(08-15-2017 02:06 AM)Clarity Wrote: (08-15-2017 12:59 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: (08-14-2017 04:41 PM)Clarity Wrote: Two overlooked OOC games. Idaho at CSUB and Georgia Southern at CSUB for the return leg of a home and home. Idaho made the CIT and beat Stephen F Austin and Georgia Southern made the CBI. Both have a lot returning and should be good. Idaho is being picked by a lot of people as the Big Sky champs, very excited about that game. Georgia Southern is nothing to sleep on either and have two guys who should be all conference with Ike Smith and Tookie Brown. UT-Arlington should take the conference but Georgia Southern should be in contention. Another great game for CSUB. I would imagine both games will be sold out as well.
Idaho and Georgia Southern are not impresssive. CSUB has had two very good seasons in a row and they should do better than Idaho and Georgia Southern.
First off I never even said they were impressive I said they were interesting games and teams that should be in the hunt for their conference title especially Idaho. Also home games against? Yeah right. How can you actually believe that? No P5 or high tier mid-major is coming to play us at home. Especially after two years of success. Getting good teams to come to play you at home as a mid major is impossible. Do you not know a lot about college basketball scheduleing? As of right now NMSU doesn't have any big teams coming to their home court, UNM doesn't count because it's a traditional game. Last year their biggest game at home that wasn't traditional was what a mediocre Air Force team? CSUB can't do better than NMSU because they have far more resources. So should they be doing a lot better? No, getting high quality teams to play you at home is near impossible for a conference like the WAC. Don't mention GCU as they are an outlier with a boatload of money.
I agree, for the most part no P5 program wants to play a WAC school in their venue. This is why it's been impressive GCU and Seattle have been able to host ACC and PAC12 schools in recent years. As these programs improve, those home games will be harder to schedule. As for NMSU, in the last four seasons (the time CSUB has been in the WAC) besides our annual rivalry with UNM and UTEP, we've hosted South Alabama, UC Irvine, Colorado State, Wyoming, Oral Roberts, Tennessee Tech, Long