rbg
Postdoc
Posts: 3044
Reg: 10-20-14
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05-17-17 10:25 PM - Post#229440
In response to Jeff2sf
I completely understand that many people feel that combining the two tournaments is not a strong enough reason to prevent having two 8-team tournaments and having each at the top seeded team's arenas, or at neutral sites.
While I, also, enjoyed going to the Palestra to see the Tournament, I agree that having it at the conference's largest and most well known facility is unfair to the other 7 schools.
Since the Executive Director (possibly with the blessings of the 8 presidents and athletic directors) feels strongly about having the men and women tournaments together, the choice appears to be the Palestra or a neutral site. If those are the two choices, I would assume most people would prefer a neutral location.
I am certainly comfortable with the Tournament being held at a neutral location, but that decision may not be as easy as it seems. Since several of the choices mentioned over the last few months (Bridgeport, Mohegan Sun, Westchester) are closer to certain schools, the league will need to find true neutrality or risk complaints from other schools and its fans.
With all that stated, the recent SI article seems to show that most of the coaches are fine with having the Tournament at the Palestra even if there is an advantage to Penn. These comments seems to fall in line with similar statements by Mitch Henderson and Tommy Amaker during the recent Tournament.
It would be interesting to hear what the players think, since they were a driving force in having the Tournament.
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