Meltdown at the Ralph

[darell1976]

Does anyone know if the USD@UND game going to be on tv like FCS? So far its not listed on my guide on Directv.

[Hammersmith]

Does anyone know if the USD@UND game going to be on tv like FCS? So far its not listed on my guide on Directv.

According to fightingsioux.com, it will be on FCS. Whether it will make it onto the DirectTV feed is another matter. I don't have DTV, but I believe you often don't know which FCS feed(of 3) that DTV will pick up until fairly soon before the game(a few days to a week). I think you just have to wait and see(or contact the athletic department - they might know).

The UND@USD game will not be on FCS, though it will be carried in many Midcontinent cable markets.

[dakotadan]

http://www.meltdownattheralph.com/

I know that the season up to this point hasn't exactly given us alot of reasons to rush to home basketball games, but the guys played a very close, competative game against the Coyotes this last weekend. Maybe a big crowd at the Ralph this weekend could be the difference maker and give the guys enough of a boost and home court advantage to come out with the W this weekend.

Let's get out there and support our basketball teams!

[MadScout03]

Anyone else find it strange that this weekend's bball games are being held at the Ralph? We can't even fill the Betty, let alone the Ralph. To me, the game will be played on a neutral floor, being any sort of home court advantage will be gone. And then to put the game on tv? That won't help numbers at all. I hope I am horribly wrong and we fill the place, but something tells me there's a slim to none chance of that happening. I heard on tv tonight that the largest crowd for bball this year didn't even brake 2,000...somewhere around 1,800. I'll tell ya, 1,800 people in the big arena will look pretty silly. Maybe their thought is to host a game in the Ralph because of possible football recruits being in town, but honestly, if I was looking at coming to UND to play football, knowing that UND has a $100 million dollar hockey arena wouldn't do much for me. Thoughts?

[UND92,96]

Anyone else find it strange that this weekend's bball games are being held at the Ralph? We can't even fill the Betty, let alone the Ralph. To me, the game will be played on a neutral floor, being any sort of home court advantage will be gone. And then to put the game on tv? That won't help numbers at all. I hope I am horribly wrong and we fill the place, but something tells me there's a slim to none chance of that happening. I heard on tv tonight that the largest crowd for bball this year didn't even brake 2,000...somewhere around 1,800. I'll tell ya, 1,800 people in the big arena will look pretty silly. Maybe their thought is to host a game in the Ralph because of possible football recruits being in town, but honestly, if I was looking at coming to UND to play football, knowing that UND has a $100 million dollar hockey arena wouldn't do much for me. Thoughts?

I have no problem with a game or two per year being at the Ralph. It actually worked out fine 6-8 years ago when there were a number of games there. Of course, with the teams not having impressive records, and the impending winter storm, I'm sure attendance won't be as good as what it was the last time the teams played there, which I believe was about five years ago.

[82SiouxGuy]

Anyone else find it strange that this weekend's bball games are being held at the Ralph? We can't even fill the Betty, let alone the Ralph. To me, the game will be played on a neutral floor, being any sort of home court advantage will be gone. And then to put the game on tv? That won't help numbers at all. I hope I am horribly wrong and we fill the place, but something tells me there's a slim to none chance of that happening. I heard on tv tonight that the largest crowd for bball this year didn't even brake 2,000...somewhere around 1,800. I'll tell ya, 1,800 people in the big arena will look pretty silly. Maybe their thought is to host a game in the Ralph because of possible football recruits being in town, but honestly, if I was looking at coming to UND to play football, knowing that UND has a $100 million dollar hockey arena wouldn't do much for me. Thoughts?

The plan was to make this doubleheader a big deal. Last year they did the same thing with the South Dakota BB games. They made it a "Pack the House" night and actually packed the Betty. So they hoped to bring in even more people this year. The lower bowl at the Ralph holds about 6,000, and my guess is that they thought they might have a chance to fill it. I doubt they had any plans to fill the entire arena. Then both teams started underachieving. Add in the potential blizzard and UND92,96 is right, attendance will probably be pretty weak. But games like this are planned well in advance. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. At least they made an attempt to market the basketball teams.

