Late start for the Huskies

[The Don]

It would have been nice if the Saturday game was in the afternoon. 9.30 pm start, yikes!!!

 

[Farney]

This has to be a ratings move by ESPN. I doubt there's any other women's team that could draw a TV audience nationally at 9:30pm on a Saturday night.

 

[MilfordHusky]

Maybe we'll get to watch the whole game and have no wrap-around nonsense.

 

[triaddukefan]

This has to be a ratings move by ESPN. I doubt there's any other women's team that could draw a TV audience nationally at 9:30pm on a Saturday night.

Wont be that much of an audience... considering they will be going head to head vs the men's tourney

 

[mhshuskies]

Wont be that much of an audience... considering they will be going head to head vs the men's tourney

How do you feel about your men chances? Are you nervous about the hiccup in the ACC tourney? Coach K getting beat by Mike Bray is pretty embarasing.

 

[triaddukefan]

How do you feel about your men chances? Are you nervous about the hiccup in the ACC tourney? Coach K getting beat by Mike Bray is pretty embarasing.

1) Feel great about the men's chances 29-4 with victories at Wisc, UVA, Louisville, and UNC.... a home blowout vs ND......... not a bad season...... and backcourts win in March.... and there is no better backcourt in the tournament that Duke's

2) not nervous..... ND probably has the best offense in the NCAA this season ..... just cant afford to come out flat like they did in the first half

3) Not embarassing at all. ND is a top 7-8 team this year..... better to lose to Brey in the semis than Williams in the finals.

 

[Huskyhoops]

Games times for the weekend games are insane. Attendance is bound to be hurt badly. It is almost like ESPN is purposely smacking it to UConn by making it less attractive to attend the games so that their TV ratings will be boosted by stay at homes. The situation is all summed up nicely by Jeff Jacob's column in today's Hartford Courant. Yes, I am one of those "older adults" that is probably affected more than the younger folks but let's face it. The women's audience is largely older adults and families with younger children.

 

[HoopsFan21]

Games times for the weekend games are insane. Attendance is bound to be hurt badly. It is almost like ESPN is purposely smacking it to UConn by making it less attractive to attend the games so that their TV ratings will be boosted by stay at homes. The situation is all summed up nicely by Jeff Jacob's column in today's Hartford Courant. Yes, I am one of those "older adults" that is probably affected more than the younger folks but let's face it. The women's audience is largely older adults and families with younger children.

How many students are going to be willing to give up one of the last Saturday nights of the spring semester to watch a women's basketball game, let alone one that won't be remotely competitive where the score is likely to be in the 100-35 range? Dumb start time.

 

[Warren Church]

I will record the game and watch it in the morning sans commercials.

 

[HGN]

The UConn women start time was a little disappointing........Until I remembered its ALL about the Benjamins. ESPNM vs ESPNW. A FIGHT FOR PRIMETIME. ESPN is looking to maximize audiences and coverage. The men will have a natural draw on ESPN. But on the Women's side (ESPN2), who could they place at such a late start and still draw a decent viewership.....UCONN , that's who. Why else have your Tournament #1 start so late ? Only because they are going to get viewers. The only competition for viewers for BB will be the men and NBA.

It's not about whether your name is Iowa , ND., Duke , or USC........It's whether your name is Benjamin.

 

[triaddukefan]

The UConn women start time was a little disappointing...Until I remembered its ALL about the Benjamins. ESPNM vs ESPNW. A FIGHT FOR PRIMETIME. ESPN is looking to maximize audiences and coverage. The men will have a natural draw on ESPN. But on the Women's side (ESPN2), who could they place at such a late start and still draw a decent viewership.....UCONN , that's who. Why else have your Tournament #1 start so late ? Only because they are going to get viewers. The only competition for viewers for BB will be the men and NBA.

It's not about whether your name is Iowa , ND., Duke , or USC...It's whether your name is Benjamin.

It could be worse...... Duke plays at 12 noon on Friday..... there will be less than 750 people in the stands. And if Duke does advance, they will play on Sunday. Meanwhile the Duke men also play the Friday/Sun schedule down the road in Charlotte. Im sure there are other similar examples

 

[lanieer]

A 9:30 game is horrible. I was all set to pick up four tickets for the first and second round but that's out now. To get home at midnight after a 60 point blowout and a 40 minute drive home is not in the cards. I would have loved a noon game. If UConn had a noon game there would have been at least 5,500 there. I'm expecting there lowest attendance yet. I don't think the older crowds in the women's game have a problem with noon games but it's those midnight ending games that stink. Luckily I didn't purchase NCAA tickets when I bought my season tickets.

 

[ursusminor]

Yeah, that's gonna be a long day. I've got my free student tickets to see the games in College Park on Saturday. Those start at 11am. I get that they're making room for TV coverage, but I'd best schedule a nap for about dinner time.

 

[Huskyhoops]

The paradox is that objecting to the game time by not buying tickets only works to ESPN's advantage if you stay at home and watch the game, thus adding to the regional TV rating.

 

[HGN]

A 9:30 game is horrible. I was all set to pick up four tickets for the first and second round but that's out now. To get home at midnight after a 60 point blowout and a 40 minute drive home is not in the cards. I would have loved a noon game. If UConn had a noon game there would have been at least 5,500 there. I'm expecting there lowest attendance yet. I don't think the older crowds in the women's game have a problem with noon games but it's those midnight ending games that stink. Luckily I didn't purchase NCAA tickets when I bought my season tickets.

It's all about the Benjamin's......The NCAA may get the ticket sales , but the TV schedule was probably set by ESPN. And they want commercials and viewers. A UConn game gives them that.

 

[HGN]

It could be worse. Duke plays at 12 noon on Friday..... there will be less than 750 people in the stands. And if Duke does advance, they will play on Sunday. Meanwhile the Duke men also play the Friday/Sun schedule down the road in Charlotte. Im sure there are other similar examples

Triad , I respectfully disagree. There will be more than 750 fans at the game....There will be at least a 1,000. Now if Duke lose there maybe at least 750 arrests of mad Duke fans....(Only kidding.) .. But that 2nd round game against Miss. St or Tulane is scary.

 

[Dickers]

If Uconn wins in Storrs (highly likely) what time slot would they play at in Albany on Saturday - 12:00 PM or 2:30 PM? It has always been my understanding that the higher seed would play earlier for more rest.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Maybe we'll get to watch the whole game and have no wrap-around nonsense.

There are no competing women's games in that time slot, so there will be
no wrap-around. If you want to watch women's hoops late Saturday
evening, you have to watch UConn.

 

[Orangutan]

It's all done for TV and (per Richard Deitsch at SI) Hartford/New Haven is, no surprise, the #1 wbb TV market.

Personally, showing a massacre like that in a standalone timeslot rather than in whiparound coverage doesn't make the most sense from an excitement standpoint, but it will probably do way better ratings than any other game they could show.

 

[tomcat]

It may actually work out for me. We're going to the two games at ASU, which will be over at 5:3-0 or so, enough time to get home for the 6 pm UConn game.

 

[NVUConnFan]

I'm in PDT zone, so 6PM works for me too. During round 1, I'm more interested in how Stewie, Mojet, KLM, et al do anyway.

 

[j66kicker]

It may actually work out for me. We're going to the two games at ASU, which will be over at 5:3-0 or so, enough time to get home for the 6 pm UConn game.

Do you know what time a potential ASU-Texas A&M game would be on Monday?

 

[Sonny44]

Anything to avoid that wrap around c**p.