Fast Break Club

Planning for 2019 NCAA WBB Tournament

If you haven't considered planning for Portland, it's a good time to start.   You may start by considering "If the Ducks made it to the Portland Regional..."  would you want a hotel or would you commute from Eugene?   If you wanted a Hotel you might start looking now, and maybe make a cancellable reservation.

 

NCAA WBB Selection Show is March 18th @ 4pm PT (ESPN)

• Watch Party @ MKA! Doors open @ 3:30pm. Admission is free. Parking is *not* free.

 

Hosting @ MKA:

To be clear, post-season tickets are handled differently than regular-season.  We've been told from long-time fans that this can be frustrating.  Our club president did chat with the ticket office to clarify, and here's what to remember:

• Post-Season games are run by the NCAA. They have processes they've refined for handling these tournaments. It isn't in UO's control.
• For tickets, your seating priority will be determined by your Duck Athletic Fund (DAF) point status. Larger DAF donors will have access to the best seats, over someone that only earned DAF points for WBB season tickets.
  
• Over time, I hope we can learn to appreciate all of the good parts of this: (a) having a great, host-worthy team, and (b) having solid DAF support for our program and facilities.   Our WBB revenue has been growing, but at the moment it still relies on other support.
  

PostSeason @ Portland:

It's too early to predict, but there is a reasonable chance that Oregon makes the Portland Regional.

The UO Athletic would end up with tickets it can sell in any regional, though you can opt to secure a Portland ticket NOW (link).    The two Sweet 16 games will be played Friday night, March 29th @ 6PM-to-10PM. The Elite 8 game will be played Sun, Mar 31st @ 11AM.

• All Session Tickets: $65 (Youth/Senior $35).
• Arena Parking: $20

Some of you may want to secure a hotel you like in Portland for two nights (March 29 - 30th, with a cancellable reservation if we end up elsewhere). Hotels nearest the Moda Center are currently sold-out for those nights, so expect to look farther out. 

You might ponder if you plan to drive to the Arena or use transit.   If you're adventurous, you could Taxi/Uber/Lift, or use a TriMet MAX train to travel between Hotel & Arena. The MAX Blue/Green/Red/Yellow lines all stop at the Rose Quarter which let you find other hotels farther away. Day Pass is $5 adult ($2.50 youth/seniors). You can find hotels downtown, near West Burnside Street (near a MAX Blue Line stop), or along SW 6th Avenue (near a MAX Yellow&Green lines stop).

• TriMet Home Page (link)
• A 3rd-party MoovIt site to help you find transit to Moda center (link)

Whether you use transit or not, I do recommend getting to the arena early on Friday and avoiding the Portland rush-hour  😃

 

PostSeason @ Tampa, Florida:  April 5-7:  Final Four and Championship

Of course, the team is aiming to get to the Final Four and beyond.   That is beyond my ability to give tips though.   :)    You can buy Tickets & Hospitality through the NCAA site (https://www.ncaa.com/womens-final-four) or other travel companies.

 

Go Ducks!

Planning Tips for Pac-12 WBB Tournament (March 7-10, 2019)

Quick Overview:

• The Pac-12 WBB Tournament will be in Vegas for 2019 and 2020.
• The Pac-12 has a WBB Tournament Central Page (link).   You'll eventually see the filled brackets there, with details.
• The Pac-12 WBB Tournament runs from Thursday AM of March 7th through Sunday evening of March 10th.  The Top 4 in the conference standings will skip the first round (Thursday) games, so hopefully that applies to us Ducks.   
  
• The WBB Games will be in the MGM Grand's Garden Arena.
• Do you have any Additions or corrections?  You can contact stevec.fbc@gmail.com

 

Extra Oregon Events:

• (We don't have any events here.   We heard from the Alumni assn, that they have no event planned)

Game Tickets:

• From Oregon: The Oregon ticket office told me they have their allotment of tickets that are in the Oregon fan group area. (You can try asking the MKA ticket office before our games.  Supposedly the tickets are online, but I didn't see them. Or contact the Duck Ticket Office: 9am-5pm Mon-Fri | 800-WEB-FOOT | 541-346-4461 | tickets@uoregon.edu)
• From Pac-12. (link) (They sell 'All Session' tickets, both Reserved and G/A, as well as individual games.  A reserved, All-Session ticket runs $125, plus about $35 in fees)

 

Travel Tips:

• Fly from Eugene:
  • Direct: The only direct flight from Eugene to Vegas is via Allegiant (~2 hours flight time).  This is a quirky, budget airline (with extra fees) and they only fly the route on certain days  (Fly to Vegas Friday night and return on Monday night).   Be aware that you'd miss all the Thursday and Friday games!  
    
  • With Stops: Other options from Eugene fly through SFO/PDX/SLC/LAX and take at least 4-6h.
• Fly from Portland: PDX has more options for direct flights at a variety of prices.
• Other Options: It makes a long drive via car (~14-16h).  The Bus takes ~24h, and the Train takes ~forever.

 

Lodging (MGM, main link)

• The MGM is definitely the center of the WBB Tournament.   If there's any extra Oregon events (send-offs with The Duck, bands, cheer, etc), they'll likely be somewhere in the MGM. 
  
