[Baldspot]

Not sure if the logistics would work if the regular season champ hosts the tournament. That's a lot of hotel rooms to find in a short time period.

[Schfourteenteen]

I think the way it is done now is fine, with one exception - IF YOU EARN HOME COURT ADVANTAGE YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO ACT LIKE A HOME TEAM!! The stupid BSC won't let the home team treat it like a home game, and makes them not do any intros, crowd leading, etc... The announcer can't even get excited for the home team. Give me a break. LU earned that right and the presentation of the games when the BSC controls it - drops about 75% in quality.

Intresting note..... there was no prayer before the game. And it wasn't an accident

[SuperJon]

Things they took away from the game last night:

No flames
No intro video for the team
No smoke/cheerleaders when the team ran out
No prayer
No 3-point t-shirts
No voice inflection from the PA announcer

Things they made us do:

Play Blue by Eiffel 65 twice
Play that awful playlist before the game
Hand out those terrible looking Royal Purple 3's
Put out so many corporate logos we looked like a NASCAR event

[horrez]

I like the way it is now (for the same reasons WEF gave). If, however, the Big South did want to have it all in just one spot then I would say the Charleston area would be perfect for many reasons. The weather is pretty good. Plenty of hotels in the area. I live down here so I won't have to travel. CSU might have a slight advantage, but more times than not they won't be good enough for it to matter. Along those lines, CSU not making the tournament (or getting knocked out early) will only hurt attendance by 200 - 300 people. I think it could work.

[SuperJon]

I like the way it is now (for the same reasons WEF gave). If, however, the Big South did want to have it all in just one spot then I would say the Charleston area would be perfect for many reasons. The weather is pretty good. Plenty of hotels in the area. I live down here so I won't have to travel. CSU might have a slight advantage, but more times than not they won't be good enough for it to matter. Along those lines, CSU not making the tournament (or getting knocked out early) will only hurt attendance by 200 - 300 people. I think it could work.

Only problem with that is CSU is one of the outermost teams in the league. If you were going to put it at a central location, it would have to be in North Carolina so that all the schools can get to it within 3-4 hours.

[SuperJon]

My opinion on the tournament is the higher seed should host no matter the round. Like someone said, I would rather have a true playoff feel than go play a neutral court game in the second round. It rewards the regular season and makes it more fun as a fan. Only twelve people in the country have ESPNU so it's not like we'd be losing much.

[PAmedic]

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[Fumblerooskies]

I like the way it is now (for the same reasons WEF gave). If, however, the Big South did want to have it all in just one spot then I would say the Charleston area would be perfect for many reasons. The weather is pretty good. Plenty of hotels in the area. I live down here so I won't have to travel. CSU might have a slight advantage, but more times than not they won't be good enough for it to matter. Along those lines, CSU not making the tournament (or getting knocked out early) will only hurt attendance by 200 - 300 people. I think it could work.

If I recall...the tournament there was not very well attended. Granted, that was 15-16 years ago, and we no longer have the two Baltimore schools in the league.

[Chris Lang]

Would love to see the Big South go to the format employed by the WCC and Big West -- double byes for the top two seeds.

First round
5 vs. 8
6 vs. 7

Second round
5-8 winner vs. 4
6-7 winner vs. 3

Semifinals
5-8-4 vs. 1
6-7-3 vs. 2

Championship
Semifinal winners

Eliminates the Cinderella factor, which is good in a conference tournament, especially a low-major one like the Big South. Makes the regular-season important and gaining one of those top two seeds very meaningful. The No. 8 seed shouldn't have the same path as the No. 1 seed to winning the automatic bid. I like that the No. 8 would have to win four games, while the No. 1 only has to win two.

Make the regular-season mean more.

[Rooster Cogburn]

LIKE IT CHRIS!

[markymark550]

I like the way it is now (for the same reasons WEF gave). If, however, the Big South did want to have it all in just one spot then I would say the Charleston area would be perfect for many reasons. The weather is pretty good. Plenty of hotels in the area. I live down here so I won't have to travel. CSU might have a slight advantage, but more times than not they won't be good enough for it to matter. Along those lines, CSU not making the tournament (or getting knocked out early) will only hurt attendance by 200 - 300 people. I think it could work.

Only problem with that is CSU is one of the outermost teams in the league. If you were going to put it at a central location, it would have to be in North Carolina so that all the schools can get to it within 3-4 hours.

Charlotte is the closest city to the "center" of the conference. However, I'm not sure if there's a small enough venue in Charlotte to host the tournament. Maybe if UNCC let the conference rent out Halton one weekend....

[prototype]

Things they took away from the game last night:

No flames
No intro video for the team
No smoke/cheerleaders when the team ran out
No prayer
No 3-point t-shirts
No voice inflection from the PA announcer

Things they made us do:

Play Blue by Eiffel 65 twice
Play that awful playlist before the game
Hand out those terrible looking Royal Purple 3's
Put out so many corporate logos we looked like a NASCAR event

No replays for either team (which sucked).

I think the current format is fine, but only 4 schools should have the ability to host in-house - LU, Radford, VMI and Winthrop. All other schools must hold it at a Civic Center or comparable arena or lose the right to host.

[markymark550]

Would love to see the Big South go to the format employed by the WCC and Big West -- double byes for the top two seeds.

First round
5 vs. 8
6 vs. 7

Second round
5-8 winner vs. 4
6-7 winner vs. 3

Semifinals
5-8-4 vs. 1
6-7-3 vs. 2

Championship
Semifinal winners

Eliminates the Cinderella factor, which is good in a conference tournament, especially a low-major one like the Big South. Makes the regular-season important and gaining one of those top two seeds very meaningful. The No. 8 seed shouldn't have the same path as the No. 1 seed to winning the automatic bid. I like that the No. 8 would have to win four games, while the No. 1 only has to win two.

