Game 35 St. Mary's @ the ARC, Tuesday, March 22; time 6PM CST

[Kyle321n]

Tickets go on sale in an hour.

The opponent will probably come straight from Moraga, California after they play Sunday night.

It'll definitely be Vashil's final game in the ARC.

Winner goes to Madison Square Garden.

[VULB#62]

Do we know the video outlet for the ST. Mary's/UGA game?

[valpo84]

Believe it showed ESPNU.

[Kyle321n]

Do we know the video outlet for the ST. Mary's/UGA game?

Believe it showed ESPNU.

They're going to be on ESPNU at 6:30 CST.

[agibson]

13-15 minutes after tickets went on sale, section A and E (lower bleachers endline) have some blocks of seats; otherwise it's just singles downstairs.

Maybe some more will be released from season ticket holders later, but maybe not too many.

[oklahomamick]

What brings a bigger crowd?  St. Mary's or Georgia?

[agibson]

What brings a bigger crowd?  St. Mary's or Georgia?

Have we ever sold out before game time? Maybe so... Butler... even Detroit after the Ray Jr. game. But, not likely before the opponent is decided.

[talksalot]

If I'm reading the bracket right... the game time Tuesday will be determined tonight by the VATech - BYU game March 18, 8:30 p.m. (CT) - ESPNU.  Those are the highest remaining seeds in the St Bonaventure Bracket.

http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/2016_nit_bracket.pdf

If VaTech (#3) wins, they will host the winner of the Wagner / Creighton game
if BYU (#2) wins, they will host the winner of the Wagner / Creighton game

If VaTech wins,... they would probably get the early game on Tuesday, and we get the late one
if BYU wins... they would probably get the late game on Tuesday and we get the early one

[Kyle321n]

Anyone know what time season ticket holder tickets that don't get claimed are released to the public? The last 2 games I've been "spluging" on chairbacks and snagging tickets that season ticket holders don't claim.

[VULB#62]

What brings a bigger crowd?  St. Mary's or Georgia?

Have we ever sold out before game time? Maybe so... Butler... even Detroit after the Ray Jr. game. But, not likely before the opponent is decided.

I wrote MLB and suggested he get the east end bleachers temporarily installed and create a second Valparizone for the students.  That could really add to the electricity.

[wh]

Just picked my tickets. 1 person ahead of me when I arrived. 7 behind me when I left and more walking in. Looks like I just beat the lunch crowd.

[oklahomamick]

What brings a bigger crowd?  St. Mary's or Georgia?

Have we ever sold out before game time? Maybe so... Butler... even Detroit after the Ray Jr. game. But, not likely before the opponent is decided.

I wrote MLB and suggested he get the east end bleachers temporarily installed and create a second Valparizone for the students.  That could really add to the electricity.

Only if we can get butts in the seats.

[agibson]

Anyone know what time season ticket holder tickets that don't get claimed are released to the public? The last 2 games I've been "spluging" on chairbacks and snagging tickets that season ticket holders don't claim.

I've not heard an announcement, but probably season ticket holders have? Last time it was... 5 PM? But who knows if it would be 5 PM the day after yesterday's game, or 5 PM the day before the next game, etc, etc.

I didn't see any court-side seats available, which I did for this Tuesday's game.

[agibson]

SID Aaron points out on twitter that the Tuesday slots on ESPN are 6 and 8 PM central. Wednesday it's 6 and 8 PM ESPN2. All of this matches what they did last year.

[VUOR63]

I've got a question about NIT travel.  Does the NCAA pay for the costs associated with getting the team to the game or is that left up to the school?  The reason for asking is that I could see how Georgia might be able to afford to fly its team on a charter to an airport close to Valpo but Saint Mary's might be stuck going through Chicago (I don't see their athletic budget being very big).  Regardless, travel to Valpo is a pain in the butt and gives the Crusaders a very good home court advantage. 

[Kyle321n]

Anyone know what time season ticket holder tickets that don't get claimed are released to the public? The last 2 games I've been "spluging" on chairbacks and snagging tickets that season ticket holders don't claim.

I've not heard an announcement, but probably season ticket holders have? Last time it was... 5 PM? But who knows if it would be 5 PM the day after yesterday's game, or 5 PM the day before the next game, etc, etc.

I didn't see any court-side seats available, which I did for this Tuesday's game.

I'm going in a few minutes to inquire because there were like 1% of the chairback seats there were last game.

[VULB#62]

Athletics FB page says 5PM TONIGHT.

