Today the NCAA made one of the more logical decisions they've made in some time. They have decided to hold the four first round play-in games at the UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
While this is a logical choice for many reasons, most of which I will get to momentarily, I would like to point out that the NCAA is developing a terrible habit of not taking any of my advice. I have all the answers to the conference expansion conundrum, yet they refuse to return my emails. I even petitioned to have William & Mary change their mascot from "the Tribe" to "the Honey Badgers" and they shot me down. (OK, I'm lying. But isn't that an awesome name?)
But I digress. The NCAA did get it right with this decision.
With second and third round games taking place in Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Tampa, Tulsa, Tuscon, and Washington D.C, the first round site should be as central as possible to all the sites, and Dayton, Ohio is smack-dab in the middle.
The UD Arena holds roughly 14,000 which is an ideal size for an opening round game. Last year, the official attendance for the play-in game featuring Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Winthrop was 8,205. In 2009, when Morehead State defeated Alabama State in the play-in game, the attendance was listed at nearly 11,000. As I've mentioned before, there is nothing worse than seeing a bunch of empty sections in the upper deck, so an arena with a 14,000-seat capacity is perfect for basically a meaningless tournament game.
Now, with four games instead of one, the attendance in 2011 is sure to increase. If the NCAA had decided to have four different sites host play-in games, there is no guarantee that attendance would improve. In fact, I would guess that the attendance might actually decrease if they did this, unless the NCAA decided to have the last at-large teams play in the opening round instead of the lowest-ranked teams. The last at-larges tend to be bigger schools with bigger followings, hence more fans attending and watching the games.
Dayton is no Gotham City, but it is suitable enough for a two-day tournament session. The University of Dayton had the highest average attendance of any Atlantic-10 team in 2010, with 12,260 fans showing up for each home game. Overall, UD was 28th in home attendance last year, which was higher than Georgetown, Kansas State, Wake Forest, Missouri and a bunch of other BCS-conference schools. In short, Dayton has basketball fans, and even if the Flyers aren't playing, there will certainly be enough fans to fill the UD Arena.
In the past, the play-in game had been held on ESPN, which is available on standard cable. The first four games in 2011 will be nationally televised in primetime on Turner Broadcasting’s truTV, as part of the NCAA’s 14-year broadcast agreement with Turner and CBS. Now, I don't watch a lot of television, but I consider myself pretty up-to-date on pop culture. But up until right now, I had never even heard of truTV. If I had to guess, it's probably located on the dial somewhere between the Home & Garden network and whatever channel airs Ninja Warrior.
My only other complaint with the NCAA on this subject is the naming of the play-in round. Instead of naming it the "First Four", the "Opening Round", or even the "Play-in Round", they have decided to call it the "First Round". Thus, the real first and second rounds will be known as the second and third rounds. How can you have a first round in which not all the teams participate?
But in general, the NCAA made the right choice. Now I just have to determine which way to point my rabbit-ear antennae in order to get truTV.
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Thursday, September 9, 2010
NCAA "First Four" to take place in Dayton |
Monday, June 28, 2010
On to the next ... college hoops talking point: play-in games |
With the expansion talk finally settling down (Dammit, Summit League, will you just make a decision on North Dakota already! You're killing me!), Tom Izzo firmly entrenched in East Lansing, and the NBA Draft over and done with, us college hoops writers essentially have one major storyline to follow that doesn't involve recruiting scandals.
The NCAA Tournament play-in games.
More specifically, who will be playing in these games?
According to an Andy Katz report today, the NCAA Tournament committee met today to discuss the format of the new 68 team tournament. And while no answer is expected until sometime in July, we did get a chance to see the three scenarios that are being tossed around.
Winthrop, from the (photo credit: CSMonitor)
The first is the obvious -- the 61st-68th teams, or the 16th and 17th seeds in each bracket, would play for the right to take on the No. 1 seeds. The second scenario involves two at-large teams playing for the 10th-13th seeds, respectively. The third scenario is a combination of both of those scenarios, and sounds much more complicated than anything that the NCAA would actually put into place. In all likelihood, those making the decisions will disregard the third scenario, just like I'm going to.
The arguments for, and against, each of these options are obvious and justified. Is it fair for low- and mid-major conference champions to be forced to participate in the "play-in" game simply because they come from a smaller league? Is it better to allow mediocre major conferences teams at the cut line of the at-large pool to avoid the play-in game? Does anyone care that the smaller conferences will get pigeon-holed into automatic play-in game bids?
