Are you gonna go to anymore of the CUSA tournament games? Just curious...

It's hard to validate paying $30 a session to watch someone else's team for them. I'm not going to take vacation time today for that reason. I have other things to do tomorrow.

I can answer that for you and most other places that would host, no....NOw back in the day I will say BG came out and was in attendance at other sessions when we hosted SB tournament, I know I went to a few when WKU was not playing and attendance was not horrible....Not sure nowadays there would be support but my guess would be more people going to these others game then do in a football state...

(03-10-2017 10:27 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  I can answer that for you and most other places that would host, no....NOw back in the day I will say BG came out and was in attendance at other sessions when we hosted SB tournament, I know I went to a few when WKU was not playing and attendance was not horrible....Not sure nowadays there would be support but my guess would be more people going to these others game then do in a football state...

I understand most won't but i just wanted to get a sample of how many that would. According ti UTEP fans they still get huge turnouts even when UTEP is nit playing.

I'm not knocking UAB because the crowds would look like this in any city that hosted with an arena that big.

It's pretty evident we need to host this tournament in a 10-12K seat arena.

(03-10-2017 11:50 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:27 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  I can answer that for you and most other places that would host, no....NOw back in the day I will say BG came out and was in attendance at other sessions when we hosted SB tournament, I know I went to a few when WKU was not playing and attendance was not horrible....Not sure nowadays there would be support but my guess would be more people going to these others game then do in a football state...

I understand most won't but i just wanted to get a sample of how many that would. According ti UTEP fans they still get huge turnouts even when UTEP is nit playing.

We would average around 3-4K for a non UTEP game. Everyone sits closer to the court and the Don is smaller so the crowd will look bigger. If scheduled correctly the game before UTEP has a nice crowd from the early bird UTEP fans. The game after UTEP will have some that will stick around and watch the late game. The locals do support the tournament. Don't expect 8k for every single game either.

I've also thought that should El Paso host and get eliminated early maybe it would be wise to move the remaining games across the street to Memorial Gym. It seats 5,000 and is a very intimate and loud gym. If we were to get another 5k like we did for the previous championship game between LT vs Tulsa it would make for a nice college atmosphere.

(03-10-2017 11:50 AM)MT FAN Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:27 AM)WKUFan518 Wrote:  I can answer that for you and most other places that would host, no....NOw back in the day I will say BG came out and was in attendance at other sessions when we hosted SB tournament, I know I went to a few when WKU was not playing and attendance was not horrible....Not sure nowadays there would be support but my guess would be more people going to these others game then do in a football state...

I understand most won't but i just wanted to get a sample of how many that would. According ti UTEP fans they still get huge turnouts even when UTEP is nit playing.

Not huge turnouts but there was around 1.5k butts at most non UTEP games. Because of the design of The Don, it didn't look bad at all. There was an ECU game that had a legit 4K butts in the stands. Now across the street, all of the women's games were played in front of packed crowd. Smaller gym of course.

It would be the same anywhere this tourney was played because not many people are going to spend $37 and take off work to watch other schools play. It's why the tourney should be played in a small(er) arena

(03-10-2017 10:02 AM)Dracorex Wrote:  It's hard to validate paying $30 a session to watch someone else's team for them. I'm not going to take vacation time today for that reason. I have other things to do tomorrow.

That's the problem and it's a lame ass way of thinking. You're not watching someone else team for them you are watching and enjoying college basketball. All the years I went and watched the ACC, Big South & Southern Conference tourneys it was to go and enjoy college hoops. If the CUSA tourney was in Huntington in my backyard I'd be all all games and sessions if I could.

I wouldn't pay $37 to watch a non MT CUSA basketball game if it was across the street from my house.

(03-10-2017 02:04 PM)MU ATO Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:02 AM)Dracorex Wrote:  It's hard to validate paying $30 a session to watch someone else's team for them. I'm not going to take vacation time today for that reason. I have other things to do tomorrow.

