[goaliejake22]

I'm sorry if this is beating a dead horse, but is there anything that can be done to further promote attendance to the basketball games? Because for the life of me I cannot understand how we have 12,000 students that go to the campus and get into games for free, but can only get 2-3 thousand kids to a basketball game. I love going to the games, and it would be awesome to get the vines looking not so empty. Any ideas?

Plus, noones posting anything so i thought i'd make conversation =P

[kuntryboimike]

well someones brought up the point already that LU doesnt have any "big play" players but we have 1 or 2 coming in next yr so that willhelp. honestly i think if the team came out to the floor one night and saw it packed like it is in convo, the team would absolutely be fired up and would be unstoppable in conference play. but thats just my opinion. im sure LU is working up something already to try to get more students to come out im sure it bothers them "and the team"as it does the rest of us. imagine a vines center with not a seat left cheering at a mens AND womans basketball game not only would that help the team but it would help RECRUITING. fans make or break school athletics, thats what i think.

[goaliejake22]

definately man. I do believe that the crowd plays a big part in the success of the game. Fans are a large part of what fires up players. And i'm just a freshman, but i heard last year the attendance was much better, but maybe that is all attributed to S.C. i dont know. Our attendance wouldn't be so horrible if the vines didn't seat so much, but its hard to see 3/4 of the arena empty. It's almost better to have a packed small venue. Or we could just fill the vines. =)

[SuperJon]

The games are being promoted. There are message boards around campus promoting every game. There are posters on every main door on campus for every individual dorm. There are table tents on all of the tables in the Rot for every game. There is an announcement made in convo as much as possible.

Lately, there have been commercials before movies at the mall and the dollar theater promoting the next game. There have been commercials on cable tv advertising them. There have been commercials on the radio advertising them.

While we are not a bad team, there is no one that is flashy. There's no Anthony that could dunk on any possession. There's no Alex that can just beat people up. There's no Seth that could hit a shot from anywhere on the floor. There's no flashy player. We also don't play a flashy brand of basketball. We play tough, hard-nosed basketball with kids that are fundamentally sound. As these guys get older and develop I think you'll see more of the dunks, more of the flashy plays, more of the "fun" stuff that people like to see.

We've got two home games left. Tuesday night is against Radford so hopefully the rivalry will bring people out. The SOAR dunk team is performing at halftime so hopefully that might draw a few people in. Next Saturday we have a doubleheader and the Zooperstars will be here. We'll continue promoting and advertising the games as much as we can. It's up to the people to show up.

[LUconn]

Throwing out the obvious (having a good/exciting team)

Football attendance is easy to encourage. It's once a week, always on a Saturday and only 5 or 6 times per year. People can easily fit that in their lives without even knowing the schedule.

Basketball is all over the place. You can have a game mulitple times per week on any day except Friday and there's like 12 or 13 of them. It's just really easy to miss a game here and there and it can build up. This year has actually been a little better with the fact that almost every home game has been on Thursday or Saturday. Which is nice for somebody planning out their season.

I'll also add that different students have different priorities. When I was in school, we sucked for the most part but it was pretty much my top priority to be at basketball games. I still can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't every student's but here we are having this conversation.

[olldflame]

Curry was only part of the reason the crowds were bigger last year. We also had the pre-season POY in Anthony Smith and Ohman as a third scoring threat as well as Jesse and some other talented Freshmen. That team won over 20 games, and got the buzz started early by beating UVA.

[Hold My Own]

I'm more or less thinking out loud here but something that crossed my mind when trying to think of reasons as to why they simply are not interested.

We have a great number of home school kids at LU. We have a great number of kids from christian high schools often with graduating classes under 75 people.

Those two groups often would not be exposed to big time basketball games like many of us were growing up. I know that some Christian High Schools do play big time ball so they dont need to all be listed but maybe this is part of the reason.

I dont think it's anything our Athletic Department is doing wrong b/c Lord knows they are trying anything and everything to get people exposed to what's going on.

[goaliejake22]

Awesome man! That sounds about right, in the years to come i figure we will increase and increase with our young talent. But I am so excited for the Radford game, I went to the Dedmon to watch us beat them, so I'm sure Raddy does not want it to happen again. It should be a good game if we play ours.

Also, has anyone ever thought of students sitting behind the net and trying to distract free-throw shooters? Because a lot of teams do that, and it's fun. I guess the view may not be as good, but i think it's fine. And i think it can effect the game =]

Our crowd that is there needs to step up though anyways, and yell and stand and make noise. I think the majority of people are afraid to haha. But maybe if some do it, others will join.

[jcmanson]

Winning cures all evil

[goaliejake22]

I still can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't every student's but here we are having this conversation.

Thats exactly my thought- It's a free D1 Basketball game, why wouldn't you go?! I guess we will be at them all, and hope to persuade others too =]

[SuperJon]

Another thing that takes away from our attendance at some games is hockey. We've had four games on a Saturday night while the students were here (Southern Virginia, Coastal, UNCA, and PC). On two of those nights, there were hockey games at the same exact time. For whatever reason, we have a large group of students that would rather pay $5 to go to hockey than come to basketball for free. It is what it is. We're going to run into it again for the High Point game. There are probably 1000-1500 students (depending on the opponent) that are at hockey rather than basketball.

For the home game next Saturday, there is a concert scheduled in Schilling for 8:00. The men's game starts at 7:00. The headline is Bluetree and the opener is Nic Carver (who is local and the worship leader at Brentwood Church). How many people will go to the concert over the basketball game? I honestly don't know. I wouldn't personally, but there are people here that would.

