Friday, February 20, 2004
Tourney Changes
The Patriot League has altered its tournament schedules, opting to avoid the excitment and drama of a poorly attended tournament in a horse barn outside D.C. for having the first two rounds of the tournament at the #1 and #2 seeds in the league.
I'm all for this. The teams that underperform during the regular season shouldn't be rewarded with a neutral site during the tournament. If Navy goes 0-14 in the league this year, is it really fair that we hold the tournament an hour away from Annapolis? I don't think so.
Rather, we ought to reward the teams that play well during the regular season-- as a one bid conference, it makes those games much more important. In the past, you could go 6-8 and hope to just get hot and win three in a row. Now, you have to hope to get hot during three consecutive away games, no easy task.
The Patriot League does not draw well enough to make a neutral site tournament viable. Hell, Colgate draws 300 to their home games--can we really expect anyone from CU to drive 4 hours to see them? The same can be said about half the teams in this league.
In sum, the changes are good. People who were willing to drive a distance to see their teams in the tournament can still do so, wherever the tournament is sited. Attendance will probably improve, as will enthusiam within the student body. @ 12:59 PM
The Patriot League has altered its tournament schedules, opting to avoid the excitment and drama of a poorly attended tournament in a horse barn outside D.C. for having the first two rounds of the tournament at the #1 and #2 seeds in the league.
I'm all for this. The teams that underperform during the regular season shouldn't be rewarded with a neutral site during the tournament. If Navy goes 0-14 in the league this year, is it really fair that we hold the tournament an hour away from Annapolis? I don't think so.
Rather, we ought to reward the teams that play well during the regular season-- as a one bid conference, it makes those games much more important. In the past, you could go 6-8 and hope to just get hot and win three in a row. Now, you have to hope to get hot during three consecutive away games, no easy task.
The Patriot League does not draw well enough to make a neutral site tournament viable. Hell, Colgate draws 300 to their home games--can we really expect anyone from CU to drive 4 hours to see them? The same can be said about half the teams in this league.
In sum, the changes are good. People who were willing to drive a distance to see their teams in the tournament can still do so, wherever the tournament is sited. Attendance will probably improve, as will enthusiam within the student body. @ 12:59 PM
