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Post by PantherU on Jan 18, 2016 17:18:03 GMT -6
Valpo never draws for weeknight games. Valpo had 4,939 on Saturday and 2,619 on Thursday. Pretty worrisome since they plan on being a top-2 seed - they wouldn't play until Monday. |
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Post by Pounce Needs Pals on Jan 18, 2016 18:20:49 GMT -6
Valpo never draws for weeknight games. Valpo had 4,939 on Saturday and 2,619 on Thursday. Pretty worrisome since they plan on being a top-2 seed - they wouldn't play until Monday. In the case you are using it's worrisome for everyone since the semis and finals fall during the work week. Remember, Butler in 2011 in Milwaukee for the HLT. Tons of Butler fans in Milwaukee on Saturday for the semi-final game. 75% didn't return for the title game on that Tuesday. |
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Post by skrapheap on Jan 19, 2016 4:38:23 GMT -6
We still need to show up. We need as many people as possible to go to the tournament.... We can bellyache about the conference tournament all we want, but if we want this program to grow we need to show up, and show up big time. I've spoken with the conference and so far we have the most tickets sold already. So don't be the fan who stay home out of protest. Come with and let's take over downtown Detroit the whole weekend! www4.uwm.edu/alumni/HorizonLeague/I suspect that few of us would be staying home out of protest. We're protesting that we have to stay home because the cost of the trip (transportation, food, lodging) is forcing us to stay home. |
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 19, 2016 8:37:36 GMT -6
And weather may still be a major hurdle to overcome once the packages are purchased.
Even with tickets in hand, some travelers may simply be impeded from getting to the games. After all, it's about a 6 1/2-hour drive to Detroit in good conditions.
This is not a protest, but a concern expressed from a safety and logistical standpoint.
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Post by BBFran on Jan 19, 2016 10:02:50 GMT -6
Explain to me why I would actually make any plans at this point. If Milwaukee finishes top two -- and it has a darn good chance -- it won't play until Monday evening. Why would I leave for Detroit Friday night or literally at the crack of dawn Saturday morning to watch the other schools play for two days in a dead arena? And pay downtown Detroit hotel and restaurant prices for the privilege? As it stands, the idiotic semi/final schedule has me losing three full days of work if Milwaukee is in those games and I decide to go. I should give up a weekend too? March in Detroit is not April in Paris. Bluntly, if the Panthers are not playing on the weekend I would need to spend parts of Saturday and Sunday working to make up for lost time Monday through Wednesday. I'm sure many Milwaukee fans are in the same boat. I'm sure that's true of many Wright and Green Bay and Valpo fans too.
Conversely, suppose Milwaukee is not in the top two, and I decide to leave Friday evening, stay in a hotel somewhere around southwestern Michigan, drive to Detroit Saturday morning and watch the Panthers Saturday and Sunday. What if we lose on the weekend? Why in the world would I stay? Thirty seconds after the horn sounds I'm already moving towards my car to drive home. It's not that I have anything against the other teams, or wouldn't enjoy watching them play -- it's that it would be financially insane for me to lose work AND pay travel and lodging costs once the Panthers are out. Or to lock myself into such travel expenses now.
Now with those things noted let's get back to my original question. Why make any plans now? There is no barrier to entry at any point. By which I mean that tickets will be in massive supply at all times (and by the way, cheaper once teams start losing and their tickets become available on the secondary market). Hotels will not be hard to find (worst case scenario -- stay outside downtown somewhere). And since this is a driving trip, not a flying trip, transportation schedules or capacity don't come into play as a factor forcing early planning.
The only thing that has me considering this trip at all, even with my heartfelt devotion to the program, the kids, the coaches and the families, is that I have a son who lives just outside Detroit and this would give me an opportunity to see him. Except for that consideration I would certainly do exactly what ESPN seems to want and watch the games in my living room.
One other thing -- I am no stranger to conference tournaments, and I'm not the sort of hyper-partisan who only cares about games in which my own team plays. I have attended 14 consecutive Big Ten tournaments in Indy and Chicago. (For schedule reasons that streak unfortunately will end this year.) In the great majority of those years I have attended every or nearly every game. But I never lost more than two days of work (Thursday/Friday) to do that. And as the tournament went on, the excitement built and the crowds did, too. Even the finals, with only two teams left, drew big crowds, because the cities were accessible and the Sunday afternoon schedule allowed casual local fans to come and traveling fans like me to get home the same day. The HLT schedule and location turn all those advantages upside down into disadvantages.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 19, 2016 12:09:32 GMT -6
As Hack wrote here many pages ago, the only feasible model if they insist on the neutral-court experiment (again!) is the Thursday through Sunday format. No other model really works for work or family reasons.
Maybe I can convince my significant other to postpone our Disney trip with her son for another year or two in order to visit Detroit in late winter?
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Post by PantherU on Jan 19, 2016 16:58:01 GMT -6
I suspect that few of us would be staying home out of protest. We're protesting that we have to stay home because the cost of the trip (transportation, food, lodging) is forcing us to stay home. Then you're not one of the subjects of my post. |
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Post by jhart05 on Jan 19, 2016 21:59:36 GMT -6
Sorry, but I can't see spending $500+ to go to Detroit either.
I have too many other things that money needs to be spent on.
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Post by BBFran on Jan 20, 2016 9:24:06 GMT -6
There's a long way to go but the conference race seems to be stratifying, and the top four teams as of right now pretty clearly are Valpo, Wright, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Imagine how much fun those semis and the final would be at the ARC, the Nutter, the Arena or the Resch. Actually, no need to imagine. The pictures were posted earlier in this thread. Wild, packed houses. College basketball at its tournament best.
Now imagine what it will look like in the Joe if those are the semifinalists.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 22, 2016 19:57:00 GMT -6
Wright State just shattered Valpo's aura of invincibility!
As of now, the Raiders would be seeded No. 1!
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Post by parkerj on Jan 25, 2016 21:53:55 GMT -6
There's a long way to go but the conference race seems to be stratifying, and the top four teams as of right now pretty clearly are Valpo, Wright, Milwaukee and Green Bay. Imagine how much fun those semis and the final would be at the ARC, the Nutter, the Arena or the Resch. Actually, no need to imagine. The pictures were posted earlier in this thread. Wild, packed houses. College basketball at its tournament best. Now imagine what it will look like in the Joe if those are the semifinalists. Might be a little early for things to be "pretty clear" aside from Valpo....... |
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Post by BBFran on Jan 25, 2016 22:55:25 GMT -6
One thing that's clear is that we are now playing for the bye. Can't lose two at home and expect to catch Valpo. One more loss at home and any M fans making plans to go to the tournament should make travel plans to get there on Saturday.
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Post by ghostofdylan on Jan 27, 2016 10:33:07 GMT -6
I think that the race has now stratified into six teams.
I would be stunned if a team other than these six is in the semifinals: Valpo, Wright State, Green Bay, Detroit, Oakland and Milwaukee.
Let's get the No. 3 seed and draw UIC in the opening round!
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Post by BBFran on Jan 27, 2016 11:01:22 GMT -6
Definitely not giving up on the bye yet. All a Saturday game will do is pad our win total and force us to play what is likely to be a tough game on Sunday, quite possibly against one of the local teams. And if we win that, we need to win two more. Four wins in four days is really, really hard.
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Post by PantherU on Jan 27, 2016 11:49:51 GMT -6
The bye is everything. I'm not giving up on anything; you never know. Valpo is going to get everyone's best shot. Wright State is much better than people think, but they are prone to cold nights and if Karena is forced to the bench they are a total sieve on the inside.
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