Pool C

[Pat Coleman]

Point and dahlby, great points.  I'm in favor of a pod system if it regionalizes the teams so that fans can actually enjoy the tournament experience.  The last two years seemed to do that.  This year, the NCAA seemed to expand the pods so there are several geographic dichotomies, limiting fan options for travel.

I think it impacts F&M fans more, which is Larry's perspective, but it is not different than last year.

Last year's Mid-Atlantic teams:

Lycoming sent to Eastern Mennonite
DeSales sent to William Paterson (along with MIT)
Albright at home (with Clark sent there from Worcester, Mass., talk about your dichotomies)
Franklin and Marshall sent to Merchant Marine
Wesley sent to Merchant Marine
St. Mary's at home (with SUNY-Purchase sent there from the Connecticut/New York border)

This year Mid-Atlantic teams are more spread but there are also more Mid-Atlantic teams, eight instead of six. If you only focus on a couple of teams your perspective may be different than the actual big picture.

[nwhoops1903]

And a voice from above said "On the second day, thou shalt rest (and travel). PodBible Genesis 1:something.

And a voice from above said "Back to back and on the third day, thou shalt rest (and travel). Book of Neutral Site, HQ's Salem Virginia.

[John Gleich]

This year, the NCAA seemed to expand the pods so there are several geographic dichotomies, limiting fan options for travel.

I'm not sure about all of them... but some actually aren't too bad at all.

Look at the Concordia (WI) and the St. Thomas pods.  Yes, there is one outlier in each (Luther @ CUW and IWU @ UST), but the other three schools are within a 2-3 hour drive.

There is certainly a limit, based on geography... and also based on how good the teams actually are.  Think about it... Williams and Amherst are 60 miles away, but they wouldn't meet until the Elite 8.  Now, if they do as they are favored and make it out of the first two weekends, one of them WILL host the sectional... and it will be just a quick jaunt over for the game.

Perhaps the answer is to make the pods sat night/sunday afternoon.  Most people i talk to cant travel 300 miles on friday, but are using the caveat i might go saturday "if we win."  Sat/Sun takes that out of the equation.

Interestingly, my Concordia example may not be a great one... I actually am taking a "wait and see" attitude for my Pointers.  I work until 5:00 and the game is at 5:30, and I would have a minimum hour and 15 minute drive.  In Chicago/Milwaukee rush hour traffic (with construction) that's not going to happen... I'd love to catch even the second half, but that isn't guaranteed.  If the game start time was pushed back even a half hour (so 6:00 and 8:00 for the games) then I'd realistically be able to leave a few minutes early from work and get there at a reasonable time... but I'll just head home and catch it.

One counter to the Sat/Sun argument (and even the Fri/Sat) argument is the D-I tournament... some of those games are going on at 11:00 AM!  I know it's a different animal... but at least the effort has been made to mitigate the lost class time and make at least minimal provisions for fan travel.

[LustyLarryintheToilet]

ahhh, forgot the sunday thing!  Yeah thatd probably be a deal breaker for enough schools.

Pat, i'm more than capable of separating my own fan interests from the conversation.  The pod system is great fun if its done in a way that lets fans, students, etc travel to both games.  Some are stronger than others this year. 

Point special, you make some great points.  i faced the same problem with Long Island last year, and i live in north jersey!  to get across the GW (even going into town) on a friday is tough, although in that case if my team had the second game i wouldve been able to do it.

[John Gleich]

i faced the same problem with Long Island last year, and i live in north jersey!  to get across the GW (even going into town) on a friday is tough, although in that case if my team had the second game i wouldve been able to do it.

Yeah, like I said, I hope to be able to see the Saturday game... but for the Friday game, it would almost be better if the game was prohibitively far as opposed to being close... but just out of my reach!

[ronk]

that's what has placated me about skipping a 7 1/2 hour drive to Williams from DC for Scranton's game; video will help also; just not the same as being there; u at least have a reasonable expectation of having a 2nd game(and others).

