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Texas basketball '21-'22: Welcome Chris Beard


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23 minutes ago, Js1 said:

13k last night, which was about 200 more than the WV crowd on New Year's Day.  Students not back on campus yet, a Tuesday night.... just the way it is. 

Yeah, I went for a long bike ride around Austin Sunday and cruised through campus and it was a ghost town. Saw maybe 15 people crossing through from the Engineering bldgs past Jester and that was at like 3PM. I was surprised but I'm guessing the dorms are still closed so that explains it. Even cruising back north through West Campus was dead. Was not rewarded with the yoga pants spectacular that i had envisioned. 

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2 minutes ago, Blotto said:

Yeah, I went for a long bike ride around Austin Sunday and cruised through campus and it was a ghost town. Saw maybe 15 people crossing through from the Engineering bldgs past Jester and that was at like 3PM. I was surprised but I'm guessing the dorms are still closed so that explains it. Even cruising back north through West Campus was dead. Was not rewarded with the yoga pants spectacular that i had envisioned. 

Classes don't start until the 18th, and even then a bunch of kids are gonna be online-only for a bit.  My daughter (no pics you freaks) is a soph, lives in West Campus, and works at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe -- she says it's been deader than dead for a few weeks now.  There just aren't many students around.

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6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Classes don't start until the 18th, and even then a bunch of kids are gonna be online-only for a bit.  My daughter (no pics you freaks) is a soph, lives in West Campus, and works at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe -- she says it's been deader than dead for a few weeks now.  There just aren't many students around.

Well now the creepers are gonna ask every young server at KL if her dad is that guy they know from the internet 

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6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Classes don't start until the 18th, and even then a bunch of kids are gonna be online-only for a bit.  My daughter (no pics you freaks) is a soph, lives in West Campus, and works at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe -- she says it's been deader than dead for a few weeks now.  There just aren't many students around.

Well now the creepers are gonna ask every young server at KL if her dad is that guy they know from the internet 

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2 hours ago, Droopy said:

Hot Take incoming:

Hey man! I went to the basketball game last night. Glad we won, but for a rivalry game the crowd was terrible and quiet. No band, no Texas! Fight!, and the loudest it got was for the halftime musical chairs show. The OU sucks, because the do, chant at the end of the game was nice, but it was only led by the jumbotron throwing it up there with about a minute to go in the game. I was in section 34, row 30, but moved down to row 9 after the mass exodus when it became clear Texas was going to win the game. Fuck those people for leaving early and for the people that stayed, why the hell are you just standing without making any noise?!? Row 8 had 10 dudes, all standing, all with their hands in their pockets talking to each other quietly and giving about half a fuck about the game. I've seen it louder in a church parish hall waiting for the coffee to be refilled.

New arena or not, the crowd should be split up with a first come first served section around the entire court, save for the small amount of students that attend. Conversely, they should leave the douche bag "just doing this because it's an event and want to be seen" crowd in some sort of club lounge for dipshits. Every coach and every player should not have to beg the crowd during a rivalry game to fucking cheer on defense or make noise when the rival is shooting free throws, yet here we are. Shit, half the crowd barely threw up the Horns when we shot free throws.

I tried 4 times to get the crowd around me to make noise and get up. It worked each time but lasted for 2 possessions. I cannot wait for the FEC to go bye-bye, but the new arena is going to need some serious hand holding to get the party started. Motherfuckers looked like they were watching a Yanni concert. Oh, Mr. Minister O' Culture? Could you please instill some fucking culture up in this mother?! Because right now, it feels like a funeral could have been going on and nobody would have noticed. Also, don't give me the "they just need to win and they will come" bullshit, because this team has a badass coach and they are winning.

#IMissOldTexas #TEXAS,FIGHT!

So, I’m going to have to disagree a bit.  Way more people in attendance than I expected, especially considering classes hadn’t resumed and it was a shitty, cold, Tuesday night, 7:30 tip.  Crowd energy was far from electric but not nearly as dismal as you made it out to be.

You expect a bunch of middle aged dudes with their kids to act like they’re at a Metallica concert? 

