Cowboy and Cowgirl Basketball - Where's The Love?

[calpoke25]

I grew up going to both football and basketball games. For me there wasn't much of a difference, and maybe it's that way for many of us Wyomation posters. But perhaps for the greater world of Wyoming fans there isn't as much overlap between the programs as one may think? Someone could be a big Cowboy football fan and be relatively indifferent to Cowboy basketball or vice versa? I'm not sure what implications that could have but it's the only reason I could think of as to why the NIU game was so poorly attended.

One theory I had in my mind was that maybe we were being over-saturated with relatively irrelevant OOC home games, which is sometimes the impression I get from other fans. Looking at the home schedule of the 01-02 team though for comparison kind of doesn't quite add up but maybe it has a small impact? The 01-02 team had 8 OOC home games vs. 10 for the 14-15 team. I wouldn't say the quality of the 01-02s schedule was that much if any better. This year we are playing 8 OOC home games with arguably a better home schedule.

I don't know, I don't think it's as simple as winning. The 14-15 team won and was building momentum for a couple years so it wasn't a flash in the pan. They deserved more fans. I think the Arena reseating is a huge deal too, but I don't know the final answer. I hope the AD is working on a plan to improve the atmosphere in the AA. Currently it's a morgue.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

You have to win to fill the AA. You can't have season like last, coming off the NCAA birth, and expect fans to show up. You can't have a team that loses at home to Fort Lewis and expect people to brave the winter Wyoming roads. You can't have Colorado Christian come into the AA and push us around for 30+ minutes and expect fans to show up. Now, Edwards and Co. start blowing teams out and playing sound basketball and stringing together a couple years of 20+ wins and deep runs into the post season and the fans will show up. The number above prove that if you win, attendance will rise. Hell, look at football. Wyoming fans are a fickle bunch but show up when there is something to see. Give them something to see.

This isn't just about last year. We started the season 15-2 two years ago. Big home game with SDSU drew only 6,101 fans. That doesn't look like a "win and we'll show up" mentality.

I look at it a lot like the football team. You can't expunge almost 15 years of terrible play with a 15-2 start if that doesnt lead to PROLONGED success. If I remember correctly, the season youre referencing ended with a player kicking a field goal with the head of a bar patron at the Buck and completely killing our season. That doesnt lead to huge turnouts. Look at the WNIT a few years ago. That was the last time we sold out the AA. SO winning consistently and playing MEANINGFUL games do attract Wyoming fans.

[McPeachy]

That was over Christmas break. That one doesn't count

January 14 is over Christmas break?

Yes. Winter break lasted until January 25th, 2016.

This was 2015 I was talking about

Even still, we're talking numbers 2-3 thousand lower than other games. I think that has to be due to more than just students on break.

LOL...well, in January 2015, school came back into session on the 26th. So regardless, students weren't in town. And such is the case every year, it has an impact on attendance for 6 weeks (mid December through the end of January).

[joshvanklomp]

I look at it a lot like the football team. You can't expunge almost 15 years of terrible play with a 15-2 start if that doesnt lead to PROLONGED success. If I remember correctly, the season youre referencing ended with a player kicking a field goal with the head of a bar patron at the Buck and completely killing our season. That doesnt lead to huge turnouts.

Actually it ended with a NCAA Tournament berth. And the last two home games of the season? 5,868 and 6,327 fans showed up.

[LanderPoke]

We had a late season collapse due to mono. It was weird.

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

I look at it a lot like the football team. You can't expunge almost 15 years of terrible play with a 15-2 start if that doesnt lead to PROLONGED success. If I remember correctly, the season youre referencing ended with a player kicking a field goal with the head of a bar patron at the Buck and completely killing our season. That doesnt lead to huge turnouts.

Actually it ended with a NCAA Tournament berth. And the last two home games of the season? 5,868 and 6,327 fans showed up.

Because after that start we stunk it up in conference play and made a miraculous run through the conference tournament. And what happened at that tournament? WE damn near sold it out. Why? Because Cowboys fans show up when there is winning and meaningful games. Not sure what else you need to see to understand WINNING is the key to attendance

[joshvanklomp]

We had a late season collapse due to mono. It was weird.

Yes, I remember that.

