Ralph or Betty

[sultan]

Has anyone heard if they have decided to play some basketball games at the Ralph next year

[The Sicatoka]

Latest I've heard is "all Betty".

[sultan]

I hope they play all of them at the Betty, but if they play a couple at the Ralph to help sell recruits I don't have a problem with that.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I hope they play all of them at the Betty, but if they play a couple at the Ralph to help sell recruits I don't have a problem with that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Huh?? What??

You want them to play all the games in the Betty, but don't have a problem if they play a couple at the Ralph? So which one is it?

[sultan]

I said I prefer to play all the games at the Betty. If the coaching staff thinks that having some games at the Ralph helps recruiting and makes it easier for televisioncoverage than I will concede to playing a couple games at the Ralph. Believe me I prefer to have all games at the Betty. Sometimes everyone has to give a little for the benefit of all.Do you understand my position?

?Once again I will concede to only a couple games a year.

[ESPNInsider]

Why would the coaching staff want to bring in a recruit to watch a game in the Ralph? That would be dumb! Have the kid see a good atmosphere at a game. I don't think the Ralph is as big of a selling point on non-hockey players as many have claimed.

Has anyone ever heard anybody say they want games in the Ralph? I know there is the argument that sweet owners want the games in there, but do they? They should have an open forum where people can speak their mind about the subject so this problem can be figured out. My guess would be that "the suite people" who want the games in the Ralph would not even show up. They are probably not going to most of the games but just want the games in the Ralph so they have the option to let others use their suite. I strongly believe that the true fans of basketball, the ones who show up night after night would show up for such a meeting and support the cause.

[sultan]

Exciting news. All the games at the Betty next year. I wonder if they are going to try and televise a game or too their?

[ESPNInsider]

Sounds great! No those of you who are still going to be there get out there and make the atmosphere great

[The Sicatoka]

All games (officially) at The Betty.

[ethanm]

The only time I thought it made sense for UND to play in the Ralph was the Kansas and NDSU games. Unless they get someone with that kind of drawing power coming in (and I don't see that happening anytime soon), there is no reason to play in the Ralph. Somehow, I don't think the hockey program is crying over all the bball games being in the Betty.

[star2city]

Why would the coaching staff want to bring in a recruit to watch a game in the Ralph?

[Cratter]

"Insider":

Just being able to show a recruit an empty Ralph and then telling him that some men's games will be played in the Ralph can make a difference. If UND ever was accepted into a DI conference, one of the expectations would be that men's conference games would be played at the Ralph. Otherwise, DI recruiting would be anemic and there would be no conference deal.

With the lack of any excitement over the men's team next season (even if they may be better than expected), the financial benefit of playing in a larger arena is not there. When / if there is higher public expectations for the men's team (i.e. large gates, >6000), there will be games played in the Ralph.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To take a page out of The Sicatoka's book, it's a good problem to have.

[The Sicatoka]

UND's press release talked about filling The Betty. I hope they do.

Then I hope they have to buy larger portable sections for the ends to put the capacity from the 3600 realm into the 4500 realm and fill that consistently.

If they max that out, at that point they'd need a place that holds about 5500. Gee, that's about the size of the lower bowl and suite level at The Ralph.

I still believe The Betty is the right size to allow for scaling:

- Betty ~4000

- Ralph (lower bowl BB) ~5500

- Alerus (BB) ~9000

- Ralph (full BB) ~13000

Quality facilities are like money and goaltending: There is no such thing as "excess" or "too much".

And remember:

It was only recently that Gonzaga, in a bigger city, moved out of a 4000 seat arena. The Betty is well positioned. Now let work on step 1: Fill it.

[sultan]

Good point Sicatoka. Let's just fill the Betty and give them a problem to work out.

[dj_hoime]

They built the betty to play basketball in so they should use it for that.

[UND92,96]

Between the fact that the women should be a strong national title contender and that there are several players from within pretty close proximity to Grand Forks, it would seem that selling out the Betty at least a few times next year should be realistic. Players like Langen, Beck, Kimbrough and Bagaason should hopefully draw a nice contingent from their home towns in addition to the people from the Grand Forks area who historically have gone to the games.

[bincitysioux]

It's about time! I never liked basketball in the Ralph, too big creates a dead zone. The atmosphere should be much better in the Betty. To my knowledge, the Betty is also wired for TV, so there should still be a couple games on FSSN this season. This is good for hockey, too. The ice should stay in better shape without always having to change between hockey or bball.

[farce poobah]

UND's press release talked about filling The Betty. I hope they do.

Then I hope they have to buy larger portable sections for the ends to put the capacity from the 3600 realm into the 4500 realm and fill that consistently.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

With larger end bleachers AND a full house of >4000, the Betty becomes a tremendous home court advantage, (and recruiting advantage). The sound rolls around and just builds; I was struck by the comments of visiting coaches who found 1800 in the Betty intimidating. At 4000, I think it can become a great college atmosphere. Ironically, like the old Ralph.

Also, with all the games there, Sioux shooting should improve a bit, and it only takes one shot to chance the outcome of a lot of these games. Overall an excellent move by UND Athletics.