palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32685
Reg: 11-21-04
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03-05-19 11:32 AM - Post#279431
because of a paywall, I am pasting the article:
The Ivy League did what?
My view of the Ivy League’s decision to play its postseason tournament on every single campus, no matter how marginal its gym, before returning to the Palestra: It’s insane.
Actually, it’s worse than that. It’s a vote against caring about basketball at all.
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Obviously, this decision was made by people who know all about what venues they are sentencing the Ivy tournament to play in. That makes it only more insane. So many of the league’s gyms are limited in capacity, devoid of character, lacking in amenities.
Seriously, Cornell and Dartmouth are hosting a league tournament? The league apparently couldn’t agree on smarter choices and decided to punt entirely, probably slapping itself on the back for standing up for fairness and balance.
Actual fairness would have put the league in a central location every year, in the middle of the league, even if it was off campus.
I’m not arguing to have it in the Palestra every year. Yes, that’s the best venue without any others even entering the conversation. But that would not be fair to have Penn hosting each year. I wrote that last year. But if you’re going to give everybody a shot at the tournament, maybe have the schools consider building an appropriate facility. They could afford it, if they cared enough about hoops.
Better, forget this idea of bringing the whole league together and let the top seeds host. There’s your fairness and balance. If Dartmouth ends up hosting, that’s completely fair since the team would have earned it and the fan base would be excited about it. The Patriot League gets it right.
Unless I’m wrong. Unless every league should do this. Maybe the Atlantic 10 should scrap the Barclays Center and move around to all the venues. Start with Olean, move on to St. Louis next year. See how that goes. The Big Ten tournament could show up at Rutgers one year, Penn State another, Minnesota the next. It would be awesome.
Not a good idea? No, it’s an insane idea. Nobody would have even thought of it, except the Ivies.
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