By Harry Minium
FRISCO, Texas
I’ve long agreed with the sports administration at Old Dominion University that Conference USA should copy the model for postseason basketball tournaments used successfully by so many other mid-major leagues.
Hold the tournament over two weeks and allow the higher seeds to host games on campus.
Imagine, if you will, the kind of crowd that would have attended the C-USA championship game if the Monarchs had played Western Kentucky on Saturday night at The Ted Constant Center?
It would have been a frenetic sellout throng of more than 8,500 that would have rocked and rolled on every play. It also would have provided a much better look for the CBS Sports Network broadcast than what we saw last weekend at Ford Center at The Star in this suburban Dallas city.
It was cool to hear the contingent of several hundred Monarchs fans chanting “ODU” after the Monarchs defeated WKU. But I viewed highlights of the broadcast, and the empty seats were glaringly apparent.
Temporary stands are put in place for the C-USA tournament at the Ford Center at The Star in suburban Dallas.
The C-USA tournament is played in an indoor football stadium, the practice facility of the Dallas Cowboys, with two courts separated by a giant curtain. Most games are held while another is being played. Hearing fans, bands and whistles from another game gives it an AAU tournament feel.
And there's no instant replay screen in the arena, which is an absolute must for a Division I college basketball tournament.
In a perfect world, Conference USA and the Sun Belt would get together and divvy up teams geographically. The four C-USA Texas schools should join Texas State, Arkansas State and the rest of the western schools. Put ODU and Marshall in the same league with Appalachian State, Georgia State and Coastal Carolina and others. It would save member schools millions of dollars in travel costs and would give each league a more geographically logical place to hold basketball tournaments.
But a vast majority of C-USA schools are opposed to any realignment, so as much sense as it makes, it's not going to happen.
We have to deal with the world as it is and not as we'd like it to be. I’ve spoken with three C-USA athletic directors who say nine schools remain firmly committed to playing in Frisco.
I’m told that ODU, Charlotte, Middle Tennessee, WKU and Marshall are against playing in Frisco because of the distance their fans must travel. But but not even all of them agree that playing on home courts is a good idea.
So there you have it. For now, at least, it’s Frisco or nothing.
Frankly, other than playing at campus sites, Frisco is as good as any place to hold the tournament. There’s no geographical center to a league that stretches from El Paso to Norfolk.
No other cities are bidding to host the tournament, which is a major reason the league announced the tourney is coming back to Frisco for at least the next two seasons.
Since Old Dominion won’t be leaving C-USA anytime soon, it’s time for me, and ODU fans, to face reality.
It’s time to embrace this tournament in Frisco, something ODU fans clearly haven’t done given the numbers who have shown up.
Frankly, I had a good time in Frisco, although it wasn't on my dime. ODU paid for me to cover the tournament.
Getting there almost certainly means flying, and fortunately, there are good connections to Dallas/Fort Worth from Norfolk.
American Airlines has direct flights and Delta, United and Southwest have good flights connecting through other cities.
A curtain separates two courts during the C-USA tournament.
Frisco is about a 30-minute drive to the north of the city. Once you get to one of the dozen or so motels in Frisco, you can walk or Uber wherever you want to go.
There is plenty to do in the Dallas area. The eateries and night life at the Stockyards in Ft. Worth are amazing. Billy Bob’s of Texas bills itself as the world’s largest honky tonk.
A must-do for history buffs is the John F. Kennedy assassination tour. Dallas and Fort Worth also have world-class art museums.
The Dallas Cowboys have their world headquarters at The Star (named for the Cowboys emblem) in Frisco. Everything involving their complex is first class.
The Ford Center is used by 10 local high schools for football and hosts many other events. It is fronted by an athletic-turf football field that is open for fans to play catch with their kids. It’s a very family friendly place, as are most of the pubs and eateries across the street. Half a dozen good restaurants are a 2-minute walk from the arena.
Frisco is becoming a sports destination. It already hosts the Frisco Bowl and the FCS national championship game. The National Soccer Hall of Fame is here. And at The Star, Cowboys’ memorabilia is everywhere.
There is an Astroturf area outside the Ford Center at The Star that is family friendly, and restaurants are within a short walk.
The Dallas area is exploding with growth. Large companies are leaving high-tax states and moving to Texas. There is a ton of corporate wealth here, and C-USA commissioner Judy MacLeod seems to be doing a pretty good job of gaining a goodly portion of corporate support.
I’m told that next year the tournament will be profitable based largely on corporate support alone.
Four ODU fans I spoke to – Michelle Mulich, Vickie Wilson, Jeff Wilson and Craig Mulderrig – said they loved Frisco.
“It’s fantastic, just a beautiful place to visit,” Mulich said.
Most ODU fans wax poetically about the old days, when they could drive to Richmond to watch the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. And yes, at the time, we didn’t realize just how good we had it.
But even if ODU had remained in the CAA, VCU and George Mason are no longer in the league. The tournament is now in Charleston, S.C., and while that’s closer than Dallas, it’s still a long drive.
“Once you get to Frisco, it’s convenient. It’s a very nice place. There’s a lot to do here,” Jeff Wilson said.
“But it would be a lot nicer if more ODU fans were here.”
Indeed it would.
We can all agree that Conference USA isn’t a perfect fit for the Monarchs. Norfolk is much farther from Texas than the other 13 schools.
But I saw a very special team play with heart, poise and a good portion of guts to win the Conference USA tournament title Saturday night. And it was a pretty awesome sight to see – up close and in person.
Maybe more of you will join us there next year.
Contact Minium: hminium@odu.edu