Attendance

[Vowelguy]

Regardless of whether ASU's official "day 3" attendance went down 6% from day 1, there were twice as many people there last night than Friday. Many must have bought full 2-day tix but not showed up for the first day.

So ASU's attendance on Friday was really only 1500? Oy.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

So ASU's attendance on Friday was really only 1500? Oy.

I don't know about that. But on the over-all list, some of the (small) decreases are probably due to tickets turned back from the 2 teams that were eliminated. Especially for the 1st 2 rounds, no one is likely to stay to see the next round. In the sweet 16 / elite 8 situations, actually we did at least once - good basketball is hard to find.

 

[DishNSwish]

Two notes on Columbus...
1. Spring break was up until yesterday
2. In a move I still am mind-boggled about, the men's NIT game and the women's NCAA game were played at the exact same time, both on campus yesterday. Of course the men got the better arena.

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Two notes on Columbus...
1. Spring break was up until yesterday
2. In a move I still am mind-boggled about, the men's NIT game and the women's NCAA game were played at the exact same time, both on campus yesterday. Of course the men got the better arena.

While I agree the 2 games at the same time is mind-boggling, the reason the women were in St. John's was that the Ohio State Boy's basketball championships were through Saturday at the Shottenstein Center. it is that commitment that prevented them from hosting their and relegated the games to St. John's. This has happened other years as well, I don't think the NCAA would let you change arenas mid-rounds.

 

[j66kicker]

So ASU's attendance on Friday was really only 1500? Oy.

That sounds about right - it was really sparse.

 

[Vowelguy]

Regional Semifinals
Lexington KY: 8509
Sioux Falls SD: 4610
Bridgeport CT: 8898
Dallas TX: tba

 

[ASweet3781]

How much does the arena in Sioux Falls hold? It looked pretty full last night on TV/

 

[RockyMTblue2]

How much does the arena in Sioux Falls hold? It looked pretty full last night on TV/

Louisville turn out for Oregon/DePaul not so much. The homers went home.

 

[HuskyNan]

How much does the arena in Sioux Falls hold? It looked pretty full last night on TV/

12,000 for basketball games.

 

[Vowelguy]

Regional Semifinals
Lexington KY: 8509
Sioux Falls SD: 4610
Bridgeport CT: 8898
Dallas TX: 7109

Bridgeport & Dallas will do well on Monday. Lexington should be a disaster tmow.

 

[UcMiami]

OSU/DePaul in Dallas - 7109

 

[BigBird]

In the world of sports/entertainment, an event is often as important as the media/marketing tells us that it is. Women's sports don't get anywhere near the attention and media "push" as the men do. To argue, as several have, that men's sports are more popular, hence more in demand, hence more worthy of attention, is basically a circular argument that conflates cause with effect. When women's sports are really promoted, they do quite well. The 1999 World Cup scared the beejabbers out of male sports managers. Why? It was a well-promoted event that got better ratings than competing men's sports broadcasts. In 2007, the College World Series of Softball outdrew the Stanley Cup playoffs. There are more examples from later years, but these telecasts showed what was really possible.

 

[MilfordHusky]

As Rodney Dangerfield would say, "Good crowd." I thought the arena was full and loud today. From watching some of the highlights, the loudest roar seemed to come after Moriah's buzzer beater.

Let's rock the house on Monday!

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

How much does the arena in Sioux Falls hold? It looked pretty full last night on TV/

About 13,000; they had the upper deck draped off.

 

[Vowelguy]

Regional Semifinals
Lexington KY: 8509
Sioux Falls SD: 4610
Bridgeport CT: 8898
Dallas TX: 7109

Region finals:
Lexington KY: 3349 (-61%)
Sioux Falls SD: 4055 (-12%)
Bridgeport CT: 9008 (+1%)
Dallas TX: tba

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I know you guys have mixed feelings about Dawn Staley, but she engages with Gamecock fans and our subregional attendance exceeded that of the Regionals.

 

[Plebe]

I know you guys have mixed feelings about Dawn Staley, but she engages with Gamecock fans and our subregional attendance exceeded that of the Regionals.

I don't know why feelings should be anything but positive about Dawn Staley. I find her likeable in every way. The way she's built tremendous fan support in Columbia is nothing short of exemplary. South Carolina is BY FAR the country's attendance leader.

 

[Vowelguy]

Region finals:
Lexington KY: 3349 (-61%)
Sioux Falls SD: 4055 (-12%)
Bridgeport CT: 9008 (+1%)
Dallas TX: 6050 (-15%)

Semi avg : 7282
Finl avg: 5616 (-23%)

 

[UcMiami]

I think you have a real problem with a Monday night regional with no 'local' teams - Sioux Falls and Lexington took real hits in that way. To attend working fans have to take two days off work.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I don't know why feelings should be anything but positive about Dawn Staley. I find her likeable in every way. The way she's built tremendous fan support in Columbia is nothing short of exemplary. South Carolina is BY FAR the country's attendance leader.

She has a rapport with our fans that I have never seen from a coach in any sport at any school. Winning helps, but it's not like we've won a national championship, which really helped our baseball attendance (NCs in 2010 and 2011).

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

I think you have a real problem with a Monday night regional with no 'local' teams - Sioux Falls and Lexington took real hits in that way. To attend working fans have to take two days off work.

Sioux Falls was tough - it is not an easy place to get to; I had to take 3 days off from work to go, not to mention the expense.

 

[BRS24]

I think you have a real problem with a Monday night regional with no 'local' teams - Sioux Falls and Lexington took real hits in that way. To attend working fans have to take two days off work.

I would love the NCAA to go back to a Friday/Sunday FF format, and even the same in regionals. Yes, yes, the men's regional finals are the same time, but always a way to figure it out.

 

[Kevin G]

I was at both the Sweet 16 & Elite 8 games in Bridgeport. Living in West Haven this was a great treat. There are quite a number of UCONN alums on the coast of CT and was happy to see both games sold out!

 

[Fairfield Fan]

I thought the 4th quarter was as disappointing as it was boring. Other than Collier (and Nurse early) the rest of the team looked awful.

Robert Morris makes the argument that the automatic bids for conference winners should be done away with. Sagarin has them ranked 204th. The NCAA has to figure out a ranking system and then just pick the top 64 teams.

I'm on record as saying that the seeding/ranking system for the NCAA tournament is something of a joke. But I enjoy having this mixture of obscure teams and power teams. The tournament does give little schools in far away places a chance to send their athletes to the Big Time. And there are those teams that utterly shock the high and mighty. Remember Nichols State's takedown of Tennessee in the first round? And then you have the Ivys, who are getting better and better, but probably wouldn't get an invite if it were just the seeding system.

If you were to eliminate the automatic bids, the NCAA might just go back to its old system of having only 32 teams in the tournament. Just top-ranked 25 plus a few add-on's. But this is fun. And we certainly can see that the seeding system allows for all sorts of crazy results- from beginning to end.

 

[Vowelguy]

I would love the NCAA to go back to a Friday/Sunday FF format, and even the same in regionals. Yes, yes, the men's regional finals are the same time, but always a way to figure it out.

The final 4 will be Friday/Sunday again starting next year.