The 2018 Houston College Classic teams are UH, Sam Houston State, Louisiana-Lafayette, Vanderbilt, Kentucky, and Mississippi State.

surprised they put so many SEC teams and not some from the Big 12 or PAC 12

Surprised so many SEC teams left their home cooking in February.

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So I'm guessing Rice doesn't want in this tournament anymore. And that the 2018 tournament will feature record low crowds.

A&M not coming back. I was at a conference at A&M this weekend and disappointed that they were playing in Houston so I could not see them in College Station. I watched the A&M-TCU game in first the Dixie Chicken and then Dudley's Draw. FS1 pulled away from the game in the bottom of the ninth to show mixed fighting so I did not see most of their meltdown. I saw the pitcher walk the first 2 batters which is a stupid thing to do when trying to hold on to a big lead. Any runner that gets on base is a potential run so it is necessary to pitch aggressively.

Good article in the Houston Press about the tournament:

Rebooted Houston College Classic Shatters Attendance Records
by John Royal
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2017

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/reboote...ds-9251785

Quote:The Astros set up this year as a contest between the SEC and the Big 12. And the fans bought into the plan. Especially the fans of LSU and Texas A&M, who overtook the ballpark every day. The Astros generally have good luck getting Big 12 squads involved in the tournament, and they’re working with the SEC to establish a rotation that will bring squads like LSU and Texas A&M in on a consistent basis.

"We’re working with the SEC and the Big 12 teams," Steve Grande, senior manager of media relations for the Astros, said Sunday afternoon. "They’ve been really open to coming in here every other year or every three years. So you’ll see that quite a bit for the next few years. SEC teams in a lot. Big 12 teams. Those are kind of the teams that we’re looking at as well as factoring in Rice and UH and Sam Houston State."

As it was, the Astros were pleased with the crowd totals for the weekend, going so far as to state that they exceeded expectations. Saturday’s attendance alone topped the total turnout for the entire tournament in 2013, 2014 and 2016.

Money talks, though I would like to think we bring a better crowd than Sam Houston and Kentucky, especially IN Houston.

(03-07-2017 10:34 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  Money talks, though I would like to think we bring a better crowd than Sam Houston and Kentucky, especially IN Houston.

just seems like they would've gone w/ Texas, Oklahoma instead of all those SEC schools

Agreed. I can't imagine the SEC schools next year will have attendance anywhere near this year's teams.

(03-07-2017 12:08 PM)techdawg88 Wrote:  

(03-07-2017 10:34 AM)RiceOwl Wrote:  Money talks, though I would like to think we bring a better crowd than Sam Houston and Kentucky, especially IN Houston.

just seems like they would've gone w/ Texas, Oklahoma instead of all those SEC schools

I believe they want no more than three teams from one conference, so that there are no intra-conference games.

I would be mad that they only want to "factor us in" with the other local teams... except that I'm a math geek and I like they are using factoring.

#RiceToPac16