Majerus goes off on A10 (again)

[DeltaBrave03]

I personally don't think the conference tournament can be the overriding reason to deny or approve a school. While it is the most important sporting event of the conference, I don't think it's big enough to be the swing factor in adding or denying a school.

That said, does St Louis stack up in other Valley sports?

They're soccer team is huge I do know that. They would compete every year for conference titles, and they did host the College Cup several years back.

[Da Coach]

I would be surprised to see more SLU fans at the tourney than WSU, CU, SIU, and possibly BU and isu. SLU does not have a huge following in the St. Louis area, mostly because they have three professional sports teams people choose over SLU basketball. I also think most schools would realize that SLU brings a lot more to the valley than what evansville does, and the addition of SLU could move the valley one step closer to MWC/A10 levels of basketball.

Are you sure? SLU is averaging 7,410 fans per game at their home arena. In their last season in the Scottrade Center, they averaged 9,667 per game, and have had crowds over 15,000 there.

The record for total sales of All-Session tickets was in 2007 when the 10 MVC teams combined to sell 6,708 tickets. The previous mark was only 4,067, which is closer to the average sold each year.

Wichita State's total sales of 2,450 in 2007 is still the all-time record for one school.
Last year, the top teams sold only around 1,000 or slightly more tickets to the tournament.

There is absolutely no doubt that St. Louis would outsell any other MVC school by a wide margin, and with the tournament being local for their fans, I think they would probably sell more tickets than all other 10 MVC schools combined.

[JMM28]

Are you sure? SLU is averaging 7,410 fans per game at their home arena. In their last season in the Scottrade Center, they averaged 9,667 per game, and have had crowds over 15,000 there.

The record for total sales of All-Session tickets was in 2007 when the 10 MVC teams combined to sell 6,708 tickets. The previous mark was only 4,067, which is closer to the average sold each year.

Wichita State's total sales of 2,450 in 2007 is still the all-time record for one school.
Last year, the top teams sold only around 1,000 or slightly more tickets to the tournament.

There is absolutely no doubt that St. Louis would outsell any other MVC school by a wide margin, and with the tournament being local for their fans, I think they would probably sell more tickets than all other 10 MVC schools combined.

Spot on. SLU at the Kiel/savvis/scottrade center was in the top 25 in attendance yearly until about the last 4-5 years in that building.

It would bring up the old idea of moving the tournament to KC, which would suck for Peoria fans.

As a fan of both BU and SLU, I wish they would renew the rivalry. There is no reason they shouldn't be playing a game yearly.

[tornado]

There are a lot of whiners everywhere, central Illinois is not the different then most places...

if you see it that way, then I honor your perspective...

but I offer as examples, the fine fans of long-suffering Drake, Evansville, Indiana State, and even Big Ten's Northwestern and Iowa...who simply DO NOT bitc*h anywhere near as much during their down years as we see in Peoria...
and, hey...with many of those schools, they've had it way, way worse than we have had for decades and for way, way longer dry spells..

BUT one more excellent example..check Western Kentucky..
--their program is a lot like ours - long, fine tradition, good success, recent outstanding post-season success - four 20-win seasons in a row...a recent NBA draft pick...and yet a ton of fine, experienced players were returning...(Slaughter, Pettigrew..)
--they recently went with a new coach - he wasn't everyone's pick and he rode the success of the players he inherited to a 25 win season last year...
--then just as expectations were really, really high this year, they've lost several home games, can't seem to beat anyone with an RPI better than 200, have an RPI themselves of almost 200!!
have slipped to being a .500 ball club, mired deep in a relatively weak conference, have barely beaten anyone on the road, and are really tailing off - having lost 7 of their last nine, with the only wins being over Troy and New Orleans, terrible teams that aren't even likely to both have D-I programs in the near future..and they've even lost to teams whose RPI is well over 200.

