When packed and rocking Minges can be a very tough place to play. Its not going to wow you with amenities at UCONN, Memphis, Temple or Cincy or some of the newer Arenas that have been built by AAC teams but its compact and the students are right on you. We have played some pretty good teams and we have beaten some good teams in Minges. Marquette x2 with Dwayne Wade, UL in Pitinos first year, Memphis just to name a few. We are making some moderate improvements to Minges once the season is over with to the tune of about 4 million dollars. We just dont have the horses this year. I personally hoped for better coming off of the momentum of winning the CIT I wanted to keep the momentum going with another winning season. No one expected Sampson and Armstrong to just bail on the team like they did and there are a great deal of pirates who are pissed off in the way that they left. Its always going to be what if they didnt leave and we had those two extra players to pick up some of the slack. Nothing we can do about it now but just to try and do the best we can this year and get ready for next year when we do add a number of players. Thank you Husky for the encouraging comments. I am thrilled to be playing a school like UCONN with so much tradition in mens and womens basketball. On a more positive note our womens basketball team is 15-2.

(01-19-2014 02:58 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 02:50 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 12:42 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 08:26 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 08:17 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  Here's how AAC's 3 new additions for next year are doing with their announced attendance numbers:

Tulsa 31 (8-10) 4,466 overall attendance average

ECU 0-3 (11-7) 4,409 " " " "

Tulane 2-2 (10-9) 1,786 " " " "

sweet

My thoughts exactly...

ECU is going to average a lot more fans in the AAC. They averaged more than that in CUSA last year. This year there has been a lot of D2 and NAIA games on ECU's schedule.

ECU has a passionate fan base so I'm not that worried about them getting more into basketball with a better league and opponents. Tulane and Tulsa on the other hand...

1998-2005 Tulsa averaged 7000+, many times averaging a near sellout which is over 8000. If we do well we can bring it just as much as most of the other schools playing in arenas still on campus. Stop being such a downer.

We need to get back to the NCAA's and people will show up again. There's a good chance for that to happen in this conference since we should have multiple bids instead of just Memphis every year.

(01-19-2014 07:09 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 02:58 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 02:50 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 12:42 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 08:26 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  sweet

My thoughts exactly...

ECU is going to average a lot more fans in the AAC. They averaged more than that in CUSA last year. This year there has been a lot of D2 and NAIA games on ECU's schedule.

ECU has a passionate fan base so I'm not that worried about them getting more into basketball with a better league and opponents. Tulane and Tulsa on the other hand...

1998-2005 Tulsa averaged 7000+, many times averaging a near sellout which is over 8000. If we do well we can bring it just as much as most of the other schools playing in arenas still on campus. Stop being such a downer.

We need to get back to the NCAA's and people will show up again. There's a good chance for that to happen in this conference since we should have multiple bids instead of just Memphis every year.

Tulsa has NO chance to reach the NCAA's anytime soon. Not going to vault over Cincy, UCONN, Memphis or SMU. Four bids is likely the upper limit for AAC for the fors eeable future.

(01-19-2014 11:03 PM)vabearcat Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 07:09 PM)invisiblehand Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 02:58 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 02:50 PM)PirateMarv Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 12:42 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  My thoughts exactly...

ECU is going to average a lot more fans in the AAC. They averaged more than that in CUSA last year. This year there has been a lot of D2 and NAIA games on ECU's schedule.

ECU has a passionate fan base so I'm not that worried about them getting more into basketball with a better league and opponents. Tulane and Tulsa on the other hand...

1998-2005 Tulsa averaged 7000+, many times averaging a near sellout which is over 8000. If we do well we can bring it just as much as most of the other schools playing in arenas still on campus. Stop being such a downer.

We need to get back to the NCAA's and people will show up again. There's a good chance for that to happen in this conference since we should have multiple bids instead of just Memphis every year.

Tulsa has NO chance to reach the NCAA's anytime soon. Not going to vault over Cincy, UCONN, Memphis or SMU. Four bids is likely the upper limit for AAC for the fors eeable future.

