MBB: Midwest Conference

[Greek Tragedy]

You may have jinxed it OS. You predicted the same score as their last game.

Really, I just thought of that number randomly too! lol...

Anyway, I don't think I jinxed Carroll because I picked them to lose the first two games!

[Greek Tragedy]

Swampgoon, among others, informed me of this:

Returned (and remaining) tickets from Washington U. for the Point game will go on sale tomorrow morning at 8 am at the box office, which is located at the University book store.  The catch is, you can't buy tickets over the phone for these (unlike the first wave of tickets that went on sale and were sold out in 90 minutes).  So, YOU MUST BE IN PERSON to buy these tickets.  Unfortunately for the Carroll and Hope fans, this makes it nearly impossible for them to get any tickets for the 2nd game.  It's unfortunate, because if I were a neutral fan, I'd want to see the other game as well.  Believe me, there aren't going to be any available at Quandt. 

Tickets that were returned from Carroll and Hope will also go on sale, and must also be in person to buy, I believe, will also go on sale Friday morning at the same location.  I just hope they have different lines for folks who already have Point/Washington U. tickets who simply want to get Carroll/Hope tickets.

Anyway, HERE is an artcile from the Stevens Point Journal regarding their reasoning on a split session...

UW-Stevens Point athletic officials made a special request to the NCAA to approve the split session format due to heavy ticket demands from three of the four schools.
The proximity of Hope College, which has led Division III in attendance four straight years, and Carroll College of Waukesha to central Wisconsin is another reason for the change.
"This was done to help accomodate more of our fans," said O'Brien. "This is totally different than 2005 when the teams were from Texas, Washington and Indiana. We're expecting Hope and Carroll to bring very substantial followings."

O'Brien is asking fans with tickets to the second game to show up no earlier than 7:45 p.m. for the approximate 8:15 p.m. tip-off.


I understand their reasoning, but it doesn't sound like there will be a lot of fans from Hope and Carroll for the first game.  I called "my people" and they told me that Hope got 1200 tickets and they sold less than 300.  Carroll, on the other hand, got 400 tickets and with the deadline to buy tickets at noon today, they returned some 250.  I guess that's good news for Pointer fans that want to see the 1st game, and I encourage you to do so...it should be a heck of a game!

[fightintitan2006]

I'm wondering if both schools start spring break tommorrow?

Students probably arent trading tickets to south padre for stevens point

[The Roop]

I wasn't expecting a "substantial" turn out from either Hope or Carroll but how does Hope get 1200 and Carroll only 400 ?? With two sessions you'd think they'd do a 50/50 split for the first game and move the return date up a day or two and not wait as long to sell those remaining tickets. Same amount would get returned anyway. Can't believe they sold as few as they did however. WOW.

[Greek Tragedy]

I have no idea.  My thought on the matter is that each team "requested" so many tickets and if they wanted more, they could get more.  No matter how many they got initially, it wouldn't have mattered because Point fans couldn't get tickets until tomorrow morning. 

[sac]

I'm wondering if both schools start spring break tommorrow?

Students probably arent trading tickets to south padre for stevens point

Hope starts a week from Monday I believe.  But there is an on campus funtion that will prevent many students who otherwise would have made the trip. 

Great cause though.

I wasn't expecting a "substantial" turn out from either Hope or Carroll but how does Hope get 1200 and Carroll only 400 ?? With two sessions you'd think they'd do a 50/50 split for the first game and move the return date up a day or two and not wait as long to sell those remaining tickets. Same amount would get returned anyway. Can't believe they sold as few as they did however. WOW.

I'm no expert on this but I believe ticket distribution is written in the NCAA tournament manual...........SP was probably required to offer that many tickets, Carroll probably only agreed to take 400.  Hope probably agreed to take 1200 just in case.

1200 is optomistic, thats about how many went to Salem in 1998.  The most I've ever seen in the NCAA on the road was about 700 at Wittenberg in 96, Hope had about the same last week in Aurora.

