8 MVC games Saturday 12/1

[georgethedog]

SIU loses 64-51. They were 0 for their first 13 from 3-point, until Matt Shaw made one in the final minute.

As I expected, poor outside shooting is SIU's weak point. They shot .375 overall, and were 1 for 14 from 3 (7.1%).

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200712010528

I said it a while back, SIU will not win this league this year. They lost a lot more than people think when Tatum and Young graduated. They lost great guards, and the general BB public & media seemed to have underestimated the impact of those losses by rating them so high early. I do not know who will win the league (BU) but it will not be SIU.

[MacabreMob]

I said it a while back, SIU will not win this league this year. They lost a lot more than people think when Tatum and Young graduated. They lost great guards, and the general BB public & media seemed to have underestimated the impact of those losses by rating them so high early. I do not know who will win the league (BU) but it will not be SIU.

(My Coach Les impersonation....)

No, no... you're right.

[tornado]

Official attendance 4,749, but lots of no-shows.

whoa....did anyone else see some of the televised highlights last night on the 10 o'clock sports?

What gives....ISU is playing well, it's a Saturday night, the weather sure wasn't all that bad, and yet the highlight clips from the ISU game last night showed that WELL over HALF of all the lower bowl seats were unoccupied. They must have had a 50% no-show rate.....what's up??


My guess is that the weather service's nasty forecast and their call for people to stay in and stay off the roads, really hurt the attendance. Maybe wayyy too many bought into the scare tactics of the weather service, and in the end, the weather was not that bad at all. I think people should make up their own minds and not let the weather service determine what you do, as they are all too wrong, all too often.

[Da Coach]

Here is some video of the Bradley, ISU, and Illinois games.--

http://www.week.com/sports/12026201.html?video=YHI&t=a

[DUBulldog]

My guess is that the weather service's nasty forecast and their call for people to stay in and stay off the roads, really hurt the attendance. Maybe wayyy too many bought into the scare tactics of the weather service, and in the end, the weather was not that bad at all. I think people should make up their own minds and not let the weather service determine what you do, as they are all too wrong, all too often.

Same thing for the Drake-Duquesne game. All day long, the weather people were telling everybody to stay off the roads, blah blah blah, blah blah blah. Nobody but the die hards came out.

It's the midwest. It's winter. I don't think they need to tell us to stay off the roads everytime there's snow/sleet/ice.

[tornado]

I agree....here in Central IL, we will even have numerous school closures if the weather forecast is bad....
and of course everyone looks stupid keeping kids home when the forecasters strike out and it's sunny
and 45 degrees but all the kids are at home and the families have made arrangements for babysitters and time off work
and the school people lose a day to the snow schedule based on a mere forecast!
Then I turn on the Weather Channel, and Minnesota had 36 inches of snow, and not even one school closed!!!!!

[REALBird]

whoa....did anyone else see some of the televised highlights last night on the 10 o'clock sports?

What gives....ISU is playing well, it's a Saturday night, the weather sure wasn't all that bad, and yet the highlight clips from the ISU game last night showed that WELL over HALF of all the lower bowl seats were unoccupied. They must have had a 50% no-show rate.....what's up??


My guess is that the weather service's nasty forecast and their call for people to stay in and stay off the roads, really hurt the attendance. Maybe wayyy too many bought into the scare tactics of the weather service, and in the end, the weather was not that bad at all. I think people should make up their own minds and not let the weather service determine what you do, as they are all too wrong, all too often.

Alright, I'm just curious so I'll put it out there feel free to discuss amicably or whatever. It was Saturday night, someone in my block cleared out a few mailboxes trying to turn on my block due to the ice accumilation. Irregardless, I wonder why ISU's attendance is such a HUGE issue on this board and PJStar? We have had countless losing seasons, Porter Moser nearly destroyed our program by turning our players into mindless, talentless robots. One NIT appearance in the 2000's under Tom Richardson and yet you guys act as if this is rocket science.