Situations in college hoop can change pretty darn quick...as no one would have even mentioned SMU in the above just 2 years ago as SMU at that time was sinking in another poor season in CUSA (4-12).

Number of bids will also be dictated by how other conferences do...if there are any upsets in conf tournaments, etc...so to say 4 is the upper most limit in this future 11 team hoop conf...no one really knows.

(01-19-2014 08:04 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  Here's how teams stack up after the first few home games have been played in conf play.

Below are announced attendance figures for conf and overall attendance averages:

Team...Conf Attendance..Overall Attendance

1) Louisville 21,452 (20,888)
2) Memphis 17,615 (16,098)
3) UCONN 9,864 (9,472)
4) Cincinnati 9,325 (6,939)
5) SMU 6,749 (4,412)
6) UCF 5,605 (5,181)
7) Temple 5,070 (5,924)
8) Rutgers 5,045 (3,783)
9) USF 4,435 (4,068)
10) Houston 3,651 (3,128)

Above stats updated after Sunday's UH's home conf game vs Rutgers and SMU's non-conf home game vs Hofstra.

As you see UC attendance goes up drastically after conference season starts, been that way last several years as the football program has grown. That plus the abundance of home cupcakes on the schedule. Wish the fans would come out more in Nov and Dec. We average about 5-6k in Nov and Dec and 9-12k in Jan and Feb

Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

(01-20-2014 09:48 AM)Bearcat2012 Wrote:  As you see UC attendance goes up drastically after conference season starts, been that way last several years as the football program has grown. That plus the abundance of home cupcakes on the schedule. Wish the fans would come out more in Nov and Dec. We average about 5-6k in Nov and Dec and 9-12k in Jan and Feb

Agree, I wish our fans would come out for those early home games. The Nebraska game did pretty, around 9,000, considering the football team was playing in the Belk Bowl.

Going forward, I hope UC has one to two big non-conference home games later in the year. I wouldn't mind moving the Xavier game back to its old spot on the schedule too.

(01-20-2014 10:00 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

A couple of my closest college buds where headed down to Tulane for their undergrad freshman year in 2005. They were there a week and then told to evacuate the campus for Katrina. They weren't able to return due to Katrina shutting down the engineering program that they were going there for. My school (Lehigh) ended up accepting a bunch of displaced Tulane students for the Spring 2006 semester.

It's completely understandable that Tulane is still trying to rebuild from that storm and all the damage it caused (facilities, recruiting, even maybe mindset). Hopefully the added money and exposure from the AAC can help Tulane in the future. The New Orleans people are a very resilient bunch.

(01-20-2014 11:02 AM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 10:00 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

A couple of my closest college buds where headed down to Tulane for their undergrad freshman year in 2005. They were there a week and then told to evacuate the campus for Katrina. They weren't able to return due to Katrina shutting down the engineering program that they were going there for. My school (Lehigh) ended up accepting a bunch of displaced Tulane students for the Spring 2006 semester.

It's completely understandable that Tulane is still trying to rebuild from that storm and all the damage it caused (facilities, recruiting, even maybe mindset). Hopefully the added money and exposure from the AAC can help Tulane in the future. The New Orleans people are a very resilient bunch.

I appreciate your comments but as a proud TU grad and New Orleans home owner, I am tired of the Katrina crutch. It has been eight years, the rest of the city is in better shape than pre-Katrina in terms of business, violence, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. At some point true leaders do not utilize excuses but instead get results. There is absolutely no excuse for the state of our Bball program at this point, none! We have had a state of the art practice facility and remodeled gym. Our home court is small and will need to be addressed but there are endless stories about how tough of a place to play Devlin was in the past. It was a poor man's Cameron Indoor. We are loaded with northeast undergrads, there is demand if we give them a decent product.

(01-20-2014 11:59 AM)wavefan12 Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 11:02 AM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 10:00 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

A couple of my closest college buds where headed down to Tulane for their undergrad freshman year in 2005. They were there a week and then told to evacuate the campus for Katrina. They weren't able to return due to Katrina shutting down the engineering program that they were going there for. My school (Lehigh) ended up accepting a bunch of displaced Tulane students for the Spring 2006 semester.

