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WNIT: Lady Zips @ Kansas State


mes102

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I figured to start this since this may be the last game of Sina King's career, If not and they win it, we will be playing either Missouri or Northern Iowa. We beat Northern Iowa 82-73 back in November on that Tuesday morning(Education Day).

Here's the bracket. Mid-American Conference has the most schools out of any conference in the WNIT(6).

http://www.womensnit.com/bracket.html

Here's hoping for an Akron-Youngstown State WNIT Championship :thumb:

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This is HUGE for the Lady Zips. We've gone from being one of the worst programs in NCAA D-I women's basketball, to making the NCAA tournament.

This season was the best season in school history, W-L wise right? (correct me if I'm wrong). We lost in the Semi-finals and STILL got an NIT invite. Hopefully this is a sign of the success to come.

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If someone knows more about this tournament than me....

Can someone explain why we are going on the road to play Kansas State, and friggin Toledo is playing at home against Wright State????

Even though a lot of MAC teams got into this tournament, I think it's great that we are playing postseason in rebuilding year.

And it makes me wonder....why can't 6 MAC teams get into the Men's NIT from the MAC?

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If someone knows more about this tournament than me....

Can someone explain why we are going on the road to play Kansas State, and friggin Toledo is playing at home against Wright State????

Even though a lot of MAC teams got into this tournament, I think it's great that we are playing postseason in rebuilding year.

And it makes me wonder....why can't 6 MAC teams get into the Men's NIT from the MAC?

Toledo averages 3819 attendance per women's home game. They hosted a first round of the NCAA last year and drew better than most of the major schools who hosted and the Rockets weren't even in the tourney. Kansas State averages 4295. That is the big reason they are playing home games, The Zips average 771. Even Y-Town averaged 1498. Kansas State finished tied for 7th (7-11) in a 10 team league. Hopefully this won't be like playing Purdue at their place last year.

As far as the men's NIT side, there are only 32 teams. The WNIT has 64.

According to K-State's release the game will be broadcast on-line for free on K-StateHD.TV. Game time is 7 pm CDT

http://www.kstatesports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/031715aaa.html

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Well, I guess I should have assumed that money rules the day in women's athletics also.

Of course it does. It rules in the women's NCAA Tournament, too. Look at where all the first and second round games are being held. All are being hosted by big schools who are highest seed in that section of the bracket. I'm sure they are trying to maximize attendance, but as I recall from last year the numbers most places were not all that great.

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You're giving me two different explanations now. There's no way Toledo would be seeded higher than us, and they are not a "big school". I think your "average attendance" answer makes more sense.

The average attendance aspect is a major deciding factor in both tournaments, although it lessens in the later rounds when the NCAA feels the matchups will be more attractive and can safely book other sites. Toledo was considered big enough in terms of attendance to garner hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament last year even though they were not in it. They proved that by outdrawing most of the other sites. It is also a major reason they are hosting an opening round NIT game this year.

Wright State's RPI is 83 and Toledo's is 126. Unfortunately, Wright State only averages 663 a game so to Toledo they go. The NIT has no seedings on their brackets, so you I don't think you can automatically assign seeds to the bracket exactly like they are in the NCAA. If you go purely by RPI for the four teams (K-State is 64, Akron 89), the Zips should be playing Wright State and Toledo should be at K-State. For what it's worth, if the Zips win they will play a lower RPI team than the winner of the Toledo/Wright State game. They both outdraw the Zips, however, so it will still be hard for us to get a home game. It's not right, but that's the way it goes.

OK, that's more stats than I expected to research. Going to take a nap now. :zzz:

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... OK, that's more stats than I expected to research. Going to take a nap now. :zzz:

So that's why I feel so sleepy all the time. :lol:

How about this directly from the WNIT:

How the host schools are chosen

The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc. A team's desire or ability to host or not to host has absolutely no bearing on that team being chosen for the 64-team field.

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How about this directly from the WNIT:

Quote

How the host schools are chosen

The host site for each game is selected by the WNIT committee based on several factors such as fan base, host bids, facility availability, tournament seed, travel constraints, etc. A team's desire or ability to host or not to host has absolutely no bearing on that team being chosen for the 64-team field.

It is based very largely upon the $$ each school bids up front (along with external forces like travel distance and expense). e.g.: My Hawai'i Rainbow Wahine played on Fri at St. Mary's. It was reported that St Mary's offered $30k to host the first round, while Hawaii offered 50k, but no travel expenses. The expense is reportedly why Hawaii will NEVER again host a WNIT game (despite hosting the first three rounds in 2000). It was also reported that the offer for the second round must be 50-100% higher than the first round (St Mary's is playing @ Fresno St.). I imagine that schools like K-State can pretty much make ends meet and a small profit from each WNIT game -- something few if any mid-major can do. And from the internet, it looked like SMC only had a few hundred fans at home.

BTW -- the UA FB page reported that the Zips have never been to the post-season prior to coach Kest's arrival. Could long-time fans confirm that the first Akron WNIT game was around 1998-99? At Michigan St, IIRC.

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I see #126 Toledo is hosting #64 Michigan tonight in the WNIT. Toledo (1709) outdrew Michigan (1028) by almost 700 for the first game, although it was far below UT's 3679 average (Michigan's is 2262). With their overall attendance, apparently UT can justify the price of the bid and throw some added support to their program.

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Rooman, not sure but part of that low attendance for Toledo may have been because two of their high school girls basketball teams were in Columbus late last week/weekend for the state semifinals/championship. Both Toledo Rogers and Toledo Notre Dame Academy made it to the state championship game and lost. Apparently they haven't had a girls basketball state champion in some time over there, and since they had two teams, I heard a lot of people traveled down there(I saw a lot of them when I went down there).

If someone wants to block me for this, that's fine. But how come my high school alma mater can put more people in the seats than the Lady Zips? This wasn't even the best team in my high school's girls basketball program history. Maybe top 5, but not even top 2. Lady Zips just had the two best seasons in their program history BACK TO BACK. I'm not going to suffocate everyone with relentless videos, but look at these two videos. Why can't the normal Akron fans get into a game like these people? Why do the students have to start or do everything?







By the way, #14 is going to be playing basketball at Youngstown State next season.
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