-
Hi Guest, want to participate in the discussions, keep track of read/unread posts and more? Create your free account and increase the benefits of your eGriz.com experience today!
reno
- Thread starter fanofzoo
- Start date
In order, here's what needs to happen to get the bsc on the verge of respectability:
1. Completely jettison a minimum of 4 "programs". Psu, noco, suu, and nodak are as gone as the girl in the gone girl movie.
2. Shorten the conference season by a week (easily done after the pretenders above are gone), and play the conference tournament the week before the "big boys" battle.
3. Play the tournament where it belongs: at the home court of the regular season champ. I watched a lot of low-mid major tournament action this year. The only ones worth watching longer than 3 minutes were those played on campus. Why? Because more than 11 people in the stands gave a shit, and the energy created by the crowd led one to believe the game mattered. I watched the bsc championship and wondered if it were a game to decide 7th vs. 8th.
4. Let em fucking play. In the major tournaments I watched, there would be 6 combined fouls with seven minutes to play. In the bsc, there would be 27 fouls 30 feet from the hoop, and both teams were in the double bonus with 16:00 to go.
5. Get serious about the league's RPI. Recall a few years ago when Foolerton said he was mandating that programs got serious about their RPI and that he would no longer stand for RPIs in the 300s? I believe there were 5 programs that year with RPIs north of 300, and that deal went the way of every single one of his management plans: toilet city. Thing is, though, he was absolutely right with the decision, but had no balls or ability to hold teams' feet to the fire. Well, here's the thing: We cannot exist with a league that has 5 teams with RPIs in the 300s, and 4 with RPIs among the 30 worst teams in the nation. So, somebody needs to play the hard ass. If your RPI is in the bottom 20 teams in the nation even once, you owe a million dollars. If your RPI is under 300, you owe $750k. If your RPI is under 250, you owe $250,000. And that money doesn't go to the conference. Rather, it goes to the top 3 teams in the conference by RPI over the past 5 seasons. Wanna get better? Want money? Great. Schedule. Period.
6. Realize that there are maybe 4 teams in the conference who will ever be contenders for the conference. Do ALL that you can to support those teams. Everyone else is window dressing.
1. Completely jettison a minimum of 4 "programs". Psu, noco, suu, and nodak are as gone as the girl in the gone girl movie.
2. Shorten the conference season by a week (easily done after the pretenders above are gone), and play the conference tournament the week before the "big boys" battle.
3. Play the tournament where it belongs: at the home court of the regular season champ. I watched a lot of low-mid major tournament action this year. The only ones worth watching longer than 3 minutes were those played on campus. Why? Because more than 11 people in the stands gave a shit, and the energy created by the crowd led one to believe the game mattered. I watched the bsc championship and wondered if it were a game to decide 7th vs. 8th.
4. Let em fucking play. In the major tournaments I watched, there would be 6 combined fouls with seven minutes to play. In the bsc, there would be 27 fouls 30 feet from the hoop, and both teams were in the double bonus with 16:00 to go.
5. Get serious about the league's RPI. Recall a few years ago when Foolerton said he was mandating that programs got serious about their RPI and that he would no longer stand for RPIs in the 300s? I believe there were 5 programs that year with RPIs north of 300, and that deal went the way of every single one of his management plans: toilet city. Thing is, though, he was absolutely right with the decision, but had no balls or ability to hold teams' feet to the fire. Well, here's the thing: We cannot exist with a league that has 5 teams with RPIs in the 300s, and 4 with RPIs among the 30 worst teams in the nation. So, somebody needs to play the hard ass. If your RPI is in the bottom 20 teams in the nation even once, you owe a million dollars. If your RPI is under 300, you owe $750k. If your RPI is under 250, you owe $250,000. And that money doesn't go to the conference. Rather, it goes to the top 3 teams in the conference by RPI over the past 5 seasons. Wanna get better? Want money? Great. Schedule. Period.
6. Realize that there are maybe 4 teams in the conference who will ever be contenders for the conference. Do ALL that you can to support those teams. Everyone else is window dressing.
The_Real_Chief
Well-known member
HelenaHandBasket said:
Well looking at the attendance in Reno, they'd pack the Viking gym up in Opheim.
GrizWhiz said:
Ha Ha, sad but true. What is bad about the Big Sky, as was stated in an article, was that even in the years when the tournament was held at the conference champion no one really attended if the home team was not playing...no basketball fans, just school fans
debellatio
Well-known member
I went to the tournament this year and even though the Griz lost on Thursday we still went to every game the rest of the week including the women's games. The gym was easy to get to. We stayed at the Silver Legacy and it was a block away. The weather was awesome as well.
