Hey NCAA Tourney Veterans, Help the Drake Fans

[Mecha_Bulldog]

Drake is making its first NCAA tourney trip in 37 years, and few if any Drake fans know what to expect. All I know is I'm going to have to make a bunch of last minute travel arrangements to follow the Bulldogs. If you've been to an NCAA tourney in the past few years, what generic advice can you give us for transportation, tickets, hotels, atmosphere, etc.?

[gutwrencher]

Please direct me to the best brewery in all locations. My life depends on it.
Maybe one with GOOD live music. Joe Satriani typo-stuff. :yes:

:bulldogs:

[redbirdtim]

My advice: Drake should not allow these fans: http://drakenation.com/Topic21231-8-4.aspx to purchase tickets to the game for fear of what negative "goodwill" they would cause for the Valley. While some people on there are just getting off some frustration for many years away from the Big Dance (which is understandable), some are downright classless. I was right there to congratulate the Drake fans around me after the game in Des Moines and the Drake players and staff after their win at ISU (have several friends in the Drake AD). However, some of what is being posted there is absolute garbage. I know each fanbase has their own garbage fans, but you would think the administrator of this board would lock this thread. Personal attacks, etc. are plain classless and show as a disgrace to the entire Drake fanbase.

[redbirdtim]

I do want to echo sentiments of some of our other fans that Drake has a lot of classy players and has a great academic team. I think their starting 5 probably smashed the GPA record for a starting 5...maybe the best in the nation.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

My advice: Drake should not allow these fans: http://drakenation.com/Topic21231-8-4.aspx to purchase tickets to the game for fear of what negative "goodwill" they would cause for the Valley. .


n/m

[drakeguy]

My advice: Drake should not allow these fans: http://drakenation.com/Topic21231-8-4.aspx to purchase tickets to the game for fear of what negative "goodwill" they would cause for the Valley. While some people on there are just getting off some frustration for many years away from the Big Dance (which is understandable), some are downright classless. I was right there to congratulate the Drake fans around me after the game in Des Moines and the Drake players and staff after their win at ISU (have several friends in the Drake AD). However, some of what is being posted there is absolute garbage. I know each fanbase has their own garbage fans, but you would think the administrator of this board would lock this thread. Personal attacks, etc. are plain classless and show as a disgrace to the entire Drake fanbase.

Tim, you already missed the thread on this that is locked. Try again later.

[Majik45]

My advice to Drake fans on the tourney is to absolutely go if you get the chance. I drove with my brother to Detroit (nice 8+ hour drive), and it was worth every penny. We just pricelined some hotel rooms and had a blast at the 2 games.

[blueblood]

This is how it worked the years I went;

1. Drake will get a small allotment of tickets. Like 500. Those go to the biggest donors and officials first. There might only be 100 or so for the little guys. It is nerve racking waiting for those. Make your call to the athletic office now to get in line. They will be calling donors on Monday to see if they want them so if you are a small fish it may be late Monday or Tuesday before you know if you have tickets. Consider calling a big donor you might know that isn't going.

2. Look at the bracket you are in and see who the #16 seeds are and how far they are away. If there is a low seed team that you think might not travel well put a call into their AD's office on Monday. It is likely they will not sell their allotment and you may be able to get seats at face value.

3. The seats that schools are given are based on seeding. Thus the #1 seed gets better seats than the 16. Where that comes into play is say Drake plays in an arena that is a baseball stadium. The 16 seed will be sitting on the temporary bleacher side and the 1 seed in the cushy seat side. Make sure you look at the venue map. When I saw Creighton play in the Metrodome the upper deck seat people should have stayed home.

4. If you get seats from Drake, they are only for your session. Thus if Drake plays Thursday morning, you do not get tickets for Thursday night or Saturday.

[DUBulldog]

Excellent rundown, Blueblood. I've been to 1st and 2nd round NCAA games (not involving Drake) and it's a great time. The games I saw involved both SIU and Creighton back in (I think) 2002.

