MBB: University Athletic Association

[jagluski]

Speaking with first hand knowlege only. We were at the Women's sweet sixteen at St. Thomas in 2001 and Wash U. was also their. They probably had 250 with them. That was the year they won the National Tournament

With personal knowledge, I was at the WU-UWSP game in the 2004 Sectional.  Wash U probably brought 100 or so fans, mostly parents, but it was the school's spring break.  I bet there's a decent showing up to Wisconsin.

[fcnews]

It's tough to gauge a Wash U. crowd. You have a STL team without one STL player. So this years version may draw more on the road.

Friday's attendance at Wash U. was listed at 1524. I'll give both Depauw and Whitworth a break and say 50 fans from both. Good WU and FU crowd.

Saturday they list 833 (hard to beleive), the student section was smaller for WU because of a Relay for Life event being held nearby on the track.

[jagluski]

I'll say this too, the school spirit at Wash U has increased noticeably over the past 4-5 years...4-5 years ago, most of the school probably wouldn't have even known that the school was in the tournament.

The other thing for this upcoming weekend in terms of sending fans to Wisconsin is(a good problem to have), but the Wash U women are in the Sweet 16 as well at Luther College in Iowa.

[fcnews]

Jagluski - Good to see the Bomb Squad Back.

[Marty Peretz]

Just a quick note on the Wash.U crowds of this past year from someone who hasn't missed a home game...Attendence figures are very tough to report because, well, they don't sell tickets. Even for the NCAA games, Wash. U students (who make up a clear majority of the crowd at all home games) weren't charged for tickets. Basically what happened is that because the NCAA needs an official count, the ticket counters count each person through the door, but that becomes quite hard to do when 15-20 students roll through en masse with nothing more than student ID's. You simply can't count all those. Also, a lot of students enter through alternate entrances or later in the game. So, Friday's announced crowd of 1524 was, in actuality, a lot more like 2200-2300 and Saturday's announced crowd of 833 was a lot more like 1200. The official Friday crowd of 1524 was considerably larger than the UChicago crowd of a week earlier, which was announced as 1907. Also, the 745 seasonal average is misleading in that because the UAA plays Friday night and then at noon on sunday, friday night crowds are considerably larger than sunday crowds. WashU has been a very tough place to play all year. Ask anyone who played in the field house; the bears didn't lose at home all season.

[Marty Peretz]

That said, the students won't travel to Stevens Point because Spring Break begins that same day and most kids aren't heading North...

[Pat Coleman]

Basically what happened is that because the NCAA needs an official count, the ticket counters count each person through the door, but that becomes quite hard to do when 15-20 students roll through en masse with nothing more than student ID's. You simply can't count all those.

Interesting, because the NCAA will still want its money for each of those.

[hopefan]

Marty or anyone else  -  please post if anything comes out on tickets for the games up at Stevens Point  -  I'm counting on going up, but when I called this morning, I was told the schools would have a conference call this afternoon to discuss distribution.... 

[sean-o]

Just a quick note on the Wash.U crowds of this past year from someone who hasn't missed a home game...Attendence figures are very tough to report because, well, they don't sell tickets. Even for the NCAA games, Wash. U students (who make up a clear majority of the crowd at all home games) weren't charged for tickets. Basically what happened is that because the NCAA needs an official count, the ticket counters count each person through the door, but that becomes quite hard to do when 15-20 students roll through en masse with nothing more than student ID's. You simply can't count all those. Also, a lot of students enter through alternate entrances or later in the game. So, Friday's announced crowd of 1524 was, in actuality, a lot more like 2200-2300 and Saturday's announced crowd of 833 was a lot more like 1200. The official Friday crowd of 1524 was considerably larger than the UChicago crowd of a week earlier, which was announced as 1907. Also, the 745 seasonal average is misleading in that because the UAA plays Friday night and then at noon on sunday, friday night crowds are considerably larger than sunday crowds. WashU has been a very tough place to play all year. Ask anyone who played in the field house; the bears didn't lose at home all season.

This is so easy to solve for NCAA games. Print out tickets and give each student with an ID one. There, you've solved your problem.

[John Gleich]

I'm not sure if the last game was dubbed a sellout... but the attendance was listed at 2504.  The way the tickets were distributed two years ago, UWSP got half, and then the other half were split up between Puget Sound, Trinity (TX), and Hanover.  I know that UPS and Trinity didn't use up their full allotment and I'm almost positive that Hanover only used about 2/3 of theirs.  

This gives approximately 417 tickets to each school... if things go the way they have previously.

That said, the UWSP/UW Oshkosh game earlier this year was listed at 2700... That was general admission, and they weren't being as strict about making people sit in the seat they were assigned... I remember the student section in particular over flowed onto the space in between the behind-the-basket bleachers and the bleachers where the students sit... er... stand.

I know that the tickets available to UWSP fans will begin to be sold tomorrow morning at 8:00 am.  I've already got plans to be there at about 6:00 to get my seats!

[diehardfan]

This is so easy to solve for NCAA games. Print out tickets and give each student with an ID one. There, you've solved your problem.

It's easy to do for regular games too... you just have a table where the students flash their ID for one of those little raffle tickets and and the student gives one to the gate person as they walk through just like everyone else...

So, do Washington U. fans travel well.  I know St. Louis is a good 8 hours from Point.  I talked to my dad and he remembers that Quandt was full when the Pointer women hosted a sectional, which I believed included Washington U.

