Stuart Suss
PhD Student
Posts: 1439
Loc: Chester County, Pennsylva...
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-15-19 11:53 PM - Post#281600
In response to dtannenwald
Hello David,
It was indeed generous of you to visit this site to promote your own article about the location of the Ivy Tournament. It would have been nicer if the article had thoroughly addressed the issues surrounding that decision.
The issue of the fairness of the Palestra as a venue was represented by two quotes on each side. Tommy Amaker and Dalen Cuff vs. David McLaughlin and James Jones. Yet, when the issue was under discussion, Coach Amaker was a passionate advocate for the Palestra as the tournament location, even after losing a tournament championship game on Penn’s home court. And his passionate advocacy for the Palestra was far more than the phrase, “brand it, anchor it and grow it.†Why were those anodyne words, and not the passion and context of his viewpoint, the only sentiments attributed to Coach Amaker?
Then you informed us that “most†athletic directors supported changing the site. Well, if that is true, which athletic directors voted which way? Why did you not have any quotes from any of the dissenting voters? Was Robin Harris asked what the final vote was? No doubt, she would have told you, as she told Jonathan, that she does not reveal vote totals. Fine, then let the lack of transparency on the part of Robin Harris and the athletic directors be made visible to all.
Fans have always understood that the league wanted to put the women’s tournament at the same location as the men’s tournament. That view was represented by the athletic director of Princeton who informs us that she does not want to choose between her “two children.†No other position was represented in your article. Did anyone ask the women, as represented by their coaches, for their preference?
The current status quo has the men playing before a large crowd on Saturday at 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm while the women play before a handful of fans at 6:00 pm and 8:30 pm. Then, on Sunday, the men play before a large crowd at noon, while the women must wait for 2 hours after the completion of the men’s game to tip off before a handful of fans at 4:00 pm.
Do the womens’ coaches prefer the nominal equivalence of being at the same site as the men, yet playing in an empty building, or would they prefer to reward their regular season champion with the right to host a women’s tournament and to schedule games at times which would maximize the attendance? We never learn the answer to that question because the author did not seek out that answer.
We are told that avoiding a neutral court saves money. Well, please tell us how much money is saved. Robin Harris acknowledged to Jonathan that the Prudential Center in Newark was under serious consideration as a neutral site. How much would the Prudential Center have cost? Were there less expensive neutral sites considered? How much would they have cost?
The cost of the neutral site should have been compared to the aggregate amount of the collective endowment of the eight schools. And, perhaps, compare the neutral site cost to the aggregate size and personnel costs of the non-faculty bureaucracy at the eight schools.
And then we hear that the selection of the tournament site must avoid the risks represented by the current bribery scandals. Did anyone think to ask the obvious follow-up question to Princeton’s Mitch Henderson, “What possible connection is there between the location of a conference basketball tournament and the corrupt acts of some of the league’s coaches?â€
The author concludes by telling us that the Ivy League’s site decision has added a “dose of sanity to March Madness.†Unfortunately, that conclusion is not supported by the article which merely brings a dose of vacuousness to the discussion.
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