They played great and I thought the crowd let them know it. 

I was near the court, maybe a different perspective /humble brag. 

Just my .02. 

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11 minutes ago, Lerka Lerka said:

So, I’m going to have to disagree a bit.  Way more people in attendance than I expected, especially considering classes hadn’t resumed and it was a shitty, cold, Tuesday night, 7:30 tip.  Crowd energy was far from electric but not nearly as dismal as you made it out to be.

You expect a bunch of middle aged dudes with their kids to act like they’re at a Metallica concert? 

They played great and I thought the crowd let them know it. 

I was near the court, maybe a different perspective /humble brag. 

Just my .02. 

Probably the best thing MAD TV ever did: Lowered Expectations : r/nostalgia

jk 😊

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It is possible the record number of new Covid cases and Austin being Stage 5 is keeping some people from attending.  And when the DO attend, maybe they aren't quite as likely to yell at the top of their lungs. Plus the generally crappy weather makes people want to hunker down.

I have zero doubt that Beard is going to get our home atmosphere improved by about 100X within the upcoming years.

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3 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Lower bowl was 2/3 filled. Upper bowl mostly empty as usual. Actual bodies at the game - 8 to 9K.

yep. my estimate being there was around 9K. there were about 3 or 4 times a big play was made by us and the crowd was ready to get amped up and then OU made a play.

I thought the crowd was decent but part of that IMO was because we controlled that game from start to finish.  I don't give a fuck about crowd noise if we are kicking ass so much that we take our own crowd out of the game. 

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My criticism about aj1 is more about playing consistent than anything. I think we all know there’s a few guys with the potential to explode for 1 game but none really do it night in and night out and if we had a couple of guys that could do that we would have serious final four hopes. Until then you just hope one plays crazy good every game. 

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Whatever Beard said or did to the team after the OSU debacle worked like a charm. They came out pissed and stayed aggressive throughout. Maybe Beard needs to get on the Jumbotron and ream out our crowd from time to time. Grab the mic and scream "Get off your asses you lazy pathetic jags! Make some goddamn noise!" 

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1 hour ago, honolulu horn said:

Whatever Beard said or did to the team after the OSU debacle worked like a charm. They came out pissed and stayed aggressive throughout. Maybe Beard needs to get on the Jumbotron and ream out our crowd from time to time. Grab the mic and scream "Get off your asses you lazy pathetic jags! Make some goddamn noise!" 

 

2 hours ago, Lerka Lerka said:

So, I’m going to have to disagree a bit.  Way more people in attendance than I expected, especially considering classes hadn’t resumed and it was a shitty, cold, Tuesday night, 7:30 tip.  Crowd energy was far from electric but not nearly as dismal as you made it out to be.

You expect a bunch of middle aged dudes with their kids to act like they’re at a Metallica concert? 

They played great and I thought the crowd let them know it. 

I was near the court, maybe a different perspective /humble brag. 

Just my .02. 

Knowing all of the above and factoring that into my opinion, for the people that were there they really didn't feel very engaged. I agree on the crowd getting up a few times after Texas made some great plays only to have the wind knocked out of the sails a bit by a foul on the other end which caused the momentum to be quelled. It doesn't have to be a Metallica concert, but more than a semi-pro baseball game would be nice.

I don't know if Beard needs to get on the mic, but I think it was telling when the DJ finally stopped playing old bullshit dance party USA songs and they played shit the Texas Band would normally play at a game and the crowd responded. Then the DJ hops back up with the dance mix and the crowd goes back to sitting on their hands/phones. 

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1 hour ago, Droopy said:

 

Knowing all of the above and factoring that into my opinion, for the people that were there they really didn't feel very engaged. I agree on the crowd getting up a few times after Texas made some great plays only to have the wind knocked out of the sails a bit by a foul on the other end which caused the momentum to be quelled. It doesn't have to be a Metallica concert, but more than a semi-pro baseball game would be nice.

I don't know if Beard needs to get on the mic, but I think it was telling when the DJ finally stopped playing old bullshit dance party USA songs and they played shit the Texas Band would normally play at a game and the crowd responded. Then the DJ hops back up with the dance mix and the crowd goes back to sitting on their hands/phones. 

