A Sea Of Red

We know KK is inept, but the UNCA brass allowing a tourney, from a conference they aren't even affiliated with, to play games in their building is frankly quite dumb, and now they are reaping their reward....

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... |Frontpage

I've always been for holding the semis and final in one spot, and playing the earlier round, now rounds, on campus sites. This adds fuel to my assertion.

It would suck for UNCA to win the regular season, earn home court, then have to play a title game on the road. I'd love to hear the UNCA fans take on this....

This is the first I'm hearing of this. That's funny. What a dumb idea for UNCA to schedule ANYTHING in their new place at a time when they could be hosting.

Mickey Mouse Big South

I am not surprised at anything pertaining to Big South schools. I do not know anything about the tournet at UNCA, don't even know what tourney it is. But I do know Big South has no common sense when it comes to their own tourney. they play it at the highest seed, when many venues do not have facilities to host a tourney. In women's BB, they have it at High Point who has a gym not even suitable for high school basketball. Ther e is only one venue in Big South for a post season tournament: The Vines Center.

Winthrop, VMI, Radford, Liberty, Campbell and Asheville would all be fine hosts. This league does not need an 8,000-seat arena for its championships.

EDIT: Gardner-Webb's building is fine, too. And High Point is perfect for the women's championship, which draws flies whereever you play it.

It's the SOCON women's tournament, most of which will be played at the Asheville Civic Center, but they wanted to use UNCA's new building for some games as well. The SOCON womens final last year didn't even draw 1,000 attendance, you think they could use their old Justus Center instead.

I just read the article on what's going on down in Asheville. I cannot believe the school let that happen. In reality, come tournametn time, they should play tourney at a neutral site, and one large enough to hold all fans that want to attend. If Big South were to do this, they would make more money and have a better tournament.

Chris Lang wrote:Winthrop, VMI, Radford, Liberty, Campbell and Asheville would all be fine hosts. This league does not need an 8,000-seat arena for its championships.

EDIT: Gardner-Webb's building is fine, too. And High Point is perfect for the women's championship, which draws flies whereever you play it.

Thanks for the props Lang. G-W needs to get rid of the metal bleachers behind the baskets somehow, then it may be more fan-friendly for tournaments. The Calvinists in Clinton have a nice gym as well, but it is a gym, and couldn't host a mens tourney IMHO.

ballcoach15 wrote:I am not surprised at anything pertaining to Big South schools. I do not know anything about the tournet at UNCA, don't even know what tourney it is. But I do know Big South has no common sense when it comes to their own tourney. they play it at the highest seed, when many venues do not have facilities to host a tourney. In women's BB, they have it at High Point who has a gym not even suitable for high school basketball. Ther e is only one venue in Big South for a post season tournament: The Vines Center.

I totally agree. In 2004 LU Men beat High Point in BSC tournament at VInes Center in front of 8,515!!!

In 1998 (okay this is a stretch) the women drew 5K per game for 2 games in BSC tournament also at Vines. Unfortunately our women's team attendance continues to go down now for the last 5 years

I think the funniest thing is that UNC-A is crying about the whole situation.... It sucks but they should have thought that they were going to be a high seed in Mens basketball tourney, that weekend should have been a black out on the calender.

And what if they went to a socon arena???

Like this one only 10 miles away.
http://www.catamountsports.com/faciliti ... enter.html

Alittle big, but could be considered a home game.

Just saying. I know the brand new place on campus but stop crying. lol.

I don't know how long a lot of you guys have been around but playing the games at the home seed site is way way better than at a neutral site. The Big South doesn't exactly have the type of fans that travel well. At least not in the numbers it takes to fill up a neutral site. The Roanoke CC was a ghost town.

The Roanoke CC is an awful location to begin with. Sure it's reasonably close to Radford, LU, and VMI, but not so much for the rest of the league.

The Roanoke CC is too big for the Big South Tournament anyways with a 10,500 capacity. No one is even averaging 2,000 per home game.

• Liberty averaged 2.8K per home game last year
  In 2010, two teams averaged over 2,000 but under 3,000
  In 2009, one team averaged 3300 and two teams over 2000
  In 2008, one over 3K, one over 2K
  In 2007, WInthrop averaged 4,001
  In 2006, WInthrop averaged just abrely over 3,000
  In 2005, one team over 3000, one team over 2000
  In 2004, one team over 3000, one team over 2000

If no one can draw more than that at a home arena on average, why did they ever expect to come anywhere close to capacity in the Roanoke CC unless LU, VMI, or RU were in it, and even then it wouldn't have been likely. Fans are lazy, most aren't going to show up away from the home court unless the school has a rather large, national fanbase.

The decision to have it at the Roanoke CC looks like an ill-conceived decision at its finest. I like the idea of having the whole tourney in a 3-4 day span at a neutral location as it could really help boost attendance with having all fans converge to one location, but you can't put it at a place like the Roanoke CC that is far away from over half the teams in the conference...

