[Purple Haize]

BTW, this thread has set a new record!

don't say it

I didn't. I'm just stating based on time of thread this a record. Think of it like silent prayer request!

[R i]

Silent Prayer Request.



I havent heard one of those in 10 years. Maybe I am not going to enough prayer meetings.

[IMBach]

Nice win. Hope we can improve defensively still. Looked like VMI had wide open looks most of the night. Difference being Minaya made his open looks.

[BJWilliams]

there goes the neighborhood...

[kdinva]

Looked like VMI had wide open looks most of the night. Difference being Minaya made his open looks.

That was one huge difference........another was VMI playing at about 2/3 speed the first half.

[truthorconsequences]

there goes the neighborhood...

Why do you persist at being a

[Purple Haize]

there goes the neighborhood...

Why do you persist at being a

A violinist? Fiddler?

[BJWilliams]

there goes the neighborhood...

Why do you persist at being a

dont dish out what you cant take...you still havent taken Purple up by addressing the root of your problem with the team...problm is...that problem isnt so much a problem anymore...so you can either keep spewing your hatred of the AD and remain a spineless invertebrate, or you can give a little credit where its due, because the same guy you want to see fired...he did hire the coach you know, so he had to have done a little something right...

[R i]

I dont think Jeff Hired RD, if thats what your talking about BJ.

[Chippy]

there goes the neighborhood...

Why do you persist at being a

Must be a compliment. Not too many concert violinists these days. Must be too young to understand the "playing the violin " metaphor

[truthorconsequences]

there goes the neighborhood...

Why do you persist at being a

dont dish out what you cant take...you still havent taken Purple up by addressing the root of your problem with the team...problm is...that problem isnt so much a problem anymore...so you can either keep spewing your hatred of the AD and remain a spineless invertebrate, or you can give a little credit where its due, because the same guy you want to see fired...he did hire the coach you know, so he had to have done a little something right...

IM pays a compliment, yet questions our defense and you boohoo yes boohoo that someone might question why we are so happy now with beating the bottom on BSC. That is now the standard. We are on a roll and can't get 1500 to a VMI game. Great job by our AD five years later in connecting to the student body and community. We have purchased every marketing tool in the Vines, have a 2nd to none mid-major TV budget and spend serious advertising dollars locally results empty seats. So cry on.

[R i]

Hes right.

[Purple Haize]

Would you rather beat the bottom of the BSC or BE the bottom of the BSC? Fiddle err Riddle me that. You are the one who cries when we lose and now you cry when we win. I guess you don't want to fire the coach now. Maybe we should fire the marketing people because apparently they are not doing their job. Not that you would have the guts to do that. Because according to your twisted logic. The AD at Liberty is soley responsible for wins recruiting and putting butts in seats!
Enjoy your anger in your sad angry world

[LUconn]

Regular attendance has been a problem for LU basketball and if it ever changes I will be amazed. LU's attendance seems to always be heavily student based. Despite Lynchburg having 7 million churches, the community just doesn't significantly support LU athletics. I don't know if it's an anti-LU thing or maybe it's just a VT/UVA thing. But when you're so reliant on student numbers, it's hard to get them to weekday evening games. The erratic nature of college basketball scheduling just doesn't lend itself to the strange dynamic of LU students. That's my theory anyway. I mean, look at the numbers in the past. We'll put a championship season in context.

2002, 1658. pathetic. But what can you expect. We were pretty fresh from the Hankinson era. In which we were generally last in the country.

2003, 2752 average. Not great.

2004, A CHAMPIONSHIP YEAR: 4152 average. Man that's some awesome numbers but it's still less than half capacity and under the NCAA average. Well maybe the excitement from that awesome season will generate excitement and ticket sales next year

2005, 3289 average. Well, less than previous year but that's better than it is now, and it turned kind of into a surprise rebuilding year.

2006, year after a "rebuilding year": 1783. aaand we're back to pathetic levels.


So you can see some potential, because there were a couple of really solid teams in those years. But is 4200 the best average we can hope for? The atheltic department has done an amazing jop changing the culture of football games into MUST attend events for students. But that's once a week every Saturday 5 or 6 times. It's exponentially harder to do with 12-15 home games that are played on tuesdays and thursdays, some of which are over winter break. I personally have never understood students who don't go to men's bball games. It doesn't make any sense to me. But I guess not everybody's priorities are like mine. All the budget in the world* is not going to make that much of an impact on the average. You might get a hundred or so people showing up that normally wouldn't because we have the budget for a tricycle race/blimp/pyrotechnics/sweet video intro. Everybody else comes because they want to watch Liberty win. If you don't have a problem with Layer, I guess I just don't know what you're expecting of the basketball program at this point.



