MBBALL WHAT IF…….

[MSU01]

I suggested this back on February 21st and with the current discussion around selecting tournament site selection I still think this has validity.
My suggestion was to continue to host the tournament in Boise but move the championship game to the site of one of final two teams with the highest ranking on the Monday night following the conference tournament. Example, let’s say the finals this year is between NCU and Montana. NCU with the higher seed would hold the game in Greeley, unpopular by many, but it would give both teams an extra 2 days to prepare without having to play 3 games in 4 days. Mondays are slow days in sports so most arenas would be available, plus it would create an opportunity for ESPN2 to be the only game in town which would create a greater exposure for the teams and conference.
This year’s tournament ends on a Wednesday the 12th. Selection Sunday falls on the 16th so not an issue with timing for Selection Sunday.
Another benefit would be attendance. Instead of a half full arena in Boise if the championship were to be held in Greeley or Missoula the arenas would be rocking. Another benefit for the conference. Not always guaranteed but with sold out arenas, and an extra two days rest the product on the floor would be better as well.
I can’t see why this wouldn’t be a win/win for everybody? The BSC needs greater exposure. We’re on the verge of, if not this year probably next of losing our auto seeding in the tournament and have to play a play-in game. We haven’t won a game since the early 2000’s win over Nevada.
I’d like to hear from posters who don’t agree with this arrangement.

I'm not sure why you're saying that Selection Sunday wouldn't be an issue if you want the championship game to be played on Monday night, because it still would. The semifinals are played on Tuesday the 11th and the following Monday isn't until the 17th which is a day after the bracket is announced. There's simply no way to schedule the tournament so that the championship game is the "only game in town" on the day it's played. There are 30 other conferences also playing their tournaments who want their own exposure. The best thing the Big Sky can do purely for the sake of TV exposure is to keep the championship game mid-week, and even then they have to play it at a time when half the country is already asleep (11:30 PM Eastern Time) just to get on ESPN2.

To me the main plus of the neutral site tournament with its synced schedule for the men's and women's brackets is that it's ideal for fans of all ten teams to be able to plan weeks or months ahead to be able to attend and support both their teams. No need to decide to go to Greeley for the men's tournament or to Bozeman for the women's tournament knowing it's impossible to attend both...and maybe cost-prohibitive to attend either when travel arrangements need to be made on very short notice. Also, as I said earlier in the thread the neutral site tournaments at least so far have not led to the #1 seeds winning the tournament less often than they did under the campus site tournament model. The argument that we want the best team to play in the NCAA Tournament the most often is certainly a valid one, but the data doesn't suggest that the neutral site tournaments have hurt that. The only way to ensure that the best team goes to the NCAAs is to get rid of the tournament entirely and give the automatic bid to the regular season champion, but when even the Ivy League now plays a conference tournament we all know that's never going to happen at this point.

 

[MissoulaMarinerFan]

.....
My suggestion was to continue to host the tournament in Boise but move the championship game to the site of one of final two teams with the highest ranking on the Monday night following the conference tournament. Example, let’s say the finals this year is between NCU and Montana. NCU with the higher seed would hold the game in Greeley, unpopular by many, but it would give both teams an extra 2 days to prepare without having to play 3 games in 4 days. Mondays are slow days in sports so most arenas would be available, plus it would create an opportunity for ESPN2 to be the only game in town which would create a greater exposure for the teams and conference.
This year’s tournament ends on a Wednesday the 12th. Selection Sunday falls on the 16th so not an issue with timing for Selection Sunday.
......

Unless I'm missing something....as you said, this year's final tournament game would be set to play on Wednesday the 12th. By your proposal, that would not happen and instead go to Monday the 17th, which would not work, since Selection Sunday is the night before, the 16th.

I don't have any problem with idea in general, but here's the issues I see (probably the coaches and programs):

1. They'd need to re-work when conference play begins to have the tournament sooner so they can get the final played before selection sunday - both men's and women's
2. This would means that the coaches would need to adjust how many non-conf games they play and when. Which is tricky due to existing future agreements and also adding more strain to already something that is tricky to schedule (see Montana's struggles with getting decent-ish teams to come to Missoula)
3. It would be more expensive due to the additional travel from the neutral site, to the host, and back to school's home city
4. Also makes it harder and more expensive for families who are able to go- because they're paying for travel lodging tix to the neutral site and then last minute travel, lodging, tickets to the championship game site rather than being able to book travel, lodging and tickets once for one place way far in advance

As I've said before, I think the best way to ensure the top seeds are protected a bit is to go the WCC route and give Seeds 1 and 2 a double bye to the semis.

 

[Sport]

Unless I'm missing something....as you said, this year's final tournament game would be set to play on Wednesday the 12th. By your proposal, that would not happen and instead go to Monday the 17th, which would not work, since Selection Sunday is the night before, the 16th.

I don't have any problem with idea in general, but here's the issues I see (probably the coaches and programs):

1. They'd need to re-work when conference play begins to have the tournament sooner so they can get the final played before selection sunday - both men's and women's
2. This would means that the coaches would need to adjust how many non-conf games they play and when. Which is tricky due to existing future agreements and also adding more strain to already something that is tricky to schedule (see Montana's struggles with getting decent-ish teams to come to Missoula)
3. It would be more expensive due to the additional travel from the neutral site, to the host, and back to school's home city
4. Also makes it harder and more expensive for families who are able to go- because they're paying for travel lodging tix to the neutral site and then last minute travel, lodging, tickets to the championship game site rather than being able to book travel, lodging and tickets once for one place way far in advance

As I've said before, I think the best way to ensure the top seeds are protected a bit is to go the WCC route and give Seeds 1 and 2 a double bye to the semis.

 

[Sport]

Unless I'm missing something....as you said, this year's final tournament game would be set to play on Wednesday the 12th. By your proposal, that would not happen and instead go to Monday the 17th, which would not work, since Selection Sunday is the night before, the 16th.

If it were this year with the championship game scheduled for Wednesday the 12th I’d move the game to Saturday the 15th.

I don't have any problem with idea in general, but here's the issues I see (probably the coaches and programs):

1. They'd need to re-work when conference play begins to have the tournament sooner so they can get the final played before selection sunday - both men's and women's
2. This would means that the coaches would need to adjust how many non-conf games they play and when. Which is tricky due to existing future agreements and also adding more strain to already something that is tricky to schedule (see Montana's struggles with getting decent-ish teams to come to Missoula) I’D ELIMINATE ONE NONCONFERENCE GAME AND START CONFERENCE PLAY ONE WEEK EARLIER.
3. It would be more expensive due to the additional travel from the neutral site, to the host, and back to school's home city POINT WELL TAKEN
4. Also makes it harder and more expensive for families who are able to go- because they're paying for travel lodging tix to the neutral site and then last minute travel, lodging, tickets to the championship game site rather than being able to book travel, lodging and tickets once for one place way far in advance

As I've said before, I think the best way to ensure the top seeds are protected a bit is to go the WCC route and give Seeds 1 and 2 a double bye to the semis. NOT A BAD iDEA

 

[Mousegriz]

Sounds like loser talk to me.

.....or he watches the NCAA first round game each year.