The Wash U men do not draw particularly well at home (745 avg attendance this year) and in all the years the Bears have played @ IWU, I can't remember more than just 20-30 fans making the trip.  Obviously a tournament game is different than a non-conference game, but my guess is that Wash U will have 100 or less fans at UW-SP.

About Wash U fans: I drove down to St. Louis one afternoon to catch a Sunday men's game in St. Louis against Rochester (who was #1 at the time) when I was still in college at Wheaton. Interestingly, the Men's game was the "warmup" for the Women's game. The stadium was relatively empty for the men's game. After the game, I decided to wait a bit before making the long 5 hr drive back to the Chicagoland area, and watch the part of the women's game. Much to my surprise, the stadium got packed really fast as the women's game was about to start. While I think all programs should be better supported than they are (except for a few notable exceptions), I  thought in Wash U situation was fun in its uniqueness. With that said, I hope that Wash U comes out in force to Stevens Point and I hope I get to meet many of your fans there!

[David Collinge]

I'm not sure if the last game was dubbed a sellout... but the attendance was listed at 2504.  The way the tickets were distributed two years ago, UWSP got half, and then the other half were split up between Puget Sound, Trinity (TX), and Hanover.  I know that UPS and Trinity didn't use up their full allotment and I'm almost positive that Hanover only used about 2/3 of theirs. 

This gives approximately 417 tickets to each school... if things go the way they have previously.

Things will, or should, be the same, as per the NCAA's policy:

Four-team Sites: Day One–Two games
1. Home team will receive one-half of available seating. The remaining half of available seating will be equally distributed in terms of number and location among the three visiting teams.
2. Each section should have its own clearly identifiable tickets (separate color than home supporters, other visiting supporters or walk-up tickets)
3. Visiting teams must notify the host institution in writing (via fax) of any of its ticket allotment it has not sold by:
• First- and second-round sites: Thursday, March 1, noon (local time of the host institution);
• Sectional sites: Thursday, March 8, noon (local time of the host institution);
• If the host is not notified by the visiting team by the prescribed times, the visiting team shall be financially accountable for its total ticket allotment.
4. The host institutions must notify the other visiting teams by 3 p.m. of that same day, of their opportunity to purchase additional tickets (the "returned" tickets must be equally distributed among the remaining teams, based on requests by the visiting teams).
Example 1:
Host Team A receives one-half of the available tickets. Visiting teams B, C, and D are given equal portions of the remaining tickets. Teams A, B and C use their entire allotment. Team D returns 300 tickets. If teams A, B and C want all the tickets they can get, then each will receive 100 additional tickets.
Example 2:
Host Team A receives one-half of the available tickets. Visiting teams B, C, and D are given equal portions of the remaining tickets. Teams A, B and C use their entire allotment. Team D returns 300 tickets. Teams A and B want all the tickets they can get, but team C requests only 50 additional tickets. Therefore, team C gets 50 of the 300 remaining tickets, and teams A and B are given equal portions of the remaining allotment (125 each).
5. The host must be notified by 3 p.m. (local time of the host) on the first day of competition of the additionally offered tickets that will not be used by the visiting teams.

[Marty Peretz]

The great Wash. U student fans would travel, but spring break will prevent them from doing so and thus, you won't meet very many of them. As for the game, check out today's edition of the Wash.U. student newspaper, Student Life, where Whitworth head coach has some choice words for the Wisconsin league. Studlife.com is the address.

[jagluski]

So, do Washington U. fans travel well.  I know St. Louis is a good 8 hours from Point.  I talked to my dad and he remembers that Quandt was full when the Pointer women hosted a sectional, which I believed included Washington U.

The Wash U men do not draw particularly well at home (745 avg attendance this year) and in all the years the Bears have played @ IWU, I can't remember more than just 20-30 fans making the trip.  Obviously a tournament game is different than a non-conference game, but my guess is that Wash U will have 100 or less fans at UW-SP.

About Wash U fans: I drove down to St. Louis one afternoon to catch a Sunday men's game in St. Louis against Rochester (who was #1 at the time) when I was still in college at Wheaton. Interestingly, the Men's game was the "warmup" for the Women's game. The stadium was relatively empty for the men's game. After the game, I decided to wait a bit before making the long 5 hr drive back to the Chicagoland area, and watch the part of the women's game. Much to my surprise, the stadium got packed really fast as the women's game was about to start. While I think all programs should be better supported than they are (except for a few notable exceptions), I  thought in Wash U situation was fun in its uniqueness. With that said, I hope that Wash U comes out in force to Stevens Point and I hope I get to meet many of your fans there!

This is the way the UAA works.  Friday night home games are women at 6, men at 8 and Sunday home games are men at 12 or 1, women at 2 or 3.  And how many college students do you know that will wake up for a 12pm basketball game on a Sunday! 

Marty is probably correct though; you'll have decent community/parents/etc support from the Wash U fans, but not much else since the students are on Spring Break.  I would love to go...enjoyed my trip up there 3 years ago when the women played.  Alas, I'm an alum at this point and the New York to Stevens Point trip isn't happening.  I'll be listening on the internet.

Marty's also right...there's an interesting article in the Wash U paper today where Whitworth's coach says a) He's rooting for Wash U this weekend b) He's not a fan of the WIAC and says UWSP should be D-II

[Pat Coleman]

I'm sure a lot of schools would think the NWC schools belong back in the NAIA as well. But any school that doesn't give scholarships, whether it be 350-student Southern Vermont or 17,000-student NYU, should be welcome in Division III.