Question for people who went to the game

[Dingus]

Is this better than the old way? I'm not sure. Either way we don't have much to gain and have a whole lot to lose. I do like though that we can get some neutral-site experience.

This is exactly why I don't like it. When tallying up ISU's pluses and minuses come tourney time, a UNI loss will definitely be in the minus column, while a UNI win (wherever it takes place) will never be in the plus column. Given our track record vs. UNI, it's a bad deal. I'm happy to take our chances at Hilton whenever they like. And at Cedar Falls on occasion.

I'd rather play a better high-profile team on a neutral site at another tourney than UNI in DSM.

 

[aeroclone]

I realize you are very proud of Des Moines & its amenities, so I'm giving you a pass here.

The problem with the Well is not the fact that it is not a mini Hilton. The problem is the design of the building as an "Event Center". It was built with the intent to host state tournaments, semi-pro basketball & arena foot-ball, concerts, hockey, monster truck shows, etc, etc, etc. It is trying to be too many things at one time, and (IMO) does not do any of them exceptionally well. The sound disappears into the ceiling, the seating arrangement is, well, strange...and the overall experience was not great (from a fan POV at a couple of concerts, a Barnstormers game, a hockey game, and a couple of HS basketball games).

I honestly would prefer going to UNI & Drake (we still go to Iowa every other year). The environment is not that much tougher (certainly not at Drake most years), but if we win, we get the credit for a road win. Can you seriously tell me that UNI & Drake wouldn't rather go to Hilton & Carver-Hawkeye? As for travel distance, Drake is roughly equivalent, Cedar Falls is about 45 minutes longer. Big whoop.

I think this fact is a positive for our team come tourney time. Sprint Center for the conference tourney is a multipurpose arena, as are most of the NCAA tourney locations. The team needs to be comfortable playing in a facility like that.

 

[carvers4math]

I thought this format would be an improvement since refs at UNI were awful last time. Heck they even seemed to hose the Hoks there, must not have gotten the memo that was who 90% of the crowd was rooting for.

What little I saw of our game yesterday, hardly any fans in the better seats, little atmosphere, and refs still sucked, especially in second half. (double dribble really comes to mind). Looked almost as awful as atmosphere in Dallas for Kentucky/Baylor during ice storm late at night in Jerry's world.

 

[Cydkar]

Personally I like these neutral site games v teams we should beat. We had to sack up, we got the win and I think it builds character and helps in Big 12 tourney and NCAA.

I agree with this. I'll never go to the event but playing away from Hilton is always a good lesson.

 

[ST8R]

I was there in the lower level with a fun group of Cyclone fans. There was a large section of Iowa fans in the adjacent section. They were all going absolutely nuts jumping up down with arms the in the air when UNI banked in the three at the end of the game. That was annoying, but overall it was a decent experience.

 

[ImJustKCClone]

I think this fact is a positive for our team come tourney time. Sprint Center for the conference tourney is a multipurpose arena, as are most of the NCAA tourney locations. The team needs to be comfortable playing in a facility like that.

I suppose that would be an upside for the team. I'm selfishly looking at it specifically from a fan's POV. :smile:

 

[UNIPantherFan]

UNIPantherFan,

I know you can't speak for the AD or the entire fan base, but would you rather play a 2-1 or this current format? Just curious if UNI fans/AD would prefer that to the current Big 4. Or maybe even a 3-2 type thing which would put you at home 40% of the time, which I think would be > Big 4 for you as well.

Like you said, I can't speak for the whole fan base, but I would take the 3 for 2 in a heartbeat over this format and honestly, I would take the 2 for 1 over this format as well. Another idea I have heard that I wouldn't mind would be something like this:

2013:
Iowa hosts Drake
Iowa State hosts UNI
Iowa State hosts Iowa

2014:
Iowa State hosts Drake
UNI hosts Iowa
Iowa hosts Iowa State

2015:
Drake hosts Iowa
UNI hosts Iowa State
Iowa State hosts Iowa

2016:
Drake hosts Iowa State
Iowa hosts UNI
Iowa hosts Iowa State

Or a format similar to that. It's basically the same as the Big 4 Classic except on the campuses. Iowa State and Iowa will continue their series as is, while UNI and Drake will only play Iowa/Iowa State every other year and it will alternate between home and away.

 

[kkise]

Good point.

 

[Ciclone]

What team gets to experience the same atmosphere on other any court but their own??

The Washington Generals?

 

[BryceC]

I don't care that a loss in this game may look bad on selection Sunday. I want Iowa State to play games that matter and are interesting, and are part of my season ticket package. This event took good games off the home sched.

As far as WF goes, I was there for the osu and Bradley games back in the day and have zero desire to go back.

