MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[mgoblue]

Any Calvin fans willing to get my three tickets for the game on Friday?  I'm an alum that lives in St Louis and I'm going to be in Chicago for the weekend.  If you could help me out, I'd really appreciate it.  Thanks. 

[Erm Schmigget]

Somehow I doubt the NCAA also makes the call on whether Friday tickets are sold for a split session or one combined ticket (though given how ill-planned this seems, perhaps they are behind this). Does no one look at the attendance list to see that they sent 2 of the top 3 teams in D3 attendance to the same site?

Even as a Hope fan...I have to say that it wouldn't be fair if they did take into account attendance by a fan base...when they decide where teams should play. that would be an unfair advantage for Hope/Calvin. Just b/c we have a bigger fanbase...doesn't mean we deserve to be treated different from say a Mississippi College (I think it was them)or whatever team played @ Witt with Hope last year. They had 40 or so fans for the game...yet those 40 fans were just as passionate.
It's like trying to say that since Hope has this huge/beautiful arena...they should host every year so all the fans can go to the game.
[/quote]

As my bro Pepper would say: IBID!

The NCAA does look at those numbers, along with local accomodations, eateries, etc., when considering sites for the Final Four, however.

Let's see...  Where is the women's DIII Final Four going to be held next year?  

(I realize that last rhetorical question referred to Women's--not men's--basketball.  Still, it seemed to be pertinent.  Please find it in your good hearts to refrain from smite-smacking me as well.   )

[Pat Coleman]

Please know that this is not Hope's fault or Aurora's fault and treat both ticket staffs respectfully. The NCAA decides on the venues for these games.

Somehow I doubt the NCAA also makes the call on whether Friday tickets are sold for a split session or one combined ticket

They do, however.

And just because you guys have big gyms doesn't mean the NCAA should take homecourt advantage away from a team that earned it. Not everyone is as blessed as Hope and Calvin are. Welcome to the rest of Division III. This is what it's like out here.

And a split session does nothing to take away home court advantage.  In the first game, there is no home court - so split the tickets 50/50.  In the second game, Aurora can still keep 2/3 of the tickets and maintain their advantage.  If the NCAA is making this decision, why do they do so in a vacuum?

Not sure. But what did the complaining about DePauw fans get Hope?  A trip back to Greencastle. Perhaps the fans are coming across as a little spoiled in this situation and the NCAA doesn't care. Or perhaps they are deciding it and we don't know.

I guess the way to make sure this doesn't happen in the future is to earn homecourt advantage.

[Erm Schmigget]

That last post came thru a bit garbled as to who is quoting whom.  My comments start at "As my bro Pepper would say..."  Just wanted to clear up any possible head-scratching.

[Pat Coleman]

Just b/c we have a bigger fanbase...doesn't mean we deserve to be treated different from say a Mississippi College (I think it was them)or whatever team played @ Witt with Hope last year. They had 40 or so fans for the game...yet those 40 fans were just as passionate.
It's like trying to say that since Hope has this huge/beautiful arena...they should host every year so all the fans can go to the game.

Not really sure who is being quoted here after the quote jumbling above, but this is true. I had this discussion with IWU fans a few years back and they didn't like it either, but fan support is not a site selection criterion.

[veragrace]

A friend in Aurora tells me that one inexpensive hotel near the college is Baymont Inn - 1-630-897-7695.  She says some areas of Aurora are not necessarily safe but she has had family stay at this hotel and it is decent.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

I guess the way to make sure this doesn't happen in the future is to earn homecourt advantage.

Hard to argue with that

[Erm Schmigget]

Just b/c we have a bigger fanbase...doesn't mean we deserve to be treated different from say a Mississippi College (I think it was them)or whatever team played @ Witt with Hope last year. They had 40 or so fans for the game...yet those 40 fans were just as passionate.
It's like trying to say that since Hope has this huge/beautiful arena...they should host every year so all the fans can go to the game.

Not really sure who is being quoted here after the quote jumbling above, but this is true. I had this discussion with IWU fans a few years back and they didn't like it either, but fan support is not a site selection criterion.

Giving credit where credit is due, it was dothedew.  (Okay, I just wanted to say due, do, and dew in the same sentence.   )

[ChicagoHopeNut]

For those of you, who like me, were probably sitting at a desk today thinking: "I wonder how many fans Hope averaged in attendance this year? And will Hope lead D3 attendance for the 5th straight year?"  Well here I am to your rescue because I just did the calculations based on announced attendances.

