http://espn1420.com/the-reality-of-colle...irds-nest/

Sadly, he's right. Basketball at Georgia Southern has always been something you do to get from the end of football to the beginning of baseball...

Other than Memphis MBB attendance sucks in the South even at P5s.

(02-10-2016 06:08 AM)ButlerGSU Wrote:  Sadly, he's right. Basketball at Georgia Southern has always been something you do to get from the end of football to the beginning of baseball...

Agree that's the case now. Wasn't always the case over that 40-something year period from WWII to early 80s when Georgia Southern didn't have football. For some older folks, Eagle basketball was a big deal. Hanner would be packed every home game.

Basketball matters in Kentucky, in Nashville, to some degree in Missouri (when they are any good).
Too much electronic competition these days. You can stay home and watch five games at once on ESPN - without getting chilblains.

(02-10-2016 09:39 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  Basketball matters in Kentucky, in Nashville, to some degree in Missouri (when they are any good).
Too much electronic competition these days. You can stay home and watch five games at once on ESPN - without getting chilblains.

Been wanting to congratulate you on the season the Trojans are having. You've been around here since the beginning and I know how much LR hoops means to you.

Helluva season.

I dont think it has as much to do with the culture as it does with winning. All the teams you cite aren't big. If UTA gets a Gonzaga-like streak going, they'll crack the top 100. I think that would be true at most any peer school. For the most part, outside of Western Kentucky, no one has had that. South Alabama came close in the '80's. They were highly attended.

Parity can be a good thing, but to attract the crowds, consistent, sustained winning is necessary.

I attend some GS basketball games but the sport itself doesn't have much appeal to me. There are too many whistles, FG% is horrible (the point of the game is to get the ball in the basket, right?) and the size of today's players necessitates raising the goal and making the floor bigger.
Either way, football is year-round down here and everything else is just a distraction between December and July. How hard is it for a guy with a 9' reach to put a ball in a 10' goal?

(02-10-2016 08:09 AM)panama Wrote:  Other than Memphis MBB attendance sucks in the South even at P5s.

I'd assume you haven't been to North Carolina or Kentucky.

(02-10-2016 09:47 AM)BirdofParadise Wrote:  Been wanting to congratulate you on the season the Trojans are having. You've been around here since the beginning and I know how much LR hoops means to you.

Thanks. It has been fun. Just plain, hard-nosed basketball. We'll see what kind of a tournament team it is, though.

(02-10-2016 10:06 AM)FoUTASportscaster Wrote:  All the teams you cite aren't big. If UTA gets a Gonzaga-like streak going, they'll crack the top 100. I think that would be true at most any peer school.

Well, sure, but how many schools are going to do that? In Arkansas we suffer from an absolutely monopoly in the media held by Fayetteville. Hard to crack. But we are drawing better this year, and I suspect next year will be ever better.

(02-10-2016 10:48 AM)BurlingtonApp Wrote:  

(02-10-2016 08:09 AM)panama Wrote:  Other than Memphis MBB attendance sucks in the South even at P5s.

I'd assume you haven't been to North Carolina or Kentucky.

The article specifically said south of those schools

I excluded P5's for obvious reasons.

But what schools south of Kentucky or NC draw big before conference play starts. Florida might be an example. Next?

Nail on the head. This is why you maximize football first and then baseball and basketball next. The return on investment in football is usually very high while it is obvious from that article even teams with outstanding basketball facilities in the south still do not draw well.

(02-10-2016 11:58 AM)JCGSU Wrote:  Nail on the head. This is why you maximize football first and then baseball and basketball next. The return on investment in football is usually very high while it is obvious from that article even teams with outstanding basketball facilities in the south still do not draw well.

I would be willing to say the opposite. Football can become a black hole of expenses. Have to overhaul the weight room. Upgrade the practice facility. Upgrade the stadium. Gotta advertise the team to fill the new upgrades. Get new in game promotions to keep people paying attention. Repeat. Now it is an indoor practice facility. It becomes an infinite keeping up with the Joneses. And basketball and baseball suffers, because you can get away with less due to the spotlight on football. So ADs are quick to shave a dollar here and a dollar there. I think eventually it hits an afterthought level. I don't care what business or sport you are in, once you hit afterthought phase, the support will become apathetic.

BOP -- Ronnie Arrow said for years that college basketball needs to have a season that doesn't overlap with football as he believes the overlap hurts college basketball. He has a point, and it's one you touch on in your article. It might not make a huge difference for our programs in the Deep South, as I believe your primary premise is absolutely true, but if the two seasons were isolated from another then it's possible basketball could be a winner... But then it would spill into basketball vs baseball.

(02-10-2016 12:11 PM)SkullyMaroo Wrote:  But then it would spill into basketball vs baseball.

I wish they would push baseball back too. Mid-February is too early to begin playing a summer sport. And it's really unfair to the northern schools that are still in the middle of winter and may have a foot of snow covering their baseball field.

Edit: Though I'm excited for our opener next Friday. And the early forecast is high of 81 and mostly sunny...

(02-10-2016 01:03 PM)_x_ Wrote:  Mid-February is too early to begin playing a summer sport.

Amen!

(02-10-2016 08:09 AM)panama Wrote:  Other than Memphis MBB attendance sucks in the South even at P5s.

Memphis' is pretty bad this year.

(02-10-2016 02:06 PM)stAte3 Wrote:  

(02-10-2016 08:09 AM)panama Wrote:  Other than Memphis MBB attendance sucks in the South even at P5s.

Memphis' is pretty bad this year.

Whats their attendance?