My understanding from my ticketing days at Hope is that a school has to put into host in order to be considered regardless of the round. It is possible the facility isn't available, or they don't have the staffing or are unable to host for some reason (on Spring Break) so did not submit for consideration.

Thank you SAC for capturing the special person GoHope has been to so many of us. There was no bigger Hope fan than her, and no one who loved our Hope athletes and students as much as she did. It is a sad time for the Orange and Blue family. I will miss her so much.

Yes the game will be sold out. A ticket is required and no passes, or ID's will be honored at the door. It is the first time it has happened that I am aware of other than a Hope v. Calvin game since the DeVos opened in 2005. The only tickets left are for Hope students and that process is happening right now. Exciting times for all involved.

Here are a few things to consider from the ticket and customer service perspective....

There were less than 60 Hope students (about 60 if you include the cheerleaders and the JV team) in attendance on Wednesday night because of the early start time. (Even though we tried to provide free transportation for our students) This change impacted not only the student athletes experience, but also the students who want to be a part of the rivalry experience as a fan and be a part of something unique and special, and yes this game is something unique and special in D3 sports.

My heart broke (and yes I will say this as a Hope fan) for the Calvin women who walked out to 4000 people exiting the gym including 400 plus of their peers who had no interest in supporting their first place women's team. From 4000 plus to 147, that is a slap in the face to their entire team, and yes there were more people at the Men's JV game than at the varsity women's game. If you're a recruit for the women's team how does this look if you see this mass exit. It can't be a positive from a recruit and a recruits parents perspective.

Had the women played the game at 6PM, they would have had almost a full house by the time the second half started. It is also not fair (as someone who has to work with the fans from the non-Hope/Calvin school playing the women's team, in this case Olivet) they are either kicked out after their game if the women are playing first, or have to wait to come into the gym because the women are playing second. It makes it difficult to be a good host to the other school and their fans and I have to believe it makes them feel like second class citizens.

We returned more than 300 tickets including 200 student tickets to Calvin because students and community members could not make it from work or school in time so they did not attend. We usually sell all of our tickets for the game at Calvin.

Calvin had more than 300 tickets left as well and it was no problem to get a ticket at the door. The revenue they lost as a result (and yes I understand it's not all about the money) was substantial. Both schools budget for a sell-out plus, and this switch obviously had an impact financially.

While I believe the intentions are good, the reality is, in my view, this change had a negative impact on our athletes, our students and our community (both Hope and Calvin). They were not able to experience this unique and special event.

I echo the question how does this "hurt" the other schools to make a switch in schedule, or at least allow Hope and Calvin to work out a change that works for all the schools involved (in this case Olivet). I may not be aware of all that goes into making changes in schedules, so know I'd like to hear the case for how this does hurt the other schools. I will be the first to say okay, that makes sense!

For Hope's women's team we get more fans at a stand alone game then we do for the double-headers for our women regardless of when they play because they have their own fan base.

If the issue is providing equity in the start times, does it make sense to play games on Thursday? Or go to afternoon and night games on Saturday which allow for ticketing these as separate games? Thus leaving the Wednesday night games as stand alone games which also allowing the JV teams to play prior to the varsity games for both the men and the women. It seems the JV teams are suffering as well.

I feel for all the coaches and AD's of all of the MIAA schools who were unable to work to tweak this to work for everyone. I hope the powers that be will take a hard and honest look at this year and be willing to say what worked and what didn't work, and be willing to make changes as we go to make it better for everyone.

It is my opinion we should be evaluating this from the following perspective and in this order:
1. Student athletes and coaches
2. Student fans
3. Parents of players/Recruits
4. Community fans

As someone who strives to provide exceptional customer service to everyone I work with, our goal should be to provide an excellent experience for everyone involved.

Very difficult night for our Hope Fan nation and our Hope women. I am proud to be a part of a group of people who cheer with class and dignity, and who love their team when the win and when they don't. The passion of our fans is something I don't see anywhere else in D3 basketball. When you can get 500 fans who traveled 4 hours or more, (mostly adults) to do the Dew Crew warm ups as well as the roller coaster, you know you've got something very special going on. Thanks for an incredible season, and as always. Go Hope!

