MBB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Pat Coleman]

Tickets could be sold, sure, but who would buy them? Aside from a handful of areas -- one of which is already hosting tonight anyway -- there isn't a local generic-Division-III following that will buy tickets all season long for four teams they may never have heard of.

This isn't to say we won't someday get to predetermined sectional sites, but to be honest, if we're going to spend more money on this tournament it would be much better spent distributing the teams across the bracket better.

[fcnews]

That's a pretty blanket statement. While in STL you should check out how many tickets they sell for Arch Maddness (the Valley Conference Tourney). Basketball is basketball. It would likely draw more local interest if advertised for a whole year, then just a week. Wash U had quite a few SLIAC players and fans there last night.
I think there are several places that would support an event like this.

[usee]

wheaton 12-4. wiele w 6 and 4. raymond 1-3 for 3pts

[AndOne]

Tickets could be sold, sure, but who would buy them? Aside from a handful of areas -- one of which is already hosting tonight anyway -- there isn't a local generic-Division-III following that will buy tickets all season long for four teams they may never have heard of.

This isn't to say we won't someday get to predetermined sectional sites, but to be honest, if we're going to spend more money on this tournament it would be much better spent distributing the teams across the bracket better.

AndOne- It's more like the Eastern Half of America Tournament. The number of teams west of the Mississippi are very few.

I also agree with your assessment of the tournament. I think four pre determined sites would have a good chance at drawing respectable crowds. Tickets could be sold all year long and people could plan travel in advance. Some will say, no one is going to buy tickets until they no who's in it. I disagree. If the right sites are chosen, communities and areas will support good basketball. And, by the time you reach the sweet sixteen, it's all good basketball.

How many people besides fans of the 8 teams playing tonight are at the games?
Sure there are probably a few locals in attendance who just plain enjoy DIII basketball or basketball in general, but this group likely constitutes a fairly small percentage of the crowd. After the 2 teams fans buy tickets, how many would even be left?

My angst at having teams still alive host stems not so much from whether many tickets could be sold to locals far in advance because I believe the vast majority of the people in attendance are going to be the participating teams fans. I also believe those fans are going to travel to a neutral site, hopefully close to half way between the 2 schools. Rather, I am more concerned with a team good enough to be one of the final 8, or even 16, teams left in a supposed NATIONAL tournament having to face an unfair DISadvantage of having to play on the opponents home floor.

[thundermike11]

Halftime

Hope 34
Wheaton 32

[usee]

I am updating the game on the "cciw in game update board"

[April]

I am updating the game on the "cciw in game update board"

Thanks for doing that. The Realplayer stream is pretty close to being full (it took me several tries to get on), so I hope people that care are able to keep in touch with what is going on via the boards and the front page of the site.

Does anyone remember that shot that Nielson made at the end of the half in King Arena several years back (against Augie?). I could have sworn the game ended the half with a similar margin and that the half court shot gave us some huge momentum and we won. Does anyone remember better than me?

Here's hoping we don't go cold this half!

[Titan Q]

Good run, Thunder.  Nice battle tonight at Hope.

[Jim Matson]

Hope played well on their home court.  Had Wheaton tied up the outside, the Dutchmen would simply have gone inside.  Congrats on the move into the Final Four.

Good job to Wheaton on going 3 games deeper into the Tourney than anyone expected!

[usee]

Great run for the Thunder. They did exactly what they wanted to at Hope tonight. 4 of the 5 in double figures and Carwell with 9 as the 5th starter. All the stats were pretty even except 1, which was the reason they got beat.

Hope went 15-24 from the arc for 62.5%. No one is going to beat a team shooting that well on their home floor. Wheaton played great, Hope played better.

Jahns, Andrew      13pts
Panner, Ben          12pts 7 rbs
Raymond, Kent      18 pts 5 assists
Wiele, Andy          18 pts 13 rebounds
Carwell, Jacob       9 pts

Jesse Reimink             14 pts 4-7 3pters
Ryan Klein                  13 pts 3-5 3pters
Tyler Wolfe                 12 pts 2-2 3pters
Marcus Vanderheide     23 pts 2-3 3pters
Derek VanSolkema       15 pts 3-5 3pters

[iwu70]

Congrats to Wheaton for a great run in the DIII dance.  You made CCIW fans proud.

Also, Congrats to the IWU women track team for winning a national team title!  First time ever for the lady Titans.  Rachel Andersen won the national track athlete of the National meet.  And, the Titan track coach won the national coach of the year honors recently.  Kudos to all!

[fcnews]

AndOne - There was a very good turn out of just basketball fans at Wash U tonight. Percentage I'm not sure. Good to see former SLU coach Rich Grawer in attendance.

With local DI programs down in STL area this year, DIII basketball has got alot of local media coverage. I've noticed a difference at the local games crowds. If you think that only particpating fans will attend, then I think your selling our product short. If this is the case then the NCAA doesn't need to waste the money.

The basketball I saw played in Jackson, MS. and St. Louis this past two weekends is very marketable. But, there needs to be a way (or someone) to market it.

[sac]

FCNews, Andone--

This year
Amherst vs Brandeis in a neutral site--attendance 550

Last year
Washington vs Hope in a neutral site played in a community that "supports any good college basketball"  attendance 809

[sac]

Congrats to Wheaton on a great run, the Thunder gave maximum effort tonight and I'm not sure there's much more they could have done.  Impressive team effort all around.

It pretty much took Hope tying its own arena record for 3 pointers, and more impressively its own arena and what I believe to be school record for 3 point percentage of 62.5% to beat Wheaton tonight.

Finally congrats to Kent Raymond, who put on a great shooting performance Friday night and was one of the hardest working players on the floor tonight.  Hope just had a good plan and the personnel to contain him twice this year.

[AndOne]

Then thats a good thing fc.   

I'm not entirely sure attendance by the general public (those not closely affiliated with the participating teams) in most market areas would approach the level it evidently does in your vicinity. I guess it may have something to do with what type and how many other entertainment choices are available in that geographical marketplace. Perhaps establishment of permanent venues would be a first step as that would provide the possibility of a loyal local fan base to be built up, if not quickly, at least over a period of time. 

The main focus of my thoughts on the subject (limited at best, I know) is tailored more toward simply trying to level the playing field (or court in this case) between the participating teams, especially when a team is good enough to be included in either the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 in what is promoted as a NATIONAL championship tournament.

As evidence that this might be a good idea, one needs to look only as far as tonight's results. Each of the 3 teams playing at home won. While the results may well have been the same on a neutral court, I'm sure the visiting teams and coaches, and those teams fans, would have appreciated the added opportunity that would be afforded by playing in a tourney that was truly more NATIONAL in scope rather than playing another road game in a hostile environment.