Trust me - if this was here in Central IL, we'd be hearing a whole lot of discontent and grumbling, and we'd have certainly had a few columns in the local paper ripping into the players and coach and there'd be calls for making big-time changes.....and that's probably an understatement---

Instead-- and in REALLY STARK contrast to what we see and have come to expect here...
They have a really fine, active message board and there is not even one single negative thread or a thread calling out the coach or players...
it's 100% supportive of their guys...and it has been all season as I have visited it frequently throughout the year...

they do rip on refs, some of the crummy fans, and a few of the other teams in the conference, but it is so, so different that you'd think you were reading the message board of a team that's 24-3 instead of a team that's at .500 like we are...

also, go to the Bowling Green Daily News, their main local paper, and I challenge you to find any column or report that is either critical or negative..
no, they have what I'd love to see us have...a fine, objective, fair, and civil press and tremendous, non-complaining fans...

[squirrelgotdead]

They also were in the CUSA then, and it wasn't nearly as big a deal for fans of Memphis, Cinci, UAB, Louisville, and DePaul to make the road trip. . .

Basically their nearest rival now is the same distance as Cinci (offhand I don't know the difference in distance between Dayton vs Cinci, but either one fits my point), which was outside of ECU and Charlotte, the eastern reach of CUSA. . .

That impacts attendance.

[DeltaBrave03]

Are you sure? SLU is averaging 7,410 fans per game at their home arena. In their last season in the Scottrade Center, they averaged 9,667 per game, and have had crowds over 15,000 there.

The record for total sales of All-Session tickets was in 2007 when the 10 MVC teams combined to sell 6,708 tickets. The previous mark was only 4,067, which is closer to the average sold each year.

Wichita State's total sales of 2,450 in 2007 is still the all-time record for one school.
Last year, the top teams sold only around 1,000 or slightly more tickets to the tournament.

There is absolutely no doubt that St. Louis would outsell any other MVC school by a wide margin, and with the tournament being local for their fans, I think they would probably sell more tickets than all other 10 MVC schools combined.

Got me there but I will still say that most of their fans are casual fans. Wouldn't be into the game like the hard core fans who drive hours to be there would be. I've lived in the STL area all my life and SLU basketball is not the big show in town. They may have more fans, but I don't think it would give them a huge home court advantage. I know the one game they sold out at the Scott Trade center was when UNC came to play and more people were there to see them and Tyler Hansbrough who is from near by Poplar Bluff. Just my opinion, but I think the benefits from having SLU far outweigh the negatives. Plus it would bring valley attention to STL kids and open up a big recruiting base for most of the valley.

[Da Coach]

I think it would be good for the Valley, too. I also wish the Valley would incorporate a Chicago area team, and maybe one from KC, MO. It would help the visibility of the MVC greatly.

[it's boogie time]

I'd actually have to buy one of those all session tournament passes through Bradley if SLU joined the party.

[SFP]

I think it would be good for the Valley, too. I also wish the Valley would incorporate a Chicago area team, and maybe one from KC, MO. It would help the visibility of the MVC greatly.

I agree 100% or if the MVC is not careful it will become irrelevant rather sooner then later. The MVC team needs a few big market teams or I believe the great conference realignment will not be good for the conference. BU administration has their work cut out one way or the other. Imagine the impact would be if the perception is that BU is part of a 2nd tier division 1 basketball group. That is what our admin has their eyes on. They cannot afford that.

[indybrave10]

I would welcome Butler with open arms. Not just because I'm from Indy. Trust me I'm jealous of their success. It's a good school, enrollment and academically similar to Bradley. But they are probably content with plowing through their weak conference and scheduling tough in the non-conference. It would be a wake up call playing Valley schools compared to Horizon League schools. But I like every school named such as SLU and WKU. Plus Indy is not a bad market to be in. But like I said, I believe they are content with the situation they are currently in.

[houstontxbrave]

Could you imagine the meltdown if one or both of these things happened to a Bradley broadcast?

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/dancaesar/story/8EFC8B50ACDBF4AC862576C8000A095C?OpenDocument