Hey students, townies and alums, BG's in 1st place!!!

[BGSU33]

I am only one person and I can only bring one or two people with me to the Stroh everytime we come, but what the hell is it gonna take for this team to get some damn butts in the seats and support at home??? We are in FIRST place in the MAC right now - all by ourselves - with 6 regular season games to go and only three games left at home. And when I say three left at home, that very well could be three total and no more additional games after that as we could avoid having to host a first round MAC Tournament game if we get one of the sought-after byes to Cleveland (which we all know is crucial after the first-round disasters we've experienced the last several years). We've also never hosted a men's postseason tournament game in BG (excluding the MAC Tournament), which I absolutely think we should bid on (for the CIT or CBI) if our NCAA Tournament drought continues or we don't go to the NIT. We haven't won a postseason tournament since the 1960's! But let's discuss that when the times comes....

Point being - if anyone is a fan, knows about or follows this team, or even wants to jump of the bandwagon (this one hasn't left you behind like football did after the Indiana game), please, PLEASE, come support this team! Those of us who have been around know how long it's been since we've been in this position, and for those who haven't, trust us when we say enjoy it while it's happening and get your butt out there Wednesday! Support your school!

[Falcon Commander]

The Blade agrees. . . well, Dave H. does!


http://www.toledoblade.com/DaveHackenbe ... pport.html" target="_blank

[jpfalcon09]

Two things at work here, #1 is the fact that a majority of the games are weeknights and people simply don't have the time to come after work, and students have classes. #2 is that the hockey program has likely tapped into some of the hoops fans who otherwise would be supporting the program. Hockey is getting close to 3,000 a night (on the weekends albeit) but it speaks to the overall lag the men's program is going to have in terms of getting folks to come back. I suspect next season we'll see a bigger season ticket base and more of a walk-up crowd.

[FalconTurf]

I can understand weeknight difficulties because I have them. What about Saturday at 4:00? And only 1500 or fewer people are free on Tuesdays or Wednesdays?? I just don't think people realize what is going on here. I hope they don't regret missing some of the best team basketball I've seen played in BG because it is really unique and pure basketball in this era.

Saturday the Stroh should be packed. No matter what happens during the week our Falcons will be in first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-zyztiXeSo

[jpfalcon09]

I can understand weeknight difficulties because I have them. What about Saturday at 4:00? And only 1500 or fewer people are free on Tuesdays or Wednesdays?? I just don't think people realize what is going on here. I hope they don't regret missing some of the best team basketball I've seen played in BG because it is really unique and pure basketball in this era.

Saturday the Stroh should be packed. No matter what happens during the week our Falcons will be in first place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-zyztiXeSo

I agree with you, but the average American is pretty set in their ways unless they're a die-hard sports fan. Its going to take a deep MAC tournament run and hopefully an NCAA berth to get the casual fan to come back to the Stroh. I hope the university is trying to get the word out around town too, I've seen plenty on Twitter and via email, hopefully there's advertising going on around Main St. and on Wooster to get people's attention. I think Jans and the players know that this might take another year or two to get folks coming back regularly.

[Globetrotter]

I believe that attendance is down for most sports, pro and college across the board. It takes a long time for something like this to rebuild. BG hoops is a complete after thought for much of the community now. I think that moving the arena off campus was a major issue for students as well. When it was in the middle it was a part of everything. Now, although it might be easy to get there, it's on the periphery of people's minds. The schedule this year wasn't great at home either.

[hammb]

It sucks, but it just takes time and consistency. Those of us that never left are loving every second of this instant turnaround, but for the more casual fans it's just going to take some time.

This year has been a weird year schedule wise, but I've missed more games (even in this turnaround) than I have in the last 2-3 years due to the odd Saturday gametimes. Back when the Saturday games were in the afternoon I never missed one, but this year the later times have been an issue for me as I very rarely have Saturday evenings without plans. Various friends outings, birthdays, etc...for me Saturday evenings are probably the worst time of the week. But that's besides the point as you would think for most it'd be a better time to schedule.

The bottom line is people aren't going to come until they KNOW this team is back. That's the way it's always been. We're bummed because we all look back at the last time we were good and see the large attendance numbers, but that was the first Dakich tenure when we were on a roll of being very good for a good stretch. We had MAC POY level play from Daniels to Stacey to McLeod. We had at least one of those guys on the roster for like 7 years straight...that built a great following. Hopefully somebody will step up next year (Denny? Parker? Worrell? ) to take up where Holmes left off and the winning will continue. If that happens, the fans will come back...it just takes time.

I was saddened speaking to my grandfather last week, and this is exactly what we're dealing with. This is a man that was a season ticket holder from the days of Nate Thurmond on through until a couple years ago. He said he's pretty much lost all interest. He always took the games serious and got so worked up only to be let down again and again. He finally realized he couldn't take it, stopped getting his tickets, and now he just doesn't have an interest. I wish I could get him to come back because I know he'd LOVE the type of ball Jans has them playing, but he just doesn't seem to care anymore...and that's really sad as he's the one that was taking me to games 30 years ago and got me into it.