It's completely understandable that Tulane is still trying to rebuild from that storm and all the damage it caused (facilities, recruiting, even maybe mindset). Hopefully the added money and exposure from the AAC can help Tulane in the future. The New Orleans people are a very resilient bunch.

I appreciate your comments but as a proud TU grad and New Orleans home owner, I am tired of the Katrina crutch. It has been eight years, the rest of the city is in better shape than pre-Katrina in terms of business, violence, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. At some point true leaders do not utilize excuses but instead get results. There is absolutely no excuse for the state of our Bball program at this point, none! We have had a state of the art practice facility and remodeled gym. Our home court is small and will need to be addressed but there are endless stories about how tough of a place to play Devlin was in the past. It was a poor man's Cameron Indoor. We are loaded with northeast undergrads, there is demand if we give them a decent product.

Understandable. And I know a ton of NY/CT/MA residents who went to school there so you have the bball fanbase.

SMU returning to play at Moody Coliseum has made a big difference compared to playing their OOC 15 miles away from campus (Garland's Culwell Center). . . That and finally having a decent basketball team

(01-20-2014 12:19 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 11:59 AM)wavefan12 Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 11:02 AM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 10:00 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

A couple of my closest college buds where headed down to Tulane for their undergrad freshman year in 2005. They were there a week and then told to evacuate the campus for Katrina. They weren't able to return due to Katrina shutting down the engineering program that they were going there for. My school (Lehigh) ended up accepting a bunch of displaced Tulane students for the Spring 2006 semester.

It's completely understandable that Tulane is still trying to rebuild from that storm and all the damage it caused (facilities, recruiting, even maybe mindset). Hopefully the added money and exposure from the AAC can help Tulane in the future. The New Orleans people are a very resilient bunch.

I appreciate your comments but as a proud TU grad and New Orleans home owner, I am tired of the Katrina crutch. It has been eight years, the rest of the city is in better shape than pre-Katrina in terms of business, violence, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. At some point true leaders do not utilize excuses but instead get results. There is absolutely no excuse for the state of our Bball program at this point, none! We have had a state of the art practice facility and remodeled gym. Our home court is small and will need to be addressed but there are endless stories about how tough of a place to play Devlin was in the past. It was a poor man's Cameron Indoor. We are loaded with northeast undergrads, there is demand if we give them a decent product.

Understandable. And I know a ton of NY/CT/MA residents who went to school there so you have the bball fanbase.

I am one of them, Umass undergrad, born and raised in the boston suburbs. I am tired of being a punching bag. There is no reason why we cannot attract players from the entire nation who want a different experience in NOLA and gain a powerful degree. Not to mention, we have a downtown arena available within 5 miles if the demand is there.

(01-19-2014 12:42 PM)HuskyU Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 08:26 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  

(01-19-2014 08:17 AM)KnightLight Wrote:  Here's how AAC's 3 new additions for next year are doing with their announced attendance numbers:

Tulsa 31 (8-10) 4,466 overall attendance average

ECU 0-3 (11-7) 4,409 " " " "

Tulane 2-2 (10-9) 1,786 " " " "

sweet

My thoughts exactly...

Wait until you have to play them. ECU and Tulane presently have RPIs at 220 plus.

(01-20-2014 11:59 AM)wavefan12 Wrote:  I appreciate your comments but as a proud TU grad and New Orleans home owner, I am tired of the Katrina crutch. It has been eight years, the rest of the city is in better shape than pre-Katrina in terms of business, violence, schools, hospitals and infrastructure.

I'm glad to hear that is the case today, wavefan12. I know when I visited the City (multiple times) in 2007--2011 that was not the case.

When I have talked to people who are not from the New Orleans/Gulf Coast region, it amazes me how many of them seemed to think of Katrina as something whose problems went away when the media caravan went away in 2006. Not so.