Look at this 9-game stretch to close the season though:
01/31/15 NEVADA W 63-55 8106
* 2/4/15 COLORADO STATE W 59-48 8672
* 02/07/15 at Air Force Falcons L 50-73 4021
* 02-11-15 at SAN DIEGO STATE L 41-67 12414
* 2/14/15 SAN JOSE STATE W 77-60 7870
* 02/17/15 at Nevada W 64-58 5291
* 2/25/15 FRESNO STATE L 59-64 5868
* 02/28/15 at UNLV L 57-69 12659
* 3/4/15 UTAH STATE W 76-53 6327

Herndon got his mono before the CSU game (out until SDSU). Larry got his before the Air Force (out until Fresno. I'm not worried about a fluctuation of 800 between CSU and SJSU. What I look at is the drop of 2,000 for a game your senior leader was returning for in his next-to-last home game at AA, with the team winning two straight games without him. The finale wasn't much better.

[joshvanklomp]

And what happened at that tournament? WE damn near sold it out. Why? Because Cowboys fans show up when there is winning and meaningful games. Not sure what else you need to see to understand WINNING is the key to attendance

You're saying that the home SDSU game wasn't meaningful? We were 15-2 at that point, so you can't say we weren't winning. And you can't blame it all on the students being on break, since there were over 7,000 fans at the Boise game four days earlier.

I'm starting to wonder if the best explanation is that the lower attended games that year were on weeknights. SDSU, Fresno and Utah State were all Wednesday nights. The only Wednesday game that drew well was the Border War.

But then what about this past Saturday. Was everyone tailgating?

[ItSucksToBeACSURam]

And what happened at that tournament? WE damn near sold it out. Why? Because Cowboys fans show up when there is winning and meaningful games. Not sure what else you need to see to understand WINNING is the key to attendance

You're saying that the home SDSU game wasn't meaningful? We were 15-2 at that point, so you can't say we weren't winning. And you can't blame it all on the students being on break, since there were over 7,000 fans at the Boise game four days earlier.

I'm starting to wonder if the best explanation is that the lower attended games that year were on weeknights. SDSU, Fresno and Utah State were all Wednesday nights. The only Wednesday game that drew well was the Border War.

But then what about this past Saturday. Was everyone tailgating?

Im not saying it wasnt but 1 or a few meanginful games in a decade isnt going to entice a fanbase back. We will have to play meaningful games consistently for the fans to come back. I may be in the minority I guess but I attribute the crowd to the state of the team more than anything.

I will agree with you it is odd that with 24000+ people coming to town for the football game, it was surprising the basketball game didn't draw 10,000+.....

[TSpoke]

[
I'm starting to wonder if the best explanation is that the lower attended games that year were on weeknights. SDSU, Fresno and Utah State were all Wednesday nights. The only Wednesday game that drew well was the Border War.

But then what about this past Saturday. Was everyone tailgating?

That is the best explanation. Weekday nights are harder for people to go to. You would think that between Laramie and Cheyenne you could still get a decent crowd on a weeknight but we haven't been able to very often it seems. Sometimes even from Cheyenne it is hard to make it over on weekdays. Like this Monday for instance. I was just over there for a bball game and a late night watching the Championship game on Saturday. That lead to a long day that I didn't feel like making the trek back over on Monday to watch us play a D2 school, especially if I am going to be back next Saturday to watch us play UM.
In this stretch of the OOC season I usually miss a few games. That's why I buy season tickets, I have fully financially supported the team so if things come up and I can't make it over I don't feel as guilty. Once conference season rolls around I don't miss a game.
I have been disappointed by the turnout this year however, especially the students. Once conference gets here they should be better but was surprised they didn't come out for the game Saturday. Must have been busy pregaming the football game.

[stymeman]

The new seating has sucked all life from the arena. Students behind the hoop? That's a joke.

agreed, the AA is nothing but a glorified living room or library anymore, at least the way the student section was b4 breathed some life into the building, I don't like the new config at all, they need to re look at this again, and let those of us that wanna be rowdy the chance to do so, after all it IS a sporting event!!!!

[elfletcho]

I grew up going to both football and basketball games. For me there wasn't much of a difference, and maybe it's that way for many of us Wyomation posters. But perhaps for the greater world of Wyoming fans there isn't as much overlap between the programs as one may think? Someone could be a big Cowboy football fan and be relatively indifferent to Cowboy basketball or vice versa? I'm not sure what implications that could have but it's the only reason I could think of as to why the NIU game was so poorly attended.

One theory I had in my mind was that maybe we were being over-saturated with relatively irrelevant OOC home games, which is sometimes the impression I get from other fans. Looking at the home schedule of the 01-02 team though for comparison kind of doesn't quite add up but maybe it has a small impact? The 01-02 team had 8 OOC home games vs. 10 for the 14-15 team. I wouldn't say the quality of the 01-02s schedule was that much if any better. This year we are playing 8 OOC home games with arguably a better home schedule.