UWSP - 119 tickets,  IWU-80 tickets, Westminster-40 requested. Tickets, once returned were sold at 1PM today. We have about a hundred left or so. Should be close to a full house by tomorrow night. We've been selling tickets steadily since Monday afternoon. Safe travels to everyone coming, and if you have questions about tickets I will do my best to answer them!

I want to clear up the post about UWSP tickets. Stevens Point REQUESTED 200 tickets to start for their fans. They were offered their full allotment of 500 (1/3 of half). When they reported in at noon (EST) today, which is when the deadline was to stop selling tickets, they returned 100 of those 200 tickets as they had only sold approximately 50. They are keeping an additional 50 in case their fans were unable to come before noon, to sell until 4:30 PM (CT) today, at which time they will return the remaining tickets to Hope to sell. Now that the schools have released their tickets they are on sale through the Hope ticket office until game time on Friday or until it is sold out. Please feel free to contact the Hope ticket office if you have questions.

My guess with the SNL references is possibly an intern or writer who knows of these schools, or went to these schools. I have a comedian friend who used to write for SNL years back who worked all over the college market. Just a thought of where those D3 references may have come from. When I heard it I had to rewind it to make sure I heard correctly

Hope would in fact host them both. There would be a game on Tuesday (women) Wed (men) Thursday (women) Friday (2 men's games) Saturday 3PM (women I believe) 7:00/30 (men) or maybe that's flipped but both played on Saturday. It's a long week of basketball, but really fun, and has happened before.

Regarding Tix for Hope vs. UWP.....we got 400 tickets, and fortunately Wheaton students are on break, so once we deplete our 400 tix supply to parents, coaches and a few season tix holders HOPEfully we'll get a few more. Tix will go on sale on Wed. morning at 10AM with whatever we have left after parents and coaches.....there are plenty of women's tix available and those too will go on sale Wed. AM.

At least with 3 schools being orange and blue, it will feel like a home court advantage. 

Thought I would post a little bit of information that I found out when calling the Calving ticket office about the Hope allotment for the Hope/Calvin game at the new Calvin Field house. I was told that capacity will be 4500 not 5000. So Hope's 17% of seats will be based on 4500 not 5000 as originally stated.

I find it all very curious.

Just a few official words about tickets for Friday and Saturday games at Hope....Season ticket holders sold out reserved seats from the Hope allotment in about 3 hours today (started selling about 8:30 AM). Saturday at this point is also sold out (if Hope wins) for reserved seats.

Tickets for faculty/staff and students moved up their sale to today since the seats were gone for season ticket holders.

Once the reports come back from the other schools there maybe more seats available (reserved) for the general public sales which begins at 1:30 PM on Thursday. (as of now there is general admission available)

As far as the Dew Crew goes....we've sold more than 30 student tickets so far. Additionally the Saugatuck HS band will be there complete with orange Hope shirts and live music. So the "student" section should at least make a good showing. More on those numbers tomorrow.

If Hope for some reason would not be in the game on Saturday, the plan is to make the game a general admission game. Otherwise Hope will have 2/3 of the gym and the opponent 1/3.

a little ticket trivia....in the past 3 weeks there have been more than 30,000 tickets printed for fans....in the DeVos Fieldhouse ticket office....

I have said it over and over about Griffin. Pride comes before the fall. It happens every single time he gets and inflated ego. It's unfortunate that he hasn't seen how far a little bit of humility will take him. Tonight's game was one of the most exciting I've seen in all the years I've watched these two teams play.

It was a great crowd at the DeVos and one of the biggest.

Wanted to clarify about Final Four tickets for women's final four being held at Hope in March. What is sold out at this point are the reserved seats for Saturday's championship and consolation games. There are about 10 reserved seats left for Friday's two games. At this point there are still quite a few general admission tickets left. Those are not sold out.