If we don't make a miracle tourney run I'm pulling hard for a Charelston Southern/UNCA final. That would make the BSC look just awesome. Then we could hear all about the kerfluffle on national television! That would make me happy!
I'm sure UNCA is making some good money on this, but it won't replace the money they would make for an opening round NCAA game. But if any team is equipped to win on the road, IMO it's UNCA.

lynchburgwildcats wrote:The Roanoke CC is an awful location to begin with. Sure it's reasonably close to Radford, LU, and VMI, but not so much for the rest of the league.

The Roanoke CC is too big for the Big South Tournament anyways with a 10,500 capacity. No one is even averaging 2,000 per home game.

• Liberty averaged 2.8K per home game last year
  In 2010, two teams averaged over 2,000 but under 3,000
  In 2009, one team averaged 3300 and two teams over 2000
  In 2008, one over 3K, one over 2K
  In 2007, WInthrop averaged 4,001
  In 2006, WInthrop averaged just abrely over 3,000
  In 2005, one team over 3000, one team over 2000
  In 2004, one team over 3000, one team over 2000

If no one can draw more than that at a home arena on average, why did they ever expect to come anywhere close to capacity in the Roanoke CC unless LU, VMI, or RU were in it, and even then it wouldn't have been likely. Fans are lazy, most aren't going to show up away from the home court unless the school has a rather large, national fanbase.

The decision to have it at the Roanoke CC looks like an ill-conceived decision at its finest. I like the idea of having the whole tourney in a 3-4 day span at a neutral location as it could really help boost attendance with having all fans converge to one location, but you can't put it at a place like the Roanoke CC that is far away from over half the teams in the conference...

Yeah, the Roankoe CC was almost as bad as the Ashville CC

Purple Haize wrote:But if any team is equipped to win on the road, IMO it's UNCA.

Yep, they proved that Thursday night when they went to Campbell and hung 57 on them in the second half after trailing by 12 at half.

If they went neutral site, they need to keep it on a campus somewhere at a smaller setting. Playing it in Roanoke or Asheville Civic Centers or any venue of the same size would be absurd.

I'd like to know, and I am sure someone has done it, what is the exact geographic center of the conference? Probably around Asheboro, NC. Having tournaments at the NC Zoo would be fitting.

Hey don't dump on the Roanoke CC! I went there when they had the tourney there! (I think it was in middle school?)

Overall I get your points, I just really liked having the tourney right beside me.

UNCA Athletics are a mess, and by in large are the least respected within the conference. Conference calls always involve a UNCA idea that rejects all form of common sence.

vicfirth1989 wrote:
Like this one only 10 miles away.
http://www.catamountsports.com/faciliti ... enter.html

When LU played at Western in 2008 in football, I stayed in Asheville. Cullowhee's not 10 miles away. Close to an hour, at least.

Chris Lang wrote:

vicfirth1989 wrote:
Like this one only 10 miles away.
http://www.catamountsports.com/faciliti ... enter.html

When LU played at Western in 2008 in football, I stayed in Asheville. Cullowhee's not 10 miles away. Close to an hour, at least.

I second that having lived in that area. On a side note I think WCU has a beautiful campus

Google maps says from town to town it's 52.4 miles and a driving time of 1 hour, 1 minute.

Well i am an idiot...... They have a office that Google maps places in asheville. I didn't take time to do my research. my bad.

Any way you shake it , the ONLY venue in Big South suitable for a tourney is the Vines Center. This is taking all logistics into consideration: location, lodging, food, seating, etc.

ballcoach15 wrote:Any way you shake it , the ONLY venue in Big South suitable for a tourney is the Vines Center. This is taking all logistics into consideration: location, lodging, food, seating, etc.

How is it any more suitable than the Winthrop Coliseum? (which is more centrally located in the conference than Vines...big enough for this type of tourney, with ton of lodging within 3-5 miles, etc)

Unless a team earns the right to host due to regular season success, I'm not a big fan of the tourney at somebody's homecourt...but to say Vines is the only venue in the league suitable for it is just wrong.

In reality, the tournament SHOULD NOT be on anyone's homecourt, regardless of what they did in regular season. when a conference uses regular season records for site selection, problems arise because some schools do not have suitable facilitites for a tournament. Get a neutral site and play ball.

WEF is absolutely correct on this in that considering the current format of playin at a BSC venue, then Winthrop is the best option.

Personally I feel that Charlotte is pretty much the center of the conference footprint.. The tourney was held in Lynchburg for many years in the mid-late 90's- it wasn't always that good & it gave a huge advantage to one school- frankly that's not the answer. When the tourney was in Roanoke it wasn't at all a good proximity for most of the conference in addition to being a poor host city/venue..

As a basketball fan- I would love to see a neutral site & watch a lot of basketball- so far nothing has been announced that meets the most objective criteria of central proximity and amenities..