I'm all for FIU coming if they bring the Golden Dazzlers.

When Charlotte was in the A-10 they tried these things and no longer do them. They found that they lowered overall attendance, and fans didn't like them.

We had the top 12 of 14 teams make the tournament with the top 4 teams getting first round byes, but that isn't important here. The first round was played at the school with the higher seed. As you might expect this is not usually known until the last regular season games are played, which meant that fans could not plan their travel in advance, so the visiting team's fans usually just stayed home.

Many of those visiting fans that wanted to see their team play in the tournament had to make a choice. Do I go to the first game and spend my money on tickets and travel, or do I cross my fingers and hope they make it to the next round and go there? Or do I spend twice as much and do both? Or do I just stay at home?

If you did make the tournament but were in the 5-12 seeds you were not guaranteed a game at the tournament site, so these fans did not buy tournament site tickets. However, if your team won a local game you had to scramble to buy tickets and book travel at the last minute, which can be more expensive and is a hassle, so attendance went down.

The theme here is attendance went down. When we were in CUSA 1.0 I went to half of the conference tournaments during our 10 years. In the A-10 I went to none. Granted, some of that was because of my team's performance, but much of it was the hassle factor.

The only real answer to our problem is better basketball from top to bottom in the conference with teams playing for at-large bids during the tournament. That makes for fun games, whether it is your team or not.

The C-USA Tournament is fine, 1-bid leagues with home-site tournaments stay 1-bid leagues. So many teams in this conference are close to breaking through, I thought it could be this year but a few teams, including my own, let us down. Splitting the men's and women's tournament up is the only necessity at this point. If the tournament isn't going to rotate between more then two host schools it needs to be in a true neutral location. There are plenty of options to have it rotate between semi-neutral locations (Nashville, Dallas, Charlotte (Bojangles Arena), Charleston (WV), Miami-Dade, Biloxi, New Orleans). It's a shame that Birmingham has such a monopoly. I've flown to Puerto Rico, driven to Charleston to see the Niners play in tournaments. I won't ever be driving from Charlotte to Birmingham, Alabama to see the Niners play the whole tournament unless they are a 1 or 2 seed.

We won't be helping C-USA out by making it easier for our 1-seed to make the NCAA Tournament, in fact we might not have had an NIT team last year if UAB hadn't lost to WKU. C-USA just needs to leave the Tournament alone and get teams to schedule with the greater good in mind, of which there are many threads/posts.

If I made one format change I'd add consolation games following the quarterfinals, the same way that early season tournaments do. This would have gotten UAB two more games against Louisiana Tech and Charlotte/UTEP a year ago, two chances to help offset the RPI hit of losing to WKU.

(02-28-2017 09:54 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  I don't think our media partners would be too crazy about having to cover multiple sites, unless with an 8 team format you only televise the semis and finals.

That said, I have always hated seeing the regular season marginalized by the auto bid to the tournament winner after the regular season champ busted their asses for 3 months.

Plus, there would have to be some iron clad tiebreaker rules in place since home court is at stake.

double byes for 1 and 2 seeds-- see OVC

(02-28-2017 02:36 PM)topper1296 Wrote:  I'm all for FIU coming if they bring the Golden Dazzlers.

Which Florida team was it that did not even send their AD to Hot Springs ?

I do remember seeing some FAU faithful in Arkie-- one of them even brought the owl costume, I think

(02-28-2017 04:41 PM)itsbraille49 Wrote:  We won't be helping C-USA out by making it easier for our 1-seed to make the NCAA Tournament, in fact we might not have had an NIT team last year if UAB hadn't lost to WKU. C-USA just needs to leave the Tournament alone and get teams to schedule with the greater good in mind, of which there are many threads/posts.

If I made one format change I'd add consolation games following the quarterfinals, the same way that early season tournaments do. This would have gotten UAB two more games against Louisiana Tech and Charlotte/UTEP a year ago, two chances to help offset the RPI hit of losing to WKU.

