B1G Hoops Tournaments are moving to minneapolis.
women in 2023, men in 2024.
grumble, grumble. selfishly, i liked it being in driving range from west michigan.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:24 PM ^
I was half dead. then I got born again.
I got lost in all the lights but it was ok in the end.
And when we hit the twin cities I didn't know that much about it.
I knew Mary Tyler Moore and I knew profane existence.
I was keyed up. Keys jangled in the stalls.
They counted money in the motels. They mostly sold it in the malls.
And the carpet at the Thunderbird has a burn for every cowboy that got fenced in.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:38 PM ^
He was drunk and exhausted but he was critically acclaimed and respected.
He loved the Golden Gophers but he hated all the drawn out winters.
When we got to the Twin Cities
I said man I know some songs about this place
When they swept up all the empties
The parties always seemed like such a waste
April 21st, 2022 at 10:00 AM ^
So we walked across that Grain Belt Bridge
Into bright new Minneapolis
She said, "I think of all those things I did
Were just momentum from the party pit"
April 20th, 2022 at 12:26 PM ^
I understand it's a money thing, but it baffles me that they would ever host it anywhere besides Indy or Chicago. Two very central locations that are also massive hubs. Minneapolis is the far northwest corner of the conference, which makes no logistical sense for hosting.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:31 PM ^
I would add that Detroit would be a fair and centrally located place to have the tournament as well.
Indeed as this would be an easier travel for the eastern teams like Penn State, Rutgers and Maryland. Apparently, the B1G doesn't consider things like that.
You're not wrong but I can't say that Maryland, Rutgers and Penn St getting shoddy treatment from the conference rankles me that much.
agreed.
i still say that there's a nonzero chance that "maryland and rutgers are in the big ten" is some sort of bizarre collective hallucination that we've all chosen to regard as real.
This has Kevin Warren written all over it as he was a Vikings' employee for a long time, I hate that guy.
Not sure why Detroit hasn't gotten a chance yet with either Ford Field or LCA, it's BS.
Especially with 2 very strong programs within close proximity and all the adjacent states being right there like Purdue, Indiana, Illinois, N'western, osu, Wisconsin.
I have long thought that it should be rotated in 4- year cycles to Indy, Chicago, Detroit, and an east coast venue (NYC/NJ or DC/Md). Not right for IU and PU to always have home crowd advantage. At least this cures that problem temporarily.
I love that idea, seems like it would be very equitable for the entire league.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
I suppose if they hold it in the furthest east part of the conference, at Madison Square Garden, they have to put it in Minneapolis at the NW corner of the conference.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:34 PM ^
Northwest corner? Nebraska says 'Hi'...
While Minneapolis is east of Nebraska on E-W coordinates, it's more north when considering N-S.
In any case, it's much more the NW corner of the conference than Lincoln, which is the furthest SW school in the conference.
But to be fair, Nebraska is NW of Virginia. (Or at least WNW.)
April 20th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
It's not like people are traveling by horse and buggy. It can be anywhere.
boy, you just teed off all the amish with that comment. seen here, on their way to minny
Hope you get there before the games tip off, XM!
If you ever want to anger a Minnesotan, refer to the state as Minny.
minny was for minneapolis. does that still hit the 'anger' bell for a minnesotan?
Considering that Minneapolis, Minnesota is a very long city-state combo, maybe Minny should come up with a nickname that won't—trigger warning!—anger them.
(Minnie Mouse and a Tigger warning?)
When someone calls New York the Big Apple, I don't get mad, I shrug and assume it's a tourist, a government official, or a hack writer looking for a synonym.
What if it's an old timey jazz musician who just got a gig in NYC?
Okay. I stand corrected. That is, I sit corrected.
he was a low-down hoochie-koocher
April 20th, 2022 at 10:44 PM ^
I call New York the city with second rate pizza. Haha!
Agree. I think Minnesota is a pretty cool place, honestly, to hold it. Give me some local character and an actual Big Ten city rather than ... blecch, Indianapolis.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Well, there is the memory of Michigan playing pretty well in B1G tournaments outside of Chicago or Indy. :) (not sure they have the same fan base in Minny, as they do out east, though)
Being a Minny resident, I am okay with this move. But that's selfish of me and agree that the logistics isn't as ideal for many as Indy.
The football Championship game should be central given timelines (often teams don't know they will be there until 7 days prior).
