Wikipedia guide to the 2016 NCAA women's basketball tournament

[Magy Cannon]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_NCAA_Women's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

 

[Kaizen]

Nice post. Thanks ~~~

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

When you see the regionals laid out I would imagine people out west feel even worse than us Gamecock fans who have to travel to Sioux Falls. Even more than the distance, couldn't they have put the regional in a major city, at least? I mean, Columbia isn't huge, but it's more than 3 times the (metro) size of Sioux Falls.

 

[Plebe]

When you see the regionals laid out I would imagine people out west feel even worse than us Gamecock fans who have to travel to Sioux Falls. Even more than the distance, couldn't they have put the regional in a major city, at least? I mean, Columbia isn't huge, but it's more than 3 times the (metro) size of Sioux Falls.

Sioux Falls is of similar size to Spokane, which has hosted a regional in 3 of the previous 5 years.

Women's basketball is actually quite popular in South Dakota. The Summit League tournament final, between USD and SDSU, was just played at the regional site in Sioux Falls and drew over 8,600 spectators. That's just a huge number for any neutral-site conference tournament, but especially for a mid-major. By comparison:

• The SEC final in Jacksonville (South Carolina vs. Mississippi St.) drew 6,549.
• The Big Ten final in Indianapolis (Maryland vs. Michigan St.) drew 5,109.
  
• The ACC final in Greensboro (Notre Dame vs. Syracuse) drew 5,017.
  
• The Pac-12 final in Seattle (Oregon State vs. UCLA) drew 4,795.
  
• The Big 12 final in Oklahoma City (Baylor vs. Texas) drew 3,819.
• The AAC final in Uncasville (UConn vs. USF) drew 7,073.

 

[Magy Cannon]

Those numbers are so pitiful. Makes me sad. Our high school BOYS just won state. Had more spectators there from our little town of 14 thousand and another town about the same size. Sigh.

 

[Plebe]

Those numbers are so pitiful. Makes me sad. Our high school BOYS just won state. Had more spectators there from our little town of 14 thousand and another town about the same size. Sigh.

I understand your reaction, but that's really an apples-to-oranges fallacy. First, the drawing power of high school sports for a small town is extremely powerful. Around where I grew up, entire towns become deserted when the local HS football or basketball team competes for a state title.

Of course it's true that women's sports don't generally draw the same spectator numbers as men's sports. But just the fact that these games are being viewed, in person and on television, by many thousands of people is a success story. Let's not fall into the trap of constantly comparing them to what they're not.

 

[Magy Cannon]

Well, that's right about the TV viewership. But so sadly, in my hometown and many (most?) others, people skip the girls' game and arrive later for the boys' game. Breaks my heart for the girls. Our boys won state two years ago. The girls were last in to state two years ago but that was the first time in over 20 years they qualified. That has something to do with the fan numbers but it's still sad. Wonder what the numbers were for the men's tournaments? They're also televised.

 

[Plebe]

Well, that's right about the TV viewership. But so sadly, in my hometown and many (most?) others, people skip the girls' game and arrive later for the boys' game. Breaks my heart for the girls. Our boys won state two years ago. The girls were last in to state two years ago but that was the first time in over 20 years they qualified. That has something to do with the fan numbers but it's still sad. Wonder what the numbers were for the men's tournaments? They're also televised.

The big-money conferences typically sell out large arenas for their conference tournament finals, to the tune of 16,000-20,000+. The attendance figures for the women's games I cited above, however, are comparable to those of the men's finals in mid-major conferences. The Big West final drew 5,610. The C-USA final drew 5,519. The Horizon League final drew 4,312. Some conferences did considerably worse than this, others did much better. But that gives you an idea.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Sioux Falls is of similar size to Spokane, which has hosted a regional in 3 of the previous 5 years.

Women's basketball is actually quite popular in South Dakota. The Summit League tournament final, between USD and SDSU, was just played at the regional site in Sioux Falls and drew over 8,600 spectators. That's just a huge number for any neutral-site conference tournament, but especially for a mid-major. By comparison:

• The SEC final in Jacksonville (South Carolina vs. Mississippi St.) drew 6,549.
• The Big Ten final in Indianapolis (Maryland vs. Michigan St.) drew 5,109.
  