[MIAA in Exile]

I would probably reject those as being the only two choices. We had 64 teams once with Thursday/Saturday games and it seemed to be alright.

I whole-heartedly agree with sac about it being a big loss for those schools that no longer get home games. The only group that really benefits here is NCAA administrators who have to deal with fewer hosting sites.

When was the Thursday/Saturday thing done? I remember the 64-team field when Goucher made it and it was a Friday/Saturday thing. The next year we were back to 48 or whatever and I remember CUA beating LVC (?) on Thursday and then coming to Goucher on Saturday for the second round.

I think you have to go back to the early 90's up through the mid 90's.  While I was in school Hope played on a Thursday twice, one year at Allegheny, a couple years later at Wittenberg.   Two days later played at Calvin.  I think travel distance played into when the games were played, and have very vague memories of 1st round games being either on Thursday or Friday.

As late as 1998 I can remember Allegheny coming to Holland on a Saturday after having played a first round game vs someone on Thursday.  Hope had a bye that year, that was the 48 team field years.

In 1997 Hope hosted Denison and Wooster on Thursday/Saturday first and second round games as well.

SAC. You should remember 1995... Hope played on a Thursday too...Baldwin Wallace...who then drove to Witt for a Saturday tilt.  Fun fact #1 we had to return the bus on Friday, so two athletic staff folks brought us vans in Toledo and we switched.  Fun fact #2...#1 assistant on BW team...Calvin AD Jim Timmer. Fun fact #3. None of us brought a second set of clothes so we had to do laundry in Springfield. Fun fact #5 I had the same tie as GVW ( his had won 26 straight) he even mentioned it to me pre game...a true class man.

[sac]

.....and my therapist said I had made so much progress. 

[David Collinge]

SAC. You should remember 1995... Hope played on a Thursday too...Baldwin Wallace...who then drove to Witt for a Saturday tilt.  Fun fact #1 we had to return the bus on Friday, so two athletic staff folks brought us vans in Toledo and we switched.  Fun fact #2...#1 assistant on BW team...Calvin AD Jim Timmer. Fun fact #3. None of us brought a second set of clothes so we had to do laundry in Springfield. Fun fact #5 I had the same tie as GVW ( his had won 26 straight) he even mentioned it to me pre game...a true class man.

Fun fact #4...There is NOOOOOOOOO Fun fact #4.

[Ralph Turner]

Hoopsville tonight...

We get another bid next season.

[Pat Coleman]

Oh good, because here I thought maybe I didn't ask any good questions, from reading the haters on the Centennial Conference board.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Pat - you were clearly lousy... what were you thinking?! Oh that's right... we should ask questions with more of a national appeal instead of a few fans in one region who can't figure out what the rest of the fan base has! Sorry... sarcasm has taken over this week.

[ziggy]

Oh good, because here I thought maybe I didn't ask any good questions, from reading the haters on the Centennial Conference board.

Pat, great follow up on the comment about the committee's interpretation of "results versus regionally ranked". There is certainly some insight gained from this interview; thanks to you and Dave for making it happen.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

WHAT?! We asked a good question??? Man - thought I blew that interview from what other people have told me (tongue-in-cheek).

In all seriousness, thank you Ziggy... appreciate that you could take something away from the interview. We work hard to get people like Dave Martin on the show and it's rewarding if fans feel they learned something or at least got something from the interview that provides better insight.

[ziggy]

WHAT?! We asked a good question??? Man - thought I blew that interview from what other people have told me (tongue-in-cheek).

In all seriousness, thank you Ziggy... appreciate that you could take something away from the interview. We work hard to get people like Dave Martin on the show and it's rewarding if fans feel they learned something or at least got something from the interview that provides better insight.

Unfortunately there are many more people that are content to complain rather than take the time to understand the process. Those that are willing to learn the process can gain a lot from the segments with Dave Martin.