• The MGM itself has a very wide range of lodging and rates, though isn't an inexpensive hotel. Be aware you will pay a ~$42-per-day Resort fee (in addition to taxes) on top of the posted room rates.
• The main hotel building has 4,293 rooms, and 751 suites.  There are 'The Signature' towers -- 3 towers, each with 576 suites.   There are also other high-end options like the SKYLOFTS and The Mansion.
• Here is MGM's Property Map (link)
• We can all appreciate MGM for their brilliant color scheme --  A lovely green building with yellow lettering:

Lodging (Non-MGM)

• The MGM is close to New York, New York (somewhat cheaper), and the Tropicana (much cheaper). There are pedestrian bridges from the MGM across the traffic to those two.
• The options are endless, if you're open to longer walks, travel, or Monorail (mentioned below).  Some of you will want to stay close-by, but others may want to stay off the main strip.
• The Pac-12 Tickets page does have a link for allegedly 'Discounted Hotel Packages'. 

 

City Travel includes the Monorail:

• You can taxi/Uber/Lyft to get around, but be aware that there's a Monorail station inside the MGM very close to our Arena (monorail map link).
• The Monorail only has 7 stops, but runs often and gives an easy connection between the MGM Arena (for our WBB games) and other 6 other locations with lodging/food/events (Flamingo, Harrahs/Linq, etc).   
  
• Monorail cost ranges from $5 per-ride to $36 for a 4-day pass.

 

If you can't make it to Vegas!

• The games will be televised (Mostly on Pac-12 Networks, with the championship game on ESPN/ESPN2)

• Hopefully the Ducks earn the chance to host NCAA's postseason games and attend the Portland super-regional where more of us can attend.  We'll have some March Madness planning tips, when we know more.

Upcoming Fast Break Club Elections!

 

The Club will hold a Member Social and Meeting after the Colorado game (February 3th 2019).    The social will be back DOWNSTAIRS in the Founders Club (The room at the bottom of the stairs, like the photo below).    We will meet some of the behind-the-scenes staff.  We wont interview players, but you never know who will stop when there is Ice Cream and CupCakes!   We'll keep this gathering shorter, to celebrate our Ducks and still let folks get home for the Superbowl.

 

 

CANDIDATES:

• Vice-President -- vacant
• Secretary -- Linda Berg
• Development Director -- Carol James
• Member Recruitment Director --Hally McCabe
• Member Services Director -- Judy Long
• Socials Director -- vacant
• Members at Large:
  • Diane Gregoire
  • Sharon Isaacs
  • Shirley Rainwater
  • Janet Schwier
  • Kris Jacobson

 

AMENDMENTS TO FBC BY-LAWS:

The following amendment will be voted on at our meeting on February 3, 2019

Change to Article 7 (additional duties added to the Treasurers position)

Article 7.D to read as follows
TREASURER shall be responsible for all financial activities and shall maintain all required financial records and records of paid memberships. Treasurer shall present financial reports and copies of bank statements at each regularly scheduled Board meeting. Treasurer shall maintain all financial records and reports in accordance with Oregon Booster Association requirements. Treasurer shall, with input from the Board, prepare a Budget for the next year and present it for Board approval by the last meeting of the next fiscal year.

 

The Club will hold a Member Social and Meeting after the Colorado game (February 3th 2019).    The social will be back DOWNSTAIRS in the Founders Club (The room at the bottom of the stairs, like the photo below).    We will meet some of the behind-the-scenes staff.  We wont interview players, but you never know who will stop when there is Ice Cream and CupCakes!   We'll keep this gathering shorter, to celebrate our Ducks and still let folks get home for the Superbowl.

 

 

CANDIDATES:

• Vice-President -- vacant
• Secretary -- Linda Berg
• Development Director -- Carol James
• Member Recruitment Director --Hally McCabe
• Member Services Director -- Judy Long
• Socials Director -- vacant
• Members at Large:
  • Diane Gregoire
  • Sharon Isaacs
  • Shirley Rainwater
  • Janet Schwier
  • Kris Jacobson

 

AMENDMENTS TO FBC BY-LAWS:

The following amendment will be voted on at our meeting on February 3, 2019

Change to Article 7 (additional duties added to the Treasurers position)

Article 7.D to read as follows
TREASURER shall be responsible for all financial activities and shall maintain all required financial records and records of paid memberships. Treasurer shall present financial reports and copies of bank statements at each regularly scheduled Board meeting. Treasurer shall maintain all financial records and reports in accordance with Oregon Booster Association requirements. Treasurer shall, with input from the Board, prepare a Budget for the next year and present it for Board approval by the last meeting of the next fiscal year.

Fast Break Member Socials Announced

We will have two player socials this preseason:

• Sunday, Nov 18th, after the Buffalo game
• Sunday, Dec 2nd, after the Long Beach State game

We will have 1-2 events during the Pac-12 season, to be announced later.

These Socials will be in our new location in the *upper* west concourse after the game. You can take the stairs or elevator by the west entrance to the upper level.  This is an area with less traffic after WBB games that will fit our growing club better than our lower-level location.

 

Chalk Talk Schedule announced

The Chalk Talks begin about 50 minutes before game time, downstairs in the Founders Club. These are put on by UO WBB (not the FBC) and are open to all fans!  So bring friends, and get a good parking spot along with some extra game insights.  

During the preseason, there are Chalk Talks for the first 4 home games.  During Pac-12 play, there are Chalk Talk's before the Friday home games.

Schedule:

• Nov 10: Syracuse
• Nov 18: Buffalo
• Dec 2: Long Beach State
• Dec 18: Mississippi State
• Jan 4: Washington
• Jan 18: Arizona State
• Feb 1: Utah
• Feb 15: Oregon State
• Feb 22: UCLA