NCAA Tournament

Started by David Collinge, February 23, 2009, 05:35:32 PM

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David Collinge

This is intended to be a central place to discuss the NCAA tournament, both the 2009 version about to begin as well as overriding issues with the tournament itself.




The NCAA has announced that the 2010 and 2011 NCAA tournaments will be hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University and held at the Shirk Center in Bloomington, IL.

sumfun

Good facility?  Good choice?

Mr. Ypsi

Quote from: sumfun on February 23, 2009, 09:59:01 PM
Good facility?  Good choice?

NOT the DeVos, but a beautiful facility (though holds only 2,600 - I have no idea whether that is plenty enough for women's Final Four?).  Bloomington-Normal has a metro area larger than Holland's, so I would assume accommodations would be fully adequate.

And IWU sure hopes to be one of the four, so that should ease the accommodation problem (though perhaps not the seating problem :D).

Hoosier Titan

Illinois Wesleyan has a proud athletic tradition and the Shirk Center is a beautiful facility.  There are photos available at the new IWU athletics site http://www.iwusports.com and also at Titan Q's site for IWU men's basketball, iwuhoops.com.  It is possible to put in bleachers in addition to the ones in the photos.

In recent years IWU hosted the NCAA DIII indoor track championships at Shirk, and the women's track team were 2008 national champions in both indoor and outdoor track. 

Bloomington-Normal is home to Illinois State University as well as IWU, and the hotel capacity would be more than adequate for a Final Four.  I'm obviously biased, but I think it will be a terrific site.
You'll never walk alone.

David Collinge

Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on February 23, 2009, 10:23:56 PM
NOT the DeVos, but a beautiful facility (though holds only 2,600 - I have no idea whether that is plenty enough for women's Final Four?). 

Attendance listed for the games last year at Hope College:
Semifinal--Howard Payne vs. Whitewater: 2372
Semifinal--Messiah vs. Oglethorpe: 2367
Third-place--Whitewater vs. Oglethorpe: 2454
Championship--Howard Payne vs. Messiah: 2621

Mr. Ypsi

Quote from: David Collinge on February 23, 2009, 10:52:46 PM
Quote from: Mr. Ypsi on February 23, 2009, 10:23:56 PM
NOT the DeVos, but a beautiful facility (though holds only 2,600 - I have no idea whether that is plenty enough for women's Final Four?). 

Attendance listed for the games last year at Hope College:
Semifinal--Howard Payne vs. Whitewater: 2372
Semifinal--Messiah vs. Oglethorpe: 2367
Third-place--Whitewater vs. Oglethorpe: 2454
Championship--Howard Payne vs. Messiah: 2621

The Shirk can handle that.  There is oodles of standing room around the top perimeter.  My understanding is that the fire marshal doesn't get nervous until somewhere well north of 3.000! ;)

[When I was a student we averaged a couple hundred beyond 'capacity' at the old 'Fred Young'. :D]

iwumichigander

Quote from: Hoosier Titan on February 23, 2009, 10:35:45 PM
Illinois Wesleyan has a proud athletic tradition and the Shirk Center is a beautiful facility.  There are photos available at the new IWU athletics site http://www.iwusports.com and also at Titan Q's site for IWU men's basketball, iwuhoops.com.  It is possible to put in bleachers in addition to the ones in the photos.

In recent years IWU hosted the NCAA DIII indoor track championships at Shirk, and the women's track team were 2008 national champions in both indoor and outdoor track. 

Bloomington-Normal is home to Illinois State University as well as IWU, and the hotel capacity would be more than adequate for a Final Four.  I'm obviously biased, but I think it will be a terrific site.
IWU has hosted several NCAA Men's and Women's Regional and Sectional Basketball Tournament events as well as NCAA Baseball Tournament contests.
Travel is facilitated by:

  • Highway - Interstates 55 and 74 intersect Bloomington-Normal; I-80 provides easy East-West connections via I 55
  • Air - Bloomington-Normal Regional Airport located within minutes of campus
  • Rail - Amtrak runs two trains daily into Bloomington Normal; an option not readily available at most tournament sites
  • Hotel - Over 20 hotels and motels including properties by Marriott, Holiday Inn and others
  • Restaurants - Abundant
  • Entertainment - With over 22,000 college students between IWU and Illinois State you can find almost anything in the area or a short drive away
  • Notables - Bloomington is the corporate home of State Farm Insurance an NCAA Tournament Corporate Sponsor

WWWRHH

From a geographic and facility standpoint IWU is a great choice.

