2011 Final Four

[TheOsprey]

Congrats to Wash. U.!!  It's a shame we couldn't give ya a better game!!  Good luck next year!!   

[magicman]

Washington U. downs Richard Stockton 61-52 to win their 2nd straight National Championship.

Sean Wallis with 16 pts and 10 assists along with Tyler Nading's 20 pts and 8 boards, led the Bears.

Santini Lancioni led the Ospreys with 19 pts.

Congratulations to both schools for making it to the Championship Game. And to the Bears for winning it all.

[Ralph Turner]

Congratulations Wash U!

[nwhoops1903]

Congratulations Wash U!

Ditto. 

Another great D3 season in the books.  Til Fall...

[njachoopsfan]

Congrats to Washington U on winning the title...

Ospreys, you can hold your heads high, you represented our school proudly.  There were 449 schools that started this journey back in November, and four months later we were still playing basketball !!   

To all of the fans, alumni, cheerleaders, faculty, staff, students and our president Dr. Saatkamp, who survived the 7 hour bus ride to Salem, THANKS for a great 2 days.

Coach Matthews, thanks for another great season,  30 wins, not too shabby.   You deserve and will get the brass ring !!

See everyone next season
The Voice of Ramapo College Basketball

[pbrooks3]

Another great season for Wash U!  I thought they would win on the basis of their body of work during the regular season.  Called a lot of things wrong, but I was right about this one.  I will be curious to see what the Bears have in the tank for next season.

[Marty Peretz]

Championships never get old and it was a pleasure witnessing the Bears win title number two. Being there again in person was equally thrilling as last year and it was great to see WUSTL Hoops nation in full force yet again (probably even slightly more than last year). Will be interesting to see what Sean decides regarding next season.

I'll have to write a more extended recap in the UAA forum when time permits. For not, it's back to work with the hope that Salem calls my name again a year from now.

Congrats to the boys from the Arch City; the walnut and bronze it yours for another year. Enjoy it.

[DIIIghetto]

Can someone with an understanding of the decision making behind the use of Salem for the DIII Final Four shed light on some questions:

a.  Why Salem?
It doesn't seem to be very accessible - hence cost savings for teams compared to other venues do not seem like they would be significant.

b.  How many more years are we committed to Salem?

c.  What are some of the factors that go into that decision and who makes them?

d.  Has anyone started to really push for an althernate site - eg., Calvin/Hope - where there might be more costs but the benefit could be a much larger crowd in a more DIII-like setting? 
Playing the Final Four to a packed house in a great facility is a potential marketing extravaganza for all DIII institutions. 

[pbrooks3]

Can someone with an understanding of the decision making behind the use of Salem for the DIII Final Four shed light on some questions:

a.  Why Salem?
It doesn't seem to be very accessible - hence cost savings for teams compared to other venues do not seem like they would be significant.

b.  How many more years are we committed to Salem?

c.  What are some of the factors that go into that decision and who makes them?

d.  Has anyone started to really push for an althernate site - eg., Calvin/Hope - where there might be more costs but the benefit could be a much larger crowd in a more DIII-like setting? 
Playing the Final Four to a packed house in a great facility is a potential marketing extravaganza for all DIII institutions. 

This is a good one for Pat or Ralph!

[Just Bill]

Can someone with an understanding of the decision making behind the use of Salem for the DIII Final Four shed light on some questions:

a.  Why Salem?
It doesn't seem to be very accessible - hence cost savings for teams compared to other venues do not seem like they would be significant.

b.  How many more years are we committed to Salem?

c.  What are some of the factors that go into that decision and who makes them?

d.  Has anyone started to really push for an althernate site - eg., Calvin/Hope - where there might be more costs but the benefit could be a much larger crowd in a more DIII-like setting? 
Playing the Final Four to a packed house in a great facility is a potential marketing extravaganza for all DIII institutions. 

