To get back on topic, im hoping for a good crowd today. Theres no reason we cant win this tournament, especially since we basically can will ourselves to have home games.

At some point in the past, someone on this board called athletics "a window to the University" and I really like that phrasing. If your goal is to win all-sports titles or provide gifted athletes the chance to earn an education, that is great. Those are both things that can be accomplished at any level of college athletics. However those are not the goals that lead McDavis and the Trustees to OK spending millions of dollars competing at the D-1 level... Athletics provides a great showcase for the many positives this University offers. Beyond D-1 athletics, there simply are not many (any) other avenues where you can spend money and possibly (likeliness of success can be debated) gain the kind of publicity (local and nationally) that D-1 Athletics (specifically football and Men's basketball) provide. If you want one concise target goal, I would say something along the lines of "showcase the positives of Ohio University to the world." College athletics can have a ton of goals and benefits. Justifying millions in spending on the D-1 level is a much more targeted goal.

I am very guilty of sidetracking threads. My apologies. I really wanna win this thing. If we do keep winning, I am curious if we can really get people excited about it. Would be very cool to see a great crowd for a CIT final in the Convo. I'd make a trip for that!

Gotta get the W today.

Indeed--Nature Boy made a nice pass to Campbell which would've led to a lay in if it hadn't led to the free throws which proved decisive.

On that, we agree. But I don't think your arguments that EMU is "destroying the value" of Ohio University is valid. If EMU is dragging down the entire conference in athletics, what does that say about our athletics program when their teams -- men's and women's -- both collectively performed better than ours? Oh, that's right, we should not be counting women's sports nor the other sports that make up college athletics programs.

So let's play it that way and focus only on FB and MBB since that's all that really matters, right? Ohio's combined record in those sports over the last five years is the best in the MAC and ranks them among the top 30 in the nation. EMU has been terrible in football and decent in basketball with atrocious attendance. So let's kick them out of the conference because they drag us down?

EMUs "embarrassment" has not stopped the MAC from getting a BCS bowl, nor did it cause NIU to choke when they had a shot at a second straight BCS bid. EMU's "embarrassment" didn't stop Ohio from reaching the Sweet 16.

What IS embarrassing is the performance of Akron and WMU on a national stage in the NCAA tournament -- when things like the Abreu arrest are nationally publicized. Among the MAC's many issues, EMU isn't the one that is magically going to change the future of the conference.

Sorry, but I think Ohio stands on its own.  We've got some signature wins and history.  And no one knows who's in EMU's conference.

Certainly not official but based on the cit feed, my god does the Convo look empty today. 1k "looks" like it might be close.

Bean!! 5-6 on 3's and only guy in double figures and I believe his high point total as a Bobcat.  I thought Campbell lost it when he threw up an ill advised 3.

Travis, although hurt, made perhaps the biggest play with the steal that allowed us to go up by 3. JC said Travis
isn't even practicing so he's obviously in pain.

Nobody in basketball is really talking about the EMU attendance. Not with the opening round of March Madness. What IS highly visible to millions of people is when Akron and WMU have terrible performances on a national stage. For the MAC to gain national respect, they have to win on the national stage when presented to them. 0-8 from non-Ohio U. MAC teams in the tourney does more damage than a low-attended basketball game that no one really cares about anyway. If they had gotten 13,000, would it have changed anything? If Akron or WMU would have won would it have created more respect for the MAC?

3,533 attendance, a little less than VMI today

We haven't had to travel, so we couldn't have lost too much, if any.  

According to WPSD, a TV channel out of Western Kentucky.

"It will cost Murray State $36,000 to host this game. That's the fee the CIT charges for any team to host a game during the tournament. Murray State will get to keep any money above the $36,000 that is brought in Monday night."