We have a very diverse school. As HMO said, kids come from a ton of different backgrounds. We draw so much from PA, NJ, and areas in the northeast where college athletics (especially basketball) mean next to nothing. It's not a normal activity to think of the college basketball team for them. I'm from NC. We live and die with college basketball. Our school is also getting to the point where we can't schedule everything around basketball games. I personally hate that, but it's one of those things that I can understand when I step back and look at the big picture.

[Th3rd]

also a big thing in my mind is the fact that the one game that we packed the house (Clemson) we got smacked on national television. Had we even stuck close to Clemson (which was honestly not going to happen, not because we are bad, but because Clemson is actually pretty good). So with that all the people who were on the fence looked at the game and said, "Wow we suck, I have better things to do on a Thursday/Saturday Night, therefore I'm not going to go watch a crappy team". No matter how wrong they are, its still a lingering thing around campus.

Thats at least a part of the reason in my mind for why we only get 2-3 thousand instead of packing out the vines like last year...

losing kid curry, and ant also doesn't help the situation. plus actually playing defense and real basketball (not Phoenix Suns basketball) hurts attendance cause all the average fan wants to see is the flash

[LUnpretty11]

Having a big crowd does NOT make a team perform better. If we had 8,000 people showing up for every game we might have won 1 or more home games than we have. We had 8,000 show up for Clemson, which might have over-psyched the guys. Now I know it's Clemson and we still would have lost, but I don't think ANYONE saw it happening by 40 esp. at home.
Now I know it's a thorn to my side cause I was home schooled and attended a private school game, but that has NOTHING to do with people being interested in seeing basketball. Athletics are athletics wherever you're from, and it completely depends on some ones interests. I don't try to say that there aren't as many HS/PS sports people as there are public. Everywhere I've been (and I've lived in a LOT of places) home schoolers and private schoolers are just as adamant about sports as any other school. And I've been to many home schooled venues where the crowds are more rowdy and much more loud than public school venues (exempt football).
It has everything to do with what's already been stated. The team is in a "rebuilding" year. That term gets thrown around too much IMO, but we are. We have an insanely young team, and it shows. We're a .500 team this year, and will be lucky to host a tournament game. Give it a year or two and we will be 3/4 full every game, and max cap. for the big games. Patience.

[LUnpretty11]

I still can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't every student's but here we are having this conversation.

Thats exactly my thought- It's a free D1 Basketball game, why wouldn't you go?! I guess we will be at them all, and hope to persuade others too =]

Because not everyone likes sports. Plain and simple. I'm a sports freak so I frown on those folks.

[flamesbball84]

I still can't for the life of me figure out why it isn't every student's but here we are having this conversation.

Thats exactly my thought- It's a free D1 Basketball game, why wouldn't you go?! I guess we will be at them all, and hope to persuade others too =]

Because not everyone likes sports. Plain and simple. I'm a sports freak so I frown on those folks.

Trash basketball is trash basketball. Many don't consider trash basketball worth watching at the NBA, international, D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and high school levels. So just because it's D1 doesn't mean people are going to want to watch it. Is LU trash basketball? No, it's certainly worth watching for most games, but like everyone else says, the style of play for LU this year isn't exactly akin to drawing in the casual fans, which is what you need to bring in to have the big attendance figures.

[kuntryboimike]

this is just my opinion but i think people pay the 5 dollars to watch a hockey game instead because its EXCITING! the hits, the speed, the plays, and the FIGHTS!! MOST people deep down want to see a fight. and i agree that in 2-3 yrs LU will have great attendance at basketball games again. let the coach recruit his players he likes and get settled and we should get rollin again just my thoughts/opinion but i think layer is the kinda coach to stick around and build up this team for yrs and yrs.

[4everfsu]

Hockey games trumps basketball game everytime for me

[BJWilliams]

Look at the 2003-2004 team...they were really drawing well expecially later in the season for that very reason...and then absolutely filling the Vines Center for the Big South Championship game (and running High Point out of the gym)

[Hold My Own]

Those were good times.

[LUnpretty11]

Those were good times.

It's about time to bring the past into the future. I guess you could say back into the future....... sounds like it could be the name of a movie. Anyway, next couple of year will be great. No worries.

[coolhandluke]

Why is everyone ignoring the obvious. No one else wants to say it...

Yes, we aren't flashy and there aren't as many awesome dunks and amazing shooters on this year's team... but we are also just not very good.

I mean, we are okay. We are having a decent season. But people don't want to prioritize their lives around a decent team. That's why people don't go...

[jcmanson]

I already said it:

Winning cures all evil

[LUnpretty11]

Why is everyone ignoring the obvious. No one else wants to say it...

Yes, we aren't flashy and there aren't as many awesome dunks and amazing shooters on this year's team... but we are also just not very good.

I mean, we are okay. We are having a decent season. But people don't want to prioritize their lives around a decent team. That's why people don't go...

It has been mentioned, quite a few times. Especially with how young they are, which has contributed to the .500 team we have this year. It's still no excuse though. This University prides itself in a Christian environment and athletics. Especially football and basketball. Football and basketball are the two sports that are supposed to bring out the largest crowds. I think baseball is growing (probably cause I'm biased toward baseball), but probably cause there is nice weather that attracts the folks out.

[LUconn]

I think we were ignoring the fact that we're not good, because that's an obvious reason. In fact I started my post with "Throwing out the obvious (having a good/exciting team)".

Or else everybody's post would say: "If we were a good team, more people would come".

[ALUmnus]

It's not really just our team, but also our league. I've thought to myself numerous times that this is just about the most boring season we've had in a long time, and I just don't have enough interest or motivation to get out to the games. Not only is our team boring this year, but so is the league. It's not just winning, because we're not at the bottom of the conference, but it's just not interesting.