MBB: Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[chmarx]

I just wish we had such weighty problems in La Crosse!

Good luck to SP this weekend.

[Greek Tragedy]

It's going to be a tough weekend at Quandt.  The last Texas team to come in here gave us fits and we escaped with a 61-55 win, the toughest, by far, on Point's road to another national championship.

If the Dawgs get past Texas-Dallas, we have a huge game against a tough CCIW foe in either IWU or Carthage.  Wow.  It's going to be a great weekend.  Too bad it's still four days away.

[stoutguy]

One quick comment regarding the negative comments I am hearing regarding the Stevens Point hosts.  As a radio guy who often has to make the quick move from Bennett Court to Berg to do both games, there is NO place in the conference that treats their guests any better than Point.  The AD, SID, the student helpers, the two head coaches who are both courteous and available, and a bunch of passionate home fans.  Everyone else in the conference should have the problems that Point has.  Everyone stop bitching and enjoy the ride.  I'll be doing HS sectional games this weekend wondering the whole time what's going on at Point.  Go Pointers.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

One quick comment regarding the negative comments I am hearing regarding the Stevens Point hosts.  As a radio guy who often has to make the quick move from Bennett Court to Berg to do both games, there is NO place in the conference that treats their guests any better than Point.  The AD, SID, the student helpers, the two head coaches who are both courteous and available, and a bunch of passionate home fans.  Everyone else in the conference should have the problems that Point has.  Everyone stop bitching and enjoy the ride.  I'll be doing HS sectional games this weekend wondering the whole time what's going on at Point.  Go Pointers.

I agree.  Right now there are 8 other teams in the WIAC that would love to have problems to just complain about.  If its about cleaning the gym, isn't the seating reserved therefore assigned?  If that is the case, whats the rush to get to your seat when the ticket already tells you where you are sitting?  If not, then you just have to get there quicker to be first in line 

[Greek Tragedy]

I'll be doing HS sectional games this weekend wondering the whole time what's going on at Point.  Go Pointers.

You have a phone and can receive texts, feel free to send me a message with said number.  I can text you updates.  Ask PHF, I'm good at it! lol :-)  And so is he!

[Greek Tragedy]

One quick comment regarding the negative comments I am hearing regarding the Stevens Point hosts.  As a radio guy who often has to make the quick move from Bennett Court to Berg to do both games, there is NO place in the conference that treats their guests any better than Point.  The AD, SID, the student helpers, the two head coaches who are both courteous and available, and a bunch of passionate home fans.  Everyone else in the conference should have the problems that Point has.  Everyone stop bitching and enjoy the ride.  I'll be doing HS sectional games this weekend wondering the whole time what's going on at Point.  Go Pointers.

It's hardly the norm, you guys.  The Lawrence game happened once.  It is really kind of a pain in the butt with the NCAA games, clearing out the gym and all.  The lobby when you come into Quandt is packed with no lines.  It's a big mess.  I think they should also start the early game at 5 pm and the late game at 8 pm.  As Frodo said, he sat down four minutes before tip-off.  Some fans like to watch warmups.  Anyway, it's a good problem to have simply because we're still playing.  They just need a little adjustment in setting up for  the next game and the ticket situation following for the next night's game, if Point wins.

[Pioneer Hoops Fan]

I'll be doing HS sectional games this weekend wondering the whole time what's going on at Point.  Go Pointers.

You have a phone and can receive texts, feel free to send me a message with said number.  I can text you updates.  Ask PHF, I'm good at it! lol :-)  And so is he!

Works out well when I'm at the games, and if I'm by a computer when not at them.  Otherwise if I can, I use my phone to look them up.

[John Gleich]

I'm curious about the 2005 UWSP vs. Lawrence game that caused later tournament games at UWSP to be reserved seating. Anyone care to expand on the supposed controversy?

*sigh*

Point hosted Lawrence for a second round game.  At the time, it was general admission. The Point staff reserved two sections for Lawrence fans.  Immediately behind the Viking bench, and in the balcony right above that lower section.  The lower section filled quickly with LU fans (mostly parents and adults). The balcony section still had some seats but as tipoff approached the UWSP fans were overflowing into that section that the UWSP event staff had been trying to keep empty.

About 6-8 minutes before tipoff, a large group of LU students arrived. They had been tailgaiting outside. They were directed to the balcony section and went there at first. They apparently didn't like the seats and came back downstairs. They wanted to sit behind the basket although the section was already 2/3 to 3/4 full. Since the game was about to start, the UWSP staff relented and asked those sitting behind the basket to move over or find another seat, which of course wasn't very popular among people that had arrived 30 minutes earlier.

