MBB vs Arkansas State, Sunday, March 10, 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+, Pensacola Bay Center, Pensacola, Fla., Sun Belt semis

[/\PP ST/\TE GRAD 09]

I won't be mad to see JMU get bounced in round 1

Can’t stand them, but I might take them to the sweet 16. Their first game will be the most predicted upset on brackets guaranteed.

I think that depends on the matchup, and I base that off the fact I watch A LOT of college basketball and not just my dislike for the school.

Joe Linardi projects them against BYU. I feel they can win that game. CBS has them projected against Texas Tech who I feel would present a tougher matchup.

Anything is possible when it comes to March Madness though. Went decades without a 16 over a 1 and it's happened twice since 2018. A 15 seed making it to the elite 8 two years ago. Brackets will be busted and my work productivity next Thursday and Friday will be way down.

[pop5app]

Winning fills Holmes . Recruiting is greatly affected by large crowds .Or on the downside , small crowds. Certainly the ticket sale revenue makes a substantial difference. All that plays into building a program that can compete for a bid .

I strongly agree with this statement, but we have to get off the mountain with players to Winston, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh. Instead of trying to talk teams up the mountain we need to try and get some 100% ticket sales going our way. We need to meet the fans for weeknight games but keep our ticket sales. At UNCC with us getting 100% of our ticket sales. At Davidson with us getting 100% of our ticket sales....and so on. Winthrop, Wingate, Elon, all of those schools make them annual matchups. And a UNCG, APP invitational to start the year at Greensboro Colosseum.

Or, we build off what we had this year. Keep getting a good student turnout at Holmes (the seeds have been planted) and keep our fans coming up the mountain for the great atmosphere in Holmes. If we become a Quad 2 opportunity in a tough atmosphere, teams will come up the mountain to play us. But, in previous years all we could offer them was a Quad 3 or Quad 4 opportunity in front of 2-3K. If we can string together a few winning seasons and build that to 5K per game, we'll be in the top half of D1 attendance.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketb ... Attend.pdf

Big City mid-majors are not attracting fans. Charlotte was selling tickets for $5 to Halton to try to get a big crowd for their match-up with a ranked USF team. And they were having their best season in 15 years. UNC-G averaged 1400 fans for a 20 win season last year.
Yes, we need to play one or two road games in Charlotte (UNCC/Davidson/Queens) and the Triad (UNC-G/High Point/NC A&T) and we should have annual home and homes with UNC-A and UNC-W (but, don't play them in a 1,000 seat community college gym, because what's the point?)
Schedule Mid-Major Home and Homes with 20-win teams. Maybe play Saturday/Sunday double headers for non-conference games.
Also, the Belt needs to push the conference tournament back (sure it's an ESPN call) another 4-5 days which gives us more time in the year to fit in games. Having your Conference Tournament up against Rivalry Weekend games is not the best formula.

Good insight and constructive suggestions with possible solutions.

[Bigdaddyg1]

There really isn't a perfect solution to the Sunbelt tournament. Ultimately the problem lies in having a conference with a team in West Virginia and Texas along with Louisiana and eastern Virginia. If the conference was more geographically designed there could be a more centralized location for the tournament. It's not going to happen but if we had UNCC and ECU instead of South Alabama and Texas State things change. Some on here complain about our fans not going to support the team. Everyone doesn't have the disposable income to fly from NC to Pensacola, pay for transportation and hotels and also take off on a Monday (had we made it). Put the tournament in Charlotte or Greensboro and it's a different story. What was the attendance last night for the championship, a couple thousand? I didn't watch just pulled it up to check the score every now and then.

[Stonewall]

2,548

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

It may be incorrect, but my perception is that the “east” schools have better fan support sans Coastal and Georgia State. App, JMU, Marshall, ODU and GaSo all support their teams pretty well. Seems all the west schools are pretty weak. Cater to the fans that deserve it, put it in Charlotte or Raleigh.

[MrCraig]

Winning fills Holmes . Recruiting is greatly affected by large crowds .Or on the downside , small crowds. Certainly the ticket sale revenue makes a substantial difference. All that plays into building a program that can compete for a bid .

I strongly agree with this statement, but we have to get off the mountain with players to Winston, Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh. Instead of trying to talk teams up the mountain we need to try and get some 100% ticket sales going our way. We need to meet the fans for weeknight games but keep our ticket sales. At UNCC with us getting 100% of our ticket sales. At Davidson with us getting 100% of our ticket sales....and so on. Winthrop, Wingate, Elon, all of those schools make them annual matchups. And a UNCG, APP invitational to start the year at Greensboro Colosseum.

