Post by obc on Apr 17, 2018 6:23:44 GMT -6
bballtrainer1 - you bring up some topics worth discussing. These are highly charged topics that elicit emotional responses.
The USD fans didn't show up for the regular season games and were badly outnumbered at the SL tournament. We can all agree there were a lot of empty seats during the regular season games. There are many alumni that are still not engaged at all unless the match-up involves SDSU. As you stated, the MBB went from middling to regular season champ and USD still had a more than half-empty arena most nights. Even the MBB game at home against SDSU didn't sell out. That is interesting in and of itself. We have discussed the SL attendance (or lack thereof) on this board for a long time. SDSU's fans have shown up better than USD's and have done so by a wide margin. Regardless if you feel that SDSU fans have "unfairly" locked-in their SL seats in the lower bowl, I would hope we could all agree that USD's fans could and should do better. I don't think we will get over that hump unless USD beats SDSU on that stage.
The USD students not showing up to games is an ongoing battle at many campuses across the country, but seems more acute in Vermillion. I do not have data to back that up however.
You mention the weak non-conference schedule. I agree. That does not help drive attendance. Univ of Sioux Falls, Mayville State to kick off the regular season.....followed by Grambling St and then Mount Marty. There were a few more games of interest after that highlighted by Eastern Washington and Drake. The actual butts in the seats for both of those were better IMO than some of the other snoozers. There were two more games in Northland College and Peru St. I realize USD lost a SL conference member last year and it left a hole, but we have to have better teams coming to Vermillion. You will not get alumni excited to drive to Vermillion from Sioux Falls, Yankton, Sioux City to watch those games. (Especially since they can easily just watch games like these on the GoYotes.com website or on MidCo frequently) Not sure if the opponent matters to the students, but I can't imagine that it helps. Scheduling must be very difficult as I am sure Craig Smith didn't want that kind of a schedule.
You also mention that the SL is down. Not sure what the actual data RPI says on that - maybe someone else can weigh in on that topic with data. My unscientific response is that it is indeed down. Not having Oakland, IUPUI, along with NDSU and WIU being down significantly sticks out to me.
As far as Matt - he is a great competitor and I am thrilled as a spectator I was able to have a chance to watch him play. I hope he knows how much the fans that watched him really admired and appreciated him. He brought great emotion to the game as indicated by his occasional outbursts that earned him technical fouls are led to Smith benching him. The negative comments directed toward Matt by fans, I chalk up to the equivalent of an emotional outburst like that - technical foul.... Just like Matt's technical fouls and emotional outbursts didn't overshadow his brilliant play, I do not think some of the emotional comments about Matt after his decision to leave should overshadow how the fan base at large really feels about his body of work.
Wish I had the answers on what could fill the arena with fans. Is it unrealistic to think USD could regularly get 1000 fans from Vermillion and Yankton, 1000 fans from Sioux Falls area, 500 fans from south of Vermillion including Sioux City, and at least 1000 students?
Either way - onward to the Coach Lee Era. I am excited to see what he is able to do with the program from here. Remember Craig Smith was several games below .500 in the SL regular season his first two years before breaking out the last two. I believe USD is in a much better position today than when Smith took over, but transitions are tough. Overall I am optimistic and hope more fans show up to help.
The USD fans didn't show up for the regular season games and were badly outnumbered at the SL tournament. We can all agree there were a lot of empty seats during the regular season games. There are many alumni that are still not engaged at all unless the match-up involves SDSU. As you stated, the MBB went from middling to regular season champ and USD still had a more than half-empty arena most nights. Even the MBB game at home against SDSU didn't sell out. That is interesting in and of itself. We have discussed the SL attendance (or lack thereof) on this board for a long time. SDSU's fans have shown up better than USD's and have done so by a wide margin. Regardless if you feel that SDSU fans have "unfairly" locked-in their SL seats in the lower bowl, I would hope we could all agree that USD's fans could and should do better. I don't think we will get over that hump unless USD beats SDSU on that stage.
The USD students not showing up to games is an ongoing battle at many campuses across the country, but seems more acute in Vermillion. I do not have data to back that up however.
You mention the weak non-conference schedule. I agree. That does not help drive attendance. Univ of Sioux Falls, Mayville State to kick off the regular season.....followed by Grambling St and then Mount Marty. There were a few more games of interest after that highlighted by Eastern Washington and Drake. The actual butts in the seats for both of those were better IMO than some of the other snoozers. There were two more games in Northland College and Peru St. I realize USD lost a SL conference member last year and it left a hole, but we have to have better teams coming to Vermillion. You will not get alumni excited to drive to Vermillion from Sioux Falls, Yankton, Sioux City to watch those games. (Especially since they can easily just watch games like these on the GoYotes.com website or on MidCo frequently) Not sure if the opponent matters to the students, but I can't imagine that it helps. Scheduling must be very difficult as I am sure Craig Smith didn't want that kind of a schedule.
You also mention that the SL is down. Not sure what the actual data RPI says on that - maybe someone else can weigh in on that topic with data. My unscientific response is that it is indeed down. Not having Oakland, IUPUI, along with NDSU and WIU being down significantly sticks out to me.
As far as Matt - he is a great competitor and I am thrilled as a spectator I was able to have a chance to watch him play. I hope he knows how much the fans that watched him really admired and appreciated him. He brought great emotion to the game as indicated by his occasional outbursts that earned him technical fouls are led to Smith benching him. The negative comments directed toward Matt by fans, I chalk up to the equivalent of an emotional outburst like that - technical foul.... Just like Matt's technical fouls and emotional outbursts didn't overshadow his brilliant play, I do not think some of the emotional comments about Matt after his decision to leave should overshadow how the fan base at large really feels about his body of work.
Wish I had the answers on what could fill the arena with fans. Is it unrealistic to think USD could regularly get 1000 fans from Vermillion and Yankton, 1000 fans from Sioux Falls area, 500 fans from south of Vermillion including Sioux City, and at least 1000 students?
Either way - onward to the Coach Lee Era. I am excited to see what he is able to do with the program from here. Remember Craig Smith was several games below .500 in the SL regular season his first two years before breaking out the last two. I believe USD is in a much better position today than when Smith took over, but transitions are tough. Overall I am optimistic and hope more fans show up to help.