*I guess if you had all the budget in the world you could pay people to show up

[NotAJerry]

Part of it is the LU dynamic being pretty unique. I think a bigger part of it is LU playing in a horrific conference that doesn't have a single team that has any name recognition or meaningful following at all. Liberty just isn't going to pack that place with opponents like CSU, Coastal or even a top rival like Radford. Better competition will mean better crowds.

[R i]

Big South was ranked 30th out of 31 conferences in avg attendance.

The average attendance in the big south was 1,490 last year.

There are 10 conferences averaging above 5 thousand.

I think LUCONN pointed out we can average close to 5 thousand. But lets not act like that is the expectation until we start bringing in better opponents.

[BJWilliams]

Well its not as easy as picking up the phone and saying to somebody like UVA or VT or Murray State or UNC or Duke or UConn or St Mary's or any number of other programs and saying "Hey, we want you to come to Lynchburg..." I think Lang touched on it either in this discussion or the womens hoops discussion but teams that would get the turnstiles buzzing at the Vines Center really dont have anything to gain and everything to lose by coming to our house

[R i]

Conference Affiliation + Winning . Both pieces of the equation need to be considered in any type of attendance discussion.

LU Specific,

Sports fans in the area travel to Tech or UVA.
Lynchburg doesnt like the school, it seems to be getting better
We arent winning
Our Chancelor has NO rythem on the Cow Bell.

[NotAJerry]

Conference Affiliation + Winning . Both pieces of the equation need to be considered in any type of attendance discussion.

Winning is definitely the part that would sustain it, but conference affiliation alone would cause a bump. If the regular home conference schedule included JMU, GMU, VCU, W&M, ODU, etc., that's going to bring more interest by itself, at least initially. I remember distinctly getting to LU as a freshman in 93 and not having a clue who any of the conference opponents were other than Radford. It's likely worse than that for folks who are from out of state and especially out of the region. Having someone in the building that people are interested in playing against is a pretty big deal for a school like LU.

[ballcoach15]

Granted we do not play any opponent that will pack the building. we need to bring in a "name" opponent, whether it be a mid major or a BCS conference opponent. and we need to get out of Big South ASAP>

[olldflame]

Granted we do not play any opponent that will pack the building. we need to bring in a "name" opponent, whether it be a mid major or a BCS conference opponent. and we need to get out of Big South ASAP>

Could you please teach your pony a new trick? Noone disagrees that we need a new conference, and saying that we need to bring in "name" opponents til your fingers fall off won't make it happen. There just isn't any incentive for those teams to come to the Vines. Beating us gains them nothing, and a loss would be a disaster.

[Purple Haize]

Granted we do not play any opponent that will pack the building. we need to bring in a "name" opponent, whether it be a mid major or a BCS conference opponent. and we need to get out of Big South ASAP>

Could you please teach your pony a new trick? Noone disagrees that we need a new conference, and saying that we need to bring in "name" opponents til your fingers fall off won't make it happen. There just isn't any incentive for those teams to come to the Vines. Beating us gains them nothing, and a loss would be a disaster.

Something about a dog and new tricks comes to mind

[g-webb1994]

Well its not as easy as picking up the phone and saying to somebody like UVA or VT or Murray State or UNC or Duke or UConn or St Mary's or any number of other programs and saying "Hey, we want you to come to Lynchburg..." I think Lang touched on it either in this discussion or the womens hoops discussion but teams that would get the turnstiles buzzing at the Vines Center really dont have anything to gain and everything to lose by coming to our house

Perfect example back in November of 2001. Our first year at D-1 level. We sign a three game series with Colorado State, getting the first game at our place. We pull the upset 56-54, CSU had nothing whatsoever to gain by playing the game at our place, and they pounded us in the two other meetings the following two years in Colorado Springs. Since then, for the past ten years, thanks to that one game, G-W has had a heckuva time scheduling anyone to come into our place. The coach of CSU at that time...none other than Dale Layer. One of the reasons I hold him in high regard, even dating back to his days at Queens in Charlotte.

G-W students go home en masse on the weekends. Do LU students do the same? The locals support us solidly on Saturdays, but not so much during the week. Alot more options for sure for the entertainment dollar in Lynchburg as opposed to the Boiling Springs Metropolitan Area.