• The ACC final in Greensboro (Notre Dame vs. Syracuse) drew 5,017.
  
• The Pac-12 final in Seattle (Oregon State vs. UCLA) drew 4,795.
  
• The Big 12 final in Oklahoma City (Baylor vs. Texas) drew 3,819.
• The AAC final in Uncasville (UConn vs. USF) drew 7,073.

Spokane's metro population is double that of SF. I wasn't referring to Regional attendance, though, I was referring to things to do when they aren't playing and SF doesn't have a lot. Nonetheless...

 

[Plebe]

Spokane's metro population is double that of SF. I wasn't referring to Regional attendance, though, I was referring to things to do when they aren't playing and SF doesn't have a lot. Nonetheless...

Here's some interesting background, from when the regional was first awarded to Sioux Falls:
http://www.ksfy.com/home/headlines/...NCAA-Womens-Basketball-Tourney-283379081.html

And it's not gone unnoticed by the locals that the Gamecock fans are less than thrilled:
http://www.kdlt.com/news/local-news/tourney-tweets-show-sioux-falls-displeasure/38531938

I'm the kind of guy who likes off-the-beaten-path places, and I have a fondness for small cities. South Dakota is among the few states I haven't been to yet, and I'd enjoy the chance. But I get that not everyone likes to venture afield like I do.

 

[UcMiami]

Sioux Falls is of similar size to Spokane, which has hosted a regional in 3 of the previous 5 years.

Women's basketball is actually quite popular in South Dakota. The Summit League tournament final, between USD and SDSU, was just played at the regional site in Sioux Falls and drew over 8,600 spectators. That's just a huge number for any neutral-site conference tournament, but especially for a mid-major. By comparison:

• The SEC final in Jacksonville (South Carolina vs. Mississippi St.) drew 6,549.
• The Big Ten final in Indianapolis (Maryland vs. Michigan St.) drew 5,109.
  
• The ACC final in Greensboro (Notre Dame vs. Syracuse) drew 5,017.
  
• The Pac-12 final in Seattle (Oregon State vs. UCLA) drew 4,795.
  
• The Big 12 final in Oklahoma City (Baylor vs. Texas) drew 3,819.
• The AAC final in Uncasville (UConn vs. USF) drew 7,073.

The difference for Sioux Falls being distance from major transportation hub or other metro areas - Spokane is a hop and skip from Seattle in a large conglomeration of metro areas. Albany is a little more isolated but in more densely populated area and not that far from the NYC metropolitan area.

But this was also one of the choices that WCBB made - trying to be a big fish in smaller cities rather than compete head on with larger attractions, and trying to get those smaller cities to really promote regionals as major events.

The problem for the west coast and it has always been thus - they are isolated from the vast majority of the teams making the tournament every year. Put a regional location on the West coast and the average travel distance for teams attending goes up. Put it on the eastern side of the continental divide, and the distance goes down but none of the west coast teams have a short trip. And - if you are trying to make life easier for high seeds you have the problem of the West coast being a one power conference area - meaning even if you have a WC site, only one of those WC high seed teams will not have to cross the rockies by conference rule.

The specific problem with Sioux Falls is you have to get down to DePaul as a six seed to find a geographically 'close' team and they are pretty well equal distance to Lexington (and they are headed to Dallas.) it isn't until 9 and 10 seeds that you get teams that really are closer in KSU and GB.

I think this is a fairly typical year for top 16 teams.
2 from NE
2 from mid-atlantic
4 from TX/SW
3 from great lakes
2 from mid south
3 from WC

I would say what is missing in regional distribution is a mid-south to southern location. If I was drawing up ideal distribution regional site map based on top 32 teams it would probably be:
1. Somewhere from TX to AZ to CO to KS
2. Chicago to Lex to Missouri
3. Atlanta to Jacksonville
4. Philly
It screws the NW teams, but in this years bracket that is 2 seed OrSt, 4 seed Stanford, 7 seed Washington, 13 seed San Fran, and 16 seed Idaho, and semi screws 3 seed UCLA and 14 seed Hawaii. And of that lot you have to drop out 2 of the three Pac12 top 4 seeds because they would have to cross the rockies anyway. So 1 top 4 seed, and 3 other teams - vs the whole rest of the bracket that would potentially have to cross the rockies east to west to get to a NW site - 3 top 4 seeds plus 9 other teams. And if you go back over time the numbers are going to remain pretty constant - 3 of 4 top four seeds and 70% or more of the other seeds in a NW location are being 'screwed'. A southern Cal location is better getting closer to the southern rockies, SW and TX schools but AZ is better for a Pac12 locale.

