03-30-2012, 12:11 PM
garvin - the past is the past. this team started the season winning two preseason NIT home games handily, drubbing UC Davis, beating what was considered a decent Oklahoma St in the NIT semis, and going the distance against Syracuse. The majority of basketball factory schools are going to be near selling out games after that start. Stanford did not.
We were 10-1 heading into the home match up against Butler. And still attendance was poor. Was the competition weak? Absolutely, but the NIT championship game appearance in itself should have been enough to draw attendance at most schools.
We followed that with conference play that started with a sweep of the LA schools at home, a loss to a decent Oregon team on the road, and an 3OT thriller against OSU. At this point, we were 13-3 (3-1 in the Pac12). Did the fans show up? No, they did not.
There was sufficient evidence that this was a decent basketball team, even with the mid-season swoon that soon came, but I hold that most schools are going to be putting butts in seats with the team we had this year, even if the previous 2 season were underwhelming. And I'm sure Dawkins probably agrees with that.
We were 10-1 heading into the home match up against Butler. And still attendance was poor. Was the competition weak? Absolutely, but the NIT championship game appearance in itself should have been enough to draw attendance at most schools.
We followed that with conference play that started with a sweep of the LA schools at home, a loss to a decent Oregon team on the road, and an 3OT thriller against OSU. At this point, we were 13-3 (3-1 in the Pac12). Did the fans show up? No, they did not.
There was sufficient evidence that this was a decent basketball team, even with the mid-season swoon that soon came, but I hold that most schools are going to be putting butts in seats with the team we had this year, even if the previous 2 season were underwhelming. And I'm sure Dawkins probably agrees with that.