The FF was on my bucket list, too. I attended it in St. Louis in 2005. The semifinal games were awful. Illinois smoked Louisville and UNC clobbered Michigan State. The championship game was a dandy, though. Illinois' Luther Head nailed a three-pointer with about two minutes remaining to tie the game, 70-70. UNC scored the final five points to pull out a 75-70 victory.
I remember reading that it may be the only time NCAA title game tix were scalped for more money than semifinal tix. I can vouch for that. My brother and I were offered 400 bucks each for our crappy Monday night tix in the upper deck. I think the entire state of Illinois was in St. Louis...lol. Tens of thousands of Illini fans from nearby Illinois flocked to the city without tickets. If they couldn't get in the dome, they wanted to at least be in the area to celebrate if their beloved Illini won the championship.