Sun Belt Championship Game on ESPN2 tonight - 7:00pm ET


Image Courtesy of ESPN

North Texas should win this game.

walty12 said

North Texas should win this game.

The line is currently EVEN…

Wow, thought UNT would be the clear favorite…

When you see the poor attendance at the Sunbelt championship, you realize why the Belt does not get the respect. The Belt is in the middle of college basketball for talent, but I bet at the lower end for support.  That needs to change for the Belt to gain respect.

Here is a question…

It's Spring Break, why not have the Sunbelt Tournament in Florida?  We do have a couple teams down here.  The capacity of FAU and FIU arenas seem to be enough to support the fans that I see in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Would the Sunbelt Conference fans travel to Florida for the tourney?

fauowl said

When you see the poor attendance at the Sunbelt championship, you realize why the Belt does not get the respect. The Belt is in the middle of college basketball for talent, but I bet at the lower end for support.  That needs to change for the Belt to gain respect.

Here is a question…

It's Spring Break, why not have the Sunbelt Tournament in Florida?  We do have a couple teams down here.  The capacity of FAU and FIU arenas seem to be enough to support the fans that I see in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Would the Sunbelt Conference fans travel to Florida for the tourney?

Doubt the league would ever go for that given we're the only members who reside down here, and the rest are much more centrally grouped/located…

It would be interesting to see if they traveled though…my guess would be that you would see the hardcore middle aged fans still make the trip, but the students would fall off, just as they do here due to how much it costs…that IMO, is the biggest factor…

I looked into how much it would cost to fly up there, secure lodging, and car rental, and it was at least $600.00 for just one day…of course the next days would be significantly cheaper, but still $150 per given all expenses…

Not many students can afford that…although, they would likely team up on the hotel and car…

What they ought to do is move it to a city like Nashville…still within range for the vast majority of programs, and would make it an easier trip for some…

Regardless, we'll be there next year as well:

Hot Springs to Host 2009-2011 Basketball Tournaments

Rick said

fauowl said

When you see the poor attendance at the Sunbelt championship, you realize why the Belt does not get the respect. The Belt is in the middle of college basketball for talent, but I bet at the lower end for support.  That needs to change for the Belt to gain respect.

Here is a question…

It's Spring Break, why not have the Sunbelt Tournament in Florida?  We do have a couple teams down here.  The capacity of FAU and FIU arenas seem to be enough to support the fans that I see in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Would the Sunbelt Conference fans travel to Florida for the tourney?

Doubt the league would ever go for that given we're the only members who reside down here, and the rest are much more centrally grouped/located…

It would be interesting to see if they traveled though…my guess would be that you would see the hardcore middle aged fans still make the trip, but the students would fall off, just as they do here due to how much it costs…that IMO, is the biggest factor…

I looked into how much it would cost to fly up there, secure lodging, and car rental, and it was at least $600.00 for just one day…of course the next days would be significantly cheaper, but still $150 per given all expenses…

Not many students can afford that…although, they would likely team up on the hotel and car…

What they ought to do is move it to a city like Nashville…still within range for the vast majority of programs, and would make it an easier trip for some…

Regardless, we'll be there next year as well:

Hot Springs to Host 2009-2011 Basketball Tournaments

Great points, but why is it that most other conferences have better attendance than the SunBelt conference?  I suspect they have similar issues but they overcome them.  What do they do to overcome them that we do not do?

fauowl said

Great points, but why is it that most other conferences have better attendance than the SunBelt conference?  I suspect they have similar issues but they overcome them.  What do they do to overcome them that we do not do?

Guess you would have to define "most other conferences"…

Conferences around our RPI and lower are very much in the same boat if you look at the numbers on the box scores…

Those outside of that, who have high good numbers during post season play, have a much richer conference basketball history than we do and don't play their Tourney's in HOT SPRINGS, AR.  ;D

Besides WKU, the SBC doesn't offer a "storied" program…

FINAL:

UNT 66 Troy 63

Troy trailed 65-63 with eight seconds when Brandon Hazzard drove into traffic and forced a shot that was swatted by UNT's George Odufuwa.

Mean Green to represent the SBC in The Big Dance!

After 2011, I think it would make sense to have the tournament in New Orleans considering the sun belt is located there.

On a sidenote, I think FAU should come up with promotional posters for the basketball season for next year with a picture of Coach Jarvis at the post game conference after they lost to S Alabama on Saturday with his quote on the bottom "We'll be ready next season"

bwacks said

After 2011, I think it would make sense to have the tournament in New Orleans considering the sun belt is located there.

Agree…400 miles closer to Boca Raton as well…