[MadScout03]

I just disagree with it being in the Ralph all together. If they packed the Betty last year, in my opinion, do it again this year. As a fan, I would rather see a packed Betty with people being turned away at the ticket booth than a a half filled lower bowl at the Ralph. It makes our place that much harder to play in. I understand UND trying to hype this weekend's games...it's a good idea. They need to do that for the big weekends, but make sure you are doing it in a way in which we'll have the advantage.

[82SiouxGuy]

I just disagree with it being in the Ralph all together. If they packed the Betty last year, in my opinion, do it again this year. As a fan, I would rather see a packed Betty with people being turned away at the ticket booth than a a half filled lower bowl at the Ralph. It makes our place that much harder to play in. I understand UND trying to hype this weekend's games...it's a good idea. They need to do that for the big weekends, but make sure you are doing it in a way in which we'll have the advantage.

I think that they were hoping to attract more people than last year and maybe make some more money. (As far as numbers go, the Betty holds 3,500-4,000 when packed. The lower bowl at the Ralph holds about 6,000. So if they had more people for the game than last year they would have more than 4,000 in the lower bowl which means it would be more than 2/3 full instead of 1/2. And I would rather that they not turn a bunch of people away if we have a facility that holds them available.) They need a place to play games in the future where they will be able to put bigger audiences. The obvious choices are the Ralph or the Alerus Center. Since they have easier access to the Ralph that will probably be the choice for a while. It actually isn't a bad place to watch a basketball game and won't look bad if the lower bowl is filled. I think that they want to develop a tradition of playing games there, as well as letting the staff have some practice making the changeover. It takes about 4 hours to put the basketball floor in the Ralph and probably close to that to take it out. So starting to have at least 1 game per year in the Ralph is probably a good idea. The South Dakota game made more sense this season than any other game on the schedule.

[homer]

I just disagree with it being in the Ralph all together. If they packed the Betty last year, in my opinion, do it again this year. As a fan, I would rather see a packed Betty with people being turned away at the ticket booth than a a half filled lower bowl at the Ralph. It makes our place that much harder to play in. I understand UND trying to hype this weekend's games...it's a good idea. They need to do that for the big weekends, but make sure you are doing it in a way in which we'll have the advantage.

More people=more $$$$$. Like 82SiouxGuy said these are planned well in advance. Obviously this weekend may not turn out to be the best weekend for this but if there was a game that was going to sellout the Betty it was this one and they probably figured they could sell some extra tickets. Doesn't hurt to try it as they have been playing a game at the Ralph every year I can remember.

[Stromer]

I'll echo what everyone is saying. This a good idea. If basketball starts to regain its following in GF, the Ralph will get used more often. This will give them practice for switching the courts. Plus without the bad records of the teams, it would have had a good chance to get attendance over the Betty's capacity. And finally, its an event. That alone might draw some people in. I'm not a big fan of basketball anymore (college or otherwise) and wouldn't have went over to the Betty to see it but I'm thinking about going over and seeing it just to watch a game in the Ralph.

[UNDSiouxFan]

Is USD bussing up for the games on Saturday? If so, is there even much of a chance that they will come with this storm flying around? It would be too bad if the one strong series and the big "Meltdown at the Ralph" gets canceled/postponed for the weather.

[UND92,96]

Is USD bussing up for the games on Saturday? If so, is there even much of a chance that they will come with this storm flying around? It would be too bad if the one strong series and the big "Meltdown at the Ralph" gets canceled/postponed for the weather.

From today's Herald:

South Dakota, meanwhile, has had a demanding week of travel. The Coyotes lost at SIU-Edwardsville on Tuesday, then traveled to Utah Valley for Thursday night

[bincitysioux]

I see they are trying to get the students to come out.......

FightingSioux.com

UND students in attendance will enjoy free pizza in between the women's and men's games and one lucky student will go home with one free semester of tuition.* All Sioux Crew members will receive a free Sioux Crew beanie, along with double loyalty points. This is also the final event in the 2nd Annual Fighting Sioux Greek Challenge.

[dakotadan]