[El Scorcho]

nobody ever answered my question....were we really in the top 100 in attendance??? What were we averaging back then????

Yes. We were ranked #91 in Division I attendance in 1997.

In 14 games we had a total attendance of 78,320, with an average of 5,594 per game. This average was up 535 from the previous season.

Big South conference attendance was ranked 24 out of 30 for the season. The average attendance for a Big South game was 1,831, which was the best the Big South had ever done, at that point in time.

Source: http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/ ... attend.pdf

For comparison, in 2006 we had 13 home games with a total attendance of 23,183, with an average of 1,783 per game.

Big South conference attendance was ranked 30 out of 31 for the season. The average attendance for a Big South game was 1,482.

Source: http://www.ncaa.org/stats/m_basketball/ ... attend.pdf

[thepostman]

thanks for the info man....interesting...why were the averages so high back then?? I just don't get it...was it because the D1 thing was still new and exciting or what??

[El Scorcho]

No, we had been DI for a while. If I had to guess, we were riding some fan interest after our '94 NCAA Tournament birth. That lasted about three years before things slid their way back down. Averages were up in '04 and '05 too, which also correspond to a tournament birth. I guess while we're at it, I'll just let the attendance stats keep on coming.

We've had 10 home games with attendance over 8,000 in the history of the Vines Center. Three of those were against Virginia Tech ('92, '95, '97) and three of them were against Radford ('94, '97, '03). The other four were High Point ('04), UNC-G ('96), UNC-A ('96) and UMBC ('96). The 1997 Virginia Tech game is our all-time highest home attendance mark at 9,003, which is the picture we've seen in this thread.

Home attendance averages since we moved into the Vines Center were as follows:

'91 - 2,776
'92 - 3,110
'93 - 2,873
'94 - 3,444
'95 - 4,044
'96 - 5,059
'97 - 5,594
'98 - 3,455
'99 - 2,081
'00 - 3,411
'01 - 2,608
'02 - 1,658
'03 - 2,752
'04 - 4,152
'05 - 3,289
'06 - 1,783

All Time Average - 3,195 during which time the Flames went 141-81 for a 63.5% win average.

[Fumblerooskies]

'03 - 2,752
'04 - 4,152
'05 - 3,289
'06 - 1,783

Dropped almost a thousand from 04 to 05, and another 1500 to 06, and 07 is not going to be much better...
...quite a disturbing trend.

[Cider Jim]

Do any oldtimers remember how many people the Schilling Center (aka, multipurpose building) used to hold for basketball games? That place used to rock when it was filled to capacity for ball games with everyone stomping on those metal bleachers.

Back to the present, I wish more BSC fans would travel to away games that were short distances. For example, Radford and VMI make great roadtrips. Even High Point is not that far to drive, if you're traveling with friends.

I'm glad to hear that LU is warming up the bus for fans to go to Lexington on Wednesday. Scar said earlier that buses don't go on 501 North; if not, does anybody know what route they take?

[SuperJon]

They'll probably go on 501 North, but they'll go up to Madison Heights and cut across so that they're only on 501 in the mountains for about 10 minutes or so.

[Sly Fox]

Just going by memory, the old Liberty Gym setup probably sat 1500-2000 at its capacity with people hanging everywhere. BUt that place was rocking with everyone coming out to see the legend int he making of Scar.

[Cider Jim]

Thanks, Super: I guess that would be 29 North to route 130 to 501 North, but that would still be a good half hour on 501. There's just no easy direct way to get to Lexington from here without going over all those mountains.

[SuperJon]

Yea, that's the road name. I couldn't remember the name of it.

You're still on 501 for 30 minutes or so, but a lot of that is going up through Buena Vista, etc, and not going around the mountains too much.

[TIMSCAR20]

Just going by memory, the old Liberty Gym setup probably sat 1500-2000 at its capacity with people hanging everywhere. BUt that place was rocking with everyone coming out to see the legend int he making of Scar.

