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A conversation about the apparent lack of student interest in WBB here at BGSU on another thread really got me thinking, so I thought I'd start a new thread where we could discuss the state of women's athletics in general and basketball specifically. With Geno Auriemma's recent comments about UConn's win streak being compared to UCLA's, I thought this could be a fun discussion to have over the holiday.

Geno Auriemma's comments on streak:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncw/news/story?id=5937356

What do you all think? Is there a prejudice against women's athletics nationally? In BG? What can we do as fans to combat this prejudice? What can the University do?

P.S. - good luck Falcons tomorrow against Canisius. Be there or be square!

People love dunks and brute power. The women's game is more finesse. I enjoy the flow of offense and the better defense played by the women but enjoy men's college hoops as well.

I think many people don't give it a chance because they see it as an inferior brand of basketball with lesser athletes because women play almost exclusively below the rim. I think women play a more pure form of basketball. The men are more likely to force shots, force passes and over-dribble.

I think what you will also note is better coaching, better scouting, better marketing and better recruiting for men's basketball purely because of financial investment by athletic departments. That's not to say that some women's programs are not parallel or even ahead of their men's program but on average this is the case and it does affect fan interest.

Geno is a DB. You are not breaking a MEN'S record!

It's about like saying Freddie Barnes beat the Colt's Marvin Harrison's 2002 record of 143 catches in a season with his 155 receptions last year. Football is football after all, no?

Redwingtom wrote:Geno is a DB. You are not breaking a MEN'S record!

It's about like saying Freddie Barnes beat the Colt's Marvin Harrison's 2002 record of 143 catches in a season with his 155 receptions last year. Football is football after all, no?

While I agree that Geno is, in general, a DB, I think it's important to realize that his team is setting a new standard for continued dominance in college basketball. I don't see the UCLA record as a "men's" record, I think of it as the longest winning streak in Div. 1 college basketball. I think UConn and Geno deserve to be talked about alongside John Wooden and UCLA, and I believe history will go to show that he is the same caliber of coach. I think he's an azz, but he's a phenomenal basketball coach.

You can call him what you want but he PRODUCES RESULTS. He gets talent and gets that talent to believe in a system to play together. Nobody likes dynastys, whether its the yankees, Patriots, Duke basketball or the lakers people cheer for teams to lose rather then praise greatness. Very seldom do we see greatness so applude what you see until its over. Its not about comparing men vs the women. It's freakin' 89 in a row. There is no one on this message board that has ever won 89 in row in anything.

unfalconbelievable wrote:You can call him what you want but he PRODUCES RESULTS. He gets talent and gets that talent to believe in a system to play together. Nobody likes dynastys, whether its the yankees, Patriots, Duke basketball or the lakers people cheer for teams to lose rather then praise greatness. Very seldom do we see greatness so applude what you see until its over. Its not about comparing men vs the women. It's freakin' 89 in a row. There is no one on this message board that has ever won 89 in row in anything.

I don't deny that he's a fantastic ball coach. I just happen to think that he's made an ass of himself several times. You can be good and be a jerk! I have to wonder, though: What can the University do to help sell the sport we all love to the average BGSU student? I think that the townie crowd has pretty well stabilized where it's going to be for the time being. The place to grow our attendance is in the students. What can we do to overcome the preconceptions?

Tonite's attendance was a prime example of the student attendance issue. We had 1,400-some attending tonight - - during a break of the university! When the university is IN session, and assuming all the folks who were there tonight game attend - - shouldn't we AT LEAST have 600 students come to the game so that our attendance is AT LEAST 2,000? It is a mystery to me why even 3% of the student body would not attend a women's basketball game while school is in session. We've had 1400-ish attendance for home games DURING the semester. Weird, and perplexing.....

A couple of other observations this evening:

1) Nice show of alumni at the north end of the arena with McDowell, Mann, Horne, Goldsberry, Honneger, Bugher, Breske, Taylor, and Clapper cheering on the Falcons! Great to see them in their BKB shirts!

