USC vs. USF

[tornado]

Last night USC hosted in-state rival University of San Francisco.
USC was 4-2 and USF was 5-1....so it was a matchup of two teams that had been doing well, and it turned out to be a good game.

USC is a preseason Top 25 team.
They are playing at home in front of their own fans...
and yet they needed a late spurt to overcome a 1 point deficit down the stretch to beat San Francisco 74-69.

But here's a more amazing fact.....the home crowd was only 2514.
Their home average for four games is 3899.

Here's a pic, and if you look hard you actually can find a fan or two...

 

[bluedevils1]

Why? Do they really not care about basketball there?

 

[Da Coach]

Why? Do they really not care about basketball there?

It's a phenomenon that's hard to explain. Since the 1960's, another big-time program down the street, UCLA, has filled their arena to capacity, yet USC has never had much of a fan base. So there are a lot of basketball fans out there, but maybe they prefer to follow UCLA.
USC has had some good teams, but they have never drawn well.
Many people think USC is a California state school, but it is not. It is a private school, with one of the largest enrollments of any private school in the country. They have over 33,000 enrollment (16,000+ undergrad, and 17,000+ post-grad), and they draw very well for football, and other sports. USC has had tremendous sports success, they have won 88 NCAA championships (3rd to UCLA and Stanford), and that doesn't include the 11 national football championships they claim (the NCAA does not recognize a champion in D1 football). So there is no good reason they shouldn't draw well for basketball.
After many years of playing their home games at various public arenas, they built a new state-of-the-art facility on campus, the 10,250 seat Galen Center, in 2006. It's is possibly the nicest on-campus athletic facility in the country. They hired Tim Floyd to help them raise the level of their basketball program, and he has done that, recruiting great players, making it to the NCAA the last 2 years, and to the Sweet 16 in 2007.
But so far this year, they are averaging 3899 through 4 home games.
They averaged 8468 in 2007-2008, 5798 in 2006-2007, 3607 in 2005-2006. 3330 in 2004-2005, 4777 in 2003-2004, and 4859 in 2002-2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Southern_California
http://usctrojans.cstv.com/facilities/usc-galen-center.html

 

[bluedevils1]

It's a phenomenon that's hard to explain. Since the 1960's, another big-time program down the street, UCLA, has filled their arena to capacity, yet USC has never had much of a fan base. So there are a lot of basketball fans out there, but maybe they prefer to follow UCLA.
USC has had some good teams, but they have never drawn well.
Many people think USC is a California state school, but it is not. It is a private school, with one of the largest enrollments of any private school in the country. They have over 33,000 enrollment (16,000+ undergrad, and 17,000+ post-grad), and they draw very well for football, and other sports. USC has had tremendous sports success, they have won 88 NCAA championships (3rd to UCLA and Stanford), and that doesn't include the 11 national football championships they claim (the NCAA does not recognize a champion in D1 football). So there is no good reason they shouldn't draw well for basketball.
After many years of playing their home games at various public arenas, they built a new state-of-the-art facility on campus, the 10,250 seat Galen Center, in 2006. It's is possibly the nicest on-campus athletic facility in the country. They hired Tim Floyd to help them raise the level of their basketball program, and he has done that, recruiting great players, making it to the NCAA the last 2 years, and to the Sweet 16 in 2007.
But so far this year, they are averaging 3899 through 4 home games.
They averaged 8468 in 2007-2008, 5798 in 2006-2007, 3607 in 2005-2006. 3330 in 2004-2005, 4777 in 2003-2004, and 4859 in 2002-2003.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Southern_California
http://usctrojans.cstv.com/facilities/usc-galen-center.html

33,000 people and they can't get a decent turnout for a good team. That's the size of most state schools.

 

[tornado]

They are a football school always have been and always will be -
everyone is over at the football stadium, even when there's not a football game going on and there is a basketball game.

 

[SFP]

Having lived in the east coast, mid west and now in California, I can say the California sport fans are either really into A sport or are mostly fair weather fans. I believe the weather has something to do with it and especially in So. Cal. USC football games are an event as much as a football game, so it becomes extremely trendy to attend. UCLA basketball has some of the same attraction so people go. Why do you think Tim Floyd is recruiting a rapper?