Actually Sly it held closer to 3000 to 3500 if I recall. We packed it out a lot and it was a definite home court advantage. It got really loud in there and the crowd felt like it was on you. I can actually still remember the 1st 3 pointer I ever hit during my soph season (only played in 6 games as a frosh but lost that year of eligibilty but that is another story for another time). When I shot it the whole place got silent while it was in the air but when it dropped through the hoop, I couldn't hear myself think. I remember my feet buring from running so hard on that rubber floor...When I had my ESPN moment with the dunk at ETSU, I would not have been able to leap that high or from that far out if I wasn't feeling the swell of the crowd as I crossed half court....The only time I have felt that since was when we had Tech or Radford in the Vines or when it was a big south tournament semi or final. The Vines actually has potential to feel that way but you really have to pack it with people....Back in the mid 90's when we set the attendance records, we had a potential lottery pick in Peter Aluma who was very active in the community and we marketed our program a ton. I used to take players around to public schools and rec centers to meet kids and talk to them and sign autographs. All of our players used to go to Miller park in the off season and play with the locals (me too) and We all hung out at the barber shops. We had more of the black community following us back then thanks to guys like Marcus White, Aluma and coach SCARBOROUGH's community outreach. Also we had a really good team that was entertaining to watch. We had the shot to beat #25 Auburn in a tournament in 05-06 but we missed. We hit the shot to beat #22 Eastern Michigan with Earl Boykins in Hawaii but a clock keeping mistake took that win away from us...UNCG, UNCA and Radford were all very good mid major programs along with us. Every team had at least a 6-10 center because you had to get a big man to compete with Aluma. I love Craig Bradshaw at Winthrop but he would have been just a decent big man in that version of the conference. Those were the days IMHO. I think Jason Allison at VMI kinda feels the same way I do about the conference back then. Don Burgess from HPU and I have talked about that a lot as well. Now the conference is dominated by 6-5, 6-6 power forwards like Leo Lightbourne, Danny Gathings, Reggie Williams, Pele Paley, David Dees, Gabe Martin, Torrell Martin, AZ Reid, Torey Butler(CCU) Kurtis Rice (CSU) Radee Skipworth (VMI) and James Shuler.

[PAmedic]

oh no. You guys got him started

nothing like Liberty Gym, you young bucks. Never will be again, either.

stomping on bleachers, throwing TP, banging on the vents, walls, I-beams, you name it.

Anything to make noise.

truly an awful place to play if you were the visiting team

[PAmedic]

PS: and that hideous rubber floor is where my right knee parted ways with my posterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments.

what a fun night THAT was

[TIMSCAR20]

I feel very fortunate to have never had a serious knee injury playing on that Tartan floor. That stuff was not conducive to running, planting, cutting and jumping...Our version of the Old Veterans stadium eh Medic? I still wish I could have gotten a piece of it from when they took it out. That would have been cool for SJ's wall too. Getting me started? It doesn't take much now does it? I remember the time.....Ok, I will spare you, for now

[Cider Jim]

If Scar is right on his numbers (and I don't doubt him), then the old LU Gym at 3,000 capacity still holds more people than 5 of the current BSC gyms, according the the BSC web page on Wikipedia:

School---Football stadium Capacity---Basketball arena Capacity

Birmingham-Southern Non-Football School N/A Bill Battle Coliseum 2,000
Charleston Southern Buccaneer Field 4,000 CSU Field House 790
Coastal Carolina Brooks Stadium 6,408 Kimbel Arena 1,039
High Point Non-Football School N/A Millis Center 2,565
Liberty Williams Stadium 12,000 Vines Center 9,000
Radford Non-Football School N/A Dedmon Center 5,000
UNC-Asheville Non-Football School N/A Justice Center 1,100
VMI Alumni Memorial Stadium 10,000 Cameron Hall 5,800
Winthrop Non-Football School N/A Winthrop Coliseum 6,100

[WWJFD]

So I am guessing that LU has the best faciity in the conference?

790 at Chuck South. Do they play in a HS gym?

[SuperJon]

LU has the 2nd-3rd best in the conference, and in 1-2 years that will fall down another spot.

Winthrop has hands down the best in the conference.
VMI has a very good one.
I would rank us a little ahead of VMI, but not much.

