MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[iwufans]

How many does the "green room" seat?  There are seats aren't there?

[Johnny Augie]

This "green room" sounds a little too IWU for me...even without the green tinted glasses.

What are the chances that this green room will have beer?

[Stat]

All you fans are getting stuck by lack of seating availability.
However, whoever makes it, will have a great time in Appleton.  A great, friendly, party town.

[Stat]

As a matter of opinion, I would take Appleton over Salem for the visit, other than the obvious.

[JUSTINTYEM]

Maybe 100-200 or so.Im going to call and see if we can get a Larger screen to view the game.Right now its a small 4 foot screen.I wold like something twice that size.call the LU AD and tell him you plan on watching it there,and that there will be alot of people to watch it.then im sure he would get a bigger screen.

[Titan Q]

IWU had about 400 people at Whitewater Friday.  Appleton is another 2 hours away and we're still talking about a work/school day.  This isn't like going to Ashland, Virginia (2003 Randolph-Macon Sectional) where it is just not feasible for a majority of fans to make the trip, but it's still kind of a tough haul for people who work, have kids in school, etc, etc.  I think 350 is just about right for Friday.  I don't think there's a big ticket problem here on IWU's side.

Lawrence has had 1380 at recent big home games...I assume 1300 were LU fans.  With the capacity lowered to 1100 by the fire marshal and the fact that IWU is getting 350 tickets, only 750 Viking fans will get to see the game...550 (42%) less than usual.

Here are the attendance figures for IWU's road games from the start of CCIW play through Saturday...

@ Whitewater, 3/4 - 1725
@ Augustana, 2/24 - 1547
@ Augustana, 2/15 - 2413
@ Wheaton, 2/11 - 1547
@ North Central, 2/1 - 1200
@ North Park, 1/21 - 1000
@ Elmhurst, 1/14 - 1978
@ Millikin, 1/11 - 1000
@ Carthage, 1/7 - 1075

This will be one of the smaller road crowds IWU has had to contend with all season long.  Usually you expect the opposite on the road in a Sectional (like that enormous crowd at Wooster a couple of years ago).

[JUSTINTYEM]

Heres the Official Press Release

Lawrence University Sports News
Contact: Joe Vanden Acker, Sports Information Director, 920-832-6878
For Immediate Release March 6, 2006

Tickets to go on sale Wednesday for Lawrence-Illinois Wesleyan game
APPLETON, Wis. -- Tickets will go on sale Wednesday and Thursday for Lawrence University's NCAA Division III Tournament game against Illinois Wesleyan.

The tickets for the game, which is set for Friday at 8:00 p.m. at Alexander Gymnasium, go on sale at the Lawrence University box office at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The box office, which is open from 12:30-5:30 p.m., is located in the Music-Drama Center at 420 E. College Ave. Tickets will be sold only at the box office. No phone orders will be accepted.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. Children ages two and under are free. Lawrence students, faculty, and staff must present a Lawrence ID when purchasing a ticket. There is a limit of two tickets per person.

Tickets purchased on Wednesday and Thursday are valid only for the Lawrence-Illinois Wesleyan game. Alexander Gymnasium will be cleared after the completion of the 5:00 p.m. game between Augustana (Ill.) College and the University of Puget Sound. If you are holding a ticket for the Lawrence-Illinois Wesleyan game, you will not be allowed entry to the gymnasium until after the completion of the Augustana-Puget Sound game.

Due to the NCAA ticketing policy, Lawrence will not sell any surplus tickets for the Augustana-Puget Sound game until the box office opens on Friday.

Following the completion of each game on Friday, tickets for Saturday's 7:00 p.m. game will be sold to fans from the winning school in the lobby of Alexander Gymnasium. A maximum of 350 tickets will be sold to the fans of the winning team following the completion of Friday's first game between Augustana and Puget Sound. The remaining tickets will be sold at the completion of the Lawrence-Illinois Wesleyan game.

Any tickets remaining after the completion of sales on Friday evening will be available when the box office opens at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

[augie_superfan]

So one thing that sorta stinks for this thing is this example:

Lets say that Augie sells all of its 500 tickets (who knows if this will even happen), and Augie wins and LU wins too.  Then, on Saturday, only 350 of those 500 will be able to see the championship.  So you got 150 people that drive up for the game and all that but dont get to see the championship.  Guess there is no way around it but it might make up my mind.  I dont want to drive 10 hours and not get to see the championship game if that were to happen

[Brick]

Easy now augie Justin may say that you are crying about the venue....

[veterancciwfan]

Justintyem: Notice I didn't use the Caps Lock button. Where does Bruce Weber's sister live, Green Bay? Nobody from IWU is complaining about Lawrence hosting the sectional. It's just the way the D3 tournament works, or doesn't work. The last thing the D3 tournament committee thinks about is what is best for the majority of the fans in selecting sectional sites. That's just the way it is. If CCIW fans have any complaint about LU, it would probably be that the LU administration obviously doesn't think that providing a 2nd half of the 20th century (at least) adequate basketball facilty is important.

Question: Does LU have a hockey team and if so, how new is the hockey arena?

[iwufans]

With the capacity lowered to 1100 by the fire marshal and the fact that IWU is getting 350 tickets, only 750 Viking fans will get to see the game...550 (42%) less than usual.

This will be one of the smaller road crowds IWU has had to contend with all season long.


Good points, Q.  As the visiting team, Wesleyan always brings out the home team's biggest crowd of the season.  750 doesn't seem bad compared to what they have faced all year long.

[patcummings]

Despite a smaller attendance figure, the size of the facility will certain amplify the noise.  Fewer people, but in a much smaller building.  Expect Alexander to be thumping.

[iwumichigander]

Smaller facility and a little thumping is OK.  IWU has certainly played in front of large crowds and in hostile environments.  IWU has played in front of 16,000 Illini fans this year with an Orange Crush section rated by 56% of the Big 10 as the toughest place to play.

Sorry for the typo folks.  Thanks for catching it  -- I fixed it

[iwumichigander]

So one thing that sorta stinks for this thing is this example:

Lets say that Augie sells all of its 500 tickets (who knows if this will even happen), and Augie wins and LU wins too.  Then, on Saturday, only 350 of those 500 will be able to see the championship.  So you got 150 people that drive up for the game and all that but dont get to see the championship.  Guess there is no way around it but it might make up my mind.  I dont want to drive 10 hours and not get to see the championship game if that were to happen

Hey AS, I guess those of us we can't get tickets could always watch the game from the green room

[patcummings]

They will all be partying the same though

So one thing that sorta stinks for this thing is this example:

Lets say that Augie sells all of its 500 tickets (who knows if this will even happen), and Augie wins and LU wins too.  Then, on Saturday, only 350 of those 500 will be able to see the championship.  So you got 150 people that drive up for the game and all that but dont get to see the championship.  Guess there is no way around it but it might make up my mind.  I dont want to drive 10 hours and not get to see the championship game if that were to happen

Hey AS, I guess those of us we can't get tickets could always watch the game from the green room