But that's what happens when you bring back a coach year after year who doesn't care. You get fans who won't care. The ship may have sailed for my grandpa, but I know we will get some new fans to come, and some old fans back. It's just gonna take some time. An NCAA tourney berth would certainly do it. I just know it's going to take more than regular season success (especially in a year where we didn't really have a marquee "name" win OOC).

[Hdog]

Ditto to all above - going to take some time to get people to invest their time in going to a game[s] again. Doing something that hasn't been done in a while, like going on a run and getting to the NCAA tourney, would open some eyes and really do wonders for the program.

I recall a home game against Western Michigan 3+ years ago [when Howard Jr. was a freshmen there]. I drove over from Cleveland with my 8yr old son to see the Saturday night game with snow covered roads the whole way to and from. If you remember, we layed a gigantic egg...one of those games where the team was not ready to play and had zero effort. I recall us being down by 20 or so at half time and making a feeble attempt to get back in it in the 2nd half. I remember driving back, dealing with the weather, and thinking "this is B--- S--"!! -and- "I made the effort to drive through this s---, but the basketball team played like they didn't care?!"

Anyway - that kind of thing hurts with getting fans to buy-in and betrays the "trust" a little bit. It takes zero talent to hustle and play hard!! that is what I LOVE about Jans and staff and what they have going on now. They have set a standard for consistent effort game after game. Thinking about driving back over this week...

Meanwhile, here is some more positive press on the team today:
http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-basketbal ... gs-week-14" target="_blank

[Schadenfreude]

The last time the team was this good, Bowling Green went all the way to the MAC tournament final before losing to Kent State.

That was in 2002. Would this team beat that team?

(Based on the RPI, etc, I'm guessing no, but it seems close)

[Globetrotter]

There are 6 teams with a decent chance at 20 wins in the MAC. That seems like a ton but it's been trending way up. More games? Easier Schedules? Better league?

5 last year
4 2013
3 2012
3 2011
3 2010
2 2009
3 2008
2 2007

[Flipper]

Here's a thought...maybe we have a student population that doesn't care too much about sports. Not just BG sports...but sports in general. Or maybe they don't care enough to carve out a 2-3 window each week to go to games

[hammb]

Here's a thought...maybe we have a student population that doesn't care too much about sports. Not just BG sports...but sports in general. Or maybe they don't care enough to carve out a 2-3 window each week to go to games

Certainly possible. I very much doubt it, but I don't spend enough time in/around campus to say for sure. It seems to me that football is still very popular around town, but as always they lean more towards the Big10 Teams than BG. For hoops though? I don't know. I don't think college basketball regular season has nearly the following it did 10-20 years ago, but I think there are still plenty of students that enjoy college basketball. That said, it's quite possible that they don't like it enough to spend 2-3 hours going to a game...

[jpfalcon09]

Here's a thought...maybe we have a student population that doesn't care too much about sports. Not just BG sports...but sports in general. Or maybe they don't care enough to carve out a 2-3 window each week to go to games

Certainly possible. I very much doubt it, but I don't spend enough time in/around campus to say for sure. It seems to me that football is still very popular around town, but as always they lean more towards the Big10 Teams than BG. For hoops though? I don't know. I don't think college basketball regular season has nearly the following it did 10-20 years ago, but I think there are still plenty of students that enjoy college basketball. That said, it's quite possible that they don't like it enough to spend 2-3 hours going to a game...

If BG ends up winning the MAC and getting the NCAA bid, the students will show up next year. Unfortunately, many college kids are "sheepish" in nature when it comes to doing things with athletics, especially the underclassmen since their RAs will encourage them to go to events. If their buds want to go to the Stroh (that rhymes), they'll certainly tag along as something to do. I will say however that the average college student doesn't care a whole lot about sports, as exemplified by the football season always having a huge student turnout for the first home game because everyone wants to go with their friends, and then it dwindles down to the die-hards by the middle of October.

[footballguy51]

Student turnout for hockey is pretty decent. I'm thinking the major issue with basketball is that they've been so bad for so long that they just need to prove themselves. Even the diehard fans (both student and other) quit going because it was so bad to watch. the diehards are returning because they like to watch BG basketball, but the others won't return unless they know they'll see a great game, a star player, or a great team (ours or the opponent).

[Schadenfreude]

Student turnout for hockey is pretty decent. I'm thinking the major issue with basketball is that they've been so bad for so long that they just need to prove themselves.

That's my guess. Also, among the alumni I know, I sense more excitement about the hockey than basketball, because it harkens back to the good old days when hockey was a national power.

When it comes to basketball, most of us can't remember the good old days. Most people weren't even born the last time BGSU played in the NCAA tournament.