Giving the smaller schools the chance to take down one of the big boys not only would be in the true spirit of the NCAA Tournament -- every David, in a single game, has a chance to pull off a miracle and beat the Giant (cliche alert!!!) -- but it would also provide a better viewing audience for the first round.
What would more people be inclined to watch: Winthrop vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, or Florida vs. Virginia Tech? Not only would the NCAA be appeasing the college basketball watching public by taking the side of the little guy, they would be doing it while maximizing the number of eyes on TV screens.
That said, the NCAA Tournament, while entertaining, is college basketball's national championship. The best in the nation are supposed to be playing for a title, and the better teams are supposed to be getting better draws. It shouldn't matter what conference you play in or how big your school is or whether or not you won your conference tournament. You're out of your mind if you argue that either Winthrop or Arkansas-Pine Bluff is a better team than anyone near the cut-line in this year's field.
Not to sound like Jay Bilas, but shouldn't these teams be thankful they are getting a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament as it is? Like I said, this is a championship tournament, and as such, shouldn't it consist of the 64 or 65 or 68 best teams? Not the 40-45 best teams, and a bunch of teams that no one has seen or heard before.
And, for the record, if we are ever going to see a No. 1 seed lose their first game, it will be with this format. The 17 seeds will, in general, be the teams that are not all that good, struggled through a weak conference, and then got hot during their league tournament. The 16 seeds will tend to be the teams that won the regular season and tournament championships, but just won't have the non-conference schedule to allow them to be seeded higher.
Like I said, both sides have valid arguments. It will be interesting to see how the NCAA handles it. Will they give in to the pressure of the bigger schools and allow them to avoid the play-in games? Or will they do what the majority of the college basketball fans and writers will want, which also allows them to stack more money?
Personally, I'd be pleasantly surprised if the NCAA forced at-large teams to play in the play-in games, but I have no clue what will happen.
The only thing I know is that regardless of the decision that is made, someone is going to be unhappy about it.
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Monday, April 26, 2010
Where should the Play-In games be held? |
In a strange turn of events, the NCAA has decided NOT to add 32 at-large teams to next year's college basketball tournament, thus saving all of us the pain of filling out a 96-team bracket on a 18x11 sheet of paper. Instead, only three at-large teams will join the dance, meaning each region will have it's own play-in game.
Instead of debating what method of expansion is more tolerable, lets get realistic and start looking towards March Madness 2011. Here's my off-the-beaten-path question: Where exactly are they going to play these four play-in games?
This might not have too much relevance in the overall scheme of tournament expansion, but I mean, aren't we all sick of debating the same thing over and over? This might have little importance to the actual tournament, but it's the off-season and the topic-well is starting to become dry.
The UD Arena, home to the Dayton Flyers, has been the site for the play-in game since 2001, and will continue to do so until 2013. The arena was renovated prior the 2001 season and seats roughly 14,000 people, which is the ideal number of fans for a NCAA opening round game. After all, Play-in games won't draw big crowds, so large-capacity stadiums are unnecessary (there is nothing worse than watching a tournament game and seeing an empty upper-deck).It would be pointless to hold the game at say, the un-affiliated, 21,000-seat Quick N' Loans Arena.
Now, while it would be logical to place all four play-in games in Dayton over the course of two days, I'm not sure this would be the most logical decision.
More than likely, the four play-in games will feature the eight weakest automatic qualifiers, so the teams would probably come from different corners of the country (Big Sky, NEC, MEAC, Southland, Summit....). So it would make more sense to designate an arena in each part of the country as the play-in host for that particular region. After all, there are a handful of very good arenas between 8,000-18,000 that would work well as host sites for a NCAA play-in game.
First let's take a look at what sites would work for the Midwest play-in game.
Obviously, The UD Arena is the top draw. It will host a play-in game until 2013 when the contract expires. It is a large, very clean and attractive arena. It is located in a large college town, and is with-in close travel distance from most Midwest hubs and other Ohio colleges.
The Qwest Center, home of the Creighton Blue Jays would also serve as a great site for a opening round game. Creighton fans are a passionate bunch and I am sure that season ticket-holders would go to this game even if their Blue Jays aren't playing. 
