Iu @ Sdsu

[JacknCy]

For anyone who wants even more basketball, there is a free webcast of the WNIT 3rd round game of IU @ SDSU. South Dakota Public Broadcasting will provide the free webcast, which will include post-game press conferences. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. and tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

To access the webcast, log on to www.gojacks.com.

For the first time for a women's game, I have heard of people scalping tickets for this game. Tickets sold out in 4 hours. The whole state is "Jacked" up. I'll be in line at least 3 hours before the doors open and I have heard of other students planning on getting in line as early as 11:30am.

For more info on the game check out http://www.argusleader.com

GO BIG! GO BLUE! GO JACKS!

[ChipperF1]

N-C-C! N-C-C!

Go Jackrabbits!!!!! Win one for the dying NCC! :)

[Bball Girl]

Go Jackrabbits!

[Dale8R]

And the winner . . . SDSU 60-53!

[JacknCy]

Well, I made it back from the game alive. The crowd was even more intense than Saturday. The rabbits got down by 13 early in the first half, but just wouldn't quit. They scrapped their way back to within 3 at the half. They came out of halftime with a new intensity and fought their way into the lead. The game was tight in the second half, but down the stretch, but Jenn Warkenthien hit key FTs, Megan Vogel made a key bucket, a few more FTs later and the crowd was so loud I temporarily lost my hearing.

This team proved that they can play from in front and they can play from behind. Some brilliant reporter asked Vogel if she thought at any point that they might lose. With poise the lone senior remarked, "You just can't think that way." Umm...duh...

Indiana's coach is classy. She came out and spoke to us students who were in line around 2pm. Some had been there since 11am. She thanked us for supporting our team and that she wished she could get the IU marketing people to see what we have going on in Brookings. I have to comment that while yes the athletic department takes great care of women's sports on campus, the team is the selling point. They are a great group, who are easily approachable and embrace this community. They all hail from SD, MN, or WI. All of their hometowns are smaller than 10,000 people. I'm proud of this team!

Too bad the WNIT didn't like our bid. SDSU will play at Wyoming on Sunday at 2pm. I'll be glued to the radio, being that I won't be able to make a trip. I just realized that tonight might have been Megan Vogel's last game in Frost Arena. She perservered through the transition when she could have easily opted to go somewhere she could have guaranteed herself a post season every year.

GO BIG! GO BLUE! GO JACKS!

[dem]

How could Wyoming possibly outbid a guaranteed sellout?

[Dale8R]

It's all based on M-O-N-E-Y

They don't base it on who has the best attendance, but who is willing to put up the most.

When Arkansas and Arkansas State met a couple of years ago, UA bid (I think) $25,000 but ASU bid $40,000. They sold out (somewhere between 10 and 11 thousand) and made a lot of money after paying off the WNIT. Coach SG at UA publicly said that was too big a bid. Just another case of her being wrong.

[JacknCy]

Sure its a guaranteed sell out but you can only fit just over 6000 in Frost. Of course SDSU has charged the most for ticket prices and still sold out quickly. Its a disappointment but it happens when schools are bigger and athletic departments have deeper pockets.

[YCN]

JacknCy, I'm proud of you guys. You are making a statement for all the "little guys" out there, and doing it in style. I wish you the very best in your next two games.

[catfan28]

How could Wyoming possibly outbid a guaranteed sellout?


This is why....

A Wyoming crowd of 7,362 fans tonight broke the all time mark of 5,025 set earlier this season against Colorado State.

South Dakota State did all it could by filling their gym. Too bad that
Wyoming's gym has a few more seats.

[JacknCy]

JacknCy, I'm proud of you guys. You are making a statement for all the "little guys" out there, and doing it in style. I wish you the very best in your next two games.

Thanks YCN!

http://cmsimg.argusleader.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=DF&Dato=20070322&Kategori=SPORTS&Lopenr=322004&Ref=PH&Item=5&MaxW=500&MaxH=420

I'm somewhere in that mass of yellow.

[dem]

These are some really impressive attendance figures. They make a lot of those first- and second-round NCAA attendance numbers look rather pathetic by comparison. Sure they're home games, but I remember plenty of early-round NCAA games in the past (when top-4 seeds hosted) that didn't match these attendance figures. (But why did always-popular Wisconsin only get 2420 in today's game? Spring break, perhaps?)

[JacknCy]

="http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070323/COLUMNISTS0104/703230330/1002"

If you had been kept in seclusion for two weeks, not catching the fever, you would naturally wonder what event could spark such excitement.

Did Brookings get the Super Bowl? A national political convention? Did Denny Sanford drop his billfold?

Nope. Just the Women's NIT, which used to stand for Numbingly Insignificant Tournament until South Dakota got a hold of it.

"The crowd was a big part of us winning this basketball game," said senior Megan Vogel, who struggled with 5-for-17 shooting but provided leadership down the stretch.

"You make a big bucket, and there's an adrenaline rush. It gets you riled up. When 6,000 people are saying your name, it's a very special feeling that not everyone gets to experience."

So how we do we put this madness in perspective? The Big Dance is the NCAA men's tournament, which rules the roost and sells its television rights for a sum greater than the gross national product of Yemen.

Next up is the men's NIT, sort of a consolation bracket (run by the NCAA) which is roundly ignored until the semifinalists reach Madison Square Garden.

Then you have the women's NCAA tourney, which is followed by the schools involved but plays mainly to minor crowds in early rounds. Which brings us to the women's NIT, which has nothing to do with the NCAA and occasionally sees teams turn down an invitation. Since 1998, it's been owned by a Colorado company called Triple Crown Sports. It might as well be called Jim's Tournament.

So why are we so crazy about it?

If nothing else, it allows us to go national with the firm belief that South Dakota (OK, and some of Minnesota) plays girls and women's basketball as well as the rest of the nation.



http://blogs.argusleadermedia.com/sports/category/sdsu/
The folks inside Frost Arena have lost their Jackrabbit lovin’ minds.

I arrived at 5:30 - some 30 minutes before the doors were scheduled to open - and the line in front of the building was shaped like a giant L, maybe 10 people across. The line on the back of building was maybe half as long and some students had been there since 11:30 a.m. When the doors opened about 5:50, people run inside as if Frost Arena were Walmart and Thursday night were Black Friday - some just so they could stand in line again at the will-call window. By 6, the half of the arena the students sit in was entirely full.

[Bball Girl]

Congrats to the Jackrabbits - Wyoming has a really nice team this year. Personally, I thought they deserved the NCAA bid instead of TCU. This should be a great game. Best of luck! It's great to see both SDSU and Wyoming giving these teams such great support. They deserve it.

[BeBe]

It's so fantastic to see the team getting that kind of support, particularly from the students.