BB: NCAC: North Coast Athletic Conference

[Pat Coleman]

If it's anything like the (I believe) original Buca's in Minneapolis then I second the recommendation.

My mom, who is the best Italian cook I know, uses Buca's to cater large family functions.

[Ralph Turner]

Buca di Beppo is good food to feed a small group of 25-50, seriously.

And the ambience is like no other restaurant that I have ever seen.

Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, numerous famous Italian statues, you name it!

[Pat Coleman]

Yep. You can eat there with a small party too, though. Just don't order one entree for each person.

[woosterbooster]

I've never been to the Buca's in Strongsville, only the one in Columbus.  It was just a real fun experience.  Built in the basement of an old downtown office building, the restaurant meanders throughout much of an entire city block; it must have had 20 or 30 dining rooms, of all sizes and shapes, and a few kitchens.  Monster-sized dishes meant for sharing (even with the waiter toning our order down we ended up taking half our food home).  One great entree was pork medallions in raspberry/caper sauce served with roasted vegetables.  Excellent.

[ScotsFan]

I've been to the Buca's in Strongsville and, while it's not quite as big as you describe the C'bus Buca's, I do remember it being a series of dining rooms meandering throughout the resteraunt and multiple kitchens, etc.  And you are definately right in that they aren't afraid to feed you!

[woosterbooster]

Game times For Wooster/OWU in Granville have been posted on the Denison website.  Only one game is to be played on Thursday, with a 7 PM start.  Action continues on Friday at 4 PM, two games if necessary.

[countyroad]

There's a good chance I'll be there on Thursday.

[woosterbooster]

The Denison website has now changed the game times to 8 PM on Thursday and 1 PM on Friday.  Wooster still has the time TBA.  I'm not counting on anything quite yet.

[Spence]

What would have been so hard about deciding before the season starts?

That's just strange. Hope it gets worked out, but that's something that the teams and coaches really shouldn't have to have up in the air.

[bufordscot]

Alert the media!! Spence and I actually agree on something. 

What would have been so hard about deciding before the season starts?

That's just strange. Hope it gets worked out, but that's something that the teams and coaches really shouldn't have to have up in the air.

[woosterbooster]

I think they purposefully wait until the last few days to decide the times because at some NCAC schools it's finals week (actually not sure this season, but I know it used to be).  They then wait to see which two schools are in the championship series, find out if any of their players might have problems making the games, and adjust accordingly. 

I heavily suspect that it's the teams and coaches involved in the game, Wooster and OWU, that made the decision, not the people hosting at Denison, who listen to them and then choose.  I think that's a very reasonable way to go about it, considering that school comes first. 

[imderekpoe]

Alert the media!! Spence and I actually agree on something. 

What would have been so hard about deciding before the season starts?

That's just strange. Hope it gets worked out, but that's something that the teams and coaches really shouldn't have to have up in the air.

If I had to guess, I would think that the preferred schedule is to play 2 games on Thursday, then the rubber game on Friday if necessary.  The decision to play only 1 late on Thursday was made after knowing which teams would be participating and the exam schedules at those institutions.

Damn Woo Boo - you beat me to it!  It is finals week at Wooster, not sure about OWU.

[Spence]

Serious question: Why play Thurs/Fri if exams are the issue? They'd probably get better attendance playing on a weekend anyway, and usually Saturday exam schedules are light if there are any at all. I can see not wanting to play Saturday/Sunday because of the possibility of bad weather, but Friday night/all day Saturday would work with Sunday as a flex day.

I honestly didn't really think of the final exams angle though. It was always more of an issue when I was in school during the last week of the regular season.

I wish the OAC had the option of playing night tournament games though...I'm going to miss early-day games the first two days because of class. One advantage of going predetermined site I guess.

[ScotsFan]

Serious question: Why play Thurs/Fri if exams are the issue? They'd probably get better attendance playing on a weekend anyway, and usually Saturday exam schedules are light if there are any at all. I can see not wanting to play Saturday/Sunday because of the possibility of bad weather, but Friday night/all day Saturday would work with Sunday as a flex day.

Wouldn't the fact that the NCAA Regional Tournament begins on May 16th have something to do with playing the conference tournaments (NCAC, OAC and HCAC all start on the 10th) Thursday and Friday?  With the conference tournaments scheduled to end on the 11th, that still gives your staff 4-5 days rest to recover for the NCAA Tournament.  If you push the dates back and end up having to play on Sunday the 13th, now you're talking about only having 3 days for your staff to recover for the NCAA's.   That's my theory as to why the conference tournaments are scheduled when they are anyways.

[Spence]

OAC and HCAC are 4 team double elimination tournaments so they go from Thurs-Sat. I think probably Sun is left open as a rain buffer, as well as the fact that in the past for many schools that's graduation day. I actually graduated at Don Schaly Stadium after we won the OAC tournament because rain had pushed us back to Sunday.

Really, it shouldn't matter much. You're not going to use your #1 in anything more than spot duty on Sunday.

Seems strange that on the one hand they'd be worried about game times for finals and such at the risk of hurting fan support, but then choose to have their tournament on two school days for baseball-related reasons.