Seattle "Regionals" - Where do the teams assigned to those regions come from? | The Boneyard

Seattle "Regionals" - Where do the teams assigned to those regions come from?

P

Pharos

Joined
Nov 14, 2018
Messages
472
Reaction Score
1,587
A quick survey:

Seattle 3. The top 8 seeds - the ones most likely to compete for a place in the "regional":
Virginia Tech, UConn, Ohio State, Tennesee, Iowa State, North Carolina, Baylor, USC
Seattle 4. The top 8 seeds - the ones most likely to compete for a place in the "regional":
Stanford, Iowa, Duke, Texas, Louisville, Colorado, Florida State, Ole Miss
(bold = > 1000 miles to travel) (underline = > 1500 miles to travel)(Stanford > 800 miles)

So what's the logic? Something special about Seattle? What money is behind this? Sure, there will be ardent fans who make the trip. But those of more modest means won't have the option (Tough decision when your team might lose the first game). What are the politics here?

Gotta say Bridgeport and Albany were a lot of fun.
 
Last edited:
They’re going to pre-determined neutral sites to make it more fair. Teams complained, with some justification, that sending, say, #1 seed Virginia Tech to Bridgeport gave UConn an advantage
 
hoopsfan22 said:
I liked Geno's idea of putting the regions in the middle of the country. They could have one in Chicago and one in St. Louis or something.
Expand ...
Cities or universities bid for the right to host
 
HuskyNan said:
They’re going to pre-determined neutral sites to make it more fair. Teams complained, with some justification, that sending, say, #1 seed Virginia Tech to Bridgeport gave UConn an advantage
Expand ...
Would it be fair to say then that the driver is TV? And to what extent are locations and TV partnering in the bidding for sites?
 
.-.
HuskyNan said:
They’re going to pre-determined neutral sites to make it more fair. Teams complained, with some justification, that sending, say, #1 seed Virginia Tech to Bridgeport gave UConn an advantage
Expand ...
Fair enough. And Seattle is the closest neutral location for that match up?
 
Pharos said:
Would it be fair to say then that the driver is TV? And to what extent are locations and TV partnering in the bidding for sites?
Expand ...
Schools and conferences have signed contracts with networks or local channels. ESPN may hold rights to certain games as do the contract holders. Schedules need to be revised and travel arranged to tv crews. It’s a complicated and intricate dance that has to be done in days.
 
For MBB there is no shortage of cities/arenas that will bid to host NCAA tournament games. Fans typically travel well and fill up arenas, regardless of who is playing, even during the early rounds of the tournament.

It’s much tougher for WBB. That’s why the first 2 rounds are played on campus where attendance is reasonably assured. After that it’s a crapshoot. Albany & Bridgeport aggressively pursue the East Regional because UConn has delivered each & every time by earning a #1 or #2 seed, not only making it to the Regional, but winning every single time. That all translates into lots of fans booking hotel rooms, eating out at restaurants and filling seats in the arena.

As for the crapshoot part, you only need to look back a few years ago when Ft Wayne, IN hosted the Midwest Regional, with the hope and expectation that ND would be there. Unfortunately, ND didn’t even make it into the tournament and attendance was disappointing at best.
 
The Seattle Region will really struggle getting big crowds and more importantly the loud and partisan fans. It is a shame that they don't have 4 Regions like the Men so that travel isn't ridiculous for so many teams. I guess it could be worse, you could have to go there for two full weeks and live out of a hotel.
 
.-.
Rowdy831 said:
The Seattle Region will really struggle getting big crowds and more importantly the loud and partisan fans. It is a shame that they don't have 4 Regions like the Men so that travel isn't ridiculous for so many teams. I guess it could be worse, you could have to go there for two full weeks and live out of a hotel.
Expand ...
Seattle has a passionate WBB fan base because of what Breanna, Sue and the Storm have accomplished there. In addition, as Geno has stated many times, UConn WBB on the road is, “like the circus coming to town.” I expect very good attendance in Seattle, including a large contingent of loud, passionate UConn WBB fans.
 
Centerstream said:
Oh, I thought Nike was the highest bidder and now we are in Seattle...or was it Starbucks. :):rolleyes:
Expand ...
Oops. For some reason I thought Nike originated in Seattle but obviously it was not. Doh!!!!!!
 
Rowdy831 said:
The Seattle Region will really struggle getting big crowds and more importantly the loud and partisan fans. It is a shame that they don't have 4 Regions like the Men so that travel isn't ridiculous for so many teams. I guess it could be worse, you could have to go there for two full weeks and live out of a hotel.
Expand ...
Isn't this the first tournament with only 2 Regional sites? Previously there were 4 Regional sites.
 
oldude said:
Seattle has a passionate WBB fan base because of what Breanna, Sue and the Storm have accomplished there. In addition, as Geno has stated many times, UConn WBB on the road is, “like the circus coming to town.” I expect very good attendance in Seattle, including a large contingent of loud, passionate UConn WBB fans.
Expand ...
Good thought. Grateful.
 
As they wanted a place in the PST for tv, why not Los Angeles? For the teams' fans it would have been easier to get direct flights than to Seattle. More options for hotel rooms, too.
 
