The four men’s basketball programs still alive in the NCAA Tournament held their first joint media availability in San Antonio on Tuesday, with coaches from Duke, Michigan, Tennessee and UConn taking turns at a podium inside the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center while the Alamodome floor opened a few blocks away for closed walkthroughs ahead of Wednesday’s open practice sessions.

UConn arrived overnight, becoming the last of the four teams to land in the city after a delayed charter out of Hartford. Coach Dan Hurley walked into the briefing room a few minutes before 11 a.m. and opened with a wave to the front row of writers. “It’s a strange flight when you’re trying to sleep and the guy behind you is watching tape on his phone,” Hurley said. “But we’re here. The hotel beds are made. The film room works. We’re good.”

The NCAA confirmed Tuesday that all four teams had cleared their mandatory medical and academic checks and that the bracket would proceed as drawn. Semifinal tipoffs are scheduled for Saturday at the Alamodome, with the championship game on Monday, April 6. Closed walkthroughs ran on a rotating schedule Tuesday afternoon, with each program allotted 70 minutes on the game floor and a separate window in an adjacent practice gym.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer faced the most pointed line of questioning, much of it about the historical weight on his fourth-year tenure. The Blue Devils, the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed, have not lost a game by more than seven points since early January. “We’ve talked all year about the difference between expectations and pressure,” Scheyer said. “Expectations are external. Pressure is what you put on yourself. The guys have done a good job keeping those two things separate.”

Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, the oldest coach in the field at 71, drew loud laughter when asked whether this trip felt different from his first Final Four appearance two years ago. “It feels like the same hotel and the same questions,” Barnes said. “What’s different is the team. This group doesn’t blink.” Barnes confirmed that senior guard Trey Carlton, who tweaked an ankle in the Elite Eight, had practiced fully on Monday in Knoxville before the team flew out and would be available without restriction.

Michigan’s Juwan Howard, in his second season back on the bench, spoke briefly and mostly deflected questions about his own arc. The Wolverines have not played a tournament game decided by fewer than 12 points. “The margin doesn’t carry into the next game,” Howard said. “We’re preparing like every play is going to be tight, because at this stage they usually are.”

Bracket analysts spent much of the day parsing matchups that, according to figures circulated by the NCAA’s data partners, project as among the tightest in recent Final Four history. “The efficiency margins between these four teams are smaller than they were in any Final Four since 2019,” said Erika Holcomb, a college basketball analyst at the sports data firm KenPom. “On any given Saturday, the better team on offense and the better team on defense are essentially within a possession of each other. That’s not normally what you see at this stage.”

Outside the convention center, the city’s logistics operation continued to absorb a heavier-than-usual influx. The San Antonio Sports Foundation said Tuesday that downtown hotel occupancy had reached 98 percent and that an additional 1,200 rooms in suburban properties had been booked by traveling fan groups. “We’re seeing a higher share of Tennessee and Michigan supporters than the early models suggested,” foundation executive director Carla Mendez said. “Duke and UConn fans tend to plan further ahead. The first-time programs are arriving on shorter notice.”

Security around the Alamodome has been heightened in line with federal advisories issued in the days following last week’s strike on Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, which killed U.S. service members and intensified the broader conflict. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Tuesday that the agency had designated the Final Four a “Level 1 special event,” the same category used for the Super Bowl, and that additional federal personnel had been deployed in coordination with San Antonio police. Mendez said no specific or credible threat had been identified.

“The posture is precautionary,” said Aaron Rivers, a homeland security adviser who briefed reporters at the Alamodome on Tuesday afternoon. “What fans will notice is more bag checks and slightly longer queues. What they won’t notice is the work happening behind that.”

Several players were made available alongside their coaches in shorter sessions. UConn senior guard Solomon Ball described the team’s mood as “loose but locked in.” Duke sophomore forward Marcus Whitfield, the leading scorer in the tournament so far, said he had spent Monday night watching film of Tennessee and Michigan rather than of his next opponent. “You watch everyone in this round,” Whitfield said. “There’s no second-half preview anymore.”

While the basketball calendar tightened, Major League Baseball clubs completed the last of their travel ahead of Thursday’s 14-game Opening Day slate. The Atlanta Braves landed in Cincinnati on Tuesday afternoon for their traditional season-opening matchup against the Reds at Great American Ball Park, and the Los Angeles Dodgers held a light workout at home before opening Thursday night against San Francisco. “The bullpen looks like it’s where we wanted it,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters in Los Angeles. “Now we just play games.”

The St. Louis Cardinals, whose home schedule begins Friday in a series that overlaps directly with the Final Four three hours south, said they had coordinated with Alamodome operations on regional broadcast windows. “There’s enough audience for everyone this weekend,” Cardinals general manager Mike Girsch said. “Nobody is fighting over the same eyeball at the same minute.”

Open practice sessions at the Alamodome begin Wednesday at 11 a.m. and run through late afternoon, with each team scheduled for 50 minutes on the floor in front of credentialed media and ticketed fans. The NCAA said coach and player availability windows would be expanded on Friday to accommodate the heavier broadcast schedule.

Mendez said additional traffic and transit guidance would be released Wednesday morning, and that ticket holders should expect screening lines at the Alamodome to open earlier than originally announced.