Official Arch Madness discussion thread

[Bulldog2323]

Was hoping for a Drake win to get two teams in the dance. Will MSU and Drake receive NIT bids?

Several NIT bracketologists have Drake & MIssouri State in the 4-6 seed range. Obviously we will have to sweat it out this week but hope for few NCAA Tourney bid-stealers over regular season conference champions.

[Bulldog2323]

Why was the attendance so low? Murray-Morehead drew 6,500 last night with at least 6,000 of them Murray fans. Surprised the OVC final > MVC final attendance wise. What happened?

Two of the smallest schools in the conference. Plus tickets costing $60 freaking dollars for single game ($80 after fees) you’re not going to get the general STL public to pay that for two schools they don’t care about.

Drake 2,850 students, Loyola 11,612 as of 2020. Drake crowd looked good. Loyola not so much. After all of their recent success I was surprised by their crowd.

This was the first time since 2008 that Drake sold out their allocation. Drake might have had even more fans if it weren't for the storms that hit Central Iowa last night.

Hoping Belmont, Murray State, and even UIC bring in great crowds and make Enterprise Center open the upper deck again.

[Salukimadness86]

Was hoping for a Drake win to get two teams in the dance. Will MSU and Drake receive NIT bids?

Several NIT bracketologists have Drake & MIssouri State in the 4-6 seed range. Obviously we will have to sweat it out this week but hope for few NCAA Tourney bid-stealers over regular season conference champions.

I hope it happens.

[Salukimadness86]

This was the first time since 2008 that Drake sold out their allocation. Drake might have had even more fans if it weren't for the storms that hit Central Iowa last night.


Hoping Belmont, Murray State, and even UIC bring in great crowds and make Enterprise Center open the upper deck again.

Sorry to hear about those storms. Sad
Murray will bring the fans. Not so sure about Belmont and UIC. Time will tell.

[BCPanther]

Belmont won't bring much. Murray obviously will and the key for UIC will be success.

The real key is a resurgent SIU and Illinois State. UNI and Drake are about tapped out.

[SalukiWorld]

Belmont won't bring much. Murray obviously will and the key for UIC will be success.

The real key is a resurgent SIU and Illinois State. UNI and Drake are about tapped out.

Wasn't there but UNI and Drake had good crowds on TV, same with Bradley. Agree on SIU for sure. They need to have a shot to at least make it to Sunday once this decade. I haven't been to Arch Madness since 2014 because I've never been confident in SIU even winning a game and I'm sure a lot of SIU fans are in the same boat, even though they brought a good number of fans on Friday it looked like.

Loyola seemed to peace out already and their crowds looked disappointing all weekend, surprised given their success.

I'm guessing next year we're looking at the highest attendance since Wichita left with Murray coming in. If SIU and Bradley are competitive, that could only help. Thursday is gonna be awesome with 4 games.

[goramblers2011]

Why was the attendance so low? Murray-Morehead drew 6,500 last night with at least 6,000 of them Murray fans. Surprised the OVC final > MVC final attendance wise. What happened?

Two of the smallest schools in the conference. Plus tickets costing $60 freaking dollars for single game ($80 after fees) you’re not going to get the general STL public to pay that for two schools they don’t care about.

Drake 2,850 students, Loyola 11,612 as of 2020. Drake crowd looked good. Loyola not so much. After all of their recent success I was surprised by their crowd.

Thought Loyola's crowd was decent. By far the most students of any school in attendance. Watching the recorded broadcast now that I am home and I do wish they put the Loyola student section in view of the camera.

[tribecalledquest]

I was impressed with the Loyola crowd on Saturday and Sunday.

I don’t know why they didn’t put students in better position in the arena.

All the credit to Loyola. Even thought they were the four seed they had a target on their back and 90% of the arena against them. That group took on the challenge and kicked ass. Well done.

[goramblers2011]

I was impressed with the Loyola crowd on Saturday and Sunday.

I don’t know why they didn’t put students in better position in the arena.

All the credit to Loyola. Even thought they were the four seed they had a target on their back and 90% of the arena against them. That group took on the challenge and kicked ass. Well done.

Experience and depth really carried them. Just look at today--Uguak and Lucas, the two who have been around the program since the F4 season, finished with double-doubles. They just refused to lose.

Going to miss this conference. I had a blast this weekend in STL. Got some razzing from fans of other teams, mostly in good fun. Shared beers with fans of almost every other school (even one Valpo fan!). Don't think the A10 conference tourney will be anything like Arch Madness.

Now we will try to go win everyone some money.

[BUFanatic]

I was impressed with the Loyola crowd on Saturday and Sunday.

I don’t know why they didn’t put students in better position in the arena.

All the credit to Loyola. Even thought they were the four seed they had a target on their back and 90% of the arena against them. That group took on the challenge and kicked ass. Well done.

Experience and depth really carried them. Just look at today--Uguak and Lucas, the two who have been around the program since the F4 season, finished with double-doubles. They just refused to lose.

Going to miss this conference. I had a blast this weekend in STL. Got some razzing from fans of other teams, mostly in good fun. Shared beers with fans of almost every other school (even one Valpo fan!). Don't think the A10 conference tourney will be anything like Arch Madness.

Now we will try to go win everyone some money.

Y’all did good. I’ve got respect for a team that literally everyone was rooting against (well not literally) that overcomes like that and kicks ass. That takes grit (which I will put on the players, not necessarily Valentine).

I’ve been talking bad about Loyola mostly because it hurts (we had to go through Creighton and WSU, some older fans remember Tulsa) and because, in my view, you guys started to present a better rivalry in the past few years than ISU.

Any and all monies will be greatly appreciated and will soften the blow haha.