(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

I like that idea. But I don't think it would fly with the conference office. Too much work & expense for 2 different places, I'd think.

i.e. great for the fans, bad for Judy, Judy, Judy

(03-14-2018 09:49 AM)KAjunRaider Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

I like that idea. But I don't think it would fly with the conference office. Too much work & expense for 2 different places, I'd think.

i.e. great for the fans, bad for Judy, Judy, Judy

Perhaps. But I can't imagine having the tournament at member schools would be more expensive than where is had it this year.

It's not perfect, ie. if ODU and UTEP meet in the title, it is what it is.

(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

But what happens if the 2 teams that don't make it are both from one side (East or West). For example, USM/Rice or Charlotte/FIU are the 13 and 14th place teams. I do like the idea and if CUSA can make 2 games at the same time work this shouldn't be a problem.

(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

ODU and UTEP are actually 2000 miles apart, not 3000. Nevertheless, a long freakin way.

(03-14-2018 11:20 AM)usm99 Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

But what happens if the 2 teams that don't make it are both from one side (East or West). For example, USM/Rice or Charlotte/FIU are the 13 and 14th place teams. I do like the idea and if CUSA can make 2 games at the same time work this shouldn't be a problem.

You could solve that problem by omitting the last place team from each division, East & West.

If you want to take this format a step further, have the East and West teams play a round-robin schedule in their own division, then fill in with cross-division games to complete the schedule. This would reduce travel costs and wear-and-tear on the teams. It would also insure an apples-to-apples comparison of division teams for the conference divisional tournament.

I know the objections to a divisional format for the regular season - and I'm not advocating for one, but it's the off-season and I'm bored - but it could be interesting. If one division were significantly stronger in a given year, i.e. the East this year, that would benefit their RPI ranking. The weaker division would also benefit from playing a softer schedule, allowing their best team to accumulate wins and hopefully, fan interest.

In any event, I think the majority of us agree that a central location for the tournament just doesn't work. In my example, I love college basketball and used to attend every CAA tournament (6 hour drive for me). However, I have never been to the CUSA tournament. It's simply too far to travel for an "iffy" ODU team. I'm sure lots of fans feel the same way.

(03-14-2018 11:37 AM)Maryland Monarch Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:20 AM)usm99 Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 09:40 AM)ODUBB35 Wrote:  I don't think a central location is going to work for a conference for this type of geography. ODU and UTEP are 3,000 miles apart, and though I like being in a conference with UTEP, at least one of those fanbases are not going to show for the conference tournament no matter where you have it.

Perhaps we should divide into East and West just like we do with football, and have two central locations (perhaps the home of the highest seed). For example this past year:

MTSU, ODU, WKU, Marshall, FAU, and FIU all play the first 3 rounds at MTSU.

UTSA, UAB, UNT, LT, USM, and UTEP all play the first 3 rounds at UTSA.

Rice and Charlotte stay home.

Then the East and West Champion can play for the autobid at the home of the highest remaining seed (maybe with a day off before for travel).

This particular year was top-heavy for the East, but this could work:

It would decrease travel for both teams and fans, increase fan attendance, look better on TV, and reward the best regular season team with a huge advantage.

Thoughts?

But what happens if the 2 teams that don't make it are both from one side (East or West). For example, USM/Rice or Charlotte/FIU are the 13 and 14th place teams. I do like the idea and if CUSA can make 2 games at the same time work this shouldn't be a problem.

You could solve that problem by omitting the last place team from each division, East & West.

If you want to take this format a step further, have the East and West teams play a round-robin schedule in their own division, then fill in with cross-division games to complete the schedule. This would reduce travel costs and wear-and-tear on the teams. It would also insure an apples-to-apples comparison of division teams for the conference divisional tournament.

I know the objections to a divisional format for the regular season - and I'm not advocating for one, but it's the off-season and I'm bored - but it could be interesting. If one division were significantly stronger in a given year, i.e. the East this year, that would benefit their RPI ranking. The weaker division would also benefit from playing a softer schedule, allowing their best team to accumulate wins and hopefully, fan interest.

