The four DI newbies (UNF, KSU, FGCU and USC-U) are still not eligible for postseason play this season as I'm sure everyone already is well aware of, but what is the timeline for eligibility for each of these four schools? Are UNF and KSU good to go beginning with the '09-'10 season?

And one other quickie while I'm at it... Have the Conference Tournament site(s) been announced beyond this season?

Thanks!

Congrats to Mercer on the early season W's over BCS programs. Hope to see the ASun/TAAC Charter Member take the title this year.

Hey... You are right that North Florida and Kennesaw are eligible starting in 2009-10. Florida Gulf Coast and USC Upstate are eligible starting in 2011-12.

The A-Sun tourney location is not known beyond this year (Nashville @ Lipscomb)

Quick response, thanks MF.

Seeing that in '09-'10 and '10-'11 nine schools will be eligible, I wonder if a 8/9 Play-In Game will come to be for those seasons. Call the Men's Game the UNF Invitational if you will. :sly: One of these days though, UNF will get that ship headed in the right direction.

Hopefully someone out of the state of Tennessee gets a shot at hosting next time around. With the new facility and central location, Mercer seems like a no-brainer. Or maybe, with JU having a bit of a resurgence and UNF becoming eligible they could give it another shot down here. I could also see Kennesaw possibly wanting to get involved in this process as well.

All good ideas. I always wanted Mercer to host while I was a student, but that never happened. Anything In Georgia or Florida I would go to.

edit -- and yea UNF sucks pretty bad. It's hard to even watch them play. On another side note, I hope UCF plays Mercer again someday.

The A-sun should take their first step toward becoming a real conference by announcing the tournament will take place on a neutral floor.


While they are at it they should also split up the mens and womens tournament and complete this journey toward a real tournament.

I've always thought a place like Augusta, Georgia would be a good place to host a neutral ASUN Torunament. A city with a big population, but not too big to be overshadowed.

I agree Goldfinger. Also, I cannot wait for the 09-10 season! Augusta or Columbus would be great.

Perhaps somewhere in South Carolina would be in order

Well I don't think this is something that will be happening any time in the near future, but as far as options for a "neutral" location, maybe Charleston or Savannah. Or maybe Gwinnett, GA as Kennesaw technically wouldn't be hosting the event if played at that location. Realistically though, why waste the $$$ on facility rental fees in a neutral location where attendance would be a huge question mark.

Jacksonville or Macon for '10 and '11 imho. Hopefully Jax at least once as I could check out the whole event. Hey we could go barhopping in Jax Beach in the late evening....

It won't happen in Charleston. They host the SoCon tournament.

Charleston would be a TERRIBLE location. We don't have an ASun school within 200 miles of Charleston. With the lack of attendance already in the ASun, my suggestion would be that we have the tournament at whichever school is the #1 seed entering the tournament. That would give the #1 the advantage they deserve for winning the regular season, and would also increase attendance as their fan base would be motivated to attend the games.

This is how Division II does the regionals for the NCAA tournament. The #1 ranked team in the regional hosts the event. It is a bit hectic for the host team, but it can be done. Sponsors would be the only team that would require some hard work on the host team's part, but it would be pretty obvious who the 3 or 4 teams that had a chance of hosting would be come the last 2 weeks of the season which should give them ample time to line up the necessary sponsors. The title sponsor would be a regional/national brand anyway.

THIS IS NOT A DIVISION II CONFERENCE AND WE ARE NOT IN DIVISION II. You want to increase attendance, especially at the tournament? Then don't charge an arm and a leg for tickets. 10-12 bucks a session, tops. Students with ID's from their respective schools get in for 5 at a neutral court, like the Gwinnett Center, which I've said before. It's centrally located with the A-Sun schools, and is a decent sized arena. If not there, then continue to do it somewhere within close proximity of where the top fan bases are. ETSU and Gulf Coast draw pretty decent, and Belmont is at the top based on wins. So if not Gwinnett, then near those schools.

KennesawBasketball Wrote:Charleston would be a TERRIBLE location. We don't have an ASun school within 200 miles of Charleston. With the lack of attendance already in the ASun, my suggestion would be that we have the tournament at whichever school is the #1 seed entering the tournament. That would give the #1 the advantage they deserve for winning the regular season, and would also increase attendance as their fan base would be motivated to attend the games.

