WBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association

[sac]

Abilene, Texas has an airport, they have daily flights to DFW several times a day.  Not more than 90 miles from Brownwood and Howard Payne.


Howard Payne has a beautifull facility, here's a taste.


the rest here....  http://www.hputx.edu/s/668/howardpayne.aspx?pgid=1591

[hope1]

the hope coach said maybe  texas or calfiorina or 50/50 shot of playing home

[pointlem]

Wow, Sac, that is some facility . . . seats 4500 for a school of 1019 students?  And they had 2600+ there last night (and have had 2000+ for some other women's games this season)? 

I can see that, despite their hard-to-get-to location, they've made the case they can make for ever hosting a sectional tournament game.  The Hope women will never have faced an unfriendly crowd such as this . . . but at least they're back a ways from the court (I prefer Hope's more intimate courtside architecture).

Too bad the NCAA didn't place Hope and HPU in different sectionals.  (It's not that they're geographically linked.)

[sac]

Hope's next opponent George Fox actually has a common opponent from the MIAA with Hope.

George Fox 69 St. Mary's 58 at Trinity, TX

Hope 75 St. Mary's 58 at Hope
Hope 82 St. Mary's 73 at SMC
Hope 82 St. Mary's 65 at Hope

The roster
http://www.georgefox.edu/athletics/womens_bball/2008/roster.html

The schedule
http://www.georgefox.edu/athletics/womens_bball/2008/results.html

[Pat Coleman]

Howard Payne hosting sectionals.

Recommend flying to DFW and driving from there. Even if you caught the connection to Abilene, you'd be driving another 90 minutes.

[Ralph Turner]

Pat Coleman is right about DFW.  Find I-20 and go west to Cisco TX, home of Conrad Hilton's very first hotel, the Mobley (a nice little museum and community center.) Then turn south at Cisco.  You hunters will see some good deer and quail country.

An alternative if you could get a direct flight or use your miles is to fly into Austin and drive to Brownwood thru the hill country.  I don't know if the bluebonnets will be blooming yet.  (I do not know what the University of Texas at Austin is doing in hoops, either men or women.  That might be a conflict.)

Things to do in Brownwood.

Go to Coleman TX 30 miles west of Brownwood.

You Conan the Barbarian fans can visit the home of Robert E. Howard in nearby Cross Plains, TX

[Ralph Turner]

As for playing in the Brownwood Mausoleum Coliseum, you Hope ladies just need to imagine that everyone in the stands is a Calvin grad.

Simple enough! 

The Brownwood Coliseum is a city-owned facility that was built in 1964.  They replaced the original floor and other things over the summer.

News release

HPU is like most teams with rural players who grew up playing against their brothers.

The HPU roster is full of players from little hamlets such as Priddy, Magnolia, Tolar, Bloomington and Boerne (pronounced Burney).

[AlwaysHope]

Here are two very unusual stats regarding the Hope-BW game yesterday.

Hope turns the ball over 24 times, compared to only 10 TOs for Balwin-Wallace.  On the other hand, they out-rebound the BW ladies 59-23!

They obviously need to protect the ball better the rest of the way.

[House]

Thanks for the info Ralph Turner. Very interesting history on the Coliseum. I'd make fun of the fact that they were recently playing with non-standard goals, but Hope was on an incorrectly sized floor until 2005.
I lisened to the end of the McMurry game last night. Sounds like D3 is losing one of it's finest with that loss. Did HPU really earn 45 free throws?
Any chance you could give us an HPU scouting report?

[dballa]

House,

The officials at the McMurry/HPU game had never called a game for either team.  They have however called a lot of DI games.  What HPU does is attack the rim with their guards and their two senior posts Hoffman and Blalock.  If you look at their free throws in most of the games throughout the year they've shot quite a few. 

I know I get a lot of McMurry fans riled up on our ASC board but I want to tell Hope fans that I can't wait to see your team play in person.  I've seen their scores, stats, and watched them on video on the internet and it will be a real treat to have them play at our place.

I hope you guys enjoy your experience in Texas, and hopefully I'll get to meet a few of you if you come on down.

[Hwbb]

Howard Payne hosting sectionals.

So Pat, in addition to your travel tips, might you also try to explain the NCAA D3 committee a bit more. The Hope women's game against George Fox on Friday night will be their 13th consecutive NCAA tournament game on the road dating back to 2002. That includes a run to the Elite Eight and a national champtionship (both done entirely on the road), for a program that's in the top ten for most appearances in your poll. If good programs earn the right to host, I can't connect the logic here. And why match up the undefeateds so early? Why does this make sense? Can you help? Thanks. And by the way, I hope the ever-frugal NCAA is saving money, because this weird bracket means I would need to spend at least $2500 for two of us to go this weekend, given airfares from Grand Rapids. Anybody know if Hope will sponsor any kind of group travel?

[WWWRHH]

Howard Payne hosting sectionals.

I hope the ever-frugal NCAA is saving money, because this weird bracket means I would need to spend at least $2500 for two of us to go this weekend, given airfares from Grand Rapids. Anybody know if Hope will sponsor any kind of group travel?

One of the parents is examining a charter flight.

Flights from O'Hare are significantly cheaper, but flight, hotel and car for two will still run $1,000 plus.  Perhaps the Hope administration will consider reducing the tuition bill for team parents or the future tuition for the children of fans that make the trip  or would that violate D3 rules.

[sac]

Howard Payne hosting sectionals.

So Pat, in addition to your travel tips, might you also try to explain the NCAA D3 committee a bit more. The Hope women's game against George Fox on Friday night will be their 13th consecutive NCAA tournament game on the road dating back to 2002. That includes a run to the Elite Eight and a national champtionship (both done entirely on the road), for a program that's in the top ten for most appearances in your poll. If good programs earn the right to host, I can't connect the logic here. And why match up the undefeateds so early? Why does this make sense? Can you help? Thanks. And by the way, I hope the ever-frugal NCAA is saving money, because this weird bracket means I would need to spend at least $2500 for two of us to go this weekend, given airfares from Grand Rapids. Anybody know if Hope will sponsor any kind of group travel?

The Hope ladies have been unlucky in that their two best teams (2006, 2008) had to compete against the men for 1st and 2nd round hosting priorities.  On top of that the MIAA doesn't seem to get much of a fair shake with the Great Lakes regional committee.  Hope and Calvin had excellent teams the last three years, yet neither have hosted a tournament game. 

2005 was the last time an MIAA team hosted an NCAA game when Calvin was awarded the Sectional.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Doesn't hosting the Final Four kinda make up for the 'snubs'?

Just make sure you get there!

[Pat Coleman]

Howard Payne hosting sectionals.

So Pat, in addition to your travel tips, might you also try to explain the NCAA D3 committee a bit more. The Hope women's game against George Fox on Friday night will be their 13th consecutive NCAA tournament game on the road dating back to 2002. That includes a run to the Elite Eight and a national champtionship (both done entirely on the road), for a program that's in the top ten for most appearances in your poll. If good programs earn the right to host, I can't connect the logic here. And why match up the undefeateds so early? Why does this make sense? Can you help? Thanks. And by the way, I hope the ever-frugal NCAA is saving money, because this weird bracket means I would need to spend at least $2500 for two of us to go this weekend, given airfares from Grand Rapids. Anybody know if Hope will sponsor any kind of group travel?

Howard Payne was higher seeded this year. Sac has a pretty good take above on previous years.