[DUBulldog]

My advice: Drake should not allow these fans: http://drakenation.com/Topic21231-8-4.aspx to purchase tickets to the game for fear of what negative "goodwill" they would cause for the Valley. While some people on there are just getting off some frustration for many years away from the Big Dance (which is understandable), some are downright classless. I was right there to congratulate the Drake fans around me after the game in Des Moines and the Drake players and staff after their win at ISU (have several friends in the Drake AD). However, some of what is being posted there is absolute garbage. I know each fanbase has their own garbage fans, but you would think the administrator of this board would lock this thread. Personal attacks, etc. are plain classless and show as a disgrace to the entire Drake fanbase.

While I don't care for some of the posts on that thread, let's not pretend that it's the worst thread in the history of internet message boards. I've seen far worse on this board, and on the boards of virtually MVC team.

[DoubleJayAlum]

My advice: pray for a close venue. The biggest problem is that booking air fare at the last minute is very expensive. Also, hope that where you play is a Southwest Airlines destination.

Tim, you already missed the thread on this that is locked. Try again later.

Or you could just start a new thread with the same thing in the locked thread like you did. :doh:

[DawgieStyle]

1) Ebay is your friend as well as stub hub.

2) Drink Heavily.

3) If available crash in the rooms of one of the student groups being put up by the university....they put them in nice hotels.

4) Take lots of money, it's expensive, in 2001, it was 150 a session.

5) If you are in large metropolitan city, such as chicago, and you park your car in one of the below ground garages, and leave it untouched for 3 days after signifcant drinking, make sure to write down which garage you parked in.

6) It is possible to sneak down from the upper bowl to the lower bowl, but you better have a good story. It isn't like St. Louis, they actually check tickets.

7) I may have said this once already, Drink Heavily.

[Mecha_Bulldog]

4. If you get seats from Drake, they are only for your session. Thus if Drake plays Thursday morning, you do not get tickets for Thursday night or Saturday.

Thanks for the rundown. I didn't know about this one. How does it work if Drake advances to round two? Does Drake sell tickets again on the off day?

This year's first-round arenas all look like they were built for basketball and/or hockey, so we shouldn't have to worry about crummy baseball seats.

[Mecha_Bulldog]

My advice: pray for a close venue. The biggest problem is that booking air fare at the last minute is very expensive. Also, hope that where you play is a Southwest Airlines destination.

Only problem with that: Southwest doesn't fly out of Des Moines :doh: Looks like Omaha will see an influx of fans from Des Moines one way or another :grin:

[blueblood]

Thanks for the rundown. I didn't know about this one. How does it work if Drake advances to round two? Does Drake sell tickets again on the off day?

This year's first-round arenas all look like they were built for basketball and/or hockey, so we shouldn't have to worry about crummy baseball seats.

If Drake wins on Thursday the process starts all over again for Saturday.

Another tip; Lets say Drake plays a 11 AM game. Lets say you happen to have good seats in the Drake section. Then lets say Kansas or another big following team follows your game at 1 PM. As the Darke game gets to about the 8 minute mark left in the game the people for the next game will start trying to buy your tickets. It sounds stupid but they do. They are the upper bowl people trying to updgrade. Its annoying and they get yelled at but if Drake is up by 20 you may want to consider it.

[Dawg_tired]

If Drake wins on Thursday the process starts all over again for Saturday.

Another tip; Lets say Drake plays a 11 AM game. Lets say you happen to have good seats in the Drake section. Then lets say Kansas or another big following team follows your game at 1 PM. As the Darke game gets to about the 8 minute mark left in the game the people for the next game will start trying to buy your tickets. It sounds stupid but they do. They are the upper bowl people trying to updgrade. Its annoying and they get yelled at but if Drake is up by 20 you may want to consider it.

If Drake is up 20 in an NCAA Tournament Game a Presidential Order couldn't get me to sell my ticket.

[Ferocious Cat]

Blueblood outlined it perfectly...

If you are unable to get tickets thru Drake...contact the other schools playing at the venue. We had tickets via Boston College I believe to watch UNI vs Ga Tech.