This is how Division II does the regionals for the NCAA tournament. The #1 ranked team in the regional hosts the event. It is a bit hectic for the host team, but it can be done. Sponsors would be the only team that would require some hard work on the host team's part, but it would be pretty obvious who the 3 or 4 teams that had a chance of hosting would be come the last 2 weeks of the season which should give them ample time to line up the necessary sponsors. The title sponsor would be a regional/national brand anyway.

The A-Sun: A Division I conference with a Division II mentality.

Yeah...great Division I ideas like moving to Charleston!!!! Sorry but being realistic. Asun fans are not going to travel in mass....The only way you get a heavily attended ASun tournament is if the host team also has the best team. Then people will fill the stands...

A Neutral court would destroy all attendance. You have the championship at the #1 seed's home court, you slash attendance prices, and you market the heck out of it. That is your solution. Call it a DII solution all you want, but none of you addressed the actual idea. How do you expect to get fans to a neutral court, when most of the schools don't fill half of their own stadium. How many ETSU fans would travel to Gwinnett with the current state of your athletic program? 100? tops?

Neutral court = no fans
#1 seed's court = packed house if marketed properly

I guarantee you that Kennesaw would be packed if we were the number one seed.

A few thousand traveled to Charleston last time we were there.

I don't see what's so bad about KB's post. Just because a large group is doing one thing doesn't mean we should. I like the idea of the top seed hosting, or how about the previous years top seed hosts the next year. Then you would know ahead of time and sponsors & schedules would be easy.

You can even give the #1 the option to host the next season, if they decline then go down the list and the #2 gets next option.

I know right now it's all about money though, right? Isn't there a bidding process and whoever puts up the most money gets it? Or is that off base?

The Big South does it and it SUCKS. Regular season champ hosts. It's ridiculous. ETSU would travel just fine with a good product on the court. We traveled a nice amount with a HORRIBLE team last year in Nashville. Cheaper tickets, better concessions/hospitality, and dammit Lipscomb SELL TICKETS ON BOTH SIDES OF THE BUILDING THIS YEAR. That crap last year of walking around in the snow was bush league.
All this being said, if we're not doing a neutral site that's centrally located, then the rotating sites among the teams that can feasably host a conference tourney isn't the worst thing in the world, but could be improved.

We could play in between games at the Georgia Dome with the SEC and still not pull a crowd. That's how well the Asun travels.

All this talk about how well ETSU travels yet I have never seen more than 50 make a trip to the Kennesaw game. At least Kennesaw fans aren't delusional in the grandeur of our own fanbase. Face it - no ASun school's fan base is going to travel until we see our conference rise collectively in the eyes of the nation/media/etc.... If we have a team that wins a game or two in the NCAA tournament...or advances far in the NIT and our conference starts getting more play on ESPN and other major networks (ala Davidson, College of Charleston back in the 90's) that is when you will see fans in this conference start to travel. To be honest I think the prospect of an ASun team winning a game in the tournament is starting to look better and better.

1) Mercer has the talent if they could put it together. They have proven that with 2 major victories already, and almost a 3rd against GT
2) ETSU has major talent, especially when they get their big freshman back healthy. They beat Mercer soundly, but thus far have been daunted by Belmont in the tournament
3) Belmont can a nose hair away from beating Duke last year in the tournament, and while I think they are weaker this year, all it takes is one of their guys to step up and take the 'mr. clutch' role and they would be right back to where they were last year
4) Jacksonville has a lot of talent, and their coach is a recruiter first, coach second. He has the potential to bring in some big time players
5) Kennesaw not there yet, but I think we will be in the hunt next season, which is our first year eligible for the tournament. I don't need to go on and on, on this board about why, but suffice to say I think in our first year of eligibility this league will see a different kind of Kennesaw team.

All this to say, that this league has a real chance to start to rise in the national spectrum. We have some teams that could really make a splash in the NIT and the NCAA. If one of us can manage to do that, it will send this conference and its fans to a whole different level which would change everything regarding the tournament.

KB, you make some very good points, and there definitely are some signs of some serious up and coming programs in the ASun.

One follow up that I have is concerning the NIT. Does the rule that a regular season conference champion getting a automatic invite to the NIT if they don't take their conference tournament title and automatic NCAA bid still apply?

And another follow up.. What about something like what the Patriot League does in terms of its conference tourney? That is, playing all rounds leading up to the Final at one site (the 1st Round and Semifinals) and then playing the Championship Game at the site of the highest remaining seed? This would virtually guarantee a packed house for the final and would look great on national television.

I do like the conference's decision to play both the Men's & Women's Tourneys at the same site.. Good for everyone imho.