First Four leaving Dayton?

[admin]

Per Andy Katz today, several sites have bid for the First Four but Dayton and Sioux Falls SD are the frontrunners. I'm not sure what the airport is like in Sioux Falls in winter, but you'd have to think that needing quick travel in and out could be an issue there.

[stever20]

Just looking- Sioux Falls when the First 4 was held this year- avg temps of 44/24. Dayton is 52/33. So it's about 8 degrees warmer- but it's not in the dead of winter... The dates for 1st 4 this year are March 17 and 18.

Sioux Falls would be a plus in that it's in the middle of the country- so anyone could play there and go to any site for the 2nd/3rd rd games- something that they can't do from Dayton. Like this year- they can not send teams from Dayton out to Seattle or Portland. They could from Sioux Falls a whole lot easier.

[billyjack]

Dayton has been great. Sioux Falls would be nuts. The city doesn't even have a Division-1 school. Augustana is Div-2. South Dakota (to the south) and South Dakota State (to the north) are an hour away in each direction. I guess attendance doesn't matter? If they want a central location, plus great attendance, put it in Omaha.

[stever20]

Dayton has been great. Sioux Falls would be nuts. The city doesn't even have a Division-1 school. Augustana is Div-2. South Dakota (to the south) and South Dakota State (to the north) are an hour away in each direction. I guess attendance doesn't matter? If they want a central location, plus great attendance, put it in Omaha.

I think they want the central location more. It's funny- when I was looking at the 2015 tourney map- I saw Omaha and thought exactly what you were saying. Plus it'd be more central for the SW sites when they are in LA or San Diego or places like that.

I do think though one thing that maybe they thought of last year was how much they want a team like a Dayton or a Xavier to have a home court advantage.

[R to the OB]

The Summit League Tournament has been held in Sioux Falls for the last few years and has received rave reviews. It is regarded as one of the best conference tournaments out there. They are probably banking on the local Sioux Falls crowd coming out to support the First Four like they do the Summit League Tournament. Though there are no D-1 Teams in Sioux Falls, the University of South Dakota is pretty close and South Dakota State is a bit further away. I can see the First Four being very successful if one of those two Dakota teams made it or if Creighton, Nebraska, Iowa, Iowa State, or Minnesota was involved in one of the games.

[ohiohsbball]

The UD arena is like no other

And this is where you lost me (although I can make a case against a few of those other reasons as well). I've been to UD Arena for a few games and saying "UD Arena is like no other" is absolutely comical. I would honestly say it is slightly above average. To say it has "spectacular sight lines" is even funnier. From the upper deck you can't even see a majority of the scoreboards (disclaimer, I've obviously never had premium seating there). Whenever a game is broadcast from UD arena it seems to have weird camera angles (seems sort of zoomed out). Like I said, I'm not trying to bash the place as I've been to worse places (US Bank Arena comes to mind) but to claim that it is a top echelon arena and that the NCAA has no choice but to continue to host tourney games there is absolutely insane.

Great quote by a Xavier fan. If the arena is not a top echelon facility, than why do not only the first four games come to Dayton, but also first weekend games, and the women's regional? In my opinion UD is not the greatest arena I've ever been to, but outside of Ohio State I think it is the best in Ohio. When I went to a Xavier game my seats were angled away from the floor.

[ohiohsbball]

Just like everything else the NCAA does, it is all about politics and dollars. If the NCAA feels it can get 11,000 people or more at a game that quite honestly not a lot of people care about, they leave Dayton; if not, they stay. Leaving Dayton would be a gamble; I'm sure other cities would support it quite well, but with the recent history Dayton is a sure thing.

[R to the OB]

Also, Sioux Falls is building a new arena, the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center, which will seat around 14,000 for basketball.

[stever20]

Just like everything else the NCAA does, it is all about politics and dollars. If the NCAA feels it can get 11,000 people or more at a game that quite honestly not a lot of people care about, they leave Dayton; if not, they stay. Leaving Dayton would be a gamble; I'm sure other cities would support it quite well, but with the recent history Dayton is a sure thing.

The thing quite frankly is that leaving for Sioux Falls would allow for more flexibility in 2nd/3rd rd games- which is huge.

look at next year-
Thursday/Saturday sites are:
Jacksonville, FL
Louisville, KY
Pittsburgh, PA
Portland, OR
Friday/Sunday sites are:
Charlotte,NC
Columbus,OH
Omaha,NE
Seattle, WA

The 4 projected #1 seeds from Lunardi's most recent bracketology- Wisconsin, Arizona, Kansas, and MIchigan.
Wisconsin- Columbus
Arizona- Portland
Kansas- Omaha
Michigan- Pittsburgh

The 4 projected #2 seeds- Kentucky, Virginia, Duke, and Villanova
Kentucky- Louisville
Virginia- Charlotte
Duke- Charlotte
Villanova- Pittsburgh

Charlotte pod is out for a PIG team period... Pittsburgh POD is out for a at large PIG team(could get a 16 seed)

The 4 projected #3 seeds- Louisville, Oklahoma, Wichita St, and N Carolina
Louisville- Columbus
Oklahoma- Louisville
Wichita St- Omaha
N Carolina- Jacksonville

So let's look at the 8 sites now:
Thursday/Saturday sites are:
Jacksonville, FL N Carolina(#3), Florida(#4)
Louisville, KY Kentucky (#2), Oklahoma(#3)
Pittsburgh, PA Michigan(#1), Villanova(#2)
Portland, OR Arizona (#1), SMU(#4)
Friday/Sunday sites are:
Charlotte,NC Virginia(#2), Duke(#2)
Columbus,OH Wisconsin (#1), Louisville(#3)
Omaha,NE Kansas (#1),Wichita St(#3)
Seattle, WA UConn(#4), Pittsburgh(#4)

Right now- the committee would be forced to send the 16 seed PIG winner to Pittsburgh on Thursday, and then really either Columbus or Omaha on Friday. The at large PIG winners- you look at the 4 seeds(as that's the pod with 4/13 and 5/12). Thursday- Jacksonville is fine right now. Friday though you have both #4's going to Seattle. So the committee may have to manipulate the seeds to some degree to get into the 3 seed pods (3/14 and 6/11)- to send to Columbus or Omaha. Having it more center makes it where the committee could send a PIG winner to Seattle with no problems.