That's the problem and it's a lame ass way of thinking. You're not watching someone else team for them you are watching and enjoying college basketball. All the years I went and watched the ACC, Big South & Southern Conference tourneys it was to go and enjoy college hoops. If the CUSA tourney was in Huntington in my backyard I'd be all all games and sessions if I could.

But it's not good college basketball.
There have been 9 games played so far, and only two have had any drama or close ending. Most games is watching two teams turn it over and miss shots.

(03-10-2017 12:10 PM)MUsince96 Wrote:  I'm not knocking UAB because the crowds would look like this in any city that hosted with an arena that big.

It's pretty evident we need to host this tournament in a 10-12K seat arena.

Or even 5-8k. Theres a nice arena in Destin, Fl that would be a fantastic location to host.

http://nwfraiders.com/athletics/faciltie...lery/index

Its small, but CUSA doesn't draw so whats the difference.

Maybe if we weren't the 23rd ranked conference in rpi this year. (Uab didn't help at all either. Pot & kettle) I'd be more willing to come out.

All of our old conferences have higher rpi's than our current home. The sbc, cusa 2.0, etc. I never thought we'd be looking up at the sbc and socon for rpi.

UAB's rpi of 199 is the lowest it's ever been in our history. I don't think we've ever had one outside of the top 150.

(03-10-2017 02:04 PM)MU ATO Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:02 AM)Dracorex Wrote:  It's hard to validate paying $30 a session to watch someone else's team for them. I'm not going to take vacation time today for that reason. I have other things to do tomorrow.

That's the problem and it's a lame ass way of thinking. You're not watching someone else team for them you are watching and enjoying college basketball. All the years I went and watched the ACC, Big South & Southern Conference tourneys it was to go and enjoy college hoops. If the CUSA tourney was in Huntington in my backyard I'd be all all games and sessions if I could.

I attended every session of the men's tournament. Yes, even after UAB lost. I enjoy it regardless of the match-up or the equality of the opponents. It's fun to hangout with friends and casually watch games in which you have no vested interest. It can be even more fun cheering for a hated rival to get bounced...but that's just a bonus.

(03-13-2017 12:13 PM)blazerjay Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 02:04 PM)MU ATO Wrote:  

(03-10-2017 10:02 AM)Dracorex Wrote:  It's hard to validate paying $30 a session to watch someone else's team for them. I'm not going to take vacation time today for that reason. I have other things to do tomorrow.

That's the problem and it's a lame ass way of thinking. You're not watching someone else team for them you are watching and enjoying college basketball. All the years I went and watched the ACC, Big South & Southern Conference tourneys it was to go and enjoy college hoops. If the CUSA tourney was in Huntington in my backyard I'd be all all games and sessions if I could.

I attended every session of the men's tournament. Yes, even after UAB lost. I enjoy it regardless of the match-up or the equality of the opponents. It's fun to hangout with friends and casually watch games in which you have no vested interest. It can be even more fun cheering for a hated rival to get bounced...but that's just a bonus.

I agree. I bought the all session pass and attended every single game except the championship due to being at a wedding Saturday night.

I was there for a total of 39:45 of game action and heading north before those players had time to hit the shower. My son and I had made plans to come back and watch the night session but really had no interest in paying for a hotel or sticking around after Western loss.

I was there to the end.

Given the current state of CUSA, this will be a similar story no matter the location. Most of the tournaments that are successful with attendance either 1) have appeal to casual basketball fans, 2) draw large numbers of visiting fans from each of the participating institutions.

If you are dependent on the host institution providing warm bodies in the seats rather than each of the member institutions (as we are in CUSA), you're asking for this sort of problem. The bulk of any host institution fanbase in this league is going to quit going once they are knocked out. Doesn't matter if the game is in Nashville, El Paso, Norfolk, or anywhere else.

Does it really matter though? At this point, CUSA basketball has much bigger problems than how many people show up for the tournament. Raise the quality of basketball in this league, and some of those problems will begin to take care of themselves.