That is just silly because if you played two more game and one against a 14-19 UNCC team. You are taking a hit, win or lose. Also you can't blame the tourney for something UAB failed to do...

play a tougher OCC schedule. Winning two more games against two teams with a 100+ and 200+ RPI is not going to change the fact UAB had a overall SOS of 264.

After losing to Western no amount of wins after that would get you a at large bid. If you did not deserve it before that loss. Which clearly UAB did not.

Getting back to the "Bush League" dialogue earlier. So now, the league is allowing UAB to pick their game times despite heading into the tournament with a middle of the pack seeding. I have no idea if this will make any difference to their opponent, but this is really a bad move and sets a terrible precedent. I realize I am in the minority in wanting giving higher seeded teams the home games- but this tells me our current day set up is a failure.

(03-01-2017 10:39 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  Getting back to the "Bush League" dialogue earlier. So now, the league is allowing UAB to pick their game times despite heading into the tournament with a middle of the pack seeding.

How can anyone say the tournament is fine as is?

The host should get to play in the evening when most local fans can come. This is what makes the most sense from a financial perspective and looks better for TV. If the tournament was hosted at any other school in this league I'd make the same argument. ODU's deputy AD said they'd want assurance of the evening time slots if the tournament was in Norfolk.

If the host isn't guaranteed to play in the evening:

-The host city/school won't sell as many tickets
-No assurance of good ticket sales means the host city/school won't put up as big of a guarantee to the conference to be the host site
-We all make less money due to less guarantee money to be distributed among the schools

For a cash strapped conference, the host choosing their time slot is a no brainer.

(03-01-2017 10:44 AM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 10:39 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  Getting back to the "Bush League" dialogue earlier. So now, the league is allowing UAB to pick their game times despite heading into the tournament with a middle of the pack seeding.

How can anyone say the tournament is fine as is?

The host should get to play in the evening when most local fans can come. This is what makes the most sense from a financial perspective and looks better for TV. If the tournament was hosted at any other school in this league I'd make the same argument. ODU's deputy AD said they'd want assurance of the evening time slots if the tournament was in Norfolk.

If the host isn't guaranteed to play in the evening:

-The host city/school won't sell as many tickets
-No assurance of good ticket sales means the host city/school won't put up as big of a guarantee to the conference to be the host site
-We all make less money due to less guarantee money to be distributed among the schools

For a cash strapped conference, the host choosing their time slot is a no brainer.

Respectfully, this isn't some holiday tournament or pre-season deal. The stakes are a bid to the NCAA's and thus should be competed on a level playing field.

Now I totally get the $$ angle and get what you are saying and yes, if it was ODU I suppose I would want the same thing. That said, it just looks really, really, really bad.

(03-01-2017 10:52 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 10:44 AM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 10:39 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  Getting back to the "Bush League" dialogue earlier. So now, the league is allowing UAB to pick their game times despite heading into the tournament with a middle of the pack seeding.

How can anyone say the tournament is fine as is?

The host should get to play in the evening when most local fans can come. This is what makes the most sense from a financial perspective and looks better for TV. If the tournament was hosted at any other school in this league I'd make the same argument. ODU's deputy AD said they'd want assurance of the evening time slots if the tournament was in Norfolk.

If the host isn't guaranteed to play in the evening:

-The host city/school won't sell as many tickets
-No assurance of good ticket sales means the host city/school won't put up as big of a guarantee to the conference to be the host site
-We all make less money due to less guarantee money to be distributed among the schools

For a cash strapped conference, the host choosing their time slot is a no brainer.

Respectfully, this isn't some holiday tournament or pre-season deal. The stakes are a bid to the NCAA's and thus should be competed on a level playing field.

Now I totally get the $$ angle and get what you are saying and yes, if it was ODU I suppose I would want the same thing. That said, it just looks really, really, really bad.

I totally get that. If we had P5 resources and money wasn't an issue, I'd agree wholeheartedly. As it currently stands, my opinion is the conference needs to be doing every thing it can to maximize revenue. I can appreciate the opposing view though.

