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The Indiana State Sycamores are in Ft. Worth, Texas, to face TCU in the Super Regional for the right to advance to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. The fact that they aren’t hosting the series in Terre Haute has caused quite the controversy.
The Sycamores are not hosting the Super Regional despite being the higher seed. Part of this is due to Terre Haute not meeting the NCAA’s hosting requirements; the city already isn’t flush with hotels, and with the Indiana Special Olympics in town, the space is even more limited. This led to ISU withdrawing its name from hosting consideration.
For ISU fans, the disappointment was palpable. This was exasperated by the fact that the NCAA bent the rules to allow Kentucky to host the Lexington Regional; the school housed teams and personnel in dorms due to hotels not being available. The fans also turned out en masse for the Regionals that Terre Haute hosted; to give up the chance to do that on a larger stage is being viewed as a missed opportunity.
This also makes things harder for the ISU team in terms of competitive advantage. Road games are always harder, due to travel and crowd noise; to give up the opportunity to play in front of your own fans, in a game this big, is a big hit to their chances.
If ISU goes to Texas and punches their ticket to the College World Series, all of this will be forgotten. Nothing placates over fan discontent like winning. If ISU loses to TCU however, the athletic department for the Sycamores will face endless questions about how things might have gone differently had the series been played in Terre Haute.
During Thursday’s edition of The Ride With JMV, John spoke to the sports director of WTWO in Terre Haute, Grant Pugh. They spoke about the hosting controversy, ISU’s chances in the Super Regional, and their season as a whole. Listen to that conversation and more below, and tune into The Ride With JMV from 3-6pm on 93.5/107.5 The Fan!
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ISU Looks To Put Hosting Controversy Behind It This Weekend was originally published on 1075thefan.com