We know there are clear and stark contrasts between B/N and Peoria. B/N is a transient community, family oriented with lots of kids involved in IHSA and IESA sports. Not everyone from B/N is an ISU fan, alum, or booster. But fact remains that rear ends won't be put back into those seats until we start WINNING and WINNING CONSISTENTLY.

I know all 5,000 students or whatever there are at BU don't fill up the arena. It's the CAT blue hairs and retirees in Peoria that make up the Chiefs club and that sit courtside.

But I've said in on RBF and I'll say it here. I don't care if 4k OR 9k show up for the games, as long as their loud, rowdy and create a good atmosphere for our team. B/N will always have fair weather fans, so keep posting the tired red seat jokes. Keep talking about the videos where "there are a lot of empty seats in the lower bowl". As long as we keep winning, that will take care of itself. I'm just curious why it matters so much to a team who supposedly hates us so much?

I could give a rats rear end how many people attend a BU game unless they're playing ISU in Normal. You guys need to see someone about this obsession.

[MacabreMob]

Alright, I'm just curious so I'll put it out there feel free to discuss amicably or whatever. It was Saturday night, someone in my block cleared out a few mailboxes trying to turn on my block due to the ice accumilation. Irregardless, I wonder why ISU's attendance is such a HUGE issue on this board and PJStar? We have had countless losing seasons, Porter Moser nearly destroyed our program by turning our players into mindless, talentless robots. One NIT appearance in the 2000's under Tom Richardson and yet you guys act as if this is rocket science.

We know there are clear and stark contrasts between B/N and Peoria. B/N is a transient community, family oriented with lots of kids involved in IHSA and IESA sports. Not everyone from B/N is an ISU fan, alum, or booster. But fact remains that rear ends won't be put back into those seats until we start WINNING and WINNING CONSISTENTLY.

I know all 5,000 students or whatever there are at BU don't fill up the arena. It's the CAT blue hairs and retirees in Peoria that make up the Chiefs club and that sit courtside.

But I've said in on RBF and I'll say it here. I don't care if 4k OR 9k show up for the games, as long as their loud, rowdy and create a good atmosphere for our team. B/N will always have fair weather fans, so keep posting the tired red seat jokes. Keep talking about the videos where "there are a lot of empty seats in the lower bowl". As long as we keep winning, that will take care of itself. I'm just curious why it matters so much to a team who supposedly hates us so much?

I could give a rats rear end how many people attend a BU game unless they're playing ISU in Normal. You guys need to see someone about this obsession.

Wow... sounds like someone is taking "Bitter" out for a test drive.

[tornado]

I know all 5,000 students or whatever there are at BU don't fill up the arena.....

I sense your frustration....but there's a whole lot less hate here than certain other message boards, and I've experienced it first hand, including the name calling and insults. But you have never seen or felt those kinds of attacks on yourself and other ISU fans here.
And we are not obsessed with ISU, the ISU topics make up less than 1% of what we discuss...but they are Valley and we do feel they are in the sphere of what we care about.
but here is what is, I guess, hard to understand....

-- the ISU fans I know personally are, for the most part, as passionate and as good of fans as anywhere else.....

--BU, even on a bad day, as long as it isn't during the XMAS break, still has 1000-2000 STUDENT-fans at the home games. That's 20-40% of the entire student body.
Just curious where you'd find that kind of student support anywhere?
I am sure even Duke doesn't turn out 40% of their student.....and yet our arena is NOT ON CAMPUS, and the students have to find transportation downtown and home again!

--yes the weather was a bit bad...but mostly earlier in the day and by evening roads were clear. Sorry to hear about your mailbox, but the Panty documents that most all the bad weather was over by gametime.

