Same Site for Championship Weekend: Let's Do It!

[cciwrabblerouser]

A discussion has been started in the CCIW room about the NCAA having the same site for both the men and women for the final basketball championship weekend.  It already has been very successful in D-III soccer, and I can attest that the athletes and fans enjoy having a single site in that sport.  Opinions, pro and/or con?

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

8 games in two days? Oof... certainly possible... but that is a lot of basketball and someone is going to get the short end of the stick.

[Pat Coleman]

I am not sure the Division III powers that be want to add a day to the weekend or play semifinal games in the afternoon to accomplish this. That would be the short end of the stick Dave refers to.

[Just Bill]

8 games in two days? Oof... certainly possible... but that is a lot of basketball and someone is going to get the short end of the stick.

I'd say six games. Honestly no one really needs the third place game or an all-star game. Fitting in 16 hours of required practice time on the same court and still having banquets and making it special would be the bigger challenge.

Soccer has done it, so it's not impossible, but it would be tough.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Just Bill... you haven't seen the all-star game, then. It is worth keeping and a nice way of saluting some of the best seniors in the nation.

[Just Bill]

I don't have doubt that it is a nice thing to do. I'm just saying it's not necessary in the administration of a championship event.

[Pat Coleman]

I don't have doubt that it is a nice thing to do. I'm just saying it's not necessary in the administration of a championship event.

Once you're committed to playing the four games on Friday, it's not such a big deal to play three on Saturday.

[Just Bill]

I don't have doubt that it is a nice thing to do. I'm just saying it's not necessary in the administration of a championship event.

Once you're committed to playing the four games on Friday, it's not such a big deal to play three on Saturday.

In this hypothetical though, I'd rather let the four championship game teams get their 60 minute shootaround on Saturday at reasonable times rather than have an All-Star game and a third place game. Just my opinion.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

Pat, do they try to keep the games at night to attract the local crowd?  I've always wondered why they didn't play the games in the morning/early afternoon and put them on TV before the d1 tournament kicks off at 3EST.

They used to do that for d2 and d3 didn't they?  I feel like I remember seeing those games on CBS in the 90's.

[Just Bill]

Pat, do they try to keep the games at night to attract the local crowd?  I've always wondered why they didn't play the games in the morning/early afternoon and put them on TV before the d1 tournament kicks off at 3EST.

They used to do that for d2 and d3 didn't they?  I feel like I remember seeing those games on CBS in the 90's.

They would move times around for broadcast TV when that was done. Broadcast TV is no longer interested in us anymore, however. So now they play evenings so each team can get close to a 24 hour rest period between games.

C'mon Pat, think selfishly! You'd much rather deploy the total D3Hoops full court coverage at one site, than two.

[Pat Coleman]

It would be good for us staffing-wise but I'm thinking of the fan and player experience and I'm not sure it's worth it. The women's championship would definitely play second-fiddle in the local media. The soccer folks may love it but I'm not sure how much play either championship got in the San Antonio media, and if it did, I'm sure women's soccer got less, especially if you exclude almost-local Hardin-Simmons from 2010.

Believe me, we've certainly heard much crazier ideas, but not sure this one would be an enhancement to the championship. And despite what was said above, I'm not sure Salem would actually be interested in hosting such an event.

[Just Bill]

For the record, I'm not really in favor of it either. I think the headaches outweigh the benefits. If putting them together got us something big, like guaranteed TV coverage on a decent network or something else positive, then I might think harder about it.

[smedindy]

It may 'diminish' the championship of one tourney to combine with the other. Let each have their glory.

[KnightSlappy]

Crazy idea:

Women's Semifinals in Holland, MI on Friday
Men's Semifinals in Grand Rapids, MI on Friday
All Star Game + Women's Final + Men's Final in Grand Rapids, MI on Saturday.

'Traveling' for the Women between the two venues wouldn't be ideal, but it would be a way to allow one big championship event without really screwing anyone over.

[Knightstalker]

Crazy idea:

Women's Semifinals in Holland, MI on Friday
Men's Semifinals in Grand Rapids, MI on Friday
All Star Game + Women's Final + Men's Final in Grand Rapids, MI on Saturday.

I went to Grand Rapids once, it was closed.