The 18,000 seat arena in Omaha, Nebraska would be ideal because it has been renovated recently (2006) and would be a quick plane flight away from regional sites like Kansas City, St. Louis, or Oklahoma City. I've watched many a game played at the Qwest Centre and I can tell you that the atmosphere is one to remember.
Not too many gyms in the Midwest, let alone the country are as old or as legendary as the Hinkle Fieldhouse, home to the Butler Bulldogs. While the Hinkle has much more wear-and-tear than the newer arenas, the size (roughly 8,000) and the location (Indianapolis) make it a good fit. 
Plus, it is a great draw for local fans because the place inspires so much history. If I was a fan of the IUPUI Cougars and they won the Summit League, I'd sure as hell make the weekend trip to Indy for the play-in game.
These would work too:
The BOK Center - Tulsa, OK - 16,000
Hilton Coliseum - Iowa State - 15,000
In the west, The Thomas & Mack Center, home to UNLV, would be a solid location for the play-in game. First off, it's Vegas, so obviously it's a no-brainer. With a capacity of roughly 18,000, it might be a bit too large for a opening round game, but it is a 5-star venue, hosting events such as NBA All-Star Weekend, numerous WWE pay-per-views, and of course, the Pro Bull Riding Championships.
How about New Mexico's University Arena?, also known as The Pit. It is one of the best venues in all of college basketball. It is true that the atmosphere for the play-in game would be much different than a Lobos home game, but The Pit has something special about it.
The Pit seats 16,000, and is a single-bowl arena, so even if it isn't filled to capacity, it will look more-filled than an arena with two or three bowls. Plus New Mexico would work for West Regional sites like San Antonio, Denver, Phoenix, or Salt Lake City.
These would work too:
Viejas Arena - San Diego State - 12,000
Hec Edmundson Pavilion - Washington - 11,000
There is only one place on the East Coast (not including MSG) that I want to see the East Regional game played: The Palestra. The home to the Big-5 in Philadelphia, The Palestra is known as the College Hoops Cathedral.
It is small (8,000) and old (broke ground in 1926) but you won't find a more intimate college hoops setting. Any game played at The Palestra is sure to be really loud. Also, it would be an added bonus for mid-major teams to be able to play a NCAA tournament game at The Palestra. Because after all, it's very unlikely that any teams playing an opening round game will make it past the first round.
If the Palestra was unavailable, I would also consider using The Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island. It's the perfect size (12,000) and has hosted previous tournament games. Providence Is an ideal setting for single play-in game. 
Plus Southwest Airlines has flights from Baltimore, Manchester, Boston and Rochester for Around $150 round-trip...(that's what happens when you go to boarding school. Instead of living in different neighborhoods, your friends live in different states.)
These would work too:
The RAC - Rutgers - 8,000
The Patriot Center - George Mason - 10,000
Our final region, the South, features a handful of good venues in metropolitan areas accessible to large fan bases and other regional sites. The O'Connell Center at Florida, more appropriately known as "The O'Dome" would be a perfect site. It's got perfect size (12,000), is in an accessible part of Florida to the rest of the South, and is a nice-enough arena to be used by the NCAA, even if it is just for one game. 
"The O'Dome" has gained a huge reputation for being a rowdy place to play. Obviously, a play-in game would not be as rowdy as a Gators home game, but nonetheless, I think "The O'Dome" would be a good choice.
A venue in the deep south that doesn't get nearly enough attention is the Thomas Assembly Center and Karl Malone Court. The home arena for the Louisana Tech Bulldogs is an underrated venue, but is ideal size (9,000). Having recently been rennovated thanks to the generous donations of "The Mailman", it would serve as an interesting candidate for an opening round host site.
I am well aware that Ruston, the home to Louisiana Tech, is in the middle of nowhere. But the Ruston Regional airport does service flights to New Orleans, Shreveport, Little Rock and Dallas. Come on people, work with me a bit here.
These would work too:
The Sun Dome - South Florida - 10,000
Lawrence Joel Coliseum - Wake Forest - 15,000
So in review, next year's tournament will feature four play-in games instead of one, but atleast it's not 96. We already know one game will be played in Dayton, Ohio. It is very possible that all four get played in Dayton, but hopefully somebody on the selection committee will have read this and decided to use some of these fabulous arenas to hold play-in games.
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