(01-20-2014 10:00 AM)Native Georgian Wrote:  Tulane students/alums gave very strong support to the MBB program from 1989 to about 2003. The combination of Katrina, lousy teams, Div. II-facilities and a watered-down conference all took their toll. I understand the skepticism, but we will be back.

Yes, Memphis and Tulane had some heated rivalry games in much of the 80s and 90s, and on occasion Tulane was ranked. I went to a few of those at Fogelman.

(01-20-2014 01:45 PM)cotton1991 Wrote:  Yes, Memphis and Tulane had some heated rivalry games in much of the 80s and 90s, and on occasion Tulane was ranked. I went to a few of those at Fogelman.

A victory over a ranked (~#18) Memphis State team in January 1990 was the highlight of Tulane's "Hoops Are Back" season after a 4-year void following the Hot Rod Williams point-shaving scandal of 1985. That game signified that we had a up-and-coming HC (Perry Clark) who would lead us to great success, and that did indeed turn out to be the case.

(01-20-2014 12:37 PM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  Wait until you have to play them. ECU and Tulane presently have RPIs at 220 plus.

The previous 3 years since Lebo got here our average regular season RPI was 121st.

This year we had to deal with potentially our best player quitting 2 weeks into school and then two other starters playing 6 total games combined before season ending injuries. I expect this to be temporary as we only lose one player and have already seen a major bump in recruiting since getting in the AAC and building a practice facility.

We trade that 1 for 8 players next year including a 4 star recruit on ESPN and another guy that started for Florida State. That's a pretty solid recipe for a nice bounce back. We have a really nice young core of a PG/wing/big as well with the two freshman from this year and the 4 star PG coming in to build around the next 3 years. They could play for about anyone.

SF White Fr...12ppg on 55% shooting (23-54 43% from 3)
PF Stith Fr...9 rebounds a game only 23 minutes
PG Tejada....4 star recruit incoming


We averaged between 5,200-5900 in old CUSA which I think is a good indication of what is the more likely draws in this new conference.

(01-20-2014 02:37 PM)StillJonesing Wrote:  

(01-20-2014 12:37 PM)Tigers2B1 Wrote:  Wait until you have to play them. ECU and Tulane presently have RPIs at 220 plus.

The previous 3 years since Lebo got here our average regular season RPI was 121st.

This year we had to deal with potentially our best player quitting 2 weeks into school and then two other starters playing 6 total games combined before season ending injuries. I expect this to be temporary as we only lose one player and have already seen a major bump in recruiting since getting in the AAC and building a practice facility.

We trade that 1 for 8 players next year including a 4 star recruit on ESPN and another guy that started for Florida State. That's a pretty solid recipe for a nice bounce back. We have a really nice young core of a PG/wing/big as well with the two freshman from this year and the 4 star PG coming in to build around the next 3 years. They could play for about anyone.

SF White Fr...12ppg on 55% shooting (23-54 43% from 3)
PF Stith Fr...9 rebounds a game only 23 minutes
PG Tejada....4 star recruit incoming

Whisnant was a 4* recruit too.

We have been getting a solid stream of recruits since the 2011 class (though some are already gone), and next year is probably the best yet. For multiple reasons we're down, but I think lebo will have a really nice line up to work with next year, we should be in top 100 RPI for sure. Now for our OOC schedule to improve..this practice facility and conference move will pay off. Recruits are taking notice.

(01-20-2014 02:46 PM)ncbeta Wrote:  Whisnant a 4* recruit too.

Yes he was 3 years ago, but I don't really care about the high school rankings after they get to college. You can pretty much tell what kind of player they are at that point and he had a pretty extensive history at Florida State that says he is pretty good.

He was in the rotation for their ACC championship team as a freshman and then started 19 games as a sophmore. You start in the ACC as an under classmen and that's a pretty good indication he can be a nice player for us and immediate impact guy next year.

Between Whisnaunt, Tejada, White and Stith they could pretty much help about any team in the country. It's a higher caliber of player we are bringing in for sure that will be here the next 2 to 4 years. Whisnaut and Tejada are probably two of the nicer newcomers in the AAC coming in and White and Stith would be in the conversation of freshman this year too.