Geezus Christo... I just don't get it! The only thing that the old tournament did was to get a good home crowd out for the games that their team was playing in. And usually the home team was playing in the late game each day and the attendance was miserable for all the other games because: (1) traveling fans couldn't get decent reservations at the last minute; (2) the cost of travel at the last minute was prohibitive. As the coaches have said they wanted to try and get more people involved from each school, not just a crowd that is 90% from the home team. This format gives that a chance to happen. The old format prohibited it... I applaud them for taking this step to try and improve the overall participation of the fans. More fans from more schools attending such an event makes every school stronger and thus makes the Conference stronger.
SWCAT2 seems to be encouraging fans to stay away and WeberSki has stated that the schools & the conference needs to "get their financial backs broken over this decision". Why would any true fan of the game. and supporter of their school, hope for either of these things? What is the point of refusing to show up, encouraging/hoping that others don't show up and hoping that the change leads to financial ruin? There is nothing to be gained with this approach.
At a minimum taking such an attitude is myopic and xenophobic. In it's worst iteration it reveals a narcissistic attitude. "To hell with the other schools bball programs, to hell with a stronger conference. I am interested in what is best for me. I want the ball on my home court and let every school and the conference fend for themselves." This is myopia that borders on extreme; almost xenophobic
Surely there are better arguments for keeping the tournament in the same format than the ones I have seen on this blog. These are not valid arguments to any rational human being; just selfish actions by those who don't want to travel, who don't want to spend the money, and want to maintain an unfair advantage over the competition.
GET OVER IT! Climb out of your protective cacoon. Stop thinking small! Focus on helping Weber and all other Big Sky Conference schools move forward.