 

[Frak]

UNIPantherFan,

I know you can't speak for the AD or the entire fan base, but would you rather play a 2-1 or this current format? Just curious if UNI fans/AD would prefer that to the current Big 4. Or maybe even a 3-2 type thing which would put you at home 40% of the time, which I think would be > Big 4 for you as well.

Id sign up for a 2:1...as long as they schedule it where road games to uni and drake fall on the years where Iowa is playing in ames.

 

[NorthCyd]

There was a decent crowd for ISU that definitely got the loudest. I'm not sure what some were hearing that they thought most the crowd was cheering against ISU. The Hawk fans that were around me were generally cheering for UNI, but were pretty much just clapping. It's not like they were standing and yelling or anything. When ISU got rolling at the end that was definitely the loudest the place got all night. I had fun overall, and it was a good opportunity to see all 4 teams in the state in one evening.

 

[im4cyclones]

For what it's worth, I have heard from the son of a former UNI athletic director, that Fran was insistent on never playing in Cedar Falls again after they lost badly up there in 2011. His words were that Fran was furious after the game and wanted UNI off his schedule for good, so I speculate that has a lot to do with the neutral site game and only playing Drake/UNI every other year. Iowa is always going to have the largest influence on what happens in how these in-state games are scheduled.

I don't doubt your story about Fran. But don't think for a minute that we didn't want this idea too. Iowa doesn't have any more cache in this decision that we do.

From an ISU perspective, one of the bigger benefits of the current setup having a game in Des Moines. It helps us build/strengthen our fan base. We have had games in our state's biggest city for a number of years. Now we play an in-state team instead of a team like Creighton or Ohio State. It isn't everything but one factor is building the fanbase.

 

[CyclonesForever]

It obviously came down to money in this Big 4 classic or whatever its called. Its a road game every year in my view and I bet if you asked Hoiberg he would scrap it in a minute if he could.

You can thank McCaffrey for it. They didn't want to travel to drake and uni. How many other states have two teams in major conferences that play home and home yearly with small mid major schools like uni or drake?

I can't blame isu and Iowa for not wanting to play them both, especially on the road in front of 3000 people or however many people fit in the mcleod center, altho I am mad about having to play uni over drake. No offense to uni but isu has been doing a home and home with drake since we helped form the big 6 back in 1908, while we've been playing uni since the 80s sometime. Even if it was on a neural court, I'd much rather play drake anytime over uni simply because it was a 105 year long tradition until this year.

 

[Dingus]

I thought this format would be an improvement since refs at UNI were awful last time. Heck they even seemed to hose the Hoks there, must not have gotten the memo that was who 90% of the crowd was rooting for.

What little I saw of our game yesterday, hardly any fans in the better seats, little atmosphere, and refs still sucked, especially in second half. (double dribble really comes to mind). Looked almost as awful as atmosphere in Dallas for Kentucky/Baylor during ice storm late at night in Jerry's world.

Seriously, that KU/BU game looked so lame crowd-wise on TV. Whenever you saw seats in the background during a FT or whatever the seats looked 80% empty. To be fair that venue looked HUUUUGE.

 

[cytown]

I don't doubt your story about Fran. But don't think for a minute that we didn't want this idea too. Iowa doesn't have any more cache in this decision that we do.

From an ISU perspective, one of the bigger benefits of the current setup having a game in Des Moines. It helps us build/strengthen our fan base. We have had games in our state's biggest city for a number of years. Now we play an in-state team instead of a team like Creighton or Ohio State. It isn't everything but one factor is building the fanbase.

I don't see any benefit of building the fan base by playing in does Moines. I actually think it would help iowa more than us.
A

 

[AuH2O]

From the radio call it sounded pretty much like a road game. While this game has more downside than upside in terms of tourney credentials, it's a good test, especially when we have younger teams.

 

[breck53]

The way the refs were in Cedar Falls, I" m surprised either Iowa or Iowa State would want to go back there. Don" t blame Fran one bit for not wanting to go. I was at the games last night and when ISU made their comeback, it was the loudest in there for either game. Iowa had the most fans,followed byISU, UNI, and Drake pulling up the rear. Bigger crowd this year and a better event IMO.

 

[Cyclonic1]

I got so wrapped up in despising UNI that I wished terrible things on the 12 or 13 y/o boy who was waving bye bye to George when he fouled out. This was due mostly to the large anti Cyclone sentiment of the crowd. I am not proud of myself when I get that way.

 

[HGPuck]

My dream scenario would be to play Drake every year at Wells Fargo as a stand alone event (provided ticket prices come down, like going from $70 to $40 for the best seats). Then either pay UNI to play at Hilton similar to our other non-conference games, play them in a 2-1 format or not play UNI at all. Let UNI pick which of the three options, because I don't much care.