The traditional Texas songs spread covid and disenfranchise minorities in attendance. Pretty insensitive for you to advocate that. 

Lol Helo negged me for this. What a loser. 

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4 minutes ago, SL Xpress said:

 

That doesn't feel like a hot take. That feels like a post that could have been made 25 years ago, and every year since then.

There are all kinds of issues with getting a more rabid crowd out for Texas basketball. None of them are easy fixes, especially when it's been this way for so long so it's the expectation for the people going to the games. The people regularly attending games like the way it is, otherwise they'd behave differently when given the opportunity to do so.

I post about this regularly, so for all the folks who get tired of reading my essays on the subject, I apologize in advance. But let's address some of these issues and the possible solutions (many of which I feel highly confident are incoming). 

The first issue with having a consistent, engaged crowd for games is winning. Whether right or wrong, winning in college basketball is defined by one thing almost exclusively. How did you perform in the tournament, and if you made it at all. Texas hasn't won a first round tournament game since 2014, and they haven't won a second round game since the Elite Eight run in 2008 the year after Kevin Durant played for a single season. They missed the tournament in 2013, 2017, and 2019. A string like what we saw from Barnes from 2002 to 2008 would be helpful. But even during his short time at Tech, Beard electrified the fan base with an Elite Eight and a national championship game appearance. Something similar - especially with football in the state its end - would be very energizing.

The second issue is placing a priority on getting people in the seats that are passionate about being there. Ever since Deloss Dodds tied seating priorities to a single donation to the athletic department, premium seating tends to go to purchasers who donate huge amounts for premium season tickets to the football games, with the basketball tickets practically a throw in. You mention a first come first serve section. That's not realistic at Texas or anywhere else with bills to pay one exception. The students. Because students were relegated to the upper section way back in the 80s, and only brought down to behind the basket under Barnes, it hasn't been possible to displace season ticket holders in favor of students. Not to mention the esoteric methods the athletic department used to employ to get tickets to the students. My hope and expect is that will change significantly with the Moody. 

The third issue is having the commitment from leadership, both from the administration and the coaching staff. The administration has to make it relatively easy for the most passionate fans to get tickets, especially students, and to incentivize them. The head coach has to be the primary advocate, reaching out to the community, and constantly setting expectations in a positive way. In this regard I don't think I've ever seen a head coach nail it as well as Chris Beard does.

It always astounds me to hear a head coach complain about a crowd, unless he's speaking to the most rabid fan base around. Challenging a milquetoast group of fans to be more energized by complaining how much they resemble tree stumps is going to have a negative impact. Always. Instead, praise them for how awesome they are. Set high expectations. Be grateful to the ones that come. Always be positive and engaging. They're PAYING to be there. They don't owe you something. You owe them. Talking about how the mob is falling short is not effective. Talking about how amazing the mob is encourages the mob to live up to that description. It's not magic. It's not instantaneous. But it's a whole lot better than complaining. Chris Beard is AMAZING in this way. Not to mention he's tireless, relentless, committed, passionate, convicted. Passion and conviction changes hearts and minds. And like he constantly says, establishing a relationship where there's almost a sense of obligation to be there. "I can't let the team down." That's what it takes to build a proper fan base. 

The fourth issue is architecture. It's going to help immensely to have a vertically based basketball arena rather than the low incline of the FEC in a cavernous building. It's going to naturally get louder because the sound will be in a more condensed space, with the fans closer to the court. Fans won't dread sitting in the rafters, where in the FEC that meant they were watching the game while sitting in Round Rock. Not to mention it will be more of a box shape, so you don't have so many of those terrible seats that aren't just far away, they're in the corners. 

Texas has institutionally created terrible basketball fans. People love talking about how it's a football state. Try going to the high school basketball final four. Check out the pro teams when they're winning. Especially San Antonio, because they've been the most consistent for the longest and they don't have other professional teams as competition, but the point remains there is plenty of interest in basketball in this state. It's not the same passion as there is for football, but under the right circumstances a much better environment can be created. I feel confident Texas is heading in that direction. This year is the first step in that journey. With the students coming back, and Texas about to put together a win streak (my opinion) I feel like we're going to see a different energy this year. Then the next two years truly kicks the process into a different gear. I'm excited for it.

