WAC in NCAAs?

[Horseshoe]

On SportsCenter tonight, ESPN's Andy Katz answered some (Fresno) fan's email about how the WAC stacks up against the rest of the conference. Katz said the league is pretty good top to bottom, but that there is no marquee team. He talked about Nevada's fast start and their win over Kansas (but also their loss at Hawaii Saturday), and then mentioned SMU's win at Purdue and at home over Tech .... coupled with the disaster against OKC. He said that because of the absence of a marquee team, and the teams' ability to knock each other off, that the WAC likely will get .... ONE bid to the NCAA tournament.

[DallasDiehard]

I fear he might be right. There are some good teams in the WAC, but there are enough good teams that they'll all knock each other off. The common wisdom is that in order to have a chance for an NCAA bid, a team has to win at least 18 games. I'm not sure very many WAC teams - if any - will reach 18 in the win column. Just like in football, when the WAC won three of four bowl games, the relative anonymity is going to cost the league, which is better than most people know.

[Charleston Pony]

I would agree we are most likely a one bid league, unless someone runs away with the regular season and someone else wins the tourney. I've got to believe this will be the year that 13-5 could win the conference.

Hopefully, the WAC will produce at least 3 NIT teams and someone will make a run deep into that tourney. SMU's problem continues to be our lack of fan support. The NIT pays attention to "name" players and atendance. If SMU was to get in, it would be as road warriors. Seriously doubt we'd see a home game.

By the way, for a comparison of how our 2800 crowd the other night compares to CUSA: Tulane drew only 2000 last night against a top 25 opponent (Cincy) and Houston drew about 3100 for a ranked Marquette team. TCU continues drawing respectable crowds (almost 3900 for St Louis) and ECU drew almost 5,000. What is it going to take to get more butts in the seats at Moody? Looks like we are in need of another Mustang Mania blitz campaign with lots of freebies or very cheap tickets. Considering the fact that Tulsa has been one of our best home draws, what can we expect for attendance the rest of the way? We better start giving tickets away RIGHT NOW for those San Jose and Hawaii games!

[DiamondM]

Well, we are already giving away very cheap tickets. 1$ to App. State. 2$ for any kid under 13 the rest of the season. Free admission to Tulsa for any kid wearing a basketball jersey. 4 baseline tickets for 20$ with a Coke label.

Price (nor effort by our marketing staff) has little to do with why people aren't showing up. I couldn't give away my friggin' Wake Forest ticket (I was playing in the alumni band) for FREE.

[Pony_Fan]

There is no question this is a 1 bid conference.
I think the parity is good for competition but when it comes to the dance, it hurts. Frankly, I thought the WAC competition overall (quality) was better in the Sasser days.

As for attendance, it's not going to change and will be the same as the last 5+ years. I don't see how it would change - we have the same mediocre team as usual and this team hardly scores 60 pts. Unfortunately, the same SMU folks come out unless Tech or a big name is in town. CP, the frat kids don't care and aren't going to wear their Greek pride like the good 'ole days. $1 tickets for App State certainly didn't help.

<small>[ 01-08-2004, 05:56 AM: Message edited by: Pony_Fan ]</small>

[Diehard Pony]

I have to agree with PF.

If you are not a diehard pony (sorry for the obvious use of my pen name), then the only reasons you might find to come would be 1) an opponent with a large local fan base and/or a big name; or more importantly 2) we are fielding a good and ENTERTAINING team.

I love Pony basketball, so I can find enjoyment in a 67-58 victory over a Tulsa team that is in a down year, but the casual fan without SMU ties cannot. If we could have built on our big wins by not stumbling against San Diego and App State, we might be in the Top 25 which would have put us in the casual fans radar. Juicing up the offense so we can consistently score in the 80's would add greatly to the entertainment value when a casual fan does attend.

From my perspective, that is what it is going to take to build the fan base from the core group we have today. If we continue to win in conference, I think the students will show up which obviously will help as well.

<small>[ 01-08-2004, 07:01 AM: Message edited by: Diehard Pony ]</small>

[Hoop Fan]

I don't know why you guys keeping banging your heads against the wall on this. When SMU has a recognized NCAA tourney caliber team and it plays against a name or NCAA caliber opponent, fans will come and Moody will rock. That happened in 2000 when SMU was in position for the NCAA and Tulsa came to town with a gawdy record sniffing the top 20. Simple as that. It won't happen otherwise, as much as we debate the chicken or egg theory. The public didn't show up for Tulsa like in past years, because our team is not positioned to make the Big Dance or expected to and Tulsa was 4-6. Do you guys think Colorado draws well? No they draw a good crowd (its all relative to enrollment) when they are top 25 or when Kansas comes to town like they did this week. The Colorado-Texas A&M game wont draw flies. As for TCU, they have built up some good will with their fans with their football success and Doughtery is still in a honeymoon period that passed by Dement long ago.

[Pony_Fan]

HF - great points, I really think we would need to 'sniff' the Top 25 on a consistent basis.

I hate to say "I told you so" but last year I was posting "How are we going to score w/out Q" and we are obviously hurting in that department.
This brand of bball is not entertaining to the casual fan.

[EastStang]

That's why the move to CUSA will help. Rice will draw well, UH will draw well, even TCU will draw well. Memphis will draw. If TCU leaves and Temple replaces them, they would get a decent crowd. UAB, Tulane, USM, Marshall, ECU, UCF probably won't draw well.

[Southland]

Originally posted by Horseshoe:
On SportsCenter tonight, ESPN's Andy Katz answered some (Fresno) fan's email about how the WAC stacks up against the rest of the conference. Katz said the league is pretty good top to bottom, but that there is no marquee team. He talked about Nevada's fast start and their win over Kansas (but also their loss at Hawaii Saturday), and then mentioned SMU's win at Purdue and at home over Tech .... coupled with the disaster against OKC. He said that because of the absence of a marquee team, and the teams' ability to knock each other off, that the WAC likely will get .... ONE bid to the NCAA tournament.

Karl Benson demoted the WAC from a 2-bid league with 3 annual NIT bids, to a 1-bid league with 2 NIT bids when he enrolled the conference in Bracket Buster Saturday.