[NU Sports] Big 10 Tournament; NIT

Tue Mar 7 16:56:02 CST 2006

linkage:
http://nusports.collegesports.com/genrel/murphys-mark.html
<http://nusports.collegesports.com/genrel/murphys-mark.html>

This link indicates what the Sears Centre is:
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:AeA7h0Fb5mQJ:www.hoffmanestates.com/government/Packets/Sears%2520Centre%2520Draft%2520Feasibility%2520Report%25202-16-05.pdf+%22sears+center%22+hoffman+estates&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
<http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:AeA7h0Fb5mQJ:www.hoffmanestates.com/government/Packets/Sears%2520Centre%2520Draft%2520Feasibility%2520Report%25202-16-05.pdf+%22sears+center%22+hoffman+estates&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2>

This is their web site:
http://www.searscentre.com/
<http://www.searscentre.com/>

Looks like a United Hockey League (UHL) and National Lacrosse League (NLL) 
arena, with other uses planned.

Its transit connection to the city is a combination of Metra and Pace or 
El and Pace.  Ick.

The Allstate Arena has a seating capacity of 17,500 for basketball, vs. 
the Sears Centre's 9000-11000 based on arrangement of seats.  I'm guessing 
it would be somewhere around 10K.  The Conseco Fieldhouse seats 18,345 for 
basketball.  The 10K of the Sears Centre would therefore be a marked 
improvement as far as making the atmosphere more intimate for the smaller 
crowds attracted by the women's b10 tourney.

I agree with Murphy's main point that the tourneys would be better to have 
held in Chicago.  It's a world-class city with *tons* of B10 alums living 
in and around the area.

I'll make a beef about the "easier to navigate" part.  Sure - easier to 
navigate with a car.  Or you could fly into our airport (after waiting 3.5 
hours to land. ;-), take the el to your hotel, and then take the shuttle 
from the Loop to the UC.  I'm assuming the B10 will have their act 
together enough to get a shuttle to the SC.  No car needed.  Better for 
the environment.  No drunk driving.  Everybody wins.

And heck, maybe we could win one of them some year.  Better to do that at 
home than in a state where pi = 3.

Go 'Cats,

Jonathan

On Tue, 7 Mar 2006, NEONRye at aol.com wrote:

> Interesting discussion by Mark Murphy in most recent "Murphy's Mark" as to
> why he thinks Chicago is a better choice to become permanent Host City for the
> BT Tourney (both men's and women's brackets) than  Indianapolis.  As he
> notes, it's clearly in NU's interests to move  both to the Chicagoland area (The
> women would be in the new Sears Center in  Hoffman Estates.), rather than
> staying in "'Naptown".
>
> On another note--and forgive my NYC provincialism, but I remember the NIT
> when it was really an important tournament (I saw both "Pistol Pete" Maravich
> and "Clyde" Frazier as Seniors in the NIT in two different  years.)--anybody
> think if we beat Penn State and then fall to tOSU, whether we  get an NIT bid?
> I would give anything to see the 'Cats play at MSG.   Even if it's not "the
> Dance", should we make it to the NIT semis or finals, it  would be quite the
> boost for recruiting.
>
> Paul Levinson
>
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-- 
Jonathan Michael Hawkins
<http://www.jomiha.com>