I don't know, I don't think it's as simple as winning. The 14-15 team won and was building momentum for a couple years so it wasn't a flash in the pan. They deserved more fans. I think the Arena reseating is a huge deal too, but I don't know the final answer. I hope the AD is working on a plan to improve the atmosphere in the AA. Currently it's a morgue.

I've only made a couple of OOC games this year. I just plan on turning in my unused tickets for conference games and giving them away to people that will go. The OOC the last few years has been god awful. We just haven't played exciting basketball since Larry graduated. Last year was tough watching Josh get doubled every time and and have to watch Aka or Lieberman brick threes all over. TV and streaming have killed attendance in a way that didn't really affect football. We only get 6 home games in FB and there is the whole tailgating experience that just isn't there for hoops. If they start winning and win by being exciting, people may start showing up, but more likely they will just stream it from the couch with a beer in your hand. Beer next year in the AA will help some too but don't expect miracles. Also FYI the "boxes" were going to be in the opposite side from the students. It was going to terrible and I am so glad they killed it. I know a bunch of long time Laramie people that lost their season tickets during the remodel and they vowed to never re-up again.

[NowherePoke]

I grew up going to both football and basketball games. For me there wasn't much of a difference, and maybe it's that way for many of us Wyomation posters. But perhaps for the greater world of Wyoming fans there isn't as much overlap between the programs as one may think? Someone could be a big Cowboy football fan and be relatively indifferent to Cowboy basketball or vice versa? I'm not sure what implications that could have but it's the only reason I could think of as to why the NIU game was so poorly attended.

One theory I had in my mind was that maybe we were being over-saturated with relatively irrelevant OOC home games, which is sometimes the impression I get from other fans. Looking at the home schedule of the 01-02 team though for comparison kind of doesn't quite add up but maybe it has a small impact? The 01-02 team had 8 OOC home games vs. 10 for the 14-15 team. I wouldn't say the quality of the 01-02s schedule was that much if any better. This year we are playing 8 OOC home games with arguably a better home schedule.

I don't know, I don't think it's as simple as winning. The 14-15 team won and was building momentum for a couple years so it wasn't a flash in the pan. They deserved more fans. I think the Arena reseating is a huge deal too, but I don't know the final answer. I hope the AD is working on a plan to improve the atmosphere in the AA. Currently it's a morgue.

I've only made a couple of OOC games this year. I just plan on turning in my unused tickets for conference games and giving them away to people that will go. The OOC the last few years has been god awful. We just haven't played exciting basketball since Larry graduated. Last year was tough watching Josh get doubled every time and and have to watch Aka or Lieberman brick threes all over. TV and streaming have killed attendance in a way that didn't really affect football. We only get 6 home games in FB and there is the whole tailgating experience that just isn't there for hoops. If they start winning and win by being exciting, people may start showing up, but more likely they will just stream it from the couch with a beer in your hand. Beer next year in the AA will help some too but don't expect miracles. Also FYI the "boxes" were going to be in the opposite side from the students. It was going to terrible and I am so glad they killed it. I know a bunch of long time Laramie people that lost their season tickets during the remodel and they vowed to never re-up again.

I think that last part is important. The entire configuration/re-seating process was handled very poorly and has not been rectified. This should be a top priority of the athletic department.

Having said that, I would ask that you give the Pokes a try this year. They are young-ish and will lose some games, but this will be an exciting team by next year and it will be rewarding to have watched them grow up.

I would kind of quibble with your comment that we haven't played exciting basketball since Larry graduated. Not that you are wrong, but that is literally only one season (and the beginning of this season I suppose), it's not like some long term issue. Lord knows we played unexciting football for much longer than that.

We lost a lot of talent and frankly we whiffed on a couple of recruiting classes (2013 and 2014), but the talent level is increasing now and as it matures this team will be fun to watch.

Not sure we can replicate Nance/Adams, those two are pretty unique talents, but there will be plenty of talent to cheer for. I wish I lived closer, so all I can do is encourage those of you in Wyoming to support the Pokes.

[elfletcho]

I grew up going to both football and basketball games. For me there wasn't much of a difference, and maybe it's that way for many of us Wyomation posters. But perhaps for the greater world of Wyoming fans there isn't as much overlap between the programs as one may think? Someone could be a big Cowboy football fan and be relatively indifferent to Cowboy basketball or vice versa? I'm not sure what implications that could have but it's the only reason I could think of as to why the NIU game was so poorly attended.