2) Interesting to note that the officials had to go to the monitor to see who would shoot the free throws with the foul called at the north end of the court during the first half. After around 45 seconds, it was determined that #2 would shoot the foul shots. The first one ALMOST rimmed out, and the crowd quite loudly gasped at the almost-moment. Then the second one DID rim out. Whereupon the entire place stood up and cheered. That was a moment to remember as an homage to Lauren's great feat.

3) Gotta love the audio of Coach Miller during the Canisius post-game press conference. Listen to the VERY end after he wishes everyone a happy holiday - - he gets up, is obviously physically walking OUT of the room, and he says to the media: "Give Lauren hell." That is/was hilarious.

In today's "microwave" instant gratification society, you've got to do something crazy to get people's attention focused for 2 hours at a basketball game as "just sitting there and cheering" seems to be out of vogue for the current generation. It is hilarious to go to games now and see how many people are texting and surfing the net on their smart phones...

This attendance problem seems to be the perfect opportunity for someone in the business / marketing department to tackle as a project. What about have the university president or athletic director sleep out in the cold weather, on top of Anderson or something creative, until we get a full house at Anderson? That's only 3,500 people, right? Seems like such an easy number to achieve.

Hdog wrote:In today's "microwave" instant gratification society, you've got to do something crazy to get people's attention focused for 2 hours at a basketball game as "just sitting there and cheering" seems to be out of vogue for the current generation. It is hilarious to go to games now and see how many people are texting and surfing the net on their smart phones...

This attendance problem seems to be the perfect opportunity for someone in the business / marketing department to tackle as a project. What about have the university president or athletic director sleep out in the cold weather, on top of Anderson or something creative, until we get a full house at Anderson? That's only 3,500 people, right? Seems like such an easy number to achieve.

Wow, you mean the AD or president could find 3500 people who LIKE them enough to attend a game at AA? I can see it now....Sorry Greg, you'll just have to camp out here until the new arena opens LOL

HoopsFan

Hdog wrote:
This attendance problem seems to be the perfect opportunity for someone in the business / marketing department to tackle as a project. What about have the university president or athletic director sleep out in the cold weather, on top of Anderson or something creative, until we get a full house at Anderson? That's only 3,500 people, right? Seems like such an easy number to achieve.

Funny you mention this, because there is actually a special section of a marketing course being offered next semester. The students, including myself, will try to solve this exact problem, working with Greg Christopher himself. So any ideas anyone can throw out there would be greatly appreciated..............

Wasn't the women's BB program one of around 15 programs awarded a "marketing scholarship" through the NCAA this past summer to help improve attendance? I thought I read about that somewhere. I wonder what that will look like and when it begins?

Well, UConn's streak was snapped at 90 last night. Seems somewhat fitting in a way that Stanford was the bookends for the streak.

Just for the heck of it, I looked up UCONN"S women's BB roster for this year... they only show TEN on the roster, including of course, a 6'5 player and a couple of 6'3"s. But I was surprised as I looked at the bios of some of the players... some not as highly "rated" as you'd might think...but obviously very good players.

Class of 61 wrote:Just for the heck of it, I looked up UCONN"S women's BB roster for this year... they only show TEN on the roster, including of course, a 6'5 player and a couple of 6'3"s. But I was surprised as I looked at the bios of some of the players... some not as highly "rated" as you'd might think...but obviously very good players.

Geno must be better rating players than some recruiting service run by a out-of-work coach, internet sports guru or random sportswriters. While those ratings give us fans something to talk about they don't take into account all the intangibles that determine success. Their criteria work as well as determining lifetime success based upon GPA and ACT scores.

Hdog wrote:In today's "microwave" instant gratification society, you've got to do something crazy to get people's attention focused for 2 hours at a basketball game as "just sitting there and cheering" seems to be out of vogue for the current generation. It is hilarious to go to games now and see how many people are texting and surfing the net on their smart phones...

The new generation cannot live 5 seconds without being hooked up to their precious machines. Turn the stupid things off every once in a while. My fave is seeing two people texting each other while sitting next to each other. REALLY??? Guess I'm just an old fart at 42. Either that, or I'm jealous my string and soup cans don't text quickly enough.