[agibson]

I've got a question about NIT travel.  Does the NCAA pay for the costs associated with getting the team to the game or is that left up to the school?  The reason for asking is that I could see how Georgia might be able to afford to fly its team on a charter to an airport close to Valpo but Saint Mary's might be stuck going through Chicago (I don't see their athletic budget being very big). 

I'm guessing that the NIT may not do revenue sharing like the NCAA, but I do't really know. I posted some numbers (maybe on the NIT thread?) and there's not all that much revenue to go around.

I do hope that _any_ post-season tournament helps with travel. Doing all this stuff last minute can't be easy. We've heard horror stories in that past (even NCAA?) about how teams, maybe losing teams especially, have been treated. And, maybe the quality will vary (maybe the NIT will help you book coach, but not charter you a plane?). Presumably you're free to upgrade on your own, so $$ could absolutely be a factor.

More on that below.

Regardless, travel to Valpo is a pain in the butt and gives the Crusaders a very good home court advantage. 

Nice! A little less painful for teams than for private individuals, maybe. But, well said. TRVTH.

Georgia might be able to afford to fly its team on a charter to an airport close to Valpo but Saint Mary's might be stuck going through Chicago (I don't see their athletic budget being very big).

For fun, in the after glow of last night's games, I had a look at some of the financials. Inspired by Kyle Whelliston and bbstate.com (which is having server problems? horrible timing), but all numbers from http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/. Maybe 2015 numbers?

Generically I think of St. Mary's as something like Valpo, but maybe even more basketball-crazy, at least relative to their (somewhat smaller) size. My in-laws live close to Moraga, but I never have managed to make it to a game...

MBB expenses/athletic expenses/MBB revenue when I thought it was interesting.
In millions of dollars.

Valpo 2.5/15.0
St. Mary's 2.7/14.9
Gonzaga 7.4/20.5/12.2 MBB revenue
Texas Southern 1.4/10.2
Florida State 6.8/97.7/11.0 MBB revenue
Georgia 5.9/101.6/9 MBB revenue

The cases where I don't mention revenue seem to have cooked the books so that the revenue for _each_ of their sports matches expenses, maybe that's somehow normal accounting at places where athletics _don't_ pay for themselves.

Valpo and Texas Southern, at least, have football, and obviously Florida State and Georgia have big time football.

So, yes, a clear disparity in resources between Georgia and St. Mary's. And between Valparaiso and Florida State.

[agibson]

I'm going in a few minutes to inquire because there were like 1% of the chairback seats there were last game.

Chairbacks now show as completely sold out (we'll see what happens at 5 PM). Can still get six together in E, four together in A.

Mezzanine is selling well. Probably about where we were for the Florida State game at 3 or 4 PM yesterday?

[Kyle321n]

I'm going in a few minutes to inquire because there were like 1% of the chairback seats there were last game.

Chairbacks now show as completely sold out (we'll see what happens at 5 PM). Can still get six together in E, four together in A.

Mezzanine is selling well. Probably about where we were for the Florida State game at 3 or 4 PM yesterday?

I called and they said 5. So I'll go online then to see what I can get. All else fails I end up in my season tickets.

Sent from my XT1058 using Tapatalk

[agibson]

A quick look at some numbers.

St. Mary's obviously the better looking team overall, receiving votes most of the season, and climbing to as high as #23 in the coaches poll.

Their RPI sits at 32, with a non-conf RPI at 23, just behind ours. They beat Stanford in Moraga, lost to Cal at Berkeley. That loss at Cal (30 minutes away) was their only non-conference game on the road. They didn't even play on a neutral court until the WCC tournament. Beat Gonzaga twice, of course, before losing to them in the WCC final. They were a very popular last-four type at-large team, appearing on 94 of 144 brackets in bracketmatrix.com's final survey.

On KenPom, they're a hair above us at #34, but with a top offense #15,  and only a pretty good defense (#122). Inverting our pretty good offense (#101) and top defense (#13). Like a few other top offensive teams they play at a slow tempo, one of the slowest in the country (#349), almost as slow as glacial Virginia, and at 62 possessions per game they're even five per game slower than our rather slow 67 (#255).

From KenPom I might make St. Mary's 1 point favorites on a neutral court, but obviously the NCAA selection committee had a moderate preference for Valpo (non-conference scheduling?) and gave us the "last four out" nod that gave us the #1 NIT seed.  Figure us for... 4 or 5 point favorites on our home court?

St. Mary's was upset on their home court in front of a paltry 1,300 fans in the first round of the NIT last year, as a #4 seed.

