USM snubbed from the CBI?

[lamarrebel]

http://www.gazellegroup.com/cbi/cbi_bracket08.pdf

The new College Baskbetall Invitational announced its sixteen team field last night, and, perhaps, not surprisingly, USM wasn't invited. What was particularly, inexplicable, was the other C-USA teams that were invited, which were Tulsa, Houston, and UTEP. Houston had the third best record in CUSA, and certainly was deserving of this group.

However, both Tulsa (8-8) and UTEP (8-8) finished behind USM (9-7) in the CUSA standings this year, and just two weeks ago USM beat the tar out of UTEP. Furthermore, USM certainly gave Memphis a better game in the C-USA semifinals than Tulsa did on Saturday.

Perhaps, however, was has really taken away this tournament's credibility is the fact that they gave a bid to the 13-18 Cincinnati Bearcats.

I think USM basketball is perhaps one or two more playmakers away from turning the corner; however, a postseason invite would have certainly been a nice step for the progress that has already been made.

Down with the CBI!

[aaron]

Attendance is probably more important than records at tournaments like this. We'd probably lose to everyone in that regard.

[lamarrebel]

Well, like the NIT, the first three rounds of the CBI are played on host campuses, which means that USM, if invited, most likely would have played all its games on the road. Still, I would have liked to have seen USM get this opportunity.

I was thrilled to buy my tickets the day before the Memphis game and barely be able to find two seats together and see the place packed the following day. However, four days later, we saw the typical crowd of 2500-3000 show up for the UTEP game.

If you compare the Hattiesburg area to the Oxford area, you'll find a much larger immediate population (and primary fan support base) here than in Oxford. Lafayette County has barely 35000 people and all of the counties immediately surrounding it are smaller than that. Tupelo and Memphis are an hour or more away. In contrast, Forrest County has approximately 75000 people, Jones County has around 65000 and Lamar County 45,000-50,000.

USM has considerably more students than Ole Miss as well on its campus (a sizable number of Ole Miss's students are in Jackson at UMC).

But, yet, you see Ole Miss pretty consistently sell out its SEC games, and have quality crowds even when they play the Prairie Views of the world, with a full student section, while at USM, unless it's Memphis playing you do good to have more than 200 students show up -- and that's counting the band, Cheerleaders, Dixie Darlings and players!

When I was at Ole Miss, like many Rebels, I used to kid around and refer to USM as the Golden or Mustard Buzzards, but in truth, those Buzzards are not the student athletes on the Court. Coach Eustachy has put together a quality program which is only going to continue to improve, and I wouldn't be surprised if USM beats Ole Miss when they play down here this coming year. The real buzzards are the so called fans who aren't supporting this program.

[maxim]

I get to work the games, down courtside. The fan support really makes the teams play harder. The whole atmosphere changes with a big crowd.

I don't have any hard numbers, just my impressions after two full seasons, but I feel we had better crowds this year than last. I hope this continues.

If you haven't seen either team play, do yourself a favor and come out and see some fun games!