[Greek Tragedy]

1200 is optomistic, thats about how many went to Salem in 1998.  The most I've ever seen in the NCAA on the road was about 700 at Wittenberg in 96, Hope had about the same last week in Aurora.

Now that I think about it, 1200 is basically half of what Quandt holds.  I talked to one of "my people" and though the Oshkosh game listed the attendence at 2700 and the WIAC final at 2500, those numbers were wrong.  This person did say that the actual capacity is around 2400, which of course is 2x 1200!

[The Roop]

The NCAA Tournament Manual is not one of my favorite reads but I suppose that a 50/50 split was offered. Based on the sales however they might want to modify that to 25/25 on the initial request, with more as needed and allow the host to sell 25% from the start. Just a thought and this thought would only apply to split session regionals/sectionals.

I've never been to Quandt so I'm glad I'll be able to get a seat. I'd just hate for that first game to have 500 in attendance. Because if they do have separate lines for tickets you know where most people are going. Once that sells out nobody is likely to have an interest in the "under-card only" line.

[hickory_cornhusker]

Carroll's spring break starts tomorrow.

[The Roop]

The initial wave of ticket sales died down about 8:30 this morning. They still have some left for the Point game. Hate to guess on the number but if you get there in the next hour you should be ok.

[WLCALUM83]

Articles about the Carroll men's team and the sectional in general here:

http://www.jsonline.com/index/index.aspx?id=35

"State Colleges"  and "Division III Preview" links. 

[buf]

Hope on the verge of blowing out Carroll, 63-44 with 14min left.  Carroll was up 34-25.  Hope is on a huge run.

[buf]

Hope 89
Carroll 77

Final

[larry_u]

Too bad for Carroll too as Point is getting destroyed by 20 with 3 minutes left....didn;t see that one coming.

[fightintitan2006]

First off, I want to say congrats to Carroll on a great season. This is a great night for MWC basketball in my opinion...In a year where the league was down (the entire region probably was as well) Carroll knocked off two teams from "power conferences" in the tourney and gave it their best shot tonight.

I have several thoughts on tonight's game...
Dating back to the days of some early St. Norbert playoff football games against St. Johns, I have always had the fear to expect the worst whenever an MWC team faces a perennial strong program from a region that we rarely see (I had never seen Hope play before tonight)...In my opinion, Hope was a 10 to 12 win team if it played in the MWC this season.

The Dutchmen had more depth than most MWC squads, but weren't exceptionally skilled or athletic. A lot of very solid players and just about everybody seemed to be able to shoot it. No real post play, Vanderheide was a stud, but almost all of his hoops came on putbacks. They killed Carroll on the offensive boards, something that was probably expected but not to this extent, and Carroll's cold shooting mixed with Hope's ability to convert some tough shots was the difference. Carroll was visibly tired as well.

Carroll looked crisp early, while Hope felt the Pioneers out and got use to the pace. Some bad shot selections for both teams all night and really sloppy stretches for both teams, but Hope managed to capitalize during those times. CC played great defense the final 10 minutes or so, but had too much ground to make up. Fishcer probably played more than Ladwig, which I didn't understand.

Carroll and Hope are more evenly matched then the score indicates. I was befriended by some Point fans who came early and we talked throughout the entire game. We agreed that if these two teams played ten times it was probably something like 5-5 or 6-4, but probably always near a 10-point game. If Carroll's threes were falling and Hope's tough shots weren't Carroll cruises and in a situation like tonight, Hope cruises.

I don't think it was much of a factor, but I would say Carroll was on the shorter end of the stick officiating wise, but not by a whole lot. I'm not sure Schultz's early T didn't have an effect there. A technical can do a lot of different things depending on time, place, score and momentum. It wasn't a good one in my opinion and I think the refs gave it back to him a little bit throughout for upstaging them early. 

Roop or anyone else at the game? I'd love to hear your thoughts