Georgia's at RPI 58. 0-7 against the top 50 (and they got chances at home!), 7-5 against the top 100, a "bad loss" at Auburn (but they only had to play three games on the road against the RPI 150+ set). On KenPom they look quite a lot like us: similar tempo, better defense (#50) than offense (#105), neither as good as ours, but offense close. Best win... Georgia Tech in Athens? Or probably at South Carolina. From KenPom numbers (just offense/defense/temp), make us... 8 point favorites at the ARC?

Apart from #8 Wagner over #1 St. Bonaventure, the NIT's been completely chalk this year. Much chalkier than the first round last year (five upsets in 16 games?).

[agibson]

Normally I might assume that a mid-major would have more experience on the road. But, here maybe you give the "travels well" edge to Georgia?

St. Mary's only top-200 RPI road games were Cal, BYU, Pepperdine, and Gonzaga. And they only won at Gonzaga (lost to Pepperdine on the road, but did beat them on a neutral court in the WCC tournament).

St. Mary's home court seats just 3,500 and they only filled it this year for Stanford and Gonzaga. In the NIT, they listed attendance of 1,154 when New Mexico State came to town.

[VULB#62]

A quick look at some numbers.

St. Mary's obviously the better looking team overall, receiving votes most of the season, and climbing to as high as #23 in the coaches poll.

Their RPI sits at 32, with a non-conf RPI at 23, just behind ours. They beat Stanford in Moraga, lost to Cal at Berkeley. That loss at Cal (30 minutes away) was their only non-conference game on the road. They didn't even play on a neutral court until the WCC tournament. Beat Gonzaga twice, of course, before losing to them in the WCC final. They were a very popular last-four type at-large team, appearing on 94 of 144 brackets in bracketmatrix.com's final survey.

On KenPom, they're a hair above us at #34, but with a top offense #15,  and only a pretty good defense (#122). Inverting our pretty good offense (#101) and top defense (#13). Like a few other top offensive teams they play at a slow tempo, one of the slowest in the country (#349), almost as slow as glacial Virginia, and at 62 possessions per game they're even five per game slower than our rather slow 67 (#255).

From KenPom I might make St. Mary's 1 point favorites on a neutral court, but obviously the NCAA selection committee had a moderate preference for Valpo (non-conference scheduling?) and gave us the "last four out" nod that gave us the #1 NIT seed.  Figure us for... 4 or 5 point favorites on our home court?

St. Mary's was upset on their home court in front of a paltry 1,300 fans in the first round of the NIT last year, as a #4 seed.

Georgia's at RPI 58. 0-7 against the top 50 (and they got chances at home!), 7-5 against the top 100, a "bad loss" at Auburn (but they only had to play three games on the road against the RPI 150+ set). On KenPom they look quite a lot like us: similar tempo, better defense (#50) than offense (#105), neither as good as ours, but offense close. Best win... Georgia Tech in Athens? Or probably at South Carolina. From KenPom numbers (just offense/defense/temp), make us... 8 point favorites at the ARC?

Apart from #8 Wagner over #1 St. Bonaventure, the NIT's been completely chalk this year. Much chalkier than the first round last year (five upsets in 16 games?).

McKeon Pavilion is the home to the Saint Mary's men's basketball, women's basketball and volleyball teams. The Pavilion features a 3,500-seat basketball court . Seating configuration is similar to Valpo's -- seating right up to the court, but no seating directly on the ends (one end has some balcony seating).  We complain about the ARC being a glorified HS gym.  The ARC is more impressive than McKeon IMO.

All of this is by way of saying that if it's St. Mary's Valpo needs to Pack The ARC and be bold in gold just like FSU.  If the ARC is jammed and is into the game, there will be a bit of an intimidation factor going.  For UGA, a opposite dynamic will also ensure an intimidation factor.  Their Stegeman Coliseum has a capacity of 10,523 with fans relatively far from the court.  If any of the UGA players are claustrophobic they will have a complete meltdown.

[wh]

Just spoke to someone in the ticket office and asked how ticket sales were going. The reply was an enthusiastic "great!"  I said it would awesome if we could have another great crowd like last night. Their reply, "It's certainly looking that way."

[vu72]

Just spoke to someone in the ticket office and asked how ticket sales were going. The reply was an enthusiastic "great!"  I said it would awesome if we could have another great crowd like last night. Their reply, "It's certainly looking that way."

Just checked, 7 seats left on the reserved bleacher side, zero in the chairbacks. CC pretty boked to NN (12 rows up)