WBI Championship Game

sealhall74 · Thu Mar 31, 2016 8:10 am

I know we have a ways to go before we might actually wonder about this, but just checking the pulse of Leatherneck Nation for now. What do you think? Would a deep run in the WNIT be better than a one and done in the NCAA Tournament?

necknerd · Thu Mar 31, 2016 10:24 am

I would certainly rather see our women's teams (and our men's) playing games they can win. Making the NCAA tournament would be great, but losing to UConn in the first round...not so great. In truth I was surprised at my enjoyment of the WBI game, but now I can see the value in such tournament appearances for the morale of the team and of the fans.

wiu712 · Thu Mar 31, 2016 12:00 pm

The home WBI game with SIUC was a great environment.

South Dakota has really benefited from their WNIT run as 5 of their 6 tournament games have been played at home.

sealhall74 · Sat Apr 02, 2016 11:06 am

Was checking out the FGCU arena. The interior layout has a striking resemblance to that of Western Hall. If the big bucks are not there for a brand new arena, I could see a similar-looking renovation to Western Hall.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Alico ... 8f!6m1!1e1

wiu712 · Sat Apr 02, 2016 12:07 pm

sealhall74 wrote:Was checking out the FGCU arena. The interior layout has a striking resemblance to that of Western Hall.

That does look nice! And they don't have the support poles in front of the balcony!

sealhall74 · Sat Apr 02, 2016 12:33 pm

Build a balcony/walk area at east and west end that the endzone bleachers could butt up against. Make it possible to walk entirely around the arena to the different seating areas from that balcony level. Put two concession stands in opposite corners on that balcony level. Maybe build in some restrooms at that level also. Turn either north or south balcony into office/suite area. If those support poles can be engineered away easily, I would say about $15 Million would have it looking pretty good.

wiu712 · Sat Apr 02, 2016 6:49 pm

Re-engineering Western Hall to eliminate the support poles in front of the balconies would go a long way to improve that venue for the fans.

Just have to wonder what a project like that would cost ????

sealhall74 · Sat Apr 02, 2016 7:14 pm

wiu712 wrote:Re-engineering Western Hall to eliminate the support poles in front of the balconies would go a long way to improve that venue for the fans.

Just have to wonder what a project like that would cost ????

I would think you could easily get rid of the middle two support posts and replace them with an "arched" or "trussed" support beam attached to the probably beefed up support posts on the each side of it. Sacrifice some of the seating at extreme sides of the balcony and you could probably get rid of all of the support posts. Those sacrificed seats could be space for concessions and restrooms.