ATLANTA — The Georgia Dome, the host of the men’s Final Four this year, is 21 years old and adequate as a site for major sporting events. But because more money can be made with a new stadium, a path is being cleared for the dome’s extinction. So this is probably the last time a college basketball champion will be crowned at its climate-controlled environs.  Better known for football, the Georgia Dome has a basketball history less memorable than that of its concrete cousin in New Orleans, the Louisiana Superdome, home of Keith Smart’s shot and Chris Webber’s timeout and Fred Brown’s errant pass. Some would say the defining Georgia Dome moment came in 1996, when Massachusetts guard Carmelo Travieso leaned back against a curtain being used as a news media backdrop, thinking it was a wall, and fell off a makeshift platform.  But such criticism sells the dome short. It has hosted some great college games, including its first one, on Dec. 19, 1992, a doozy between Georgia Tech and Louisville. An announced crowd of 28,885, at the time the largest to attend a basketball game in Georgia, saw the Yellow Jackets win, 87-85, on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by the sophomore James Forrest.  The dome has hosted three other Final Fours, including the women’s version. In 2002, the Maryland men’s team capped a run to its lone national title behind the shooting of guard Juan Dixon and the interior play of Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox.  Merely having the tournament finale in Atlanta that year was something of an uncertainty. The N.C.A.A. had considered moving the Final Four after protests from civil rights groups, including the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, over the flying of a Confederate battle flag over state buildings. After Georgia lawmakers agreed to redesign the flag, the games went on as scheduled. So did the 2003 women’s Final Four, in which Connecticut defeated Tennessee in the championship game.  In 2007, the men’s Final Four was back on Northside Drive as Georgia’s border enemy, Florida, came to town for a coronation. Dynastic college teams are seemingly the product of a bygone era, and the Gators of Joakim Noah, Al Horford and Corey Brewer may well be the last the sport will see for some time. The defending champions from Gainesville rolled into Atlanta and roundly dispatched U.C.L.A. and Ohio State, cruising past the Buckeyes despite a dominant performance by center Greg Oden.  In 1995, Arkansas fell just short of repeating as national champion. Three weeks before falling in the title game, the Razorbacks were knocked off in perhaps the best game played at the dome, the Southeastern Conference tournament final. Arkansas was new to the conference, and hordes of fans yelling, “Woooo, pig sooie!” followed the team to Atlanta, determined to outcheer fans of Kentucky. The two teams and their vociferous supporters met in a rollicking final.  The Razorbacks, using Coach Nolan Richardson’s 40 Minutes of Hell pressure defense, opened a 35-16 lead, but the Wildcats fought back late to force overtime. The extra session featured more of the same. The Hogs jumped out to a 9-point lead, but once again Kentucky rallied, pulling out a 95-93 victory.  The words March Madness generally evoke thoughts of opening-round upsets and classic finals, but the best basketball is often played in the regionals. The dome has hosted four regionals, probably none better than the one in 2006.  First, Louisiana State knocked off top-seeded Duke, a victory sealed when Tyrus Thomas went end to end for a mammoth dunk. The Duke senior guard J. J. Redick wept as he left the floor, much to the derision of the crowd.  In the Round of 16 nightcap, Texas appeared to have been Pittsnogled — the term ascribed to victims of the West Virginia cult hero and sharpshooting big man Kevin Pittsnogle, who sank his fifth 3-pointer to tie the score at 71-71 in the closing seconds. But the Longhorns senior Kenton Paulino replied with a buzzer-beating 3 to give Texas a victory.  The Round of 8 matchup between Texas and L.S.U. two days later featured a memorably wild sequence in the final seconds, with several blocked shots and loose-ball scrambles, before Texas’ Daniel Gibson drilled a 3 to send the game to overtime. But Glen “Big Baby” Davis hit a long shot of his own in the extra period to send L.S.U. to the Final Four.  Surely, though, the most lasting memory of basketball at the dome was created five years ago, when a tornado ripped a hole in the roof during an SEC tournament quarterfinal between Alabama and Mississippi State.  Nature’s fury struck moments after Alabama guard Mykal Riley rattled home a 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. Had Riley missed, thousands of fans may have walked directly into the storm, which hammered the dome with a 130-mile-per-hour wind.  The damage forced the tournament to move to Georgia Tech’s nearby arena, where only the cheerleaders, the bands and a small contingent of fans saw Georgia complete an improbable run to the SEC tournament title, gaining an automatic N.C.A.A. tournament bid when none was otherwise forthcoming.
This year’s Final Four in Atlanta will probably be the last at the Georgia Dome, the site of exciting regional clashes, a memorable Kentucky-Arkansas title game and even a roof-piercing tornado.