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Update on Post Season Tourney Situation
- Thread starter Skippy
- Start date
SWeberCat02
Active member
Wow, what a terrible picture this interview paints of the conference. Schools that can't host because of their inadequate gyms, no one can get OOC home games, attendence is the worst it's ever been, and there are no real good options for a postseason tournament. Depressing. Football has ruined college basketball.
SWeberCat02
Active member
More specifically major college football. It's changed college athletics and has definitely hurt college basketball. College basketball isn't anything near what it once was, in terms of popularity. The only thing that matters anymore is the NCAA tournament. Football is what is behind all of the conference expansion and realignment, including expansion of the Big Sky. And the Big Sky has over-expanded, causing travel nightmares and soaring costs.oldrunner said:
weberwildcat
Active member
SWeberCat02 said:
100% agree. It definitely has ruined college sports for me. I don't even follow FBs anymore. I used to watch all the games. U couldn't pay me to watch a bowl game these past few yrs. Watching pro sports is refreshing as I see college sports going downhill.
I don't like any of these conference changes post 2008 including our own. They are always changing...But not like recent yrs.
What happens to the sky when the players start getting paid?
oldrunner
Active member
Understood. :dunce:
I've said this sort of thing in the past, but the NCAA could do a lot to enhance the game and attendance, if they actually wanted to.
Scheduling - Make all game contracts home and home.
Fair officiating - All game officials managed by NCAA, not conferences.
NCAA Tournament - All teams selected must be in the top 30% of their conference. If that doesn't fill the field, then they can select a few more, at large. If you are not in the top 30% of your league, you don't deserve to be at the dance.
Will they ever do any of that? NO. The NCAA is a big money puppet.
I've said this sort of thing in the past, but the NCAA could do a lot to enhance the game and attendance, if they actually wanted to.
Scheduling - Make all game contracts home and home.
Fair officiating - All game officials managed by NCAA, not conferences.
NCAA Tournament - All teams selected must be in the top 30% of their conference. If that doesn't fill the field, then they can select a few more, at large. If you are not in the top 30% of your league, you don't deserve to be at the dance.
Will they ever do any of that? NO. The NCAA is a big money puppet.
I agree with what has already been said.
One thing that hasn't been stated about the upcoming changes, is that when the conference expanded, every team agreed to the conditions of membership, which included what the conference was currently doing. If Idaho wants things changed to how the WAC did things, then why join? They should have stayed in the WAC with their garbage pre-determined location, which was an absolute joke watching. The championship was played in an empty stadium. What great exposure for their league? At least the Sky does some things right. I'm against selling tournament passes and making students pay, but that is me.
No matter what the conference states, a pre-determined site will not increase the conference's exposure. It will only hurt overall attendance. It will hurt Big Sky Basketball. The one thing the conference is doing right is rewarding the conference regular season winner with the opportunity (they don't have to) to host the tournament. Also, the tournament is a reward for those teams that have earned the chance to participate. Why in the HELL would you invite all of the members? These changes are asine and poorly thought out. If Weber hosts and doesn't keep advancing, the Dee will be empty. Pre-determined would only increase attendance by a few handful of fans. Changing something that isn't broken is the purest definition of insanity.
One thing that hasn't been stated about the upcoming changes, is that when the conference expanded, every team agreed to the conditions of membership, which included what the conference was currently doing. If Idaho wants things changed to how the WAC did things, then why join? They should have stayed in the WAC with their garbage pre-determined location, which was an absolute joke watching. The championship was played in an empty stadium. What great exposure for their league? At least the Sky does some things right. I'm against selling tournament passes and making students pay, but that is me.
No matter what the conference states, a pre-determined site will not increase the conference's exposure. It will only hurt overall attendance. It will hurt Big Sky Basketball. The one thing the conference is doing right is rewarding the conference regular season winner with the opportunity (they don't have to) to host the tournament. Also, the tournament is a reward for those teams that have earned the chance to participate. Why in the HELL would you invite all of the members? These changes are asine and poorly thought out. If Weber hosts and doesn't keep advancing, the Dee will be empty. Pre-determined would only increase attendance by a few handful of fans. Changing something that isn't broken is the purest definition of insanity.
SWeberCat02
Active member
Can't understand why not having a conference tournament isn't at least an option to consider.
Sir Velo (the poster formerly known at catcat)...really professional sports?! You wanking Sod of a fan. What is the worth of watching Pro over College? NEVER does Pro compare with college, even with all of the problems. College is still amatuer and changes every year. Even Kentucky has to reload and find new players to pay off, which they can't even do every year. Remember a couple years back when they got beat in the first round of the NIT? Pro is crap. Over paid athletes, very little heart, team work, or loyalty. The majority of athletes are bad role models, selfish, out of control, and you are supporting something that doesn't improve society or increase community awareness. Sad...I thought you were smarter than that remark.
SWeberCat02 said:
If it has to change to pre-determined...TIME TO GET RID OF IT. :clap:
oldrunner
Active member
I'm sure glad that you two are friends. Otherwise, this could get to be a fight.
We are all a little testy since our team has been sucking.
It's no wonder that SUU has no fan board. It must truly suck to be them. :lol:
I hope we come out with a little fire in our eyes.