Less words, please

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the one thing that still amazes me is Car can't really blow by anyone.  I know I need to adjust my expectations but it does give me hope that if Beard can get that kind of guy this could really take off.

As much as I bagged on Ramey for his inconsistency during Shaka he is our quickest guy with the ball IMO.

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30 minutes ago, dcar00 said:

the one thing that still amazes me is Car can't really blow by anyone.  I know I need to adjust my expectations but it does give me hope that if Beard can get that kind of guy this could really take off.

As much as I bagged on Ramey for his inconsistency during Shaka he is our quickest guy with the ball IMO.


Arterio Morris is incoming next year. His specialty is breaking people down off the dribble. Have to compete with G League to land him, but he’s signed his NLOI. Also stole Ryan Brumbaugh the VII from Northwestern. Not sure what to make of that. Tried to go after TyTy Washington last year, but he chose Kentucky instead. Same thing with Cason Wallace this year. Also missed on Keyonte George who chose Baylor. 
 

The portal is always going to be a big part of Beard’s rosters, both coming and going, so we’ll see what this off-season brings. I doubt it’s any comfort, but I feel like KU/Self are struggling with Remy Martin even worse than Texas is with Carr. Beard said in his post game comments he really liked how Carr handled what OU was trying to do against him. If that’s the case, and I don’t see any reason not to think it, I’d say Carr has turned something of a corner since Big 12 play began with OSU being a notable exception. 
 

But I get what you’re saying. 

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That doesn't feel like a hot take. That feels like a post that could have been made 25 years ago, and every year since then.
There are all kinds of issues with getting a more rabid crowd out for Texas basketball. None of them are easy fixes, especially when it's been this way for so long so it's the expectation for the people going to the games. The people regularly attending games like the way it is, otherwise they'd behave differently when given the opportunity to do so.
I post about this regularly, so for all the folks who get tired of reading my essays on the subject, I apologize in advance. But let's address some of these issues and the possible solutions (many of which I feel highly confident are incoming). 
The first issue with having a consistent, engaged crowd for games is winning. Whether right or wrong, winning in college basketball is defined by one thing almost exclusively. How did you perform in the tournament, and if you made it at all. Texas hasn't won a first round tournament game since 2014, and they haven't won a second round game since the Elite Eight run in 2008 the year after Kevin Durant played for a single season. They missed the tournament in 2013, 2017, and 2019. A string like what we saw from Barnes from 2002 to 2008 would be helpful. But even during his short time at Tech, Beard electrified the fan base with an Elite Eight and a national championship game appearance. Something similar - especially with football in the state its end - would be very energizing.
The second issue is placing a priority on getting people in the seats that are passionate about being there. Ever since Deloss Dodds tied seating priorities to a single donation to the athletic department, premium seating tends to go to purchasers who donate huge amounts for premium season tickets to the football games, with the basketball tickets practically a throw in. You mention a first come first serve section. That's not realistic at Texas or anywhere else with bills to pay one exception. The students. Because students were relegated to the upper section way back in the 80s, and only brought down to behind the basket under Barnes, it hasn't been possible to displace season ticket holders in favor of students. Not to mention the esoteric methods the athletic department used to employ to get tickets to the students. My hope and expect is that will change significantly with the Moody. 
The third issue is having the commitment from leadership, both from the administration and the coaching staff. The administration has to make it relatively easy for the most passionate fans to get tickets, especially students, and to incentivize them. The head coach has to be the primary advocate, reaching out to the community, and constantly setting expectations in a positive way. In this regard I don't think I've ever seen a head coach nail it as well as Chris Beard does.
It always astounds me to hear a head coach complain about a crowd, unless he's speaking to the most rabid fan base around. Challenging a milquetoast group of fans to be more energized by complaining how much they resemble tree stumps is going to have a negative impact. Always. Instead, praise them for how awesome they are. Set high expectations. Be grateful to the ones that come. Always be positive and engaging. They're PAYING to be there. They don't owe you something. You owe them. Talking about how the mob is falling short is not effective. Talking about how amazing the mob is encourages the mob to live up to that description. It's not magic. It's not instantaneous. But it's a whole lot better than complaining. Chris Beard is AMAZING in this way. Not to mention he's tireless, relentless, committed, passionate, convicted. Passion and conviction changes hearts and minds. And like he constantly says, establishing a relationship where there's almost a sense of obligation to be there. "I can't let the team down." That's what it takes to build a proper fan base. 
The fourth issue is architecture. It's going to help immensely to have a vertically based basketball arena rather than the low incline of the FEC in a cavernous building. It's going to naturally get louder because the sound will be in a more condensed space, with the fans closer to the court. Fans won't dread sitting in the rafters, where in the FEC that meant they were watching the game while sitting in Round Rock. Not to mention it will be more of a box shape, so you don't have so many of those terrible seats that aren't just far away, they're in the corners. 
Texas has institutionally created terrible basketball fans. People love talking about how it's a football state. Try going to the high school basketball final four. Check out the pro teams when they're winning. Especially San Antonio, because they've been the most consistent for the longest and they don't have other professional teams as competition, but the point remains there is plenty of interest in basketball in this state. It's not the same passion as there is for football, but under the right circumstances a much better environment can be created. I feel confident Texas is heading in that direction. This year is the first step in that journey. With the students coming back, and Texas about to put together a win streak (my opinion) I feel like we're going to see a different energy this year. Then the next two years truly kicks the process into a different gear. I'm excited for it.