Hope had an average attendance of 2,923 fans per game. That is only 5 fewer people per game than last year when Hope's average attendance was almost 500 more than runner up IWU and almost 900 more than third place Calvin. It would have been much higher if anyone ever came to the Quarterfinals of the MIAA tourney, which was the lowest attended game this year by nearly 800 people. All this said I think it is very likely Hope will lead the nation in attendance again

EDIT:
In fairness I just calculated Calvin's attendance as well and they suffered a significant drop from last year as they only averaged 1,890 fans per game after averaging 2,089 last year. If Calvin hadn't had the benefit of playing Hope twice at home it would have been much lower still. Come on Calvin, only 640 fans for the quarterfinals of the MIAA? I mean Hope did bad but still drew more than 1,200 more. 

Note: I did not count the game played at the United Center against Trinity. The stats seem to suggest Calvin was considered the home team in that game and part of me remembers this being a special home game for them. If that game does count the average attendance drops to 1859 per game.

[GoKnights68]

For those of you, who like me, were probably sitting at a desk today thinking: "I wonder how many fans Hope averaged in attendance this year? And will Hope lead D3 attendance for the 5th straight year?"  Well here I am to your rescue because I just did the calculations based on announced attendances.

Hope had an average attendance of 2,923 fans per game. That is only 5 fewer people per game than last year when Hope's average attendance was almost 500 more than runner up IWU and almost 900 more than third place Calvin. It would have been much higher if anyone ever came to the Quarterfinals of the MIAA tourney, which was the lowest attended game this year by nearly 800 people. All this said I think it is very likely Hope will lead the nation in attendance again

EDIT:
In fairness I just calculated Calvin's attendance as well and they suffered a significant drop from last year as they only averaged 1,890 fans per game after averaging 2,089 last year. If Calvin hadn't had the benefit of playing Hope twice at home it would have been much lower still. Come on Calvin, only 640 fans for the quarterfinals of the MIAA? I mean Hope did bad but still drew more than 1,200 more. 

Note: I did not count the game played at the United Center against Trinity. The stats seem to suggest Calvin was considered the home team in that game and part of me remembers this being a special home game for them. If that game does count the average attendance drops to 1859 per game.

Sadly Calvin has a group of fans that are either students or adults that decide to only go to Hope/Calvin games and sometimes jump on their bandwagon come tourney time.   I think we Calvin fans in this board should think of a non-offensive made-up name for those type of people.  Any ideas?

[almcguirejr]

The student tickets that I bought at Calvin have the words "Diehard Fan" imprinted on them.  

[KnightSlappy]

Sadly Calvin has a group of fans that are either students or adults that decide to only go to Hope/Calvin games and sometimes jump on their bandwagon come tourney time.   I think we Calvin fans in this board should think of a non-offensive made-up name for those type of people.  Any ideas?

You mean the "Creasters" of Calvin/Hope basketball?  It is kinda frustrating for a fan who attends all home games and even travels to several games a year to worry about a seat when Hope comes to town.

I got my ticket for Aurora!

[Erm Schmigget]

Sadly Calvin has a group of fans that are either students or adults that decide to only go to Hope/Calvin games and sometimes jump on their bandwagon come tourney time.   I think we Calvin fans in this board should think of a non-offensive made-up name for those type of people.  Any ideas?

Many of us call them...........            "Calvin fans"      

We could maybe call them "Calvin Dusks".

....or "Mid-Knights".  

[AndersDY]

Pat, I don't think we should get preference in hosting because we have a shiny new arena and fill it frequently. I wasn't suggesting that because of the tight tickets, the solution is that they should change who hosts. By losing Calvin Pt. 4, we pretty much lost any argument to host.

My argument is that even though the hosting school has the right to claim home court (provided their fans do buy up their ticket alotment), the NCAA should do some quick supply and demand analysis and realize if they are leaving a very large portion of demand out in the cold. If it's an issue of preserving home court for a host, it should be up to the host school's fans to purchase the extra tickets the host gets to keep. If Aurora doesn't sell their own tickets, it shouldn't be up to the NCAA to make sure home court is maintained because Chicago and Hope fans are competing with Calvin for the same ticket pool.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

More useless attendance information.

Hope had a higher average attendance than all but 3 D2 teams.

Hope outdrew 165 out of 326 D1 programs!!!! I think that is an absolutely astonishing statistic. As I read through last year's attendance as published by the NCAA I was just shocked by how poor D1 attendance is. Except for a few of the power teams very few teams even draw over 10,000 per game. In the Big Ten both Penn St and Northwestern (whose gym only seats about 8,000) averaged in the 5,000-6,000 range and Purdue and UM were just in the 10,000s.

St. Francis (NY) only averaged 341 fans per game, which is the approximate size of the Dew Crew or the nice old ladies with white hair at DeVos.