For those of you who follow the location criteria more closely than I do, what would you say our chances of landing in Denver or Wichita for the opening round of the NCAA tourney are if we follow form and end up a 2 or 3 seed?

Looking to make some travel plans in advance.

Me, too! It's the easiest location I can drive to.

I ran through this on another thread but the odds are very high it's going to be Wichita or Denver. Right now I'd put it at like 45% Wichita, 35% Denver, 19% Seattle and 1% anywhere else as long as we stay at least a 4 seed.

Almost all of the other teams in consideration are closer to other sites.

It basically comes down to a few things:

• We have to finish high enough that we don't get bumped out to Seattle by other teams being bumped to Wichita and Denver
• Finishing higher than Houston, Kansas and Texas Tech for Wichita and then Arizona for Denver, these are the only other teams whose natural location takes them to Wichita and/or Denver

ColleyvilleAg06 said:

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About the only location I would completely rule out is Lexington as that seems destined to be Auburn/Alabama pods.

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If we're basing all of this on the assumption that we stay at least a 4 seed, then I think we can also rule out Raleigh, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Providence.

Just way too many teams closer to those sites. We're either going to be high enough on the seed list to get one of the ones closer to us anyway or we're going to be low enough that those sites are all taken by the teams in the east/midwest.

Dang....we don't get the joy of going to Cleveland?

I know, tragic. I wanted to see the rivers on fire and the buildings that look like a scooby doo ghost town.

Same!!!

Same!!

Denver with our style of play doesn't seem ideal. Not enough O2.

Yep, I would book refundable hotels for Whicita & Denver. And vehicle if necessary .

It's going to be fun that two of the sites are going to have all of the 1 seeds unless someone outside the top 5 comes up and grabs one, Raleigh and Lexington. Those are the closest two sites to Auburn, Alabama, Duke, Tennessee and Florida.

Ummm...I think Wichita might get one.

Could get two!

I agree with this take.

Don't book flights, it's not that bad a drive from B/CS to Wichita, I do it 6 or 7 times a year. Get yourself a refundable hotel, anywhere in the city or surrounding suburbs is fine for the weekend. Be careful booking a VRBO or AirBnB anywhere south of Kellogg ( 54 ) or north of downtown or east until past Oliver. I will post a list of local restaurants and attractions if A&M lands in Wichita . I can't help you with tickets but if KU doesn't land in Wichita some more seats should come available on the secondary market. Wichita is a basketball town so many local people bought tickets to attend the games regardless of who is playing. That's why prices are so high and probably won't go down a whole lot. I spent an arm and leg for my seats but it was because I have a place to stay and no travel costs to attend. It's just going to be a huge bonus when A&M drops in my lap

If it is Wichita, I fully expect to meet a good chunk of yall in person!

Well I certainly will be there

I already have reservations in Denver.

What area of Wichita is a good place to stay for the basketball games?

Downtown hotels if you don't want to drive or any ones out East side. Stick with the chains and you'll be fine. Most of the east side hotels provide access to better restaurants. Wichita is easy to drive around, it's like a smaller version of Omaha
West side chains are fine too. The commute to the downtown arena ( Intrust ) is easy from all directions. We really don't have " rush hours " per se so travel is easy and parking reasonable.. Just be careful of small Mom & Pop hotels and check Yelp or Trip Advisor ratings because your " good deal " might put you in a roach coach.

Charlie Moran said:

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Downtown hotels if you don't want to drive or any ones out East side. Stick with the chains and you'll be fine. Most of the east side hotels provide access to better restaurants. Wichita is easy to drive around, it's like a smaller version of Omaha
West side chains are fine too. The commute to the downtown arena ( Intrust ) is easy from all directions. We really don't have " rush hours " per se so travel is easy and parking reasonable.. Just be careful of small Mom & Pop hotels and check Yelp or Trip Advisor ratings because your " good deal " might put you in a roach coach.

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As he said earlier, make sure you stay north of Kellogg/US400 (except at the airport where everything is ok). Nothing in Wichita will be more than 15-20 from downtown. Downtown would be ideal because you won't need to worry about parking. West Wichita you want to be on or west of Ridge Road. East Wichita, best is on or east of Rock Road.

And under no circumstance stay at the White Glove Inn or anything on Broadway unless you want it only for an hour or two.

So the basketball arena is downtown?

Waiting on a Natty said:

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So the basketball arena is downtown?

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Yes. Decent facility built 15 years ago with about 15,000 capacity.

ETA. I just checked for those weeks and there are still good hotels for as low as $97/night and nothing over $210. It looks like most hotels downtown are sold out which isn't too surprising.

That site is going to be chaos if Kansas ends up somewhere else. Probably some good deals to be had.

I looked a few days ago at Marriott properties in Wichita. Prices were unbelievably high for any where in Kansas. Never thought about KU fans already snapping up rooms.

I'm sure it's the same with Duke in Raleigh although they're going to be right.

Kansas is basically a 1/2 every year (13 of the last 17 tournaments!) so I'm sure their fans just buy up tickets and hotels at whatever venue is closest.

Hmmm...sounds like I need to rethink the Holiday Inn Express reservation at the 35/135 split. That's a mile away from Broadway...

ColoAg95 said:

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I'm selfishly rooting for Denver

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Me also, I would take a day off and drive down from WYO.

bobinator said:

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That site is going to be chaos if Kansas ends up somewhere else. Probably some good deals to be had.

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It would help some but most people would still come to the games. The die hard KU fans that follow the team would likely make other plans but most of those people I know wait until the bracket comes out to book travel. That said, most of them have a lot less interest this year because of how bad their team is this year relative to their Blue Blood status.

I don't think it's going to be like several thousands of people but I imagine it'll be enough to move the market for hotel rooms and secondary ticket sales.

We're talking the preseason #1 team. I'm sure lots of people that might normally wait tried to get in early to save some money because of how close that site is. Hell I'd do the same if Houston was one of the sites and we practically never get to the play in the closest venue.

Kansas Kid said:

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bobinator said:

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That site is going to be chaos if Kansas ends up somewhere else. Probably some good deals to be had.

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It would help some but most people would still come to the games. The die hard KU fans that follow the team would likely make other plans but most of those people I know wait until the bracket comes out to book travel. That said, most of them have a lot less interest this year because of how bad their team is this year relative to their Blue Blood status.

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It'll crush the resale market if ku or mizzou don't make it, like in 2023 when the regional in kc was Xavier, Miami, Texas and Houston. It was dirt cheap on the secondary market.

The cost 100% won't be the $150 a ticket a session in the upper deck like you can get on their site now.

The south Holiday Inn Express is fine, that being said it's a crappy part of town. As the Kansas kid said stay in East Wichita along Rock / Webb /Greenwich roads. Nicest part of town , short commute to downtown.

I wouldn't count on tickets dropping that much. Yes KU fans in town bought a lot but they will stay here and watch the games rather than follow KU opening weekend ESPECIALLY if KU is in a Friday / Sunday regional. They will go to the games here, ***** about their team/ seeding/ Self , and watch the Jayhawks on TV the odd days. Wichita State has decent attendance and the majority of attendees are not graduates. I had season tickets there for years along with my A&M tickets. I finally gave the Shocker tickets up because I didn't want to spend money on both. Don't underestimate the passion for basketball here. It was packed four years ago and I paid $ 1000 a seat for all sessions baseline seats about 10 rows up.