spot on

Also, nosebleeds at Erwin are the worst. You can stay home and watch the game in HD or watch a bunch of ants
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2 hours ago, dcar00 said:

the one thing that still amazes me is Car can't really blow by anyone.  I know I need to adjust my expectations but it does give me hope that if Beard can get that kind of guy this could really take off.

As much as I bagged on Ramey for his inconsistency during Shaka he is our quickest guy with the ball IMO.

Arterio Morris to the rescue. 

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1 hour ago, SL Xpress said:


Arterio Morris is incoming next year. His specialty is breaking people down off the dribble. Have to compete with G League to land him, but he’s signed his NLOI. Also stole Ryan Brumbaugh the VII from Northwestern. Not sure what to make of that. Tried to go after TyTy Washington last year, but he chose Kentucky instead. Same thing with Cason Wallace this year. Also missed on Keyonte George who chose Baylor. 
 

The portal is always going to be a big part of Beard’s rosters, both coming and going, so we’ll see what this off-season brings. I doubt it’s any comfort, but I feel like KU/Self are struggling with Remy Martin even worse than Texas is with Carr. Beard said in his post game comments he really liked how Carr handled what OU was trying to do against him. If that’s the case, and I don’t see any reason not to think it, I’d say Carr has turned something of a corner since Big 12 play began with OSU being a notable exception. 
 

But I get what you’re saying. 

I noticed that the were trapping/doubling Carr a lot, Carr did make them pay for that some, and I think that was what Beard meant.  that said, when he did get a one on one chance he couldn't really break them down, maybe once or twice he did.  

I didn't see the OSU game unfortunately.  did they try to double/trap Carr?

 

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11 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Classes don't start until the 18th, and even then a bunch of kids are gonna be online-only for a bit.  My daughter (no pics you freaks) is a soph, lives in West Campus, and works at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe -- 

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18 hours ago, dcar00 said:

yep. my estimate being there was around 9K. there were about 3 or 4 times a big play was made by us and the crowd was ready to get amped up and then OU made a play.

I thought the crowd was decent but part of that IMO was because we controlled that game from start to finish.  I don't give a fuck about crowd noise if we are kicking ass so much that we take our own crowd out of the game. 

For a Tuesday night, late(r) start, school out, blah, blah, blah, the crowd was fine.  But then again our expectations have been pretty low for a long time in that regard. 