--lastly, the open seats are likley all season ticket holders....of course they aren't student seats...and those season ticket holders are supposedly your "lifeblood"...the people who not only buy season tix, but who also pay the "Maintenence fees" for their seats and hopefully even pony up the bigger bucks to float the athletic dept. budget. If they don't pony up....then I am sure some of my tax dollars are being used (regardless of the spin that seems to appear now and then saying otherwise), so I really do have a vested interest in seeing those seats filled.

--then this:

..stark contrasts between B/N and Peoria. B/N is a transient community, family oriented with lots of kids involved in IHSA and IESA sports. Not everyone from B/N is an ISU fan, alum, or booster

whoa...."stark contrasts"??
I suspect there are more ISU alums in and around B-N than there are BU grads near Peoria! And every word you use to describe B-N fits Peoria/EastPeoria as well. Here is what I think explains it....
The BU folks have done SOOOO much to make the BU faithful feel like part of the team. I don't see that at ISU.
I could go into details....even to the fact that the cheerleaders don't just sit on their end all game, they intermingle with the crowd, as do the folks in the athletic dept.....and they make a huge effort to be sure the BU alums feel welcome, and they do great jobs on game day events and bus trips, and they do a whole lot even to help and interact with us guys on the boards while also remaining "invisible".....

[DannyCooksey]

There are not many die-hard Redbird fans. There just aren't and that will never change. The ones that used to show up in droves from the mid-70's to the mid-90's are mostly all dead. Fact. their decendants don't share the same passion and they don't care. people do other things with their money. that's life.

There is a poor fan base and it's made up of 85% bandwagon fans. This will never change. It's a dead topic and it's boring. there is no hope except for about 4-5 straight 20 win seasons and annual NCAA tourney appearances. Other than that, the attendance will be poor and there is nothing that can be done. Winning is all that can be done. Wins = attendance. Not winning = all the Bird fans dressed as red seats jokes. Who cares?

We have poor fans that don't go to games. Be glad you guys don't have that problem. Nothing else needs to be said. Our attaendance blows. Happy? The fans that do care and do attend can only account for themselves. The rest? they will do what they want. Your fans are better than ours every year and that's all there is to it. Illinois are as well. we are the ugly step child and that's the way life is. I have accepted it and I don't care anymore. Neither do most of the true Bird fans as we realize nothing can be done about it. If you offered free season tickets to ISU games, most of the B-N community would rather pay $400 for 10 Illinois games. Nothing can be done about it. It's over. the glory days of sell outs at Horton and RA are over. No one cares and that's the way it goes.

There are rumors of removing 3,000 upper bowl seats for the 2010 season. Everyone will like that. This topic is just old and worn out. Nothing will change it. If Michael Jordan were the HC and Eric gordon and derrick Rose were the backcourt it would only marginally spike attendance. sad but true. B-N doesn't care about ISU. they just don't and the ones that have been there for 30+ years, are still angry at 4 administrations ago for canning Donewald and many left at that point and never returned. that's a fact.

It's over. We might get 8,000 for the game against BU and 3,000+ will be your fans. Nothing can be done. Is it friustrating? yes. but it is what it is.

As I said, be glad you don't have this problem. Your fans are great and ours suck. that's life.

[tornado]

There are not many die-hard Redbird fans. There just aren't and that will never change.

There is a poor fan base


We have poor fans that don't go to games.

There are rumors of removing 3,000 upper bowl seats ......

--I can't believe that the fans are just bad fans and that's it....there's no changing it....
I think it can be changed....other schools have developed really loyal local following....BU isn't the only team to do it, Creighton has, WSU has, even Butler has.

--remove 3000 seats? nope....here's how you fill them...
Obviously winning will help, then get and PLAY some of the local kids like BU has done with RUFF and JC.
Don't try halfheartedly to recruit the locals and then bench them when you you do.
Then hire Quick Change, do a few red-outs, get better opponents (Iowa State seems pretty desperate...try them!) and better lighting...the place is dreary.
Lastly........see if the people who adminster the arena can fix the problem of the people having to line up outside and wait to get in.....you should have a nice lobby maybe a little memorabilia to lure the people into see instead of making people wait outside, as I have always had to do even when I have a pass at the west door.
...just a few suggestions!

