I thought I read somewhere that the 2006 tourney was going to be at Gaylord and now I hear its gonna be in Murfreesboro. Why would the SBC not allow the tourney to be in Gaylord? It would allow for more people to come to the game and would be a crazy atmosphere if say we played MTSU in the title game. I know Murfreesboro gmade the bid and got it but maybe it can be in Gaylord next year.

Isn't it in Lafayette the next year after we're hosting?

Quote:It would allow for more people to come to the game

Um, maybe you've missed some previous tournaments, but we aren't selling out seats. Gaylord is HUGE and probably very expensive. Why rent out a 20K seat Arena when we only have 3-4K fans ever show up??? It would look HORRIBLE on TV. Every fan would have their own row!

Granted MTSU's arena is nasty (I know they are making a few minor fix-ups, but nothing to change the overall nastiness of it) but is the best place for it.

In 2007 it is in ULL.
2008 was left wide open during the last meetings, for whatever the reason.

Quote:Um, maybe you've missed some previous tournaments, but we aren't selling out seats. Gaylord is HUGE and probably very expensive. Why rent out a 20K seat Arena when we only have 3-4K fans ever show up??? It would look HORRIBLE on TV. Every fan would have their own row!

That's exactly how this year's tournament (in Denton) looked on TV this year. It really looked bad.

I'm no fan of the Murphy Center, but it's the best option for MTSU as hosts. Gaylord would cost a fortune and would look empty; Miserable (Municipal) Auditorium is a dump, at least it was last time I was there a few years back.

I hope the Murphy Center's minor fix-ups include replacing the sasquatch-sized steps leading up to the building.

Rumor is that in 2008 the east (or north) division champ will host teams from the division for a play down to 2 teams and the west (or south) division champ will do the same.

The top 2 from each divisional playoff will then advance to a neutral site for the Sun Belt final four.

I would like to see a neutral site for the finals, still would enjoy it if we could put some rear ends in seats!

Quote: Rumor is that in 2008 the east (or north) division champ will host teams from the division for a play down to 2 teams and the west (or south) division champ will do the same.

The top 2 from each divisional playoff will then advance to a neutral site for the Sun Belt final four.

If I'm not mistaken the OVC started doing something similar to this just this past March.

Apparently the presidents and chancellors want an all-comers tournament and want the men's and women's at the same venue. You can't have 26 teams (men's and women's come 2006) at the same venue and make it work without having teams hanging around with some off-days.

The final four format makes more sense given those criteria. Though I'd rather see us just go to a top 6 format. Give a bye to the two divisional champs and let the top 4 that don't win their division in.

I know for me personally, I'd be a lot more likely to travel to a neutral venue for a "Final Four" type conference tournament situation.

arkstfan Wrote:Rumor is that in 2008 the east (or north) division champ will host teams from the division for a play down to 2 teams and the west (or south) division champ will do the same.

The top 2 from each divisional playoff will then advance to a neutral site for the Sun Belt final four.

I don't like that because as a fan, I might have to travel to two different places in a week to see the first couple rounds and then the final. Basically it would hurt the earlier games, no one would travel to that, instead hold out for the final 4.

when our tourny games are so poorly attended I don't think it is possible to hurt attendance much. :frown:

I would be happy if the tourney was just in a central location and not on the outskirts of the conference. Personally, I would prefer it to be in a metropolitan area with other attractions besides just the basketball. I think Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, New Orleans, Atlanta, and maybe even Louisville meet those criteria. Sure Miami does also, but it's so far away from most of the other schools. I know I enjoyed it back in 1993 when it was in Biloxi. There were other things to see and do besides sitting in a gym for 8 hours a day. That's just me though.

Murfreesboro is half an hour from Nashville. And as a student at MT, there is plenty to do in the 'boro also.

I think we should have it in Chattanooga.

That way, I can sing that choo choo song! :laugh:

IMHO, your conference is too scattered over too many states to get the crowd attendance you desire. Probably the best move would be to find a city in the middle and host it there.

Last year's attendance was PATHETIC if you ask me (this is just an observation and not a MSU poster bashing you guys). All these folks posting all over the place about their Sunbelt schools? Where were their butts? Obviously not at the tourney, sitting down or standing, chowing on dogs and soda, and cheering their team onto victory. Apparently the "support" only goes so far...

That's because it was in FREAKING DENTON TEXAS!! Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. I'm still not really over this decision by the powers that be. What has North Texas done for basketball in the SBC? That was my question all along. We know that they are the powerhouse in football and need appeasing, so I'm guessing thats what it was all about. In my opinion it was a horrible choice. The fans in the area don't/didn't support basketball and it was left up to the few fans that could travel there to support their teams. It was really ugly on TV to see the game also. I'm afraid we'd have the same problem if it were held at most of the SBC schools, excluding WKU, MTSU, and ULaLa. These are really the only SBC schools that take basketball seriously and have fans that will show to games, no matter who is playing. I do not mean any disrespect to the other Sun Belt schools either, it's just a fact. As the other programs get better, and hopefully they will (if Denver was an indication last season), then the fans will come back. I would love to see packed houses every time I see a SBC game on TV (if I'm lucky enough to find one) instead of a few hundred fans scattered in a 8,000 seat arena.

I forgot to mention one other place that would be a good host, and we actually have a team there... Little Rock. They've got a beautiful new arena and plenty of sightseeing areas for tourists.

I realize the problem with this post before I write this but I would like to see a minimum attendance requirement in order to host. (That min. would apply to conf. games only) say in order to host the tourny you must be in the top four in the conf the year before. If you started to tie hosting to getting rear ends in seats there might be a more concerted effort to help bball attendance.

That's not a bad idea Truman, however, the tournament would probably always be played in one of 4 cities (BG, Lafayette, Murfreesboro, or Jonesboro). Not that I can complain about any of those places. The fans are all top notch and I believe they would support the tournament, no matter who was playing.

Does anyone here think the OVC draws more people consisently to games than the sun belt? I don't and they have their tournament at Gaylord. And did the tournament look good last year? NO! So if we were to go to a bigger venue then we could at least have the chance of a huge crowd because its close to Murfreesboro and BG.

I think the OVC championship game on TV looked a hell of a lot better than the SBC title game, that's for sure. I'm not sure what the SBC needs to do to "Wright" the "Waters". I think it will be a pretty good event in Murfreesboro though. I'm sure a lot of Topper fans will make it in. Scheduling always makes things difficult too. I live in Memphis, yet I can't get to Murfreesboro on a weeknight. If the games were played only the weekends, then I'd be at every one.