One theory I had in my mind was that maybe we were being over-saturated with relatively irrelevant OOC home games, which is sometimes the impression I get from other fans. Looking at the home schedule of the 01-02 team though for comparison kind of doesn't quite add up but maybe it has a small impact? The 01-02 team had 8 OOC home games vs. 10 for the 14-15 team. I wouldn't say the quality of the 01-02s schedule was that much if any better. This year we are playing 8 OOC home games with arguably a better home schedule.

I don't know, I don't think it's as simple as winning. The 14-15 team won and was building momentum for a couple years so it wasn't a flash in the pan. They deserved more fans. I think the Arena reseating is a huge deal too, but I don't know the final answer. I hope the AD is working on a plan to improve the atmosphere in the AA. Currently it's a morgue.

I've only made a couple of OOC games this year. I just plan on turning in my unused tickets for conference games and giving them away to people that will go. The OOC the last few years has been god awful. We just haven't played exciting basketball since Larry graduated. Last year was tough watching Josh get doubled every time and and have to watch Aka or Lieberman brick threes all over. TV and streaming have killed attendance in a way that didn't really affect football. We only get 6 home games in FB and there is the whole tailgating experience that just isn't there for hoops. If they start winning and win by being exciting, people may start showing up, but more likely they will just stream it from the couch with a beer in your hand. Beer next year in the AA will help some too but don't expect miracles. Also FYI the "boxes" were going to be in the opposite side from the students. It was going to terrible and I am so glad they killed it. I know a bunch of long time Laramie people that lost their season tickets during the remodel and they vowed to never re-up again.

I think that last part is important. The entire configuration/re-seating process was handled very poorly and has not been rectified. This should be a top priority of the athletic department.

Having said that, I would ask that you give the Pokes a try this year. They are young-ish and will lose some games, but this will be an exciting team by next year and it will be rewarding to have watched them grow up.

I would kind of quibble with your comment that we haven't played exciting basketball since Larry graduated. Not that you are wrong, but that is literally only one season (and the beginning of this season I suppose), it's not like some long term issue. Lord knows we played unexciting football for much longer than that.

We lost a lot of talent and frankly we whiffed on a couple of recruiting classes (2013 and 2014), but the talent level is increasing now and as it matures this team will be fun to watch.

Not sure we can replicate Nance/Adams, those two are pretty unique talents, but there will be plenty of talent to cheer for. I wish I lived closer, so all I can do is encourage those of you in Wyoming to support the Pokes.

Football going so long this year really cramped my schedule. I usually get into basketball after we are done with football but this year we still aren't done with it. I'll be there during conference, maybe a couple of games during the break. I know we have a bunch of young talent and I really see James being something special. This year is Edwards figuring out how he wants the pokes to play. Next year they will be much more experienced in this system.

[LanderPoke]

I've only made three games this year. I've just been busy, but I think everyone is still in football mode, including the students.

They need to push season tickets in Laramie like no one's business. Those are the people that can make it to the games.

[joshvanklomp]

I wonder how much Hunter Thompson will help the attendance once he gets to campus and on the court

[WestWYOPoke]

My guess would be not a whole lot, at least initially. His hometown is a little over 1,000 people, so even if half the town showed up that is only 500. Once he gets established and gets marketed as the "homegrown star", that might attract a bit more people.

[NowherePoke]

I wonder how much Hunter Thompson will help the attendance once he gets to campus and on the court

Depends on how good he is. We have a Wyoming kid as our 2nd leading scorer last year and this and it hasn't done much to boost attendance.

If Thompson becomes a star though, he will really be beloved. A high profile recruit that turned down a program currently in the Top 10 to stay at home and be a Cowboy? People will remember that and if they don't it will certainly be mentioned in numerous articles, etc.

[joshvanklomp]

Depends on how good he is. We have a Wyoming kid as our 2nd leading scorer last year and this and it hasn't done much to boost attendance.

True, but there's a difference to me between a McManamen-level player and a Hunter Thompson, from everything I've read.

[RockSprings2Cheyenne]

I think one thing that is overlooked is the quality of play in general in college basketball. I used to love college basketball but between the refs/fouls and the decline of team basketball skills, cbball has become almost unwatchable to me. Maybe I am just getting older but I feel like kids used to have better skill sets on moving without the ball, passing, dribbling, and shooting. I feel like kids are not taught enough fundamentals these days.

You add that into the cost of attending a game, alternative options to spend your money on, and ability to watch games from damn near anywhere has led to the decline.