Anyone catch any games in the SBC bball tourney? Makes the attendance in Asheville look massive. Watching ULM & UTA and there doesn't appear to be 200 people there. Showed one of the pep bands in the stands and there wasn't another soul in sight near them.

http://collegebasketballtalky.nbcsports ... o-dancing/

You are right. No attendance posted in the Box scores but nice short read here.

I thought Oregon's basketball arena floor was ugly but the one in New Orleans has to take the prize for the ugliest. I don't see how the players can see the 3pt line or the out of bounds line on one side, or maybe its just the way it looks on tv.

Troy-UALR looked empty to me. Kind of disappointing. Also, what do y'all think about the tournament format? I don't like it. I like a traditional 8 team tournament over 3 days. Don't care for the double bye for the 1-2 seeds.

BUTCH1991 wrote:Troy-UALR looked empty to me. Kind of disappointing. Also, what do y'all think about the tournament format? I don't like it. I like a traditional 8 team tournament over 3 days. Don't care for the double bye for the 1-2 seeds.

I don't like the double bye's either from a fan's perspective. But, I understand having them. It makes financial sense for the one bid conferences. Try make sure your best teams are the one's representing you in the NCAAs. The cinderella stories of conference tourneys, at the one bid level, almost always are one and dones in the NCAAs and normally aren't competitive in their games either. At least by giving your best teams an advantage (earned by their performance in the regular season) you give your conference rep a chance at an upset in the NCAAs and for every win that's more $ in the conference coffers.

AtlantaMountaineer wrote:I thought Oregon's basketball arena floor was ugly but the one in New Orleans has to take the prize for the ugliest. I don't see how the players can see the 3pt line or the out of bounds line on one side, or maybe its just the way it looks on tv.

I kind of like it. The good news though, is that it's just for the tourney. Oregon has to live with that ugly design perpetually.

hapapp wrote:Anyone catch any games in the SBC bball tourney? Makes the attendance in Asheville look massive. Watching ULM & UTA and there doesn't appear to be 200 people there. Showed one of the pep bands in the stands and there wasn't another soul in sight near them.

It would have to terrible to beat the attendance at the Citadel's first round game. The upper deck was basically empty as were both end zones. The crowd along the sidelines was pretty scattered as well. Asheville is also half the size of Lakefront. Either way, it's easy to see that basketball is not a priority for most schools in both conferences.

BUTCH1991 wrote:Troy-UALR looked empty to me. Kind of disappointing. Also, what do y'all think about the tournament format? I don't like it. I like a traditional 8 team tournament over 3 days. Don't care for the double bye for the 1-2 seeds.

I'm typically a traditionalist as well, but I actually like this idea. After seeing all these one-bid leagues where one or two teams dominate the league all year and then some crappy team gets hot for a few days and steals the NCAA bid, I think it makes sense to do something to give your best teams at least SOME advantage/reward for earning the top seeds.

JTApps1 wrote:

hapapp wrote:Anyone catch any games in the SBC bball tourney? Makes the attendance in Asheville look massive. Watching ULM & UTA and there doesn't appear to be 200 people there. Showed one of the pep bands in the stands and there wasn't another soul in sight near them.

It would have to terrible to beat the attendance at the Citadel's first round game. The upper deck was basically empty as were both end zones. The crowd along the sidelines was pretty scattered as well. Asheville is also half the size of Lakefront. Either way, it's easy to see that basketball is not a priority for most schools in both conferences.

It appeared that there were no more than 2 people sitting together in the stands. Huge swaths of the arena were completely empty. Also, did you notice how far away from the court the fans were? The one thing I will miss about the SoCon is the proximity of the tournament to the schools. I can't see an annual trip to NO for the tourney. Obviously, NO is a great destination and certainly provides a lot for fans to do but it won't be convenient to make the tourney on a routine basis.

Just for the record, my comments weren't meant to be anti-SBC. I look forward to joining the conference but was just a bit surprised at the low turnout.

97APP wrote:

BUTCH1991 wrote:Troy-UALR looked empty to me. Kind of disappointing. Also, what do y'all think about the tournament format? I don't like it. I like a traditional 8 team tournament over 3 days. Don't care for the double bye for the 1-2 seeds.

I don't like the double bye's either from a fan's perspective. But, I understand having them. It makes financial sense for the one bid conferences. Try make sure your best teams are the one's representing you in the NCAAs. The cinderella stories of conference tourneys, at the one bid level, almost always are one and dones in the NCAAs and normally aren't competitive in their games either. At least by giving your best teams an advantage (earned by their performance in the regular season) you give your conference rep a chance at an upset in the NCAAs and for every win that's more $ in the conference coffers.

I also like that it gives more importance to the regular season. That's a pretty good reward for winning games, knocking 1 or 2 tournament games off your road to the championship.

hapapp wrote:

JTApps1 wrote:

hapapp wrote:Anyone catch any games in the SBC bball tourney? Makes the attendance in Asheville look massive. Watching ULM & UTA and there doesn't appear to be 200 people there. Showed one of the pep bands in the stands and there wasn't another soul in sight near them.

It would have to terrible to beat the attendance at the Citadel's first round game. The upper deck was basically empty as were both end zones. The crowd along the sidelines was pretty scattered as well. Asheville is also half the size of Lakefront. Either way, it's easy to see that basketball is not a priority for most schools in both conferences.

It appeared that there were no more than 2 people sitting together in the stands. Huge swaths of the arena were completely empty. Also, did you notice how far away from the court the fans were? The one thing I will miss about the SoCon is the proximity of the tournament to the schools. I can't see an annual trip to NO for the tourney. Obviously, NO is a great destination and certainly provides a lot for fans to do but it won't be convenient to make the tourney on a routine basis.

Just for the record, my comments weren't meant to be anti-SBC. I look forward to joining the conference but was just a bit surprised at the low turnout.

I know you weren't being anti-SBC. I was just saying it must be bad if it is worse than some of the SoCon crowds. Hopefully the SBC games will fill up a little once the top seeds begin play Saturday.