The one thing that I haven't seen mentioned is entertainment when there are no games being played. That is where Reno has a leg up on most other locations. Although they don't have a lot of shows like Las Vegas, the gambling was fun and kept us up until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
If the tournament were held in Grand Forks I can guarantee I wouldn't have gone. When the tournament is at a designated location and you know months before hand it is easier plan on going. Not to mention the money savings on the flight.
Reno may not be the best place to have the tournament due to it's lack of connection to the conference but there aren't many other cities that can offer what Reno offers. Spokane might be an option. I plan on going back next year. Hopefully the city will embrace it more and the attendance will be better.
The one thing that I haven't seen mentioned is entertainment when there are no games being played. That is where Reno has a leg up on most other locations. Although they don't have a lot of shows like Las Vegas, the gambling was fun and kept us up until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
If the tournament were held in Grand Forks I can guarantee I wouldn't have gone. When the tournament is at a designated location and you know months before hand it is easier plan on going. Not to mention the money savings on the flight.
Reno may not be the best place to have the tournament due to it's lack of connection to the conference but there aren't many other cities that can offer what Reno offers. Spokane might be an option. I plan on going back next year. Hopefully the city will embrace it more and the attendance will be better.
Did any of the travel agencies put packages together for Griz fans? I remember when Montana was going to play at JMU there were several travel agencies that got packages together for Griz fans to travel to Virginia, did that happen with basketball? Seems if everyone got excited and bought into it you could possibly get more people but a tournament during the work week is not easy to pull off, especially if a lot of fans make plans to attend the first round in of the dance
putter said:
Right on...there is no reason UM can't have a good crowd for their games in Reno. Other schools do routinely. All this whining about Reno is just beating a dead horse. If you don't like the size of the crowds then get into the seats. Don't worry about the other schools and how many they have or don't....Next year, god willing, I will be in Reno. This is like the people who complain about having Trump in the White but didn't vote.
People are not complaining about lack of fans in the stands. They're complaining about the tournament location. The lack of fans is a very obvious, outward symptom of the problem, but not the problem itself.
fanofzoo said:
Other schools claiming to be above average seem to not have that problem. The Big Sky has no fan loyalty and the schools seem to have very little, and that includes UM. I know people who travel very far to support their teams and they are not necessarily wealthy. what's so difficult for Montanans. Reno is not a hard place to get into...much easier than Billings with more national flights.
No matter how much you love BB, you'd have to be a simpleton with a very twisted sense of priorities to spend hundreds of dollars and several days of your life to go to a freaking BB tournament where you'll probably see your team play a goddamn game for two twenty minute halves. I just halter myself down and write out a sizable check to the local animal shelter, and tune in the tv or radio.
It's kind of funny how at the same time the Big Sky moved it's tournament to a neutral site, the WCHA and Big 10 hockey conferences are switching from neutral sites to on campus locations for their playoffs. Here is an interesting article from Bowling Green on their experience at Michigan Tech this past weekend. They went from playing in empty arenas like reno for the playoffs to a tournament atmosphere. Not trying to make any point really, just kind of interesting how different conference handle similar issues.
http://www.bgsuhockey.com/2017/03/bg-tech-enjoyed-championship-atmosphere/
https://twitter.com/WCHA_MHockey/status/843238118023188481
http://www.bgsuhockey.com/2017/03/bg-tech-enjoyed-championship-atmosphere/
https://twitter.com/WCHA_MHockey/status/843238118023188481
putter said:
So what was the attendance number for the Big Sky Championship? Not sure if I ever saw a final number.
I attended the Women's NAIA Championship game tonight in Billings. Had right around 4000 people they announced. On a cold Tuesday evening. With a team from Idaho and a team from Oklahoma. The lower arena was pretty much completely full. Great atmosphere. And even better basketball. I was very impressed with the ability of these ladies. I think they said around 10,000 fans for all the games. That may not have been counting tonight.
Also I was impressed with how the city of Billings welcomed the teams. Each team was assigned a host "family". It was usually an organization located in Billings. Took them throughout the community and showed them around. From my understanding the teams really appreciated it and enjoyed their time in Billings.
Billings will be hosting it again next year. But coincidently, the contract runs out the same year the contract runs out for Reno. I think Billings did a good job and may have strengthened their chance for a Big Sky bid.
fanofzoo said:
Where you driving from? Key West, Florida? Halifax Nova Scotia?
I've made it in 41 hours from Orlando to Missoula (2 drivers), 43 hours from the Eastern Shores in Maryland to Missoula (by myself), 16 hrs from Oklahoma City to Missoula, and 22 hours from Missoula to El Centro, CA (on border between Yuma and San Diego).
The secret to driving is not how fast you drive, but how long you drive. Grab a 2nd or 3rd driver, and Reno is just hours away from anywhere in the West.