Or, we build off what we had this year. Keep getting a good student turnout at Holmes (the seeds have been planted) and keep our fans coming up the mountain for the great atmosphere in Holmes. If we become a Quad 2 opportunity in a tough atmosphere, teams will come up the mountain to play us. But, in previous years all we could offer them was a Quad 3 or Quad 4 opportunity in front of 2-3K. If we can string together a few winning seasons and build that to 5K per game, we'll be in the top half of D1 attendance.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketb ... Attend.pdf

Big City mid-majors are not attracting fans. Charlotte was selling tickets for $5 to Halton to try to get a big crowd for their match-up with a ranked USF team. And they were having their best season in 15 years. UNC-G averaged 1400 fans for a 20 win season last year.
Yes, we need to play one or two road games in Charlotte (UNCC/Davidson/Queens) and the Triad (UNC-G/High Point/NC A&T) and we should have annual home and homes with UNC-A and UNC-W (but, don't play them in a 1,000 seat community college gym, because what's the point?)
Schedule Mid-Major Home and Homes with 20-win teams. Maybe play Saturday/Sunday double headers for non-conference games.
Also, the Belt needs to push the conference tournament back (sure it's an ESPN call) another 4-5 days which gives us more time in the year to fit in games. Having your Conference Tournament up against Rivalry Weekend games is not the best formula.

Good insight and constructive suggestions with possible solutions.

Absolutely no place for that here. I come here for insane hot takes, not "analysis." Someone block WASU 93.



(this is a joke for those who are new here)

[appgrad95&97]

If it could actually be worked out, Chattanooga is probably a fair opinion. Charlotte or Greensboro are just to far East for half the conference.

[appvette]

Why aren't the games played at the home sight of the higher ranked team? I know that's more difficult logistically, but we have another week to spread things out

[Oldlknapp]

Greenville, SC. Would be great place for the tourney. On I-85 for easy access from north or south. Great town to visit!

[311neers]

Greenville, SC. Would be great place for the tourney. On I-85 for easy access from north or south. Great town to visit!

I believe they usually have a tournament in their own right. SEC Womens were there this year. It is a great town though and centrally located.

[Stonewall]

Greenville, SC. Would be great place for the tourney. On I-85 for easy access from north or south. Great town to visit!

I believe they usually have a tournament in their own right. SEC Womens were there this year. It is a great town though and centrally located.

We have a two week window….its doable.

[BambooRdApp]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

[appst89]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

[hapapp]

Greenville, SC. Would be great place for the tourney. On I-85 for easy access from north or south. Great town to visit!

I was going to say that, though I'm not a fan of the arena there. Not that that should make any difference about finding an ideal location. I've been to two NCAA first and second rounds there, and they really did a poor job of handling the crowds. Got there an hour+ before tip off and missed almost half of the first half.

[hapapp]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

That makes sense, though I don't like the idea of the tournament being in the city of one of the conference members. In the end, perhaps they should do like the ACC and move the location around so that it serves the various regions of the conference.

[appgrad95&97]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

Birmingham is more central than Atlanta. But it doesn't really matter. Sun Belt schools don't really attend their own home games. The tournament would, probably, have had the same attendance if it were held in LA.

[AppStFan1]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

Birmingham is more central than Atlanta. But it doesn't really matter. Sun Belt schools don't really attend their own home games. The tournament would, probably, have had the same attendance if it were held in LA.

True. JMU and App are about the only programs who got good home attendance this year for their basketball teams.

[AppinVA]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

Birmingham is more central than Atlanta. But it doesn't really matter. Sun Belt schools don't really attend their own home games. The tournament would, probably, have had the same attendance if it were held in LA.

True. JMU and App are about the only programs who got good home attendance this year for their basketball teams.

Marshall and ODU draw well. And let’s not kid ourselves, we are in no position to judge attendance of other schools in basketball. A couple good home gates doesn’t erase years of poor attendance numbers.

[hapapp]

Personally, I think ATL is best option..so many flight options. You do not have to play in Hawks arena or ga state.
There are other arenas in that city
Need to make it easy as possible for flights.
Not sure Gville has as many.
I checked on flights from BWI to Pensacola in case I flew down for finals game if App made it. Not that many options.

I did a quick and dirty calculation and Atlanta is pretty much the geographic center of the Sun Belt Conference. Based on that alone, it seems the logical place to put the tournament.

Birmingham is more central than Atlanta. But it doesn't really matter. Sun Belt schools don't really attend their own home games. The tournament would, probably, have had the same attendance if it were held in LA.

True. JMU and App are about the only programs who got good home attendance this year for their basketball teams.

Marshall and ODU draw well. And let’s not kid ourselves, we are in no position to judge attendance of other schools in basketball. A couple good home gates doesn’t erase years of poor attendance numbers.

See what a 15-15 season would do to attendance.

[Stonewall]

What I’m almost certain of is that if nothing changes then nothing will change.