Riding high into St. Louis

[LittleBrave]

I believe the 9 and 10th teams in the league should not be in the tour; no thurs. night games which would give you 1 vs. 8; 2 vs. 7; 3 vs. 6; and 4 vs. 5 in the first round. I always thought you needed to earn your way into the tour.

I guess it's a personal preference - I like the fact that EVERY school has a chance to make it to the NCAA tourney until they lose (barring At-Large bid) Believe it or not, BU has a chance to dance, which gives us the slimmest of hopes that our season may continue past Thursday in St. Louis.

There are some good games in the 7-10 and 8-9 games too, as the teams are pretty evenly matched (maybe moreso than a couple of the Friday games). It's just a prelude to the great weekend of hoops that follows. Every school should experience that taste of "This could be our last game of the season. It's do or die!"

How terrible would it be for a player to finish on a team that finishes 9th or 10th all four years of eligibility - and not even get to play in the Valley tourney?

Just a super tournament even if the numbers of fans are declining. It just goes by way too fast! But I wouldn't change anything except the suggestion that the worse seed for Thursday winners should play the top seeded team. There shouldn't be much scouting involved as the teams know each other very well heading into the tournament.

[MDCowboy]

It is not that the league makes money on the play-in round. It is more of a marketing thing to be able to sell tickets to each school and guarantee each team will play in STL. Prior to this, it is hard to sell any all session passes to schools who wouldn't for sure know they are in the tournament or not.

[LittleBrave]

Very important to get the #3 OR #6 seed in Arch Madness this year.
I think #6 has a good shot to beat #3 whoever that may be.
The winner of the 3-6 match-up will most likely face Creighton, who is beatable, especially of late.
I would not want to play the Shockers from now until their season ends. Everything seems to be clicking for them. And with the NIT championship experience last year, they'll be primed and ready to win Arch Madness.
They are actually the 1 Valley team I've not seen all season, but their scores and posts I've read indicate that they are a legit Sweet 16 team.

[it's boogie time]

I've always believed the play-in games were created to give the #1 & #2 seeds the advantage they deserved

[Tulsa Brave]

I've always believed the play-in games were created to give the #1 & #2 seeds the advantage they deserved

They were initially created many years back after SIU failed to qualify. At the time, SIU had a huge fan base that came to St. Louis each year, and attendance was way down the year that SIU did not qualify. Not surprisingly, they changed the format the followiing season to allow all 10 teams into the tourney.

[it's boogie time]

I remember that at the end of the Rich Herrin era. One of the SIU players brought his golf clubs along to St. Louis for the first play-in games.

I assume it makes it easier for all ten schools to reserve hotel rooms for their athletic department since there isn't the chance that their basketball team won't qualify for the tournament.

[lightsout]

Found the seating chart for Arch Madness over on mvcfans website. Bradley is in sections 117 and 118, which is where Bradley was seated last year if I remember right.

http://www.mvcfans.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/seating-chart1.pdf