Regional tournament games are bigger than regular season, they mean more and should have that feeling. Playing at a college arena brings that.  I guarantee that almost every high school player would want to play the regional at NKU.

I also think at this stage of the tournament they should all be neutral floor games and having them at one of the high school gyms possibly could eliminate that .

3 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

I have ZERO interest in attending a regional at any area high school gym. I LOVE going to the games at NKU. I go every year now that it is at NKU. I had stopped attending before it moved to NKU.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, ChickenWyngz said:

Interesting. Any specific reason? Comfort? Views? etc? 

Always a great seat available. Pretty easy to get in and out. Comfortable seats. Big time feel in an arena like that. It feels like a special game. More people in the arena makes it more exciting for me.

1 hour ago, throwback32 said:

Regional tournament games are bigger than regular season, they mean more and should have that feeling. Playing at a college arena brings that.  I guarantee that almost every high school player would want to play the regional at NKU.

I also think at this stage of the tournament they should all be neutral floor games and having them at one of the high school gyms possibly could eliminate that .

Two of the better points made. From personal experience coming from a smaller school, that’s a huge part of it. Just hoping and wishing you can make it to NKU. It not being there would 100% take some shine off.

I would think, even if small, it should provide 9th Region teams an advantage going to Rupp over teams that have been playing in (and SHOOTING in), a high school gym.  Would be easy to point out the vast difference in performance of 9th Region teams at Rupp since they've been at NKU as an example of that, but obviously there are a ton of other factors in play in addition to just big-arena shooting sightlines. You know, like better players and coaches. ?

However, it isn't nothing.

20 hours ago, tiger32 said:

They had to keep Tuesday and Thursday open for NKU possibly hosting a Horizon Tournament game. The men have a game Thursday, the women did not finish high enough in conference to host. Logistics..
 

I figured that was why.   You'd think the Horizon League would have their tourney dates a little more locked down than saying Tuesday or Thursday.   But I'm not in that planning room.   As is, NKU has a game Thursday and there is a wasted evening tonight.

? Bracket updated ~ 

On 2/28/2023 at 8:24 PM, The Raven said:

I figured that was why.   You'd think the Horizon League would have their tourney dates a little more locked down than saying Tuesday or Thursday.   But I'm not in that planning room.   As is, NKU has a game Thursday and there is a wasted evening tonight.

The dates were locked in.  Tuesday was held for the women's team.  Thursday for the men's.  Those spots weren't determined until regular season games were finished last Saturday.  The fact that the Horizon starts their tournaments early further complicates things.