Regionals Leaving Greensboro
- Thread starter bareman
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CVCC and Lenoir Rhyne are way too small of venues now. I personally thought UNCG was too small the last couple of years. The special events complex they used at the Greensboro Coliseum was the most ridiculous place and set up.
I would like to see them play at the Holmes Center at ASU(not very center location, but would hold everyone and would be a great basketball atmosphere) or play at Halton Arena at UNCC(more centered, and great atmosphere and everyone would be able to sit everyone)
I would like to see them play at the Holmes Center at ASU(not very center location, but would hold everyone and would be a great basketball atmosphere) or play at Halton Arena at UNCC(more centered, and great atmosphere and everyone would be able to sit everyone)
No, just shorter distance for the west schools to have to travel to get their asses kicked.....lol
needs to go back to Hickory. Great venue and atmosphere. Greensboro/Winston is too far for most teams in west to attend, thus creating poor attendance.
I do not think there was "poor" attendance. The past 2 or 3 years there have been sell out crowds at UNCG, in fact this past year they stopped letting people in until other games were finished so they could accommodate the crowds.
I think Lenoir Rhyne and CVCC are way too small of venues.
I think Lenoir Rhyne and CVCC are way too small of venues.
And when I say Hickory I mean Lenoir Rhyne College. Something about playing up there made things special. CVCC is not a good atmosphere because only horseshoe seating. LRC is a great place and would allow people in mountains to travel even better. UNCG is smaller than LRC
Yes 3 daughters we all know you guys have won it every year and you play by the rules. If you think travel doesn't matter ask Cherokee and Hayesville girls. This year alone Hayesville went down on Thursday to play a Friday game. The game friday was moved to saturday. Hayesville had to stay another night. Then the power outages happened to where neither team had power at the hotel till almost midnight. The two teams played saturday. Then Hayesville who won spent their third straight night in a hotel. If you think this doesn't wear on high school kids you are crazy. Bishop got to stay in their own homes and travel the 30 min ride each day. The west especially smaller schools should be played farther west due to the number of schools in the far west. My rant for the day
Polk...never said that travel doesn't make a difference. This thread is about the regionals leaving Greensboro and then there had to be another statement about Prep and Bishop which has NOTHING to do with the topic but just another opportunity to throw a dig at those two schools.
The overall setup to have the regionals in Greensboro is horrible. UNCG has a fine facility but as mentioned is just too small to accommodate the crowds which were kept waiting for prior games to end. I don't know if you've ever had the misfortune to have to watch a game at the Special Events Center but probably not a worse location in the state, bad seating, bad lighting, bad depth perception, bad locker facilities, bad everything (on top of competing with the ACC women's tournament going on at the same time).
Many times over the years I have commented about the advantage of the Bishop girls to play so close to home (15 minutes to the Joel Annex and 15 minutes in the other direction to UNCG) in the regionals and to not have any disruption in their habits. That is why I and other Bishop fans have been ultra complimentary of the attendance of the fans from the mountains given the distance and cost of travel nowadays
But this thread was not about Bishop or Prep until it was made to be about them...same old stuff.
The overall setup to have the regionals in Greensboro is horrible. UNCG has a fine facility but as mentioned is just too small to accommodate the crowds which were kept waiting for prior games to end. I don't know if you've ever had the misfortune to have to watch a game at the Special Events Center but probably not a worse location in the state, bad seating, bad lighting, bad depth perception, bad locker facilities, bad everything (on top of competing with the ACC women's tournament going on at the same time).
Many times over the years I have commented about the advantage of the Bishop girls to play so close to home (15 minutes to the Joel Annex and 15 minutes in the other direction to UNCG) in the regionals and to not have any disruption in their habits. That is why I and other Bishop fans have been ultra complimentary of the attendance of the fans from the mountains given the distance and cost of travel nowadays
But this thread was not about Bishop or Prep until it was made to be about them...same old stuff.
I think Gardner-Webb or UNCA would be a much better fit. Our boys played at wake forest a few years back and it was so big the atmosphere was just ruined. They really need to find a central location to keep the western teams from having to drive 3 and 4 hours to get there.
I would like to see the "central location" of each regional tailor-fitted by class. For instance, the 1A and 2A west have far more mountain teams, so Hickory or Asheville would be a great central location for those, and UNCA (3,000 capacity) and LRU (2,500 capacity) are about perfect size for the the crowds. For 4A, where there are only 2 mountain teams and most schools are in charlotte or the triad, so put it somewhere in the middle on 77, like Davidson, which with 5,000 capacity seems big enough for what those games would get, but not too big. 3A also doesn't have as much far-west presence either, so maybe put it at a slightly smaller gym between Charlotte and the Triad (Catawba has 3,000 seats and would work). It's just a thought, and I doubt it would ever happen because 4 sites could be logistically tough for NCHSAA staff, but it would be a lot better for fans and the teams involved IMO.
Why not move it over to Davidson College?? John Belk Area holds 5500 people at max. It is sort of central and isn't far for most teams to travel
The tournament left Winston due to lack of corporate sponsorship which is why it also left Hickory. The year Winston lost sponsorship the games were moved from Lawrence Joel to local high schools.
If they are going to have only one "area" Asheville does not make good logistical sense. Consider that six of the 4A schools came from Charlotte several seasons. I agree that they need to look at splitting the "area" up based on classifications.
I do not think any regional should be held past the Hickory "area" and in my opinion that is the most central western site that makes sense.
I think the regional first round should be set up for the semi final to be played at a neutral site determined once the seeding are made on Saturday with the higher seed getting benefit of the doubt if needed on location. WSP and Albemarle could have played at a large school gymnasium located between the two schools such as SW Guilford or North Davidson. Not that tough to set up a basketball game unlike football. The two mountain schools could have came up with a site between the two of them.
My recommendation would be the far west boys would play Tuesday and girls Wednesday. The mid west would be the opposite. On Friday and Saturday have the regional final. Possibly do two games on Friday and six on Saturday. Charlotte could use a combination of UNCC, Davidson, the old coliseum on Independence Blvd, or JC Smith. Only two facilities would be needed. Lenior Rhyne and the largest high school gym in the area which I would think would be Hickory if they went to that area.
If they are going to have only one "area" Asheville does not make good logistical sense. Consider that six of the 4A schools came from Charlotte several seasons. I agree that they need to look at splitting the "area" up based on classifications.
I do not think any regional should be held past the Hickory "area" and in my opinion that is the most central western site that makes sense.
I think the regional first round should be set up for the semi final to be played at a neutral site determined once the seeding are made on Saturday with the higher seed getting benefit of the doubt if needed on location. WSP and Albemarle could have played at a large school gymnasium located between the two schools such as SW Guilford or North Davidson. Not that tough to set up a basketball game unlike football. The two mountain schools could have came up with a site between the two of them.
My recommendation would be the far west boys would play Tuesday and girls Wednesday. The mid west would be the opposite. On Friday and Saturday have the regional final. Possibly do two games on Friday and six on Saturday. Charlotte could use a combination of UNCC, Davidson, the old coliseum on Independence Blvd, or JC Smith. Only two facilities would be needed. Lenior Rhyne and the largest high school gym in the area which I would think would be Hickory if they went to that area.
So it looks like regionals will be returning to Winston Salem and state championships will be in Chapel Hill. Thoughts?
