Iowa and Iowa is Four Shadows. It feels like a slice of Iowa City on Ashland Avenue. There are plenty of Iowa bars in Chicago, they’re like Starbucks at this point. But when someone asks where are my Iowa people at the only true answer is right here: Four Shadows<\/p>\n

McGee’s Tavern<\/h2>\n

950 W Webster Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 | <\/span>Your Home For: Duke Blue Devils<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Most people will recognize this Lincoln Park watering hole as a congregation of Ohio State fans but according to the Duke University Alumni Page<\/a> there’s a Duke Chicago Elite Eight watch party of sorts going on there on March 23rd that I just decided to also call this a Duke bar.<\/p>\n

Tripoli Tap<\/h2>\n

1147 W Armitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 | Your Home For: Providence Friars<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tripoli Tap’s own website<\/a> describes itself as, “…a home to all the displaced Bostonians, New Englanders and Massholes alike.” Welp, Providence is roughly 51 miles from Boston and precise place you need to be when Providence tips off against Kentucky on Friday.<\/p>\n

Bird’s Nest<\/h2>\n

2500 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60614 | Your Home For: Illinois Fighting Illini<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Elite wings and one of Lakeview’s best dives is the perfect home for Illinois fans of all types. Bird’s Nest is a name that rings out and is spoken reverently by anyone who has experienced their signature sauce.<\/p>\n

Joe’s on Weed Street<\/h2>\n

940 W Weed St, Chicago, IL 60642 | Your Home For: TCU Horned Frogs & Arkansas Razorbacks<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Joe’s on Weed is known for Rod Tuff Curls concerts and being next to that one off-track betting place. It’s also a damn good place to watch a college basketball game, especially if you’re an Arkansas Razorbacks or TCU Horned Frogs fan.<\/p>\n

Flagship Tavern & Grill<\/h2>\n

1622 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Texas A&M Aggies & Miami Hurricanes<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently spent St. Patrick’s Day at Flagship Tavern and wore a Miami hat because, well, it was green. Remembered after arriving that Flagship has a giant Miami flag above the bar. That’s a story about how I went to Flagship and realized it was a Miami bar and now I’m writing about it in this article. Shout out my guy DJ Lance.<\/p>\n

Finley Dunne’s Tavern<\/h2>\n

3458 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Arizona Wildcats<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

According to the Facebook Group Windy City Cats, Finley Dunne’s is a major go to for local Wildcat grads. It’s also a great Blackhawks bar. And it serves ice cold beer so really I’m just rambling on and on about a great sports dive.<\/p>\n

Timothy O’Toole’s Pub<\/h2>\n

622 N Fairbanks Ct, Chicago, IL 60611 | Your Home For: Northwestern Wildcats<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Ghost wings and basketball, sign me up. Now I know I should literally just say “Anything in Evanston” when assigning Northwestern a bar but ToT’s deserves a mention here for how incredibly rooted in Chicago culture it is, it absolutely deserves Chicago’s Big Ten team.<\/p>\n

Sully’s House<\/h2>\n

1501 N Dayton St, Chicago, IL 60642 | Your Home For: Creighton Blue Jays<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I respect a good neighborhood bar that takes great pride in itself the way that Sully’s House prides itself in being the unofficial Creighton bar in Chicago. A Blue Jay is a sick thing to rep and Sully’s is elite in doing so.<\/p>\n

Merkle’s Bar & Grill<\/h2>\n

3516 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60657 | Your Home For: Xavier\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Musketeers<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Merkle’s goes hard as a go to ‘neighborhood bar’ in a neighborhood full of neighborhood bars. But with ties to Cincinnati it’s a bar that reps teams like the Bengals and Xavier basketball proudly. There really is nowhere else to go for a great Musketeers experience.<\/p>\n

Commonwealth Tavern<\/h2>\n

2000 W Roscoe St, Chicago, IL 60618 | Your Home For: Marquette Golden Eagles<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Commonwealth is basically the 13 colonies of fandom coming together in Roscoe Village: Notre Dame. Kansas. Anything Chicago sports. And Marquette. If the flag flies they’re flying it.<\/p>\n

Jefferson Tap & Grille<\/h2>\n

325 N Jefferson St, Chicago, IL 60661 | Your Home For: Missouri Tigers<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Someone had to step up after Derby went down as the premiere Mizzou bar in Chicago and J-Tap has done that and then some. I’d argue it also has Top 3 food of any place on this list but I’m not biased or went to Mizzou or anything. Official watch party tomorrow afternoon. Be there or be from Kansas.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Mizzou Chicago (@mizzouchicago)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n