[TIMSCAR20]

I would say in terms of Aestetics like the locker rooms and offices, Vines has it over Cameron Hall in Lexington. As far as on the court and the audience seat position, I would have to say Cameron Hall. It is more cozy as the court is kind of in a pit like at VA Tech. The Vines seems to be brighter (btw Longwood was using Stadium Flood lights for their place last week I think), and of course bigger. I would say Winthrop hands down has the best facility in the conference. Their renovations and the functionality of the Coliseum make it # 1 in the conference. Vines used to be hands down #1. I would put it at 2 or 3. Coastal's place is gonna blow everyone away though from what I have seen and I would imagine HPU would be doing something in the future as well. The Dedmon Center at Radford has potential but they need to replace the bleachers on the student side with chair backs like they have on the opposite side.

[Libertine]

790 at Chuck South. Do they play in a HS gym?

In essence, yes. I haven't been to Winthrop's gym but I love Cameron at VMI. It's not so much a gym as an old-school basketball stadium, a lot along the same lines as Cameron Indoor at Duke. It's a great game atmosphere and a definite home-court advantage. Liberty's place is obviously bigger but, to me, that's almost a minus if you don't have enough butts in the seats.

[WWJFD]

Thanks for the feedback

[Ed Dantes]

I would say in terms of Aestetics like the locker rooms and offices, Vines has it over Cameron Hall in Lexington. As far as on the court and the audience seat position, I would have to say Cameron Hall. It is more cozy as the court is kind of in a pit like at VA Tech. The Vines seems to be brighter (btw Longwood was using Stadium Flood lights for their place last week I think), and of course bigger. I would say Winthrop hands down has the best facility in the conference. Their renovations and the functionality of the Coliseum make it # 1 in the conference. Vines used to be hands down #1. I would put it at 2 or 3. Coastal's place is gonna blow everyone away though from what I have seen and I would imagine HPU would be doing something in the future as well. The Dedmon Center at Radford has potential but they need to replace the bleachers on the student side with chair backs like they have on the opposite side.

Winthrop's best, I'd say, followed by Liberty's. You're right about VMI being too dark, but you're also right about it being a definite homecourt advantage when it gets rowdy (and it usually does).

My issue with Radford isn't the bleachers (although that's part of it), it's just that it seems so... open.

[Libertine]

I really can't put my finger on my problem with Radford's place other than it's one of those gyms where it feels like everybody's waiting for the rec league game to end so they can hang up decorations for the Sadie Hawkins Dance or something.

[TDDance234]

I really can't put my finger on my problem with Radford's place other than it's one of those gyms where it feels like everybody's waiting for the rec league game to end so they can hang up decorations for the Sadie Hawkins Dance or something.

You sure you didn't mean a "STD testing center"?

[El Scorcho]

I really can't put my finger on my problem with Radford's place other than it's one of those gyms where it feels like everybody's waiting for the rec league game to end so they can hang up decorations for the Sadie Hawkins Dance or something.

You sure you didn't mean a "STD testing center"?

Herpes triage?

[Chris Lang]

Having been to every place but CCU, but knowing it's a DIII gym, here's my rankings:
1. Winthrop
2. Liberty
3. VMI
4. High Point
5. UNC Asheville
6. Radford
7. Coastal Carolina
8. Chuck South

Radford's place is like some of the schools that play in domes, like North Dakota, Northern Iowa and Northern Arizona. Nothing you can do about the openness of the place. High Point's Millis Center is small, but they have done some nice things with the place in terms of lighting and scoreboards. UNCA is REALLY tight on the floor. CCU's new digs are going to be real nice.

[horrez]

So I am guessing that LU has the best faciity in the conference?

790 at Chuck South. Do they play in a HS gym?

I think it is just a myth that Chuchy South's place can hold 790. Maybe if you have 2 to a seat and you count people driving by it might come close to 790. I think it's more like 400 - 450. The sad thing is they don't fill it up that much.

I always thought that Winthrop's place was too big. But, now that people are coming to the games I like it. And they've made some changes to it since I was an undergrad to make it look a lot better. Coastal's new place it going to be sweet.