This is how you make the tournament exciting and well attended.

Have the regular season end the Saturday of the first week of Championship week. Seed the teams 1-8. Only top 8 play

The high seed gets the home game the following Tuesday Night.

After those game are played then the highest seed remaining host a Final Four at their home gym on a Friday night.
Championship game and consolation game the next night.

It may look like this:

Quarterfinals
8 FAU at 1 WKU
7 ODU at 2 MTSU
6 UTEP at 3 ODU
5 USM at 4 LA Tech

Say All the top seeds win on Tuesday Night
Final Four would be played in Bowling Green on Friday Night

4 La Tech vs 1 WKU
3 ODU vs 2 MTSU

Championship Game would be Saturday Night (with a Consolation game). The Consolation is important to help maintain a crowd and protect attendance if the home team lost the first round.

4 La Tech vs 3 ODU
2 MTSU vs 1 WKU.

This would improve attendance better than any neutral site could provide in any scenario.

This is how the old OVC did in back in the day when WKU and MTSU were in it. It was always the most exciting 2 days of the the Basketball year with the exception of the NCAA game.

Thoughts?

Your hypothetical match-ups could use some help. You have ODU in there twice and apparently Southern Methodist has rejoined C-USA. Idk about the consolation game either. I don't think teams would care much for that. Would fans really turn out after their team has no shot at the tourney title? C-USA could just do what other conferences do and have the higher seeded team host the game....

For the record is ODU the 7th, 3rd or 2nd seed? I'm a bit confused.

It really must be hypothetical if Western KY is a 1 seed.

SMU??? Are you effin' serious?

Sorry guys. I corrected the original post. Been drinking to much lately after watching WKU play this year.

I'm ok with it. Would love to see better crowds and a better atmosphere.

Although, what would happen with the women? Would a school with both teams in be split between two locations?

(03-09-2017 09:04 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  I'm ok with it. Would love to see better crowds and a better atmosphere.

Although, what would happen with the women? Would a school with both teams in be split between two locations?

You want better crowds? Have it at UTEP. 'nuff said.

Hookers and blow.

(03-09-2017 09:13 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(03-09-2017 09:04 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  I'm ok with it. Would love to see better crowds and a better atmosphere.

Although, what would happen with the women? Would a school with both teams in be split between two locations?

You want better crowds? Have it at UTEP. 'nuff said.

Wasn't there a year when UTEP had it, lost early and the attendance was bad? I'd be fine with it once every five years or something...but El Paso sucks for everyone except UTEP. If I'm driving 12 hours, I'm going to Florida or something.

You want a bigger crowd set the Texas schools free, divide to thrive. I don't want a UTEP invitational. Texas schools are like family members who have moved half way across the country, you love them but not enough to fly 1,200 miles to see them.

The 10 schools east of Texas play H&H games every year in basketball & in football you play each other every year. This way You build a competitive rivalry. And instead of traveling 800 -1,200 miles to play a tournament game you travel 300 - 500 miles.

For the basketball tournament you play in an 8,000 - 10,000 seat arena instead of a 17,000 seat arena (good grief). Every school that has 100 students to attend gets 100 seats behind their team for their game. For TV effects in our tournament add some "CAN" noise for sound effects, so our champion is better prepared to face the March Madness noise.

Is their any other P5 or G5 conference more spread out than CUSA?

(03-09-2017 09:59 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  Is their any other P5 or G5 conference more spread out than CUSA?

As much as UTEP is on a figurative island, you do know the MWC has a member on a literal island, right?

The AAC stretches from Storrs, to Tampa to Dallas.

The Sun Belt(football) geography only just got better by virtue of cutting NMSU and Idaho.

(03-09-2017 08:01 PM)GreekTopper Wrote:  Been drinking to much lately after watching WKU play this year.

(03-09-2017 06:35 PM)GreekTopper Wrote:  It may look like this:

1 WKU
2 MTSU

Evidently so...

Play the tournament in Nashville, New Orleans, or Orlando.

(03-09-2017 10:44 PM)jaminniner Wrote:  Play the tournament in Nashville, New Orleans, or Orlando.

Yes

(03-09-2017 10:29 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  

(03-09-2017 09:59 PM)Rabonchild Wrote:  Is their any other P5 or G5 conference more spread out than CUSA?

As much as UTEP is on a figurative island, you do know the MWC has a member on a literal island, right?

The AAC stretches from Storrs, to Tampa to Dallas.

The Sun Belt(football) geography only just got better by virtue of cutting NMSU and Idaho.

Rumor is the team in Storr wants to go back the Big East for everything but football.

(03-09-2017 10:29 PM)MTPiKapp Wrote:  As much as UTEP is on a figurative island, you do know the MWC has a member on a literal island, right?

For football only. Not for any other sport.

Those trips from Lubbock, Austin and Waco to Morgantown are also in the 1500 mile range.

Consolation game is not needed and would never work, this is not the 70s back in the day at the OVC tournament....However I Agree with only invite top 8 and have those first rounds games on campus sites.....Then also agree bring the Final Four but bring it to a neutral site like Nashville, Charlotte, Virginia Beach or Orlando.....Do the same with the girls and you can have full day of fan bases who care Friday with girls playing during the day, guys at night and then championship game how it set up next day....Would not be hard to do at all.....Hardly been any upsets in CUSA tournaments in the past, most of the time the 4 teams left are usually 4 schools who care the most about basketball and have the most fans every season....THen if the same bottom 4 teams complain they can go join the Atlantic Sun for hoops and become independent for football....

(03-09-2017 09:42 PM)Saint Greg Wrote:  

(03-09-2017 09:13 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  

(03-09-2017 09:04 PM)techdawg28 Wrote:  I'm ok with it. Would love to see better crowds and a better atmosphere.

Although, what would happen with the women? Would a school with both teams in be split between two locations?

You want better crowds? Have it at UTEP. 'nuff said.

Wasn't there a year when UTEP had it, lost early and the attendance was bad? I'd be fine with it once every five years or something...but El Paso sucks for everyone except UTEP. If I'm driving 12 hours, I'm going to Florida or something.

I disagree -

I went and the experience in el Paso is FAR superior to the event B'ham puts on - it's not even close, great facilities, knowledgeable basketball fans, fantastic entertainment district

I personally think CUSA needs to look at protecting the regular conference champion and try having them host the semi's and finals, with the quarters at the highest seeds

If not go to a truly neutral site with an intimate setting of maybe a 7k arena tops - Biloxi, Frisco, Myrtle Beach area, Hot Springs -