.-.
Kat said:
As they wanted a place in the PST for tv, why not Los Angeles? For the teams' fans it would have been easier to get direct flights than to Seattle. More options for hotel rooms, too.
Expand ...
Seems, too, like a more interesting variety of "side trip" adventures would be possible in Southern CA. Topanga Canyon is great! : ) Malibu... Coastal Highway... Hollywood... Rodeo Drive... and on and on and on...
 
HuskyNan said:
They’re going to pre-determined neutral sites to make it more fair. Teams complained, with some justification, that sending, say, #1 seed Virginia Tech to Bridgeport gave UConn an advantage
Expand ...
But it's ok for SC to play in Greenville and Stanford to play on the west coast in Seattle? And it's ok to send Ct, VA Tech, Fla St, Duke and UNC . around 3000 mi away?
That all makes as much sense as the Selection Committee rep did when trying to explain some of the seeding decisions.
 
HuskyNan said:
Cities or universities bid for the right to host
Expand ...
And you don't think that there are multiple cities in "Fly-over -country" such as Chicago, Indy, St Louis, Wichita among many others with excellent facilities that would try to host, if given a chance?
 
HuskyNan said:
Schools and conferences have signed contracts with networks or local channels. ESPN may hold rights to certain games as do the contract holders. Schedules need to be revised and travel arranged to tv crews. It’s a complicated and intricate dance that has to be done in days.
Expand ...
Actually, the Region sites are determined well over a year in advance and IMO this decision to host Regions in only 2 locations, and with both of them in coastal cities, is one of the dumbest decisions those running the Women's Tournament have made.

A solution seeking a problem!
 
Pharos said:
Seems, too, like a more interesting variety of "side trip" adventures would be possible in Southern CA. Topanga Canyon is great! : ) Malibu... Coastal Highway... Hollywood... Rodeo Drive... and on and on and on...
Expand ...
Simply put, no schools in LA have ever bid on hosting the NCAAT and based on the attendance in Stockton, CA in 2017, I would not advise going back to California (averaged 3,817 per session!).
Heck, I even advise against playing on the West Coast at all as they are abysmal at drawing attendance. The PAC12 has the lowest of the P6 conferences in Attendance, the only time the West did outdraw the other regions was in 2019 in Portland with a "Sabrina led" Oregon team. Other than that, the West venues have averaged only 4,652 fans per game in the regionals. Compare that to the Northeast (9,042) and South (5.804) and you can see the NCAA site committee is not doing what it can. Keep one of the Sites on the East Coast and move the West among the mid-west, southwest and west coast.

I am so hoping this two site locale draws better but I do not have high hopes for Seattle or Portland, Spokane or Sacremento in the next 4 years.
 
.-.
oldude said:
Seattle has a passionate WBB fan base because of what Breanna, Sue and the Storm have accomplished there. In addition, as Geno has stated many times, UConn WBB on the road is, “like the circus coming to town.” I expect very good attendance in Seattle, including a large contingent of loud, passionate UConn WBB fans.
Expand ...
Only one school likely to make it to Seattle that is less than 1100 miles away (Stanford) and many probables between 2600-3000 miles away (CT, Va Tech, Duke, UNC, Fla St). Yes , many of those fans bases travel well but let's just see how well when we are talking those distances. With no Wash or Ore schools in either Seattle Regions, I say good luck with anything over reasonable sized crowds; but nothing to write home about or even close to the attendance at the 2022 Regionals. Geno had a lot to say about this in his comments this morning and he is a wise man.
 
oldude said:
Seattle has a passionate WBB fan base because of what Breanna, Sue and the Storm have accomplished there. In addition, as Geno has stated many times, UConn WBB on the road is, “like the circus coming to town.” I expect very good attendance in Seattle, including a large contingent of loud, passionate UConn WBB fans.
Expand ...
Dont forget Kelsey Plum's 4 years at UW.

Before they remodelled Key Arena, now Climate Pledge, they had a good size crowd of "locals", for the Pac12 tournie, at the arena, for all 4 days.
 
Bills Fan said:
But it's ok for SC to play in Greenville and Stanford to play on the west coast in Seattle? And it's ok to send Ct, VA Tech, Fla St, Duke and UNC . around 3000 mi away?
That all makes as much sense as the Selection Committee rep did when trying to explain some of the seeding decisions.
Expand ...
The sites were pre determined before the season

Now you know how UConn’s opponents felt all those years that Bridgeport, Albany, and Hartford hosted Regionals
 
Regions don't mean a great deal anymore unfortunately and attendance suffers. If they totally abandon regions they might as well go the Olympic route and call them Group "A" Group "B" etc...
 
Bills Fan said:
And you don't think that there are multiple cities in "Fly-over -country" such as Chicago, Indy, St Louis, Wichita among many others with excellent facilities that would try to host, if given a chance?
Expand ...
No one is excluded from the bidding process. Why do you assume they are?

The Women’s tournament loses money. Why would a site not near a university that could be in contention bid to host?
 
ochoopsfan said:
Dont forget Kelsey Plum's 4 years at UW.

Before they remodelled Key Arena, now Climate Pledge, they had a good size crowd of "locals", for the Pac12 tournie, at the arena, for all 4 days.
Expand ...
It's been decided by the Selection Committee that UW and Plum will not play there this year, so those attendance figures are irrelevant.
 
.-.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
168,555
Messages
4,582,757
Members
10,492
Latest member
7774Forever


Top Bottom