Wednesday, March 19, 2008

No CBI

Obviously, NMSU declined the College Basketball Invitational.

AD McKinley Boston said that he didn't believe that 6.5 thousand fans would show up to the Pan Am to watch the Aggies in the CBI. Well, at least he was unsure which is close enough to not believing.

Hard to argue with him here. First off, the CBI games haven't drawn particularly well. Two games in last night's CBI opener - Houston @ Nevada and Richmond @ Virginia - barely drew over 4 thousand. The two others - Rider @ Old Diminion and Brown @ Ohio - barely drew over 2 thousand and 1 thousand - respectively.

Boston did not want NMSU going on the road. What about a road contest at UTEP? That would have been fun for both teams and the fans! That would have made some sense to me. My question to you is, would you have bought a CBI ticket for a home game or at UTEP. It might be a poor one for this blog, as most of the answers could come back yes. But be honest in your assessment here.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes! I go to most NMSU athletic events.

Anonymous said...

I would have paid if they would have played utep in Las Cruces. But not if they would have played in El Paso. That's coming from someone who lives in El Paso.

That said, I still don't see paying to play. I'm glad Dr. Boston turned it down, I hope that the players at least had a voice in the decision. It would be a shame if they had actually wanted to participate and didn't get the chance to voice their opinion.

I know the EP Media is praising utep for the decision to pay, because it offers them more practice/playing time. My question is what happens if you lose. Then you just payed $60,000 for an extra three days of practice, I don't see the logic. Also this pay to play, is it a one time fee, or is there another fee to keep playing if you win? I'd rather have that money put back into the program for next year.

Teddy said...

Chuck, what if they hosted a team like Cincinnati? Would you have come up for that?

Anonymous said...

As much as I would love to see us spank the Minors. The answer is no!
Our standards our higher now. We want the NCAA or NIT, not the CIB!

Cincinnati? They have a losing record! Why would you pay $60k to beat up on a chump?

Save the money, go recruit top 100 players and hopefully that bitter taste we all have, will become 30 wins next year!

Vic

Anonymous said...

Boston was right, look at those attendance numbers.

Absolutely craptastic.

Any diehard NMSU fan would have gone to the game, but the fair weather ones wouldn't.

Anonymous said...

Teddy, I would have gone to support the team, but the Bearcats in the CBI is like LBSt in the Bracket Buster. Of the other teams I would have liked to have seen Valpo, they had a winning record and I have never seen them play before. Or even Washington .500 overall, but a Pac 10 school.

But as I said and Vic seemed to agree, the money is better used if it's invested in next year's team, be it recruiting or getting another quality team on the nonconference schedule.

Anonymous said...

Teddy I say NO. Who wants to play to be the 97th best team? The players and the administration made the right call. Besides there is no TV coverage that we would have been able to see. Aggie fans are not going to see a third rate tournament after the WAC tournament. Nothing to play for. What can I say about UTEP, they are dorks-playing the game like it is some honor.

Teddy said...

I agree with all. If you're a big-time fan, you're going no matter what or at least going to consider it. But the fair weather one's will stay away. NMSU had choppy attendance this year at best. Some teams garner some interest.As for me, I would have loved to see the team play one more game. But that's just because basketball is so great. If Boston is really concerned about the fans coming out, in my opinion, he made the right call. On the conservative side, I don't think it would have happened.

Anonymous said...

Boston made the right choice. I liken the CBI to exibition games. The players need to concentrate on academics.

Anonymous said...

In fairness it seems as if everyone here would have gone, but no one wanted to pay to play. As for the CBI it is on the Fox Sports Network so there is tv coverage, but regional from my understanding.

My friends from EP keep bragging about how they are playing and we aren't. To which I replied, "paying to play is like kissing your own sister, nobody in their right mind would do it."

Then again maybe that's what they do at utep and reno.

IC

Anonymous said...

Pay to play?
It's like going to a bar and getting lucky vs. calling a call girl to your room!

Looks like Utep won't meet the 7K fan barrier to break even.
That's what they get for paying to play!

Good call Boston!
As a loyal fan, I probably would have gone but, after the success of the WAC tourney...why lower our standards!

Ganja Boy
Let's take this bitter taste and use it to win the WAC next year!!

Anonymous said...

Definitely would go and watch the Aggies play another home game, but would not go to El Paso to watch it. There are a lot of interesting teams in the CBI and it might have been good recruiting fodder. Because Pope and Young did not get to play a full season, they could have gotten another game or two experience. Because we would probably lose money on it, the payment would have been an investment on our future.

Anonymous said...

No I would not buy a ticket for a third rate tournament especially at a probable $30 per ticket. What a ridiculous concept. On top of that most of the home teams LOST! So pay to play and then 1 and done. Thanks for making a great decision Dr. Boston.

-Season ticket holder-