2018 Summit League Tournament

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wrj
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Just for kicks, find one of those websites that calculates the geographic center of multiple cities. Enter all of the current Summit League cities, either for this year of your best prediction for next year, See where the tournament might be played if a central location was the prime consideration.
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wiu712
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I used the current 8 Summit League teams and the Geographic Midpoint website.

They are showing the center point to be Harlan, Iowa (pop = 5,000). Harlan is 60 miles northeast of Omaha and is 100 miles west of Des Moines.

Looks like Omaha would be the closest town with athletic venues and hotels.
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ST_Lawson
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Same calculation plus Grand forks, ND, and you're near Holstein, IA, just a bit east of Sioux City, IA.

So, location-wise... Probably some place like Omaha (if we're ok with a "home team") or Des Moines.


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wiu712
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ST_Lawson wrote: Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:11 pmSo, location-wise... Probably some place like Omaha (if we're ok with a "home team").
Macomb to Omaha is 350 miles. Macomb to Sioux Falls is 500 miles.
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Tere North
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And what do you think the attendance would be in Omaha. The question comes down to, do you want to play where there are 6k+ fans, even if they aren't yours, or maybe 1k fans, who again may not be yours. Personally, I'd rather play in front of the bigger crowd.

In 2017, for 13 home games, Omaha totaled 5,850 for an average per game of 450. In comparison, Western had 14 home games, totaling 10,721 for a 766 per game average, and we worry about out attendance being small. South Dakota averaged 1,831 per home game and South Dakota State averaged 1,908 per home game.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketb ... d/2017.pdf
OldHare
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The biggest influence for performance at the tournament is having a season that makes your team a 1seed or 2 seed. Sunday as a day of rest is a bigger advantage than location. Location is important, but a successful regular season tips the scales more. If one thinks an empty arena is what is needed to compete, the advice of the WBB UCONN coach is get better may be in order. JD has started that.
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sealhall74
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Location is important but timing is everything. Need to switch it to a Friday thru Sunday format. Semi on Monday and Final on Tuesday favors the locals only. Use the Pentagon and Denny on Friday for the quarters. Saturday and Sunday games at the Denny. One session on Sunday for both mens and womens games. No day off needed so no advantage for the #1 and #2.

If ESPN cant fit it a live telecast on the weekend, tough. Let them show a replay whenever they can fit it in.
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ST_Lawson
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Tere North wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 1:00 am And what do you think the attendance would be in Omaha. The question comes down to, do you want to play where there are 6k+ fans, even if they aren't yours, or maybe 1k fans, who again may not be yours. Personally, I'd rather play in front of the bigger crowd.

In 2017, for 13 home games, Omaha totaled 5,850 for an average per game of 450. In comparison, Western had 14 home games, totaling 10,721 for a 766 per game average, and we worry about out attendance being small. South Dakota averaged 1,831 per home game and South Dakota State averaged 1,908 per home game.

http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/w_basketb ... d/2017.pdf
Agreed...I don't have a problem with playing in Sioux Falls. Yes, there will be times when it feels like we're the visiting team, but you also sometimes get a loud crowd of, for example, SDSU fans rooting for us to knock off USD or NDSU or something. I think it's better to play in front of a nice large crowd, even if it's mostly not your fans, than it is to play in a mostly empty arena.

It wouldn't be as big of an issue if we had a better team. Finish higher in the standings and you don't start the tournament facing off against the #1 team. As someone earlier in the thread mentioned, way back in "the day", the Mid-Con tournament had top seeds hosting games at their places. Would you rather take on #1 SDSU at Sioux Falls...or in Brookings? Does it make that much of a difference?....probably not, although you'll likely get a few more WIU fans (and the WIU band) having it at SF instead of just going up to Brookings for one game. The America East, Atlantic Sun, Big South, MAC, Northeast, and Patriot conferences all have at least some of their conference tournament games at the campus sites. At least with the setup we have now, fans like our own sealhall74 will make the trip to SF to watch most or all of the tournament, including WIU's game(s).
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sealhall74
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Before coming to this one, I used to go down to Richmond every year for the CAA. They had the same issues there with the tournament being in VCU's backyard and VCU dominated it over the years. Several other Virginia schools like Mason, Bill and Mary, and James Madison all were pretty close and brought a lot of students and fans, as did UNC-Wilmington from way down south. I think there was just a lot better fan representation from all schools concerned. The battle of the pep bands was a special event on Saturday. Somehow they managed to dole the tickets out so that each team had its own "Sea of whatever colors" that were playing. Could I even get an all sessions ticket? I dont know,I never had one for it. I would go down on Friday and stay thru Sunday and never went to the finals on Monday. Comparing the two- I think the overall fan experience was better in the CAA. But the people in Sioux Falls also put on a good show but it is mostly for the Dakota schools, no doubt about that.
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wiu712
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sealhall74 wrote: Tue Mar 06, 2018 8:26 amNeed to switch it to a Friday thru Sunday format. Semi on Monday and Final on Tuesday favors the locals only. Use the Pentagon and Denny on Friday for the quarters. Saturday and Sunday games at the Denny. One session on Sunday for both mens and womens games. No day off needed so no advantage for the #1 and #2.
Seal Hall has a good idea. Having the Women's championship game on a Tuesday afternoon does not seem like an ideal time. In last year's Women's championship game (Western vs IUPUI), the crowd was 2,005.
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