1. You really don’t have to best teams in the state playing in this tournament as demonstrated with the 40 point blowout yesterday. You have a lot of matchups people do not care about. Just like in football, games really aren’t too exciting overall (some are, most are not).

2. I think with the size of the court (college vs high school) it takes a while for teams to get acclimated to the floor, again, don’t always have the best ball being played which does not create much excitement....just my opinion.

 

The Rupp Arena court has the ability to be converted to high school size.

 

After tonight's game, they will put the additional panels in for the UK/Florida game tomorrow afternoon, and then take those panels out for the high school games Saturday evening.

 

The court is converted to 84 feet (high school size) for the Sweet Sixteen.

This will be fun . . .

 

Want to increase the attendance? CLASSIFY THE SPORT

 

Don't believe that's the answer. It didn't work in Indiana and it wouldn't do it in KY.

 

I think all schools would have to allow coaches and teams to attend the sweet 16 without penalty to get interest back among fans of teams that aren't actually playing.

A little off track here but I bought tickets in the “pep section” after the Central game. They gave me Section 25 (corner section) and told me those were the best seats I could get for the pep section. I look this morning on Ticketmaster, they have a numerous amount of tickets left behind the basket in the WC section. REALLY ticked me off. Ended up spending almost $70 ($45 on TM with fees and $24 at box office) to get the right seats. Absolute joke if KHSAA/Rupp are holding tickets to sell on TM before selling them to the fans right after the games.

Don't believe that's the answer. It didn't work in Indiana and it wouldn't do it in KY.

 

I think all schools would have to allow coaches and teams to attend the sweet 16 without penalty to get interest back among fans of teams that aren't actually playing.

 

Except Indiana still sells out the arena for the largest classes, and it's tournament I believe is still the highest attended HS tourney in the nation. People say classing "didn't work" in Indiana and won't work in KY, more based on nostalgia than real numbers. The fact is, KY's Sweet 16 keeps declining, even as they address the "excuses', like competing with the SEC tourney. The problem is the format doesn't work anymore. Not all the best teams are getting in, and half the games are blowouts. Three compelling first round games this year, with half the games decided by double digits, and one more decided by 8. That's not worth taking days off work and spending hundreds of $'s to see.

 

Classing at least gets more teams involved, and evens the playing field a little. I'd love to see 2 classes, with the first round or two of the state championship played regionally, and either the final 8 or final 4 played at Rupp over a weekend. That way you still get to use Rupp, you eliminate the need to take off work during the week, and reduce overall lodging/food costs. And it's still a big event, played at a historic facility.

I’d be more in favor of seeding the 16 teams rather than dividing it up into classes.

Can someone explain to me what a Sunday finals has to do with Wednesday/Thursday attendance?

Can someone explain to me what a Sunday finals has to do with Wednesday/Thursday attendance?

 

I've often wondered that as well, as it's brought up all the time when talking about attendance. I'm guessing it's because a Sunday final requires an extra nights stay, and eating out for another whole day, adding a couple hundred $'s to the total bill. But playing the semi's and finals the same day, at least in my opinion, is silly and doesn't lend itself to great basketball. And really, if you're already spending close to a grand for lodging and food to take in the first few days, another couple hundred is probably not really out of reach for you. And having a seperate final on Sunday, in my eyes makes the travel part easier for those who have to work all week and can't take the time off.

The thing is, there are still blowouts at the All "A" tournament so I fail to see how classification would create better games. I'm all about changing the format, but fail to see how we could get more good teams to play in Rupp unless you just got rid of regions or combined regions and did some kind of bigger tournament like the NCAAs.

The thing is, there are still blowouts at the All "A" tournament so I fail to see how classification would create better games. I'm all about changing the format, but fail to see how we could get more good teams to play in Rupp unless you just got rid of regions or combined regions and did some kind of bigger tournament like the NCAAs.

 

That's a start

There will always be blowouts. Nothing can be done to avoid them.

14,448 at the afternoon session today.

Session 1: 10,850

Session 2: 10,404

Session 3: 12,205

Session 4: 10,311

Session 5: 14,448

Session 1: 10,850

Session 2: 10,404

Session 3: 12,205

Session 4: 10,311

Session 5: 14,448

 

Those look like pretty solid numbers to me. I don't have a point of reference to compare it to but I would think any time you get over 10,000 you're in good shape.

Those look like pretty solid numbers to me. I don't have a point of reference to compare it to but I would think any time you get over 10,000 you're in good shape.

 

They also have the curtains up in both upper end zones. So the capacity for Sweet 16, is 16,000 and change.

Cost.

 

Coaches can’t go because district and Redbook.

 

Cost.