However, you may want to make reservations now for 2010 since the Illinois Mennoite Relief Sale (Bloomington) and the Illinois State High School Basketball Finals (Peoria) are generally held the same weekend as the NCAA D3 basketball finals and hotel rooms are always scarce that weekend.

Hoosier Titan

Quote from: WWWRHH on February 24, 2009, 04:13:57 PM
From a geographic and facility standpoint IWU is a great choice.

However, you may want to make reservations now for 2010 since the Illinois Mennoite Relief Sale (Bloomington) and the Illinois State High School Basketball Finals (Peoria) are generally held the same weekend as the NCAA D3 basketball finals and hotel rooms are always scarce that weekend.

You're kidding, right?  I live here and I've never heard of the Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale, nor do lots of people stay here for the basketball tournament in Peoria.  There is plenty of lodging in B-N, and more is under construction.
You'll never walk alone.

WWWRHH

Quote from: Hoosier Titan on February 25, 2009, 01:01:00 AM
Quote from: WWWRHH on February 24, 2009, 04:13:57 PM
From a geographic and facility standpoint IWU is a great choice.

However, you may want to make reservations now for 2010 since the Illinois Mennoite Relief Sale (Bloomington) and the Illinois State High School Basketball Finals (Peoria) are generally held the same weekend as the NCAA D3 basketball finals and hotel rooms are always scarce that weekend.

You're kidding, right?  I live here and I've never heard of the Illinois Mennonite Relief Sale, nor do lots of people stay here for the basketball tournament in Peoria.  There is plenty of lodging in B-N, and more is under construction.

I am not kidding about the sale, and only half kidding about booking ahead.

http://www.illinoismccreliefsale.org/

At one time it was held in Peoria - until the high school basketball playoffs found a home at the areana there.  The sale attracts people from all over the midwest - it is surprising how many Mennonites, Amish and related groups there are, plus those wanting to purchase their goods - and it does put demands on hotel space or at least it did until very recently.  It is worth stopping by just for the pies. :)

In no way am I trying to cast dispersions on your community.  The location and good transportation links make your city a destination for events that might fly under the radar for those not affliated with the sponsoring organization, and in my travels I have found it pays to book sooner rather than later.  We have run into problems trying to find lodging when visiting friends in central IL the third weekend in March.

Perhaps the new construction will alleviate some of the bottlenecks.

ronk

  To ease your bracketing workload, here's the Mid-Atlantic:

@Scranton
  Cabrini/Muhlenberg; Widener/Scranton

@York
  DeSales/Messiah; Moravian/York

Just Bill

Bracket Projections are up: http://www.d3hoops.com/women-final-four/09/projected.htm

Tough break for UW-Stevens Point if that's how it goes down. They win the WIAC regular season and tournament, beat Eau Claire three of four times and the get sent to Wash U. while EC stays at home.  Yikes.
"That seems silly and pointless..." - Hoops Fan

The first and still most accurate description of the D3 Championship BeltTM thread.

golden_dome

#12
Pat,
I have a question about the projections. UTD is projected as in but MS College was not one of the teams on the final list of teams looked at?

MC was one spot behind UTD in the final regular season regional rankings, both teams have identical regional records,  we split for the season, we both lost in the first round of the ASC Tournament with MC losing to the much better team, and MC's strength of schedule numbers should be higher.

I don't know why MC wouldn't at least be in the conversation. I know you listed HSU in the final list of teams but we also should have a better strength of schedule, a much better regional record and we beat them.

Ralph Turner

Chris, I think that MissCollege was the next Pool C bid on the table.  One more in-region win, as you might have had if you were not playing in the 8-team ASC tourney, but in the finals of the ASC-EAST Conference tourney, might have boosted you.  The loss to HPU knocks you out in this scenario.


Let's split the conference in two.

Pat Coleman

Remember we projected in Howard Payne with the very last C bid while that game was still going on. If HPU were on the table and got the last Pool C bid, then MC never saw the table.

Just Bill -- I caught that contradiction and re-submitted the projections a little while after the original.
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