In any event, I think the majority of us agree that a central location for the tournament just doesn't work. In my example, I love college basketball and used to attend every CAA tournament (6 hour drive for me). However, I have never been to the CUSA tournament. It's simply too far to travel for an "iffy" ODU team. I'm sure lots of fans feel the same way.

Sounds like the perfect solution so no chance CUSA would go for it

Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

(03-14-2018 11:47 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

Why not do it like football where the East champion hosts the East schools while the West champion hosts the West schools.......then the team with the best record of remaining 2 host the championship. But if a school doesn't have the facilities or chooses not to host (such as USM) then it would fall to 2nd place and down the line.

(03-14-2018 11:47 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

I can imagine it because I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. During the 2014 Tournament in El Paso, UTEP was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Yet we still averaged 5,241 for the semifinals and championship game. During the 2017 Tournament in Birmingham, UAB was knocked out the first day. They averaged 3,627 during semifinals and championship game. UAB is the more centralized location with several universities within driving distance compared to El Paso.

I would like to see what kind of numbers ODU does hosting a tournament so the rest of us can poke holes in it.

(03-14-2018 12:07 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:47 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

I can imagine it because I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. During the 2014 Tournament in El Paso, UTEP was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Yet we still averaged 5,241 for the semifinals and championship game. During the 2017 Tournament in Birmingham, UAB was knocked out the first day. They averaged 3,627 during semifinals and championship game. UAB is the more centralized location with several universities within driving distance compared to El Paso.

I would like to see what kind of numbers ODU does hosting a tournament so the rest of us can poke holes in it.

I'm sure if we hosted it in '12-'13 when we were 5-25, attendance would have sucked, which was my point...

(03-14-2018 12:23 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 12:07 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:47 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

I can imagine it because I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. During the 2014 Tournament in El Paso, UTEP was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Yet we still averaged 5,241 for the semifinals and championship game. During the 2017 Tournament in Birmingham, UAB was knocked out the first day. They averaged 3,627 during semifinals and championship game. UAB is the more centralized location with several universities within driving distance compared to El Paso.

I would like to see what kind of numbers ODU does hosting a tournament so the rest of us can poke holes in it.

I'm sure if we hosted it in '12-'13 when we were 5-25, attendance would have sucked, which was my point...

Fair point. All universities would struggle hosting a tournament with that kind of record. Has anyone heard any actual attendance figures for the tournament in Frisco?

I saw the women’s game attendance at 4,422 but have heard nothing about the men’s.

(03-14-2018 12:40 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 12:23 PM)EverRespect Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 12:07 PM)JCMiner Wrote:  

(03-14-2018 11:47 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  Agree, only thing that will work is if the host is one of the universities. That said, having it in Birmingham and/or El Paso every year isn't fair either. Only fair way is to either rotate it so everyone gets to host or better yet to hold it at the higher seeds so the year an outlier like ODU or UTEP hosts it isn't by chance a year they go 5-25. As bad as attendance was in Frisco, can you imagine if it was in El Paso?

I can imagine it because I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes. During the 2014 Tournament in El Paso, UTEP was knocked out in the quarterfinals. Yet we still averaged 5,241 for the semifinals and championship game. During the 2017 Tournament in Birmingham, UAB was knocked out the first day. They averaged 3,627 during semifinals and championship game. UAB is the more centralized location with several universities within driving distance compared to El Paso.

I would like to see what kind of numbers ODU does hosting a tournament so the rest of us can poke holes in it.

I'm sure if we hosted it in '12-'13 when we were 5-25, attendance would have sucked, which was my point...

Fair point. All universities would struggle hosting a tournament with that kind of record. Has anyone heard any actual attendance figures for the tournament in Frisco?

13

EverRespect is mistaken. Attendance in El Paso was excellent---even with the MINERS out.

The conference is too spread out.There just is no happy medium.