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More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is...

Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

FRICKER said:
It's too bad that Minny and the Fighting Sioux had to play each other in the Regional Final game after playing
each other 6 times during the year. Fortunately, that didn't happen in the East Regional (BC - Maine) or the
Midwest Regional (Michigan - Ferris) but it could have. The very first thing they should do in seeding the Regionals is to make sure, to the best of their ability based on the number of teams per league that are picked, that two teams from the same league don't play each other. One of the neat things about a national tournament is that you don't see the same teams as you've seen all year.
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But considering there are only five leagues and sixteen teams, that's impossible. They are trying to avoid "first round" matchups. Are you saying they should avoid "final round" matchups? That means they would HAVE TO put teams in the same league against each other, because by definition, if they are in separate brackets, then they will HAVE to meet in the finals.

That's why (since we really can't control who plays whom for the entire length of the tournament) we should focus on getting more people into the seats. As I had previously mentioned (and kdilks affirmed), it is more difficult to "assess" the relative strength of teams in hockey due to the low-scoring nature of the sport. Therefore, flipping a couple of close seeds to insure increased attendance is, in my view, justified.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

kdilks said:
Basketball games are long enough relative to the rate of scoring that they do a reasonably good job of predicting who the better team was. I believe I remember reading that for basketball games to be as equally unpredictable as hockey games, they would have to last only 22 minutes. So if you really want to compare the basketball and the hockey tournament, you have to imagine what the basketball tournament would be like if you only played the first half. This is why it makes sense to have some built-in competitive advantages for hockey teams that have earned them over the season.

It's not impossible to put in some best-of-three's without lengthening the season (timewise). Say you had 6 East teams and 6 West teams, ranked 1-6. 3 hosts 6 and 4 hosts 5 the weekend we currently do regionals in a best-of-three. 1 and 2 host the winners during what is currently a bye week in a best-of-3. Frozen Four stays the same.
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So you're eliminating four teams and raising the possibility of making a team travel three weeks in a row? Sorry, I can't believe that's progress. And I also don't understand, why, if best of three is good in the first round, where you have more mismatches, it's not used in the Frozen Four, where the teams are more equal.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

5mn_Major said:
Not so sure about that. Just as with MN, Canada is immersed in hockey. I have little doubt that avid junior fans would turn on some college games (as much as folks turn on other non football, non basketball sports). Frankly, I could see the same thing happening in pro hockey towns like Philly and NYC. I have no illusions that college hockey is going to be huge. But we are likely entering a new era of hockey with an already continent wide reach in BTN...we'll see.
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Just curious, why don't NCAA teams play Major Junior teams over the holiday break? That would be a good way to expand the market into Canada and would be very interesting to see how the games go.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

bucky15 said:
Just curious, why don't NCAA teams play Major Junior teams over the holiday break? That would be a good way to expand the market into Canada and would be very interesting to see how the games go.
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Waste of time that no one would watch. There's that whole "World Junior Championship" thing that Canada goes goo-goo over during the holiday break.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

bucky15 said:
Just curious, why don't NCAA teams play Major Junior teams over the holiday break? That would be a good way to expand the market into Canada and would be very interesting to see how the games go.
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Major Junior teams are pro, so I don't know if the NCAA allows games against them.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Happy said:
Major Junior teams are pro, so I don't know if the NCAA allows games against them.
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That is what I was thinking, but what are the Red Army teams and the other national teams that used to to come over and play. Having seen a variety of teams in both leagues it would be great to see some teams battle to end this debate with the Canadians. Sorry to get off the topic, but I always wondered why they didn't play each other ever.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Happy said:
Major Junior teams are pro, so I don't know if the NCAA allows games against them.
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Exhibitions would have to be allowed on some level, as most MLB teams play their first spring game against some Florida/Arizona college team it seems.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Canadian college teams are stocked with ex-major junior players, and NCAA teams play them all the time. The "obvious" answer to this question is that Major Junior teams are already well into their regular season by the time NCAA teams have a slot for an exhibition, and Major Junior has no real holiday break.

Even if it were logistically reasonable I think the tension between the two leagues would keep any games from happening.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

FRICKER said:
It's too bad that Minny and the Fighting Sioux had to play each other in the Regional Final game after playing
each other 6 times during the year. Fortunately, that didn't happen in the East Regional (BC - Maine) or the
Midwest Regional (Michigan - Ferris) but it could have. The very first thing they should do in seeding the Regionals is to make sure, to the best of their ability based on the number of teams per league that are picked, that two teams from the same league don't play each other. One of the neat things about a national tournament is that you don't see the same teams as you've seen all year.
Click to expand...

