2014 NCAA Tournament thread

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Even if they did that, you just shifted the east coast teams from Spokane to San Diego

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

They could keep the UCLA quadrant in San Diego, giving them at least one regional draw.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

I don't see the allure of going to one of these pods as a fan anyway. All most fans care about is the bracket, and being at one of these things takes away the ability to check in on all the simultaneous action going on.

You basically have the ability to control a NFL Red Zone of college basketball right from your couch.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Sticking up for my little corner of the world ...

According to the Spokane Arena web site (http://www.spokanearena.com/event.php?eventID=527), tickets for the Thursday and Saturday games are sold out, and have been for weeks, I believe.

You still might see a bunch of empty seats, because: 1. the tickets were bought by crazy hopeful Gonzaga fans, or 2. brokers loaded up and now are trying to get Oklahoma and Michigan State fans to travel here.

But I think you'll see quite a few local butts in the seats on Thursday and Saturday ... especially since GU doesn't play at the same time. Hell, I'm thinking about going on Saturday if Michigan State is playing. We'll see if I can find any tickets ...

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Check Craigslist. When Portland hosted a few years back, people who bought well in advance to "sell out" the Rose Garden were pissed that their seats were so crappy while scalpers were offering seats below cost closer to the court.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

That's why I put the li'l symbol on my comment.

I have a feeling below-cost tickets will be available by Saturday; we'll see.

Although I do recall that Michigan State was in Spokane four years ago, and Spartan fans seemed to come out of the woodwork in the Inland Northwest. (maybe Jud Heathcote's been recruiting). After today, those regional MSU fans must feel like they've hit the jackpot twice.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

As a last resort, hang outside the arena after the first round. Those who travelled out here for the game likely had to buy both rounds, if their team loses they will be looking to unload their second round ducats at a reasonable price. This works well for every round, even and ESPECIALLY for the Final Four.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

But then you really punish Arizona as a No. 1 seed. And you have no one for the set of east coast teams in San Diego, so you still have that problem of bad attendance. Yeah Gonzaga would be a draw for their games, but no one locally is going to care about anyone else.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Tournament rules mean Gonzaga can't play in Spokane. That's a given. Geography means that there are thus no schools in the tournament within reasonable driving distance of Spokane. Closest, which are several hours away, are Idaho and Washington State. So a Spokane pod was always going to have teams from far away with no local rooting interest. I'm going to assume the NCAA knew this, but apparently correctly decided they could sell tickets anyway.
The main reason there are empty seats at early round games isn't that the tickets don't get sold -- it's that games begin at lunchtime when ticket holders are at work and finish up at midnight when ticket buyers have gone home to bed.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Gonzaga could have played in Spokane because that isn't its home arena. If you play four or more regular season games in a building then you can't play there in the tournament. A few years ago Villanova purposefully scheduled more games on campus so it could stay in Philly for the tournament.

But as has been mentioned, the committee would have taken a beating setting up a No. 1 to play the Zags there in the second round.

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Jake, I think that if Gonzaga is "the host" school, it can't play there. Host school coordinates preparations such as travel and media relations. But I could well be wrong.
BTW, it was my impression that all of ESPN's 1674 analysts last night picked Michigan State to win it all except one who picked Duke, who I think was Seth Greenberg. Talk about groupthink! The team we saw win last is the team we pick!!!

 

Re: 2014 NCAA Selection Sunday thread

Is this a different rule than the one that allowed Villanova to play in Philadelphia a few years ago?