 

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Random question... bought tickets for an upcoming Men's BB game from StubHub.  For some stupid reason, I though StubHub might not suck like they usually do but it seems like their app still blows when it comes to allowing you to see your digital tickets.  Had this problem at UT football.  Am I the only seeing this?  Anyone else have issues with StubHub and UT tix?

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On 1/12/2022 at 12:49 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Classes don't start until the 18th, and even then a bunch of kids are gonna be online-only for a bit.  My daughter (no pics you freaks) is a soph, lives in West Campus, and works at Kerbey Lane on Guadalupe -- she says it's been deader than dead for a few weeks now.  There just aren't many students around.

Narrator: and that's when many reservations were made at kerbey lane on Guadalupe....

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I'm not going to say that some blame isn't deserved among UT basketball fans for not filling up the arena, but a lot of the problem can be fixed by replacing the Erwin Center. The other part of it is simply having a shot at being a winner, and Beard gets us closer to that. The Erwin Center is one of the worst sporting facilities I've ever been in. It's way too big, and the seats are too far from the action. There's no investment in the entertainment aspect of basketball, such as hyping up fans with good highlight videos, using PA sound wisely, and creating excitement for fans as they arrive into some sort of festive atmosphere. It's just a big old ugly tomb where we watched Shaka suck the life out of the team and fans like some sort of primordial lamprey. Those of us who knew Shaka was bad had to sit there and wait for him to leave for five years. It was torture! The new arena is going to make a massive difference in jumpstarting our atmosphere, comparable in my opinion to UH's remodel of their own lifeless arena into the Fertitta Center. Chris Beard will give us momentum as well if we can having a solid showing in the tournament. Students will find going to games and being in the middle of the action fun again, and hopefully CDC gets the other elements of pregame and halftime. A very easy addition to me would be to showcase some of the recent stars we've had in the NBA and showcase them in the new arena. The atmosphere will be noticeably different in the coming years, and hopefully a total 180 from what it's been. 

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Well said.  Another thing I hope the Athletic Dept. can figure out is how to get butts in seats for that 1/3rd of the season where there aren't students on campus.  We are a massive school that has 80% of its undergrads living within 5 hours of campus.  So when Thanksgiving week hits which is at least 1 home game and then the FIVE! whole weeks of holiday break hits (which is at least 3-4 home games)...they scatter to the four corners of Texas.  It's not like Duke or Gonzaga where they've nowhere else to go (Mayonnaise!).  I applaud Beard's "Fuck all the promos, handover $10 and sit wherever the fuck you want between Turkey Day and MLK Day."  That's an initiative.  I hope we continue something like that in the new arena.  Because we live in the 11th largest city in the nation with one of the 5-10 largest universities in that same nation.  And yeah, some of our opponents in December aren't very interesting but that's true of every other program save for a few.  There is no reason we shouldn't be able to creatively fill 10,000 seats in the new arena no matter who the opponent is, even if the students aren't available en masse (Covid-19 notwithstanding).  

It's just baffling to me.  But I think we'll fix it next year.  But I honestly have no idea how. 

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1 minute ago, Lobo said:

Well said.  Another thing I hope the Athletic Dept. can figure out is how to get butts in seats for that 1/3rd of the season where there aren't students on campus.  We are a massive school that has 80% of its undergrads living within 5 hours of campus.  So when Thanksgiving week hits which is at least 1 home game and then the FIVE! whole weeks of holiday break hits (which is at least 3-4 home games)...they scatter to the four corners of Texas.  It's not like Duke or Gonzaga where they've nowhere else to go (Mayonnaise!).  I applaud Beard's "Fuck all the promos, handover $10 and sit wherever the fuck you want between Turkey Day and MLK Day."  That's an initiative.  I hope we continue something like that in the new arena.  Because we live in the 11th largest city in the nation with one of the 5-10 largest universities in that same nation.  And yeah, some of our opponents in December aren't very interesting but that's true of every other program save for a few.  There is no reason we shouldn't be able to creatively fill 10,000 seats in the new arena no matter who the opponent is, even if the students aren't available en masse (Covid-19 notwithstanding).  