 

[Plebe]

The difference for Sioux Falls being distance from major transportation hub or other metro areas - Spokane is a hop and skip from Seattle in a large conglomeration of metro areas. Albany is a little more isolated but in more densely populated area and not that far from the NYC metropolitan area.

Uh, Spokane is clear across the state from Seattle. Sioux Falls is closer to Minneapolis than Spokane is to Seattle.

 

[UcMiami]

Uh, Spokane is clear across the state from Seattle. Sioux Falls is closer to Minneapolis than Spokane is to Seattle.

Whoops!!! For some reason (and I really am not geographically challenged) I am ALWAYS screwing up locations in Washington State - I think I tend to transpose Tacoma and Spokane or something, which is truly embarrassing since I have a niece in Tacoma.

 

[meyers7]

Here's some interesting background, from when the regional was first awarded to Sioux Falls:
http://www.ksfy.com/home/headlines/...NCAA-Womens-Basketball-Tourney-283379081.html

And it's not gone unnoticed by the locals that the Gamecock fans are less than thrilled:
http://www.kdlt.com/news/local-news/tourney-tweets-show-sioux-falls-displeasure/38531938

I'm the kind of guy who likes off-the-beaten-path places, and I have a fondness for small cities. South Dakota is among the few states I haven't been to yet, and I'd enjoy the chance. But I get that not everyone likes to venture afield like I do.

Sioux Falls is about 30,000 people bigger than Columbia, SC.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Sioux Falls is about 30,000 people bigger than Columbia, SC.

Columbia's metro population is over 800,000. SF is about 250,000.

 

[meyers7]

Columbia's metro population is over 800,000. SF is about 250,000.

Cities. Follow along please.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Cities. Follow along please.

City populations mean nothing in states with restrictive annexation laws like Connecticut and South Carolina.

 

[meyers7]

City populations mean nothing in states with restrictive annexation laws like Connecticut and South Carolina.

Again, irrelevant to the conversation.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

Again, irrelevant to the conversation.

Completely relevant

 

[meyers7]

Completely relevant

How? "Small city". City. C-I-T-Y. City. Not region or Metropolitan or CSA. City. That's what we were talking about. If you are unable to comprehend, I can't help you any more. Sorry.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

How? "Small city". City. C-I-T-Y. City. Not region or Metropolitan or CSA. City. That's what we were talking about. If you are unable to comprehend, I can't help you any more. Sorry.

You obviously are incapable of comprehending that metro population is what is representative of the size of an area and not the city proper. The fact is that Sioux Falls is hard to get to and there is little to do there. If the NCAA cares about the fans of schools participating in the NCAAT, they won't have Regionals in places difficult to get to. It's obvious the NCAA is an organization that doesn't have a clue about a lot of things.

 

[Sonny44]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_NCAA_Women's_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament

Thanks Magy.

 

[meyers7]

You obviously are incapable of comprehending that metro population is what is representative of the size of an area and not the city proper. The fact is that Sioux Falls is hard to get to and there is little to do there. If the NCAA cares about the fans of schools participating in the NCAAT, they won't have Regionals in places difficult to get to. It's obvious the NCAA is an organization that doesn't have a clue about a lot of things.

All of which have nothing to do with the conversation I was having that you stuck your nose into? If you want to involve yourself in others conversations you really should have some ability to read and comprehend.

 

[cockhrnleghrn]

All of which have nothing to do with the conversation I was having that you stuck your nose into? If you want to involve yourself in others conversations you really should have some ability to read and comprehend.

Have a nice day; where's the ignore button on here?

 

[Sonny44]

Tomorrow night will be a nice day.