a.   It’s Salem, because Salem puts in the best bids year after year. They’ve been doing it so long now and have it such a large part of their community that it’d be very difficult for any other site to match their bid. They’ve got manpower, job duties and everything else down to a science. NCAA evaluation committees know that they are going to get a quality tournament. I'm not even sure how many other locations even attempt to put in competitive bids anymore.
b.   Bids for NCAA basketball championships usually go in two-year cycles. I’m not sure where we are at in that cycle. If 2010 is the end of a two-year cycle then I’m sure 2011 and 2012 have already been awarded to Salem. If 2010 is the beginning of the cycle then it’s possible that 2012 and 2013 are up for bid right now.
c.   The NCAA championship committee made up of coaches and administrators chooses the site through available bids. Factors include (but aren’t limited to) facility, location, hotel availability, expected budget, banquet facility, available workforce, presentation and site visit.
d.   Few bid on the men’s site anymore, because Salem is so entrenched. The biggest limiting factor is often manpower. Salem has such a large staff of volunteers who are committed to coming back every year that they can continue to do a bigger and better event each year without significant additional cost to the NCAA. I don’t think many schools think they can compete with what Salem does.

[Ralph Turner]

Good question.  Thanks for asking.

The women have rotated.

Hope was the site of the 2008 women's tourney.  Hope women were eliminated in the Elite 8 at Howard Payne in Brownwood.

Yes, there was a home court advantage.  HPU may not have beaten Hope at Hope.

If I recall, the turnout for a "Hope-less" women's final four was okay, but IMHO not dramatic.

I like a neutral site, and if Salem can become that magical place where D-III tourneys are played, then that may become the special aspect of D-III.

It certainly works for Omaha in D-1 baseball.

[Just Bill]

If you're curious here's what the NCAA Bid Process looks like: http://bit.ly/cTK12v

Don't click it if you have a fear of paperwork.

That page also answered my question: Bidding for the 2012 and 2013 Men's D-III Championship is currently open. So if your school thinks they can top Salem tell your AD to get working on it now.

[HopeConvert]

Having attended a Final Four in Salem, allow me to make the following observations:

1. It's a beautiful area with acceptable weather for that time of year. I was hitting golf balls at a driving range the morning of the game.
2. It is utterly inaccessible for air travel.
3. There are very few hotels, and they are all substandard.
4. The dining options are extremely limited, and equally mediocre.
5. It's a hike. I think DC is about the nearest major airport, and that's about 3 hours.
6. The gym is dark, uncomfortable, not intimate, and poorly laid out.
7. It is a neutral site.

Add it all up and here's my judgment: I can't see any good reason why the NCAA would want to keep going back there. The tournament will never grow so long as it is there.

In my estimation, the best possible place to have the tournament would be (I hate to say this): the VanNoord Arena at Calvin. It has the requisite seating, it's the second nicest arena in D3 that I've seen, and it has a staff that knows how to run things in a very professional manner. In addition, it is very close to a good-sized airport that takes in travel from virtually anywhere, and is adding direct flights all the time. It is closely located to a very large number of quality hotels and restaurants. It has on-site hosting (rooms and food) capabilities. It has excellent practice facilities. It is centrally located in the nation geographically. If you ask me, this one is pretty much a no-brainer. Calvin should put in a bid, and the NCAA should count their lucky stars if they do.

[David Collinge]

I disagree with a lot of that, but:

3. There are very few hotels, and they are all substandard.

This statement is just flat wrong.  I've been to several Final Fours in Salem, and each time I've stayed in a different hotel.  All of them were perfectly nice in every respect: clean, comfortable, convenient, reasonably priced, all the amenities I need.  I'm not a plush-robe-mint-on-the-pillow type, but if I were, there's the Hotel Roanoke and any number of the higher-end chains as well.

I think Salem does a fine job and that the Civic Center is a fine venue for this tournament.   

[HopeConvert]

I'm not a mint-on-the-pillow guy either, but neither am I a bullet-in-the-head or a truck-outside-the-window sort of guy, and those seemed to be the main options (unless you wanted to pony up some serious cash). The hotels I looked at in Salem were dirty, unsafe, small, and substandard in every respect. They were dumps.

Check a map: there is not much in Salem proper. If you go to Roanoke you can find more, and better, hotels. It's a good 10 miles away. that might not seem like much, but it's not inconsequential.

Even if I were to concede the housing situation was acceptable (I'm not), there remains the restaurant options, the fact that Salem is inaccessible, and the Civic Center itself. I stand by my claim it's a bad location, that the tournament will never generate more support so long as it is there, and the the NCAA would be wise to cast its eyes elsewhere.