It's just baffling to me.  But I think we'll fix it next year.  But I honestly have no idea how. 

Rick Barnes was willing to schedule home-and-homes with quality opponents, which is another easy way to get fans to show up in the fall. Shaka to his credit did the same for the first few years before the schedule quality tailed off by the end of his tenure. Beard put together an awful schedule this year that didn't even include a real preseason tournament. The Abe Lemons Classic was a load of bullshit. Put good teams on the schedule to face your good team in your good arena. It's not hard. 

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True, but it's an honest-to-goodness Catch 22.  As big a school as we are, our campus is a ghost-town beginning the second week of December.  And it stays that way until the second week of January.  It's hard to bring in a premiere non-conference opponent between 1 December and the start of conference play because you want to have a hostile environment to give your team a lift...but on the other hand it may be too quiet.  

I dunno.  I stew over this every year.  We are a bizarre fucking phenomenon.  11th largest city, top 5-10 largest university.  Even with a decent team rolling into town, we struggle to get 6,000 people out to a hoops game week of Christmas.  I don't wanna hear "Well, it's the holidays" bullshit.  Two bit fucking schools in towns with 50,000 people and 10,000 students sell out arenas and we can't?  Fuck it, we'll figure it out next year.

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39 minutes ago, Lobo said:

True, but it's an honest-to-goodness Catch 22.  As big a school as we are, our campus is a ghost-town beginning the second week of December.  And it stays that way until the second week of January.  It's hard to bring in a premiere non-conference opponent between 1 December and the start of conference play because you want to have a hostile environment to give your team a lift...but on the other hand it may be too quiet.  

I dunno.  I stew over this every year.  We are a bizarre fucking phenomenon.  11th largest city, top 5-10 largest university.  Even with a decent team rolling into town, we struggle to get 6,000 people out to a hoops game week of Christmas.  I don't wanna hear "Well, it's the holidays" bullshit.  Two bit fucking schools in towns with 50,000 people and 10,000 students sell out arenas and we can't?  Fuck it, we'll figure it out next year.

I think we played Nova during that time last year, but it was peak Covid so no fans were there. Also I believe Gonzaga was scheduled during that period as well, but the game was canceled. 

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23 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

Maybe it's just me but it seems like a shitload of games for us are not on broadcast or basic cable sports (only on LHN or ESPN+). Fucking pisses me off.

 

 

The Big 12 schools other than OU, Texas, and KU banded together and sold their tier 3 rights to ESPN+. KU has their own package. OU sold their rights to Fox, and Texas sold their tier 3 rights to LHN. So this is the result.

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Will be very impressed with a win tomorrow in Ames. Texas has owned this series of late (8 of 10) but Iowa State is the more desperate team at 1-3 in conference and coming off an embarrassment in Lubbock.  They're good - 4 Quad-1 wins including double digits over Iowa, Xavier and Memphis and beat Tech.  Also took Baylor to the wire.     We have no Quad-1 wins.

Like I said, will be very impressed to get out of Ames with a win.

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5 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Will be very impressed with a win tomorrow in Ames. Texas has owned this series of late (8 of 10) but Iowa State is the more desperate team at 1-3 in conference and coming off an embarrassment in Lubbock.  They're good - 4 Quad-1 wins including double digits over Iowa, Xavier and Memphis and beat Tech.  Also took Baylor to the wire.     We have no Quad-1 wins.

Like I said, will be very impressed to get out of Ames with a win.

All that's nice - but Texas is the better team right now. 

Obviously it's on the road. Feels very toss-upy. (TEX is actually -2)

Edited by ztejas
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2 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Will be very impressed with a win tomorrow in Ames. Texas has owned this series of late (8 of 10) but Iowa State is the more desperate team at 1-3 in conference and coming off an embarrassment in Lubbock.  They're good - 4 Quad-1 wins including double digits over Iowa, Xavier and Memphis and beat Tech.  Also took Baylor to the wire.     We have no Quad-1 wins.

Like I said, will be very impressed to get out of Ames with a win.

Iowa State hasn’t played Tech in Lubbock yet. That’s next week. 

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