[DannyCooksey]

--I can't believe that the fans are just bad fans and that's it....there's no changing it....
I think it can be changed....other schools have developed really loyal local following....BU isn't the only team to do it, Creighton has, WSU has, even Butler has.

--remove 3000 seats? nope....here's how you fill them...
Obviously winning will help, then get and PLAY some of the local kids like BU has done with RUFF and JC.
Don't try halfheartedly to recruit the locals and then bench them when you you do.
Then hire Quick Change, do a few red-outs, get better opponents (Iowa State seems pretty desperate...try them!) and better lighting...the place is dreary.
Lastly........see if the people who adminster the arena can fix the problem of the people having to line up outside and wait to get in.....you should have a nice lobby maybe a little memorabilia to lure the people into see instead of making people wait outside, as I have always had to do even when I have a pass at the west door.
...just a few suggestions!

Omaha, Wichita, Indianapolis. Those are 3 cities with minimum 400,000 plus population and Indy approaches 1 million if I'm not mistaken. B/N has what? 125,000 maybe? Not a fair comparison. Also............let's look at the winning over the last 5-10 years that those programs have done. Not hard to draw when that happens. Those are 3 of the best 'mid-major' programs in the country and they reside in major metropolitan areas. That helps a ton. The emergence of the closet Illini fans in B/N have been so damaging that even Illinois flags hang in some B/N bars. How's that for no loyalty to the University? You think there are any ISU flags in Urbana bars? The Illini resurrgence has been a huge blow to the Redbird 'fanbase'.

The B-N community couldn't care less about their local HS players that go to ISU. That's why most leave. In the B-N area, going to ISU is considered a 'fall back' option. At least it was when i was a student. That is a non-issue. It matters little in attendance.

I don't know what Quick Change is.

We can't schedule at all and will never be able to. Cinci is as good as they can get in RA. Can't do any better than that. Never have been able to and never will be able to. Jank commented on the fact that scheduling was probably his biggest surprise when he took the job and perhaps the single toughest thing to do outside of the actual job of coaching, recruiting, etc. Scheduling is as good as it will ever get. Not gonna change. Heck........we can't even get the schedule correct to host SIU during the semester. Arguably the 2nd biggest home game of the year is played on Jan 5th while students are on break. With that stuff going on, how can you expect non-con scheduling to ever improve? Not gonna happen and if it did, it would be more people rooting against the Birds to see the other more 'marquee' team.


I agree on the lighting, though I doubt that's a factor in keeping people home, but stranger reasons have been given so maybe you are onto something there.

The lobby issue is supposedly in the works, but won't be ready for many years. Too much costs and not enough $$$$ to get it done. I agree with you on this issue as well, but it will not be addressed for years if it ever is addressed. Another thing that is what it is.

The bottom line is attendance will always suffer and it will not change. No one cares. No one cares and no one cares. There is nothing else to be said about it. Frustrating for sure because I make the trip as often as I can and for as much as I can afford and there are many die-hards like me that live in the Chicago-area which makes it tough to get there for a 7pm weeknight home game. I do what i can and I didn't renew my season tickets because I simply couldn't afford them anymore. Not much I can do and I'm not alone.

Winning big and winning big consistently is the only chance at having decent attendance. It's up to Jank to get it done. the program is on life-support and if he doesn't resurrect it, then it will be beyond ever saving. sad but true.

[MacabreMob]

I don't know what Quick Change is.

Quick change is when you throw a thousand cash on a craps table and call out fifty "they do" and the bet is booked with the dice in the air.

[Guinness]

Here is how you fill the seats:

"Saturday is QUARTER BEER NIGHT"

/end