[blueness]

Get a flight as soon as possible (as in watch the selection show from your home so you have available internet) from a bargain carrier like Southwest...if you are planning on flying.

Be flexible (as in, search out of Des Moines or search out of Omaha, search out of KC).

Find a way to get there!

Drake will obviously send information out about the team hotel, but you should ask for any other "open" events that you can attend involving the team--no matter how "focused" DU has been the whole year the guys will need their fans there to keep their perspective and supports (especially if you get placed in a "pod" where there will be thousands of fans around of one team..i.e. KU, UNC, etc).

If you go to the game, depending upon the security/crowd for the paricular game time, try and "sneak" down to where a good crew of DU fans are sitting.

Go to "home town team's" board who is hosting to see what places are good places to stay/eat/visit (example, when CU went to Cleveland we went and visited the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame)--if you've got some serious $ to throw around, check the NBA schedules to see if there is a home game on the "off day."

Once again, if you have a way to get there...do it!

:bulldogs::jays:

[Majik45]

Thanks for the rundown. I didn't know about this one. How does it work if Drake advances to round two? Does Drake sell tickets again on the off day?


The way this worked with Bradley 2 years ago was that when we got tickets to the first Bradley session through the university, we committed to buying tickets for the next session if Bradley won, so basically you committed to going to both games if your team was still playing. It was very easy as we just had to go to will call at the window in Detroit.

[cufan]

If Drake gets sent to Omaha, guess who has all the tickets that aren't corporate, media or team alotments? That's right, Creighton season ticket holders! I have 8 myself. Four 9 rows up just off the baseline and four centercourt but upper deck. Personally, I hope Drake is placed in Omaha. Despite some rather obnoxious ditwads that have come out of the woodwork in the last couple of weeks, I'm still pulling for the pups to go far in the dance.

[Chairman of the Boards]

Get a flight as soon as possible (as in watch the selection show from your home so you have available internet) from a bargain carrier like Southwest...if you are planning on flying.

Be flexible (as in, search out of Des Moines or search out of Omaha, search out of KC).

Find a way to get there!

Drake will obviously send information out about the team hotel, but you should ask for any other "open" events that you can attend involving the team--no matter how "focused" DU has been the whole year the guys will need their fans there to keep their perspective and supports (especially if you get placed in a "pod" where there will be thousands of fans around of one team..i.e. KU, UNC, etc).

If you go to the game, depending upon the security/crowd for the paricular game time, try and "sneak" down to where a good crew of DU fans are sitting.

Go to "home town team's" board who is hosting to see what places are good places to stay/eat/visit (example, when CU went to Cleveland we went and visited the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame)--if you've got some serious $ to throw around, check the NBA schedules to see if there is a home game on the "off day."

Once again, if you have a way to get there...do it!

:bulldogs::jays:

I agree... just find a way to get there. Hopefully not, but this could be a once in a lifetime opportunity for Drake. Enjoy it... take it all in. Win or lose, it's simply a wonderful experience. Even if your spending your very last penny... you will never regret following your team in the Big Dance.
:bulldogs::valley:

[Mecha_Bulldog]

If Drake gets sent to Omaha, guess who has all the tickets that aren't corporate, media or team alotments? That's right, Creighton season ticket holders!

So all those guys holding up tickets for sale outside the Qwest Center during the tournament will be Creighton season ticket holders? :naughty:

[Keita44]

If Drake gets sent to Omaha, guess who has all the tickets that aren't corporate, media or team alotments? That's right, Creighton season ticket holders! I have 8 myself. Four 9 rows up just off the baseline and four centercourt but upper deck. Personally, I hope Drake is placed in Omaha. Despite some rather obnoxious ditwads that have come out of the woodwork in the last couple of weeks, I'm still pulling for the pups to go far in the dance.

Also, don't the other teams in the conference of the hosting school get about 100 tickets? If this is the case, then Drake will get tickets for the Omaha site. Also, if we end up playing in Denver, we should be contacting Colorado State (the hosting school) and the other teams in the MWC for tickets, same for Little Rock if that were to happen.