(03-01-2017 10:52 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 10:44 AM)hooverblazer Wrote:  

(03-01-2017 10:39 AM)Quagmire Wrote:  Getting back to the "Bush League" dialogue earlier. So now, the league is allowing UAB to pick their game times despite heading into the tournament with a middle of the pack seeding.

How can anyone say the tournament is fine as is?

The host should get to play in the evening when most local fans can come. This is what makes the most sense from a financial perspective and looks better for TV. If the tournament was hosted at any other school in this league I'd make the same argument. ODU's deputy AD said they'd want assurance of the evening time slots if the tournament was in Norfolk.

If the host isn't guaranteed to play in the evening:

-The host city/school won't sell as many tickets
-No assurance of good ticket sales means the host city/school won't put up as big of a guarantee to the conference to be the host site
-We all make less money due to less guarantee money to be distributed among the schools

For a cash strapped conference, the host choosing their time slot is a no brainer.

Respectfully, this isn't some holiday tournament or pre-season deal. The stakes are a bid to the NCAA's and thus should be competed on a level playing field.

Now I totally get the $$ angle and get what you are saying and yes, if it was ODU I suppose I would want the same thing. That said, it just looks really, really, really bad.

There's pros/cons to every scenario we've tossed out. One of the cons to the current set up is the pay-to-play aspect - the city most willing to pay will give their team the advantage for the tournament. It only makes sense to double down on the concept and give the host team the most possible fans at the game.

Count me as a preference to have the higher seeds be hosts.

If you can't make the travel plans for away games, sorry. The advantage should go to the better team, plain and simple.

The NIT does it this way, and when ODU kept winning we had no problem filling the seats with a few days notice. It's really not as strenuous on the fanbase as some make it out to be.

Speaking of bush league, what's our conference rating again? 24 out of 32?

I don't care what it looks like to outsiders. Outsiders will watch from tv. TV will show home courts with fans. Right now, the tv will only show the court full of fans for one game - the host team's game. Do you all not remember the ridicule our conference had when the finals didn't feature UAB? The attendance was pathetic for a championship game. Blame ODU/MTSU fanbase all you want on it, but no I cannot travel to UAB to watch a championship game, it's not that easy. I wonder how full that game would have been if it had been at MTSU. The championship game is the only one on national TV on its own right? I wonder how full that game will be if UAB makes an early exit.

(03-01-2017 11:03 AM)odu09 Wrote:  Count me as a preference to have the higher seeds be hosts.

If you can't make the travel plans for away games, sorry. The advantage should go to the better team, plain and simple.

The NIT does it this way, and when ODU kept winning we had no problem filling the seats with a few days notice. It's really not as strenuous on the fanbase as some make it out to be.

Speaking of bush league, what's our conference rating again? 24 out of 32?

I don't care what it looks like to outsiders. Outsiders will watch from tv. TV will show home courts with fans. Right now, the tv will only show the court full of fans for one game - the host team's game. Do you all not remember the ridicule our conference had when the finals didn't feature UAB? The attendance was pathetic for a championship game. Blame ODU/MTSU fanbase all you want on it, but no I cannot travel to UAB to watch a championship game, it's not that easy. I wonder how full that game would have been if it had been at MTSU. The championship game is the only one on national TV on its own right? I wonder how full that game will be if UAB makes an early exit.

Well said and I agree 100%. The optics alone of playing in front of interested fans, even if the home arena is 40% full is better than a Friday 1PM game in front of 1,000 in Birmingham. I said it somewhere else and I'll say it again, ODU sold their NIT home games last year as general admission. The arena was electric for each game as new fans got to use the prime seats usually held out for the corporate types. The 8 team higher-seed-home-court over a week and a half makes more sense to me than ever. And please don't tell me that this would mean more athletes would miss more class time.

Finally, the regular season just has to mean something besides a high seed, doesn't it?