wildbill@ucbvax.UUCP (William J. Laubenheimer) (03/30/84)
hou2b!sims, while bemoaning the fact that Kentucky was allowed to
play the Mideast regional finals in their own arena, seems to have
missed the entire point. Sure, Illinois fans could fill Rupp Arena
all by themselves. If you were the NCAA tournament committee, would
you rather schedule three games in some little crackerbox that seats
a mere 9,000-11,000, say, or a GIGANTIC basketball palace with a
capacity of over 24,000! Call it 15,000 seats at $15/game or so for
3 games, knock the figures down a bit (some arenas have a few more
seats than that), call it an easy half-mil extra just for playing
in a big arena. That's 1/3 of an under-the-table recruiting bonus
for each team in the tournament, no sweat, right? :-) Or if you
like, you could fund your fencing program with it.
Certainly money is at the heart of it. Anybody who thinks major
college sports isn't big business, and therefore should be run like
a business, has another think coming.
Bill Laubenheimer
----------------------------------------UC-Berkeley Computer Science
...Killjoy WAS here! ucbvax!wildbilltischler@ihuxv.UUCP (Mark D. Tischler) (04/03/84)
Bill, YOU seem to have missed the point. Nobody is denying that the Mideast Regional should have, for financial reasons, been held in Lexington. The problem is that Kentucky was bracketed in that regional and not in another, ala Georgetown. Mark
wally@cornell.UUCP (Wally Dietrich) (04/03/84)
I believe that Georgetown was put in the West region so that they wouldn't
have to face UNC until the final game. (That was when UNC was #1.)
After all, UNC had more of a hometown advantage playing in Charlotte, NC
and Atlanta, GA than Georgetown would have had.
Wally Dietrichjimph@ihuxv.UUCP (Jim Hendricks) (04/06/84)
The point that the NCAA tournament should be played in large arenas is well taken but that doesn't mean that the home team must play there. Even if the fan population was even for the two teams, the home team would have an advantage because they're used to the court, the rims, etc. (Yes, there is a wide variation in the flexibility of rims, affecting the way the ball bounces off of it). With the added advantage of having your own fans rooting for you, it is not fair to provide a team with this kind of an edge. The tournament is supposed to determine who is the best team, not who can win with the home court advantage. It is especially unfair to give one of the best teams in the tournament, and a team with a fantastic home record, the home court.