Ay-Ziggy-Zoomba.com

Via Hackenberg's column...

I like new coach Louis Orr's take on recruiting to an aging Anderson Arena at BGSU. "I think the facility factor can be overblown," he said. "When a young man comes to see a Bowling Green-Toledo game, he'll get the feel for what Anderson Arena is all about. It's intense. Are there nicer places in the MAC? Sure. But an empty arena is an empty arena. Without the fans making the place a tremendous homecourt advantage, it's just a pretty face."

Amen.

He also speaks from a position of experience given his years at Seton Hall. They insisted on playing most of their home games at the cavernous Meadowlands (where the New Jersey Nets play) and you could have heard a pin drop on some nights.

...and congrats to Butch Komives in his induction to the Ohio Basketball HOF!

Unfortunately the best attributes of AA that we could show to a recruit is us playing a good team in packed house with the incredible decibel level that AA is known for. But we don't have that anymore. We either need to figure out how to upgrade AA substantially or start over with a new kind of "AA" that is slightly bigger and in this century and has the same attributes that AA has to contribute to a loud arena.

I think you missed coach Orr's point... or maybe I did...show any kid an empty arena and it's going to pale in comparison to a packed and loud arena. Play winning ball, get the arena rocking again and the "looks" aspect become secondary.

Flipper wrote:I think you missed coach Orr's point... or maybe I did...show any kid an empty arena and it's going to pale in comparison to a packed and loud arena. Play winning ball, get the arena rocking again and the "looks" aspect become secondary.

That's how I read it too, Flipper... just win and the problems of the program will go away...

That's my take as well. The building doesn't attract players. The environment attracts players.

Flipper wrote:I think you missed coach Orr's point... or maybe I did...show any kid an empty arena and it's going to pale in comparison to a packed and loud arena. Play winning ball, get the arena rocking again and the "looks" aspect become secondary.

ZiggyZoomba wrote:That's how I read it too, Flipper... just win and the problems of the program will go away...

Al Davis is a genius! Just win, baby!

falconboy wrote:Unfortunately the best attributes of AA that we could show to a recruit is us playing a good team in packed house with the incredible decibel level that AA is known for. But we don't have that anymore. We either need to figure out how to upgrade AA substantially or start over with a new kind of "AA" that is slightly bigger and in this century and has the same attributes that AA has to contribute to a loud arena.

Right. We don't have "that" anymore. It always was here until recently, and now it's gone for good. There's absolutely no way we can get it back. Coach Orr could bring us 5 consecutive 26 win seasons and the fans would not come back to AA. Ours is a desperately hopeless situation that only a slightly larger 6000 seat arena could fix.

For the love of God, would you please, for ONCE, T H I N K before you post?

I thought he was saying that if Chris Knight eats pork chops and applesauce before every game, he will score 40 and AA will be packed.

BGorDeath wrote:I thought he was saying that if Chris Knight eats pork chops and applesauce before every game, he will score 40 and AA will be packed.