The LU students moved in the best they could, but there still wasn't enought room for them, so the rest sat on the floor which I'm sure wouldn't have made the fire marshall happy.

So by tipoff, we have angry LU students, angry LU parents in support of their students, angry UWSP fans who got moved from seats they had a right to have, and the UWSP athletic director with a big headache.

Then in the proceeding days we had a number of LU fans (OK, one in particular) who made it their crusade for the next 12 months to tell the world how poorly UWSP treats their visiting fans.

I think that about covers it. So this weekend, take your assigned seat, sit down, shut up and enjoy the game.

It is amazing to me how many schools have problems with the seating issue for NCAA games.  I have seen some real disasters over the years...Wartburg 2001 being the biggest (sounds like the Lawrence/UW-SP situation described above). 

Schools have to have a plan for these games and then have enough people on hand to execute it.

Part of the issue back in 2005 was that there was new seating in Quandt prior to either the 2004 or 2005 season.  When SP put in the new plastic seating, it decreased the overall seating capacity from about 3000 to roughly 2700.  There are fewer rows and added leg room so the seating doesn't go as high and wider aisles (though there is now more seating behind the baskets than there was prior to the "upgrade").  Even if the new seating was in place in 2004, we only hosted one NCAA game, against Benedictine, and it wasn't a sellout.

So it was partially a situation where there were fewer seats and there hadn't really been an opportunity for the gym to be filled to capacity.  And I don't really know where the LU fans thought they were going to be able to sit when they got there when they did... there was much discussion to the fact that the gym was going to be packed... LU is only about a hour and 15 minutes to the East, the closest other college in the country to Point!

Regarding the gym clear... I really don't know any other way that the handling of tickets could be done.  There are far too many people who want to see the games for it to simply be split in 4 (or even for Point fans to get 1/2 of the tickets and the other 1/2 to be split three ways).  This isn't the Salem Civic Center... it just isn't big enough for everybody to be able to see both games.

However, selling actual seats as opposed to general admission (whether they clear the gym or not) is actually going to cause there to be less of a chance for as many people to see the game for a few different reasons...  People who don't/aren't able buy tickets when they're initially sold and hear that there's a sellout (whether this is true or not), won't show up.  Plus, with the new configuration, there's a lot of room in the balcony and behind the baskets to the left and right of the seating where people can still get a great view of the game... that standing-room population is simply left out (Compare this video of the last minute vs. UW Whitewater from earlier in the year to both games last weekend).

So people won't show up who don't have tickets, which means whatever tickets are inevitably left won't be sold, plus the "extra space" that's filled during packed games during the regular season will be clear as well.  I almost think SP should sell SRO tickets at perhaps a discounted rate... Or perhaps section tickets as opposed to specific-seat tickets.  This will allow people to sit in their correct section (would have solved the Lawrence problem) but also to sit where they want to within that section.  SP knows the seating capacity in each of its sections.

There is also a very easy solution to clearing the gym, too.  The entrance/foyer is from the South... they can empty the gym after game one to the North and have them go to the West, and then exit the facility back to the South, passing by the M.A.C. and exiting back to the South by the exits near the pool.  This solves part of the problem of early-arriving fans being met by several hundred to two thousand+ fans leaving the first game and there not being enough room to hold them all in the foyer.  They can then fire up the leave blowers and pick up whatever trash is left by those fans watching the first game.  If you check out this VIDEO about the HEC (Health Enhancement Center, the building that houses Quandt Fieldhouse), you can see the hallway right after the stairs, will the baskets.  This is where everyone should exit, turn left and continue to the hallway with the M.A.C.

Now, part of the difficulty is that teams from the winning team will want to purchase tickets for Saturday's game... and the ticket office is in the foyer (and being used by people picking up tickets at will-call, etc).  But this problem can be solved, too, by those tickets being sold in the M.A.C., which is where I think those tickets are sold anyway.  

[frodotwo]

I'm curious about the 2005 UWSP vs. Lawrence game that caused later tournament games at UWSP to be reserved seating. Anyone care to expand on the supposed controversy?

*sigh*

Point hosted Lawrence for a second round game.  At the time, it was general admission. The Point staff reserved two sections for Lawrence fans.  Immediately behind the Viking bench, and in the balcony right above that lower section.  The lower section filled quickly with LU fans (mostly parents and adults). The balcony section still had some seats but as tipoff approached the UWSP fans were overflowing into that section that the UWSP event staff had been trying to keep empty.