Make the regular-season mean more.

I like this format too. Plus, for those that want all 10 teams in the tournament, this format easily lends itself to incorporating all 10 teams in the tournament once PC becomes eligible. Personally, I don't care that the bottom 2 are left out....but I know some people like to give every team a chance in the tournament. While I do like this idea, I won't hold my breath for the conference to adopt it.

[UNCA Alum]

I like it the way that it is. Makes the regular season mean something and also produces the largest crowds. Having, say, UNCA play Liberty in front of 200 people in Myrtle Beach on ESPN for the championship does absolutely nothing for the Big South Conference.

The single location is great for the semifinals b/c fans from all four schools will be there, creating a good environment, and we are able to get the games on TV.

If the tournament was at Liberty this year, then we could possibly have #1 Radford playing AT #3 Liberty for the championship and NCAA Tournament birth. To me, that makes no sense at all. We could have had a similar situation in 2003, but if I recall correctly there was an upset or two in the semifinals.......


And I agree with the Big South being extremely lame about what they allow at games. No player introductions? Ridiculous.

[Schfourteenteen]

Things they took away from the game last night:

No flames
No intro video for the team
No smoke/cheerleaders when the team ran out
No prayer
No 3-point t-shirts
No voice inflection from the PA announcer

Things they made us do:

Play Blue by Eiffel 65 twice
Play that awful playlist before the game
Hand out those terrible looking Royal Purple 3's
Put out so many corporate logos we looked like a NASCAR event

Adding for the sake of thoroughness

No Sponsorships for games due to Big South Sponsorship Conflicts aka "The Big South Layup Game" instead of Chik-Fil-A
No Couch Potato Fan of the Game
No Domino's Pizza Giveaway
5 Shots for 5K Promotion
No Flames Fanatic T-Shirts

[Schfourteenteen]

A Good System

10 vs 5
9 vs 6
8 vs 7

10/5 vs 2
9/6 vs 3
8/7 vs 4

8/7/4 vs 1
9/6/3 vs 10/5/2

8/7/4/1 vs 9/6/3/10/5/2

Then 8/7/4/1/9/6/3/10/5/2 would go to the tournament and play UNC.

[SuperJon]

I think the current format is fine, but only 4 schools should have the ability to host in-house - LU, Radford, VMI and Winthrop. All other schools must hold it at a Civic Center or comparable arena or lose the right to host.

I'd add Gardner-Webb. Their arena is comparable to Radford.

If I'm not mistaken, UNCA's new one is going to be 3000-3500, right? If so, I think that would be a good place.

I think there should be a 3000 seat minimum to host anything in the tournament.

[kingaling42]

I think the current format is fine, but only 4 schools should have the ability to host in-house - LU, Radford, VMI and Winthrop. All other schools must hold it at a Civic Center or comparable arena or lose the right to host.

I'd add Gardner-Webb. Their arena is comparable to Radford.

If I'm not mistaken, UNCA's new one is going to be 3000-3500, right? If so, I think that would be a good place.

I think there should be a 3000 seat minimum to host anything in the tournament.

A little over 3000 (~3200) is the rumor!! I agree that something should change- just give the schools time to adjust so that home court advantage actually means just that- the players work hard to earn it so make it count!!!

[SuperJon]

Announce before the season that if you host, you have to have a 3000 seat arena. If not for the first round, that should definitely be in place for the school that hosts the 2nd round.

[kingaling42]

I can certainly live with that!! Aside from the attendance issues with a host or even a central site- the feel of a multigame tourney is fun for the die hard basketball junkies like many of us- but it doesn't attract that many other folks which is why it fails in other ways..

[g-webb1994]

Would love to see the Big South go to the format employed by the WCC and Big West -- double byes for the top two seeds.

First round
5 vs. 8
6 vs. 7

Second round
5-8 winner vs. 4
6-7 winner vs. 3

Semifinals
5-8-4 vs. 1
6-7-3 vs. 2

Championship
Semifinal winners

Eliminates the Cinderella factor, which is good in a conference tournament, especially a low-major one like the Big South. Makes the regular-season important and gaining one of those top two seeds very meaningful. The No. 8 seed shouldn't have the same path as the No. 1 seed to winning the automatic bid. I like that the No. 8 would have to win four games, while the No. 1 only has to win two.

Make the regular-season mean more.

Agree with you 100%, play the first two rounds at the higher seed, and play the semis and final at the top seed. It would have meant us playing Coastal before you guys last night, but the fairness of it is a plus.

Also, if you held the tourney in Charlotte you could hold it at the old Grady Cole Center, which seats around 3,000 or at the old Coliseum, known now as Bojangles' Coliseum (formerly Independence Arena and Cricket Arena), which seats around 10,000, but they can use drapes and cut the seating in half where it looks better on television. I saw the drapes used during some high school playoff games there a few years back.

[ToTheLeft]

Oh sheesh. Bojangles Coliseum. Now we're gonna have people on this board insisting that we move all our home games there...

[Cider Jim]

Anybody remember the old days when the tournaments (guys' & girls') were held in Roanoke? That was a decent location but not vey many fans showed up in those days.

[markymark550]

Anybody remember the old days when the tournaments (guys' & girls') were held in Roanoke? That was a decent location but not vey many fans showed up in those days.

It was a good trip for certain, but yeah, the crowds were very thin there....

The 2001 tournament still goes down as one of the more exciting BSC tournaments imo...

[Cider Jim]

And how about tournament in Charleston, SC when Dr. Falwell gave the students an "excused absence" from classes if they went to the game?

(Man, I wish that could have applied to the faculty as well, because I would have been there in a heart beat, instead of teaching the one student on campus who couldn't find a ride to the game).