Geno on the location of the conference tourney

[MilfordHusky]

Does playing in Connecticut give the Huskies an advantage?

"But you know what, there have been some years with the teams we've had where we could have played in a parking lot with chain nets, grape soda and a boom box playing and we'd still win the damned thing."

 

[01Neaggrad02]

Remember the years we played the Big East Tournament at the Rac! Nothing better than winning it all in Jersey! (mainly because there can be no excuses of us having an advantage because of location).

 

[HuskyFan1125]

I don't think it matters where it's played, Uconn will win. With that being said I would like to see the tournament moved around a bit. The AAC spreads far and wide and their are some great cities and arenas it could be held.

 

[HGN]

HuskyFan , I totally agree. I too would like to see the Tournament moved around a bit to take advantage of the great venues the AAC has in other cities. Though the powers that be probably are looking at $Revenue that can be generated at the Tournaments. UCONN (venues) does offer the largest fan following and will provide the largest fan turnouts for tourny play........But its probably time to start building a fan base and following for some of the other AAC teams as well.

GO HUSKIES!!

 

[MilfordHusky]

In theory, I like the idea of moving the tourney around to Dallas, Houston, Memphis, Greenville, etc., but the problem is attendance. UConn's average attendance is nearly 5 times that of the second highest in the conference. Even Coach Fernandez acknowledges the benefit of having several thousand fans for a first-round game.

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn...en-basketball-0306-20150305-story.html#page=1

 

[uconnell]

Florida, I like the idea of reasonable air fair, quick flight, hopefully warm weather and we have lots of UConn fans there.

 

[DobbsRover2]

Seems by far the best experience for the AAC team fans, making it almost a mini-vacation for families, though obviously a lot could be said for having it in a place like Tampa / USF for the weather.

Though UConn is the giant favorite, it's interesting how frequently teams lose their conference tournament and then go on to win the NC, in fact half the times from 2001 to 2014. It's happened for UConn three of the nine times with the NC, and for UTenn it's been four out of eight. During the 200s besides UConn in 2003, 2004, and 2013, ND in 2001, MD in 2006, UTenn in 2007, and Texas A&M in 2011 all shrugged off conference tourney losses to go on and win the big one.

 

[HoopsHoppy]

RE: venue - putting those letters together is a prime league driver. Right along with it is appearance - conference tournament games are televised to attract watchers and those watchers will draw a negative impression if the arena is visually empty or under attended. So, what comes first - moving the tournament around and hoping to get attendees from those geographic areas or having it in CT where all we do is watch basketball and shovel snow.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Florida, I like the idea of reasonable air fair, quick flight, hopefully warm weather and we have lots of UConn fans there.

Orlando has the Amway arena which would be a nice place and warmer ;-)

 

[chrissaran]

How many National Championship games have been played in Connecticut? That's right - zero. And yet, we are 9-0! No advantage there and never will be.

 

[ChicagoGG]

Read in an article today that the conference coaches vote on the location for the Tournament. While they are at Mohegan this year, they will vote for the location next year. I guess they all liked Mohegan last year, as they re-upped for 2015 before the first time Tournament was even over. Maybe Jose will offer to host at the Sundome next year...pretty sure their men's team won't be using it then .

 

[SportsPageMike]

I believe that the men's AAC Tournament will be played in Orlando for the next two years.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I hope it stays right where it is - no traffic, free parking, a modern comfortable arena with great restaurants and but a 5 minute drive home after the game.

Given the level of competition, I don't think I would travel any farther to attend the tournament.