For all of you who complain about basketball atmosphere (and I'm not saying your comments are invalid) at the Patriot Center, do yourself a favor and go to a game of a similar level school and look at there atmosphere.
I was at the ODU/Arkansas St. game last night. This is an Ark St. team that beat Memphis and is expected to be tops in the Sunbelt, btw. The atmosphere at Chartway Arena was not mostly dead; it was dead. The hype guy (and I do not care for that position as part of the in-game experience) had to get on the fans and tell them to make noise when Ark St. was shooting free throws when the game was kinda sorta still in doubt. It was so quiet you could hear individual fans, clearly, talking to the refs about calls and the Monarchs about making a shot. My mom was saying it's about the worse it's ever been.
Regardless of your feelings for ODU and the Sunbelt, we are at comparable levels with ODU, and with ODU, outside of our FF run, having more NCAA tourney experience.
The point I'm making is most teams have similar issues unless your name is Duke or UNC or [insert big name program here]. Yes, there are lots of things that can and should be addressed. But in the meantime, get yourself to the Patriot Center and support the teams (Ms &Ws). All this ancillary stuff is really just window dressing. Important window dressing to be dealt with, but not the main thing. And the more people who prioritize going to games and actually show up, the more the administration will see that there are people who care. Then they will care more.
See you Wednesday night at the Patriot Center.
I was at the ODU/Arkansas St. game last night. This is an Ark St. team that beat Memphis and is expected to be tops in the Sunbelt, btw. The atmosphere at Chartway Arena was not mostly dead; it was dead. The hype guy (and I do not care for that position as part of the in-game experience) had to get on the fans and tell them to make noise when Ark St. was shooting free throws when the game was kinda sorta still in doubt. It was so quiet you could hear individual fans, clearly, talking to the refs about calls and the Monarchs about making a shot. My mom was saying it's about the worse it's ever been.
Regardless of your feelings for ODU and the Sunbelt, we are at comparable levels with ODU, and with ODU, outside of our FF run, having more NCAA tourney experience.
The point I'm making is most teams have similar issues unless your name is Duke or UNC or [insert big name program here]. Yes, there are lots of things that can and should be addressed. But in the meantime, get yourself to the Patriot Center and support the teams (Ms &Ws). All this ancillary stuff is really just window dressing. Important window dressing to be dealt with, but not the main thing. And the more people who prioritize going to games and actually show up, the more the administration will see that there are people who care. Then they will care more.
See you Wednesday night at the Patriot Center.
