I guess it’s bad enough that Carolina fans around the Triad have to face the workweek with the realization the Tar Heel’s collapse against Georgetown wasn’t a bad dream.

Now the guys down at the Greensboro Coliseum have to stand by and and pray that someone will want to show up for tonight’s women’s regional final between Rutgers and Arizona State. Needless to say, a sellout isn’t expected:

With Duke out of the tournament, the final has lost some of its marquee value.

Nearly 6,000 tickets have been sold. The coliseum has been configured to hold 10,019.

Monday’s attendance is expected to fall far below the last time Greensboro hosted a women’s regional final. In 1999, a record 11,133 fans showed up to watch Duke knock off defending champion Tennessee.

The N&R’s Jim Schlosser went downtown and tried to put the best possible face on a petered-out Fan Fest:

Duke’s loss may have hurt FanFest attendance. But the turnout looked respectable, and people were having fun in seemingly Arizona-like weather.

Couples shag-danced next to the fountain. Children played on giant plastic toys, one a slide topped with a gorilla…..Throughout, promoters passed out leaflets announcing a special ticket sale: four tickets to tonight’s game for $40, along with four hot dogs and four small sodas.

The aim was to generate a decent turnout for a game between two teams from afar.

But a ticket booth had sold only four tickets as the three-hour event neared its end.

Ouch.

So NCAA officials are going judge whether or not Greensboro is a suitable venue for the 2012 women’s Final Four without an ACC team in the mix. This is actually a good drill for local sports official as they put the finishing touches on their bid, considering the fact that they’re putting it together based on the assumption that an ACC team would make it to the Final Four. But as we’ve seen the past couple of days, dreams don’t always come true.

ACC fans are a temperamental gang, too. For the most part, if their team isn’t in the mix, they don’t give a crap. And that’s true for the men’s game, too. I’m sure they’re plenty of Duke fans who haven’t watched a NCAA tournament game since the Devils went down in the first round, and I’m sure they’re plenty of Carolina fans who won’t bother to tune into the Final Four since their beloved Tar Heels won’t be there.