About 6-8 minutes before tipoff, a large group of LU students arrived. They had been tailgaiting outside. They were directed to the balcony section and went there at first. They apparently didn't like the seats and came back downstairs. They wanted to sit behind the basket although the section was already 2/3 to 3/4 full. Since the game was about to start, the UWSP staff relented and asked those sitting behind the basket to move over or find another seat, which of course wasn't very popular among people that had arrived 30 minutes earlier.

The LU students moved in the best they could, but there still wasn't enought room for them, so the rest sat on the floor which I'm sure wouldn't have made the fire marshall happy.

So by tipoff, we have angry LU students, angry LU parents in support of their students, angry UWSP fans who got moved from seats they had a right to have, and the UWSP athletic director with a big headache.

Then in the proceeding days we had a number of LU fans (OK, one in particular) who made it their crusade for the next 12 months to tell the world how poorly UWSP treats their visiting fans.

I think that about covers it. So this weekend, take your assigned seat, sit down, shut up and enjoy the game.

It is amazing to me how many schools have problems with the seating issue for NCAA games.  I have seen some real disasters over the years...Wartburg 2001 being the biggest (sounds like the Lawrence/UW-SP situation described above). 

Schools have to have a plan for these games and then have enough people on hand to execute it.

There is also a very easy solution to clearing the gym, too.  The entrance/foyer is from the South... they can empty the gym after game one to the North and have them go to the West, and then exit the facility back to the South, passing by the M.A.C. and exiting back to the South by the exits near the pool.  This solves part of the problem of early-arriving fans being met by several hundred to two thousand+ fans leaving the first game and there not being enough room to hold them all in the foyer.  They can then fire up the leave blowers and pick up whatever trash is left by those fans watching the first game.  If you check out this VIDEO about the HEC (Health Enhancement Center, the building that houses Quandt Fieldhouse), you can see the hallway right after the stairs, will the baskets.  This is where everyone should exit, turn left and continue to the hallway with the M.A.C.

Now, part of the difficulty is that teams from the winning team will want to purchase tickets for Saturday's game... and the ticket office is in the foyer (and being used by people picking up tickets at will-call, etc).  But this problem can be solved, too, by those tickets being sold in the M.A.C., which is where I think those tickets are sold anyway.  

Which is what they did, but those hallways were still packed 12-15 across the entire length of the hall. Big part of the problem was they then funneled all those people into the gym through 2 doors. They had 2-3 people manning each of the doors, it would seem more logical to have 4 doors open with one person at each  

[frodotwo]

Buy them in advance. Don't wait until you get to Stevens Point.

I will gladly do that if I can.  I heard some things today that made me think I won't be able to do that...that IWU and Carthage fans would have to buy the Friday Game 2 tix at the door after Game 1.

I'll give Stevens Point the benefit of the doubt and just wait until official ticket word comes out.

There were some game 2 tickets available at the door last week, and attendance was only about 2100 so there were plenty left to be sold.

I'd guess that may not be the case for this week, but who knows. The last time the sectional was held here in '07 the tickets returned by the opposing teams sold out in a matter of hours after being returned.

To be safe who ever wants tickets for game 2 should order ahead of time, as I understand it fans of participating teams are entitled to 1/3 of half of the seats available (1400 / 3 = 467).

Tickets sales starts at 8AM - 3/09/10 Have your credit card ready and walk up on game day.  

Phone orders:
Local: 715-346-4100
WI Residents: 800-838-3378  

Emptying the gym ensures more ticket sales apparently (and income), but I know that most of the fans from Hope didn't stick around, and a lot from St. Norbert left as well.

Game 1 winning fans can purchase their tickets immediately after game 1, everyone else has to wait until after the second games is completed. It was a mad rush last week and I know that some people waited well over an hour standing in line.

Of course everyone should call their own school's ticket office first, to ensure you sit with your own fans, not some unruly Point fans

[The Roop]

Of course everyone should call their own school's ticket office first, to ensure you sit with your own fans, not some unruly Point fans

Actually the UT-Dallas website tells you to call the Point ticket office. When you're on the line with them they ask you who you are a fan of and assign seats accordingly.

[Greek Tragedy]

When you told them you are a fan of Beloit, where did they put you?

[Mr. Ypsi]

When you told them you are a fan of Beloit, where did they put you?

Right behind the dumpster.

[The Roop]

I fibbed a little and said Point  No idea where my seat is though.

[Greek Tragedy]

Swampgoon was none too happy when you started cheering for St. Norbert on Saturday.  I think he banned me from ever getting you a ticket again! lol :-/