CLK wrote:

townsonkid wrote:

Was scrolling threw twitter last night, saw a few messages from DU folk regarding 7-0, and some other media asked who is better this year, pitt or Duquesne.   Oh my!

The only way to determine that is to play each other. I could never understand why some entrepreneur could not figure out a way to resurrect the Steel Bowl.  Have Pitt, Penn State, Duquesne and West Virginia play a two day tournament random draw first day and winner vs winner and loser vs loser second day.  Play at PPG with Pitt and DU alternate hosts, or alternate venues with all four teams.  I would think it would be a big money maker for everybody.  I know some may say why not Robert Morris?  That could be a possibility, but I think it would be more attractive to Pitt and WVU to have Penn State in the mix, and vice versa for Penn State.  


 

The Steel Bowl didn't draw that well when we had it. In the world of 20 game conference seasons, it will never come back. Everyone wants to play 10 home games, and then go play in a tournament at a warm weather site. The Steel Bowl is never coming back!

luckymcd wrote:

CLK wrote:

The only way to determine that is to play each other. I could never understand why some entrepreneur could not figure out a way to resurrect the Steel Bowl.  Have Pitt, Penn State, Duquesne and West Virginia play a two day tournament random draw first day and winner vs winner and loser vs loser second day.  Play at PPG with Pitt and DU alternate hosts, or alternate venues with all four teams.  I would think it would be a big money maker for everybody.  I know some may say why not Robert Morris?  That could be a possibility, but I think it would be more attractive to Pitt and WVU to have Penn State in the mix, and vice versa for Penn State.  
 

I'm thinking even bigger. Make it an eight team tourney and guarantee everyone three games. Try to bring in four big conference teams and four smaller conference teams. Have midweek games on campus of Big 10, ACC, Big East (or West Virginia), and A-10 against teams from the MAC, Horizon, Patriot, and Northeast. The four winners play a doubleheader at PPG and the four losers play a doubleheader at the Coop on Friday. Then the winners face each other and losers face each other at each site on Saturday.

The big conference teams get a home game and the likelihood of two other games against decent competition. The smaller conference teams get the opportunity to play giant killer and are guaranteed two other games relatively close to home if they don't. I have no doubt PPG would sell out for the doubleheaders as they'd likely be hosting big conference teams and obviously the intent would be to have them be local too.

The conferences were chosen so the teams would be relatively local, but still could be mixed up somewhat to keep if from getting stale. Maybe we could bring in Ohio State or Maryland instead of Penn State. Possibly hearken back to the original Steel Bowl and bring in Miami or Wake Forest if Pitt wants to go somewhere else one year. With brighter days ahead for us, maybe one of the big tournaments invites us. Cleveland State would probably like to be a part of it sometime, or we could bring back an old rival in Detroit. St. Francis could fill in for Robert Morris sometime.

I'd put the consolation rounds at the Coop to keep everything in the city. Plus the games would be so close people could buy tickets ahead of time and not need to worry about if they would need to change hotels or anything. If Robert Morris did take part regularly and did end up in the consolation round I suppose it could be at their place sometime.

Will it happen? Probably not. The Caribbean is much nicer in November than the northeast, and if teams are going to a cold weather city it's probably going to be New York. I think it could work though. If it ever could, now would be the time with the Coop opening next year and PPG hosting the NCAAs the following year.

A possible bracket would look like this:

Youngstown State @ Duquesne
Bucknell @ Pitt
Akron @ West Virginia
Robert Morris @ Penn St.

PPG Day 1
Duquesne vs. Pitt
West Virginia vs. Penn St.

Coop Day 1
Youngstown St. vs. Bucknell
Akron vs. Robert Morris

PPG Day 2
Duquesne (of course in the hypothetical matchup we beat Pitt) vs. West Virginia
Pitt vs. Penn St. (and JoePa rolls over in his grave)

Coop Day 2
Bucknell vs. Akron
Youngstown St. vs. Robert Morris

  
It could work if you get a few name programs.  Most programs are looking to play name programs on a neutral court so this would be a good tournament for teams and travel.  8 is nice but in reality there should be 4 regular and 4 rotating.  One other thing...KD will never voluntarily play Akron.  Kent, Ohio and Buffalo should be considered.  

ElDuque wrote:

I think it's an idea worth talking about. I'm not sold on YSU and Bucknell. Why not St. Francis? 

If we really want a big draw, how about Notre Dame or Villanova?

St. Francis could certainly make some appearances. I didn't put them in this one because I put Robert Morris in. I don't think multiple teams from the same conference would want to appear in the same tournament. Notre Dame and Villanova would be great if we could bring them in. The ACC and Big East are two of the conferences I would target. 

Next season, the Dukes play in the Mountain West A10 challenge.
Their game is on the road against Wyoming.
In the future, assuming the Dukes play an MWC at home, some 
sort of two day MWC and local team tournament could be arranged
The Dukes have already played an MWC team--Air Force.  Perhaps
Nevada could be a possibility.