The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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November 19, 2009

Tourney may be tipping off for the last time

By Chad Courrier

For the last 20 seasons, the annual Pepsi Tip-Off has been a nice way to launch a new basketball season.

There have been some great games and a lot of exciting finishes, but this might be the Send-Off, not the Tip-Off, for this event.

Minnesota State coach Matt Margenthaler acknowledged that he doesn’t have opponents lined up for a 2010 Tip-Off, something that’s generally in place more than a year out, and a few factors make it unlikely that the Mavericks will be “tipping off” somewhere else next season.

“We try to get someone regionally that fans might be familiar with, but most of those teams don’t want to play here,” he said. “Last year, we got two Division II teams from the east, but nobody had heard of them.”

There have been some outstanding teams that have participated in the Tip-Off. Remember when Kentucky Wesleyan came to Otto Arena in 1990, having won the national championship the season before? Central Arkansas was a nice draw in 1994 and again in 1997. Truman State had a very good team in 1998 and won the event. Grand Valley State and Michigan Tech are always solid Division II opponents.

But no regional teams want to take the chance of losing this early in the season, and considering that Minnesota State is 36-2 in this event, and 103-19 at home since Margenthaler became the coach, losing is a definite possibility for the visitor.

Margenthaler said he contacted 76 programs before he found two to fill out this season’s Tip-Off.

The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference schedule makes it harder to set up a Tip-Off. The Mavericks will play only 26 regular-season games this season, with 22 games in the Northern Sun. That leaves just four nonconference games, which next season will include home games against Michigan Tech and Bethany Lutheran College.

Margenthaler said he’d like to take his team to a warm-weather tournament, which would eat up the last two games and leave no place on the schedule for the Tip-Off.

Money is also a factor, though Pepsi has taken care of some of the expenses. Margenthaler estimated that it costs about $20,000 to put on the event, which includes guarantees, hotels and meals. The costs are offset by ticket sales, but the Tip-Off has rarely attracted really big crowds.

The Tip-Off is an event that seems destined to retire to the archives of the program, which is kind of sad. You could almost always count on seeing quality Division II basketball on consecutive nights with little hassle.

“I’ve loved the Tip-Off,” Margenthaler said. “It’s a great way to start the season, and it’s the best-run tournament I’ve been at. But it’s getting awfully tough to find teams to play here.”

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Chad Courrier