SoCon Tourney, Asheville Once a Blissful Union
Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 1:18 pm
The news earlier this week that the Southern Conference basketball tournament and Asheville were interested in possibly renewing what was once a very successful partnership brought back some fun memories of sold-out games at the Civic Center.
Those who were around for the 1984-95 run remember aggressive Marshall fans flooding the city with $2 bills to punctuate their presence, the excitement of some talented East Tennessee State teams featuring Mister Jennings and Greg Dennis lighting up the scoreboard with 3-pointers and the electric atmosphere of more than 6,000 fans for some classic games involving ETSU, Chattanooga and Marshall.
Asheville and the SoCon were the fortunate recipients of a perfect storm for quality tournament basketball — an arena that was the right size for the league and a trio of schools with strong programs and loyal fan bases that traveled here by the thousands.
A lot has changed since the SoCon pulled out of Asheville in 1995, believing it had outgrown the city and the Civic Center.
ETSU and Marshall long ago left the league, and the tournament has gone from city to city like the relative who refuses to leave.
Five different cities have staged the tourney in the last 12 years with similar results — low attendance and dwindling interest by the host cities, unless their school is in the title game.
Tune in to the championship game Monday night from Charlotte and you will see no more than a few thousand fans at a huge arena in a city largely disinterested.
Geographically, Asheville makes perfect sense for the SoCon.
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... sful-union
Those who were around for the 1984-95 run remember aggressive Marshall fans flooding the city with $2 bills to punctuate their presence, the excitement of some talented East Tennessee State teams featuring Mister Jennings and Greg Dennis lighting up the scoreboard with 3-pointers and the electric atmosphere of more than 6,000 fans for some classic games involving ETSU, Chattanooga and Marshall.
Asheville and the SoCon were the fortunate recipients of a perfect storm for quality tournament basketball — an arena that was the right size for the league and a trio of schools with strong programs and loyal fan bases that traveled here by the thousands.
A lot has changed since the SoCon pulled out of Asheville in 1995, believing it had outgrown the city and the Civic Center.
ETSU and Marshall long ago left the league, and the tournament has gone from city to city like the relative who refuses to leave.
Five different cities have staged the tourney in the last 12 years with similar results — low attendance and dwindling interest by the host cities, unless their school is in the title game.
Tune in to the championship game Monday night from Charlotte and you will see no more than a few thousand fans at a huge arena in a city largely disinterested.
Geographically, Asheville makes perfect sense for the SoCon.
http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20 ... sful-union