OK, you have four regionals and five CCHA teams. It's a mathematical impossibility to avoid the possibility of them playing in a regional. You also have to remember that NDakota, as a #1 seed gets to go to the remaining regional closest to their campus, and Minnesota as host, gets to play there. So how can we assure bracket integrity, give the #1 seeds the nearest regional and avoid any possible interconference matchups?
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Didn't read through entire thread so I apologize if its already been mentioned but with the advent of new smaller conferences, do we really need conference tournaments at all? Play a few more regular season games and dont spend 3 weeks on conference tournaments. The regular season champs receives the autobid and let the PWR figure the rest. You are asking fans to travel and spend alot of money in pretty much a 4-5 week span. Also would eliminate the scenario we just had with the Minn/UND redundancy. I would also like to see 2 super regionals with 8 teams over 3 days. Still have 4 regions, just have 2 sites as mentioned by several earlier in the thread. Most would have a pretty good idea where their team was headed and could prepare in advance with this type of set up.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

bucky15 said:
That is what I was thinking, but what are the Red Army teams and the other national teams that used to to come over and play. Having seen a variety of teams in both leagues it would be great to see some teams battle to end this debate with the Canadians. Sorry to get off the topic, but I always wondered why they didn't play each other ever.
Click to expand...

But there's a difference between "semantics" and actually being accepted as "professional." NCAA teams can't play against professionals. The fact that we "consider" the Red Army and other teams of that ilk professional doesn't officially make them so in their eyes...
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

johnk said:
do we really need conference tournaments at all?
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Take a guess at the answer...it's a five-letter word starting with "M" and ending in "Y" (M$$$Y) :D
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

johnk said:
Didn't read through entire thread so I apologize if its already been mentioned but with the advent of new smaller conferences, do we really need conference tournaments at all? Play a few more regular season games and dont spend 3 weeks on conference tournaments. The regular season champs receives the autobid and let the PWR figure the rest. You are asking fans to travel and spend alot of money in pretty much a 4-5 week span. Also would eliminate the scenario we just had with the Minn/UND redundancy. I would also like to see 2 super regionals with 8 teams over 3 days. Still have 4 regions, just have 2 sites as mentioned by several earlier in the thread. Most would have a pretty good idea where their team was headed and could prepare in advance with this type of set up.
Click to expand...
Interesting point, but I'd guess the Hockey East, and certainly the current WCHA are money makers for the conferences. I'd guess that the Big 10 tournament will also be a significant money maker. How do you stop them from having a tournament? And most conferences like the tournament because it gives them a chance to get an extra team in the tournament, if there's an upset (regular season winner probably gets in based on PWR anyway).
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

I think the best way to improve regional attendance would be to move the bye week to the space between conference tourneys and the regionals. This would allow fans more time to plan for regional travel, and for those who have to fly, they may get a little better deal. The downside is that the regionals get blown out by the BBall final four.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

Jim Connolly's article on this is very insightful...it puts the blame on ESPN and TV regarding the scheduling which contributes to much of the poor attendance...it's an interesting read.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

chickod said:
Jim Connolly's article on this is very insightful...it puts the blame on ESPN and TV regarding the scheduling which contributes to much of the poor attendance...it's an interesting read.
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He nailed it, though he missed the fact that ESPN shafted people with the FSN North blackout Saturday on top of it.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

chickod said:
Take a guess at the answer...it's a five-letter word starting with "M" and ending in "Y" (M$$$Y) :D
Click to expand...


I would guess that the Hockey East tourney might be the only real money maker once the new leagues form. Big 10 tourney will be the same 3 or 4 teams for the next five years. After playing the same team 4 times in the reg season, is it really going to be that big of a deal for fans to see them again before possibly seeing them in the NCAA's. The NCHC will have some interesting travel dynamics for their teams. Doubt eliminating conf. tourneys will ever happen but I think it would bring an instant bump in fan interest for the NCAA's.
 
Re: More proof that the Regional system is a disaster: Today's attendance at the X is

davyd83 said:
I think the best way to improve regional attendance would be to move the bye week to the space between conference tourneys and the regionals. This would allow fans more time to plan for regional travel, and for those who have to fly, they may get a little better deal. The downside is that the regionals get blown out by the BBall final four.
Click to expand...

There is no "downside" because it's not going to happen. They will NOT go up against the Final Four...period.
 
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