Back to the tournament... The coaches want all 12 because they don't like to see their fellow coaches getting fired over not making the thing every year.
Pick out the three or four best venues in the BSC, then rotate between them. It's not quite neutral, but it beats the hell out of Billings or Reno. All 12 teams seeded the way I had it earlier. Or, don't have it at all, and then coaches can get fired for not getting to any kind of post season play. :wall:
We are all a little testy since our team has been sucking.
It's no wonder that SUU has no fan board. It must truly suck to be them. :lol:
I hope we come out with a little fire in our eyes.
Back to the tournament... The coaches want all 12 because they don't like to see their fellow coaches getting fired over not making the thing every year.
Pick out the three or four best venues in the BSC, then rotate between them. It's not quite neutral, but it beats the hell out of Billings or Reno. All 12 teams seeded the way I had it earlier. Or, don't have it at all, and then coaches can get fired for not getting to any kind of post season play. :wall:
SWWeatherCat
Active member
SWeberCat02 said:
If they remove it from a college venue, then they may as well axe it as far as I'm concerned.
SWWeatherCat
Active member
oldrunner said:
They've done the neutral site before, at least for a season or two, and they've also hosted at the site of the previous year's winner. Both formats were bad, but at least the latter kept it within the BSC venue. My hell, learn from your own history!
weberwildcat
Active member
talhadfoursteals said:
pro sports is fair especially compared to college. the jazz arent very good but the lakers, lebron, ...etc, have to come to salt lake no matter what! everyone plays everyone. so if u suck you at least have the draft and the chance to pay up if u want to contend. the raiders and 9ers are lame (IMO) but at least there is fairness and equality in their league.
I should have been specific to mention that NFL isn't one of my pro sports priorities to take the place of my college sports. LOL. I don't have an NFL team. I follow WSU and the Big Sky just no longer care about overall college football and all things fbs. it has been about 4 years since I last woke up early on a Saturday to watch college gameday show.
i hope ed obannon wins but i worry about the big sky and the impact it will have.
weberwildcat
Active member
so far there is only one valid reason that the sky has mentioned thus far regarding a change...
1. they dont like the few day window you get (most years) to hurry and put together the tournament once you find out your hosting.
2. ? Is there an second reason? None i know of.
I like the idea of if we have any change it should be to do away with the conf tourney even if it is WSU that hosts for the next 3 yrs. the conf tourney is an insult to conferences with 1 automatic bid and 0 at large bid.
if we were the big west then it would be nice to have it at the anaheim convention center. holds 5,000 and its a short bus ride from each school...not just one. Sky is too dang big. :lol:
1. they dont like the few day window you get (most years) to hurry and put together the tournament once you find out your hosting.
2. ? Is there an second reason? None i know of.
I like the idea of if we have any change it should be to do away with the conf tourney even if it is WSU that hosts for the next 3 yrs. the conf tourney is an insult to conferences with 1 automatic bid and 0 at large bid.
if we were the big west then it would be nice to have it at the anaheim convention center. holds 5,000 and its a short bus ride from each school...not just one. Sky is too dang big. :lol:
weberwildcat
Active member
if sac hosts where will it be? i sure hope they pull it off that way i can go. there is no reason ewu cant host it and they did in 2004. i think their place holds 6,000.
heyoh22
Active member
SWeberCat, this is only my opinion, but I think it is about the $$ and the only chance to get any media attention.
I heard last year that the Conference gets a $100,000 payment from whatever school hosts the tournament (and that is 100K for mens and 100K for women each.) You have to sell a bunch of tickets at BSC level pricing to cover that nut. If you sell 6000 tickets for the finals at say $15, each you've lost money. Considering how most BSC teams bring a couple hundred fans, if you do not have the "townies" show up, your gate doesn't even cover the fee, to say nothing of staffing, travel, utilities, ref pay ( overpaid!), and other expenses.
Second, I think the conference and ADs know that they will get no attention from Fox/ESPN/CBS/Root/major sports outlets unless they have a finals game. It is the only time their schools and conferences get any media coverage.
Mostly it's a dollar thing, and also prestige, but I doubt you will see the Conference tournament go away
Webergrad02
Active member
Pretty sure it's 130,000 to host. So you have to sell even more tickets.
Sir Velo said:
The main reason there is a push to go to a pre-determined site is travel. Trying to get last minute plane tickets to most places in the Big Sky is extremely expensive -- and sometimes just not available. Idaho State's women's team bused all the way to North Dakota last year to play in the women's tournament because it was too expensive to get last minute tickets. As Jon Kasper pointed out in the attached interview, at many of the Big Sky sites, there just aren't enough plane seats available to get everybody into that town. And if the conference goes forward with all 12 teams in the tournament, that is going to become an even bigger issue.
I'm an advocate of doing away with the post-season tournament and going to a full round-robin conference schedule. As Jon Kasper also noted in the interviews attached, it's extremely difficult for Big Sky schools to get any non-conference D-1 schools to come play them in their arena. It's not restricted to Big Sky either -- look at Boise State's non-conference schedule this year -- it's a joke. So give each school a couple of extra home conference games, which have to be more attractive than the NAIA and D-2 schools so many teams are playing in the non-conference these days.
And if you're still determined to have a post-season, go to a one-game deal -- No. 1 hosts No. 2, put it on TV and winner take all.
