Cleveland State 89 Northern Kentucky 80

[ManOfTroy]

NKU just didn't defend well in this one. After the 21-6 start, they gave up 83 points in 29 minutes. Even in that early run they were giving up open threes. Too many silly fouls also caught up with them in the end. I know Coach was trying everything but the handful of times they tried to trap or go zone really hurt them--usually with a 3. With that said, it was tight until the 2 minute mark when Holland turned it over on three straight possessions. That, and the freshman PG Appleby just went crazy the last 8 minutes.

 

Side note 1: The #1 seed has not won a GAME in the three years NKU has been in the Horizon (and the three years of "Motor City Madness").

 

Side note 2: The TV crew on ESPN3 was just awful.

[ManOfTroy]

Does a league like the Horizon really make that much profit on having a tournament? Isn't that the reason given by conferences for having them in the first place? Must be television money. Lesser league tournaments certainly don't seem to be well attended especially when the host city has no team advancing.

 

Good points. They can't make much. Getting a big-time arena, fairly cheap tickets, and low attendance. Is more about the exposure of getting three games on ESPN? This will be the third year in a row that the Horizon is not sending its best team to the NCAA Tournament.

[GrantNKY]

^Conferences have the choice of whether to give it to the regular season or tournament champ. The Ivy League was the last to switch to the tournament champs a couple seasons ago.

With that in mind wouldn’t it be in the best interest of each conference to guarantee their best team is in the tournament so they have the best chance to advance in the tournament? I don’t know how this is in their best interest.

[98NCCalum]

Does a league like the Horizon really make that much profit on having a tournament? Isn't that the reason given by conferences for having them in the first place? Must be television money. Lesser league tournaments certainly don't seem to be well attended especially when the host city has no team advancing.

i don’t know what they make but the Horizon was the 9th most attended conference tournament last season.

[98NCCalum]

i don’t know what they make but the Horizon was the 9th most attended conference tournament last season.

And that’s not counting what they get from ESPN who shows the semifinals and finals.

[EQUUS GREVYI]

Allowing the conference regular season champ to advance may be good is some regard. But what about a team that is missing a player or two to injury early in the conference season but is back to full strength at the end of the year?