With basketball, I'm fine with anything non-central. Honestly, I'd rather they cycled it around to all of the conference's teams states. We could do a 14-year cycle:
2 times out of 14 in Chicago (ILL, NW)
2 times out of 14 in Indianapolis (Ind, Purd)
2 times out of 14 in Detroit (U-M, MSU)
1 time out of 14 in Omaha (UNL)
1 time out of 14 in Minneapolis (Minn)
1 time out of 14 in Des Moines (IA)
1 time out of 14 in Milwaukee (Wisky)
1 time out of 14 in one of the Ohio cities - Columbus, Cincy, Cleveland (OSU)
1 time out of 14 in either Pittsburgh or Philly (PSU)
1 time out of 14 in NYC (RU)
1 time out of 14 in either Baltimore or DC (Maryland).
Philly is closer to Maryland and much closer to Rutgers than it is to State College. Also the NCAA already thinks Allentown is in the Midwest for hockey purposes, so might as well hold the B1G tournament down the road.
The problem with the other east coast spots is that other conferences use them. Washington hosted the Colonial and the A-10 this year, and is due to host the ACC in 2024, and the Big East is always at MSG. Barclay’s might be available sometimes, but the ACC used it this year.
I could see a five way rotation between Philly, Detroit, Indy, Chicago, and a western spot that could rotate between Omaha, Des Moines and Minneapolis. OSU is close enough to Detroit and Indy, plus Value City Arena is used for HS championships at around the same time as the B1G tournaments, so it might be hard to schedule in Columbus, and Cleveland already hosts MACtion.
Tend to agree with most of what you said. If the B1G is going to aggressively take up large market cable eyeballs as the driving force - they might as well use that footprint for tourneys. I like picking a couple cities for a heavy rotation and then every so often throw a bone to the Columbus*/Pitt/Philly/Cleveland type market. Indy, Chicago and Detroit for sure my tier 1. Then pick two of Minneapolis, DC, NYC, Milwaukee as tier 2.
*I would assume Columbus uses Nationwide Arena in lieu of Value City as they did for the NCAA tourney.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:28 PM ^
Since I live in Madison, WI, my reaction to this news is:
Milwaukee would be even better.
Agreed, I live in the Milwaukee suburbs
I’m in Duluth, so I’m right here with you.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:33 PM ^
I thought the next logical host would be Detroit. So yeah, this is kind of a surprise - I'd never thought Minneapolis would get the nod...
April 20th, 2022 at 12:42 PM ^
Remember those Career Builder ads from a few years back that depicted monkeys instead of humans in an office? And remember how those monkeys did really stupid stuff (you know because their monkeys) but that stupid stuff was shown to mock the actual stupid stuff corporations did every day?
Who knew at the time they were just showing footage from the B1G executive team at work.
Your first sentence is all I needed... LOL!!
obligatory.
Love the one with the laser pointers all aimed at the dude’s crotch, as the chimps squeal with glee
Back in the late 90's, I shot a commercial for Bud Light with a bunch of chimps in it. There was a chimp handler who made sure all the monkeys did what they were supposed to do. My colleague went over to touch one of the chimps, offering her hand like you would to a dog to sniff, and the handler yelled, "Careful! If you stick your hand out, he could think you're being aggressive and rip your arm right out of the socket!" Needless to say, I stayed away from the chimps.
April 20th, 2022 at 10:50 PM ^
Your hood is showing.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
someone put a bat signal out for our friend SRJK. duluth to minny is pretty close in the big scheme of things. lets all encourage him to be our 'man on the scene' next year. he did it with hockey, now it's time for hoops.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:55 PM ^
Sleepover at SRJKs!!! I call top bunk!
Camping trip!!!
doc, going to go out on a short limb and say that your PBR will have to stay in the car @ SRJK's, top bunk or not.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
Chicago. Detroit. Cleveland. Columbus. Cincinnati. Pittsburgh.
Nope... because of reasons.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
The Twin Cities have hosted multiple Final Fours and each time has been recognized as doing a good job (what ever that means).
That said, it is typically colder and snowier the first week of March vs. the first week of April. Could make travel interesting.
As for travel distance, Chicago is closer to Madison & Iowa City than the Twin Cities. Ultimately this really only benefits Minnesota and Nebraska (by a little bit). So this does seem a little off.
It also means I have a chance to go, so I'm happy.
While Chicago is centrally located within the B1G footprint, I don't like the United Center. Indy is a far better environment, and that's mostly due to its location near city center and Indiana's historical connection to hoops. So from my Madison, WI perspective, Minneapolis is a much more appealing destination to watch a boatload of basketball games even though its a 1.5 hour longer drive compared to Chicago.
Not to mention the 2018 Super Bowl.
April 20th, 2022 at 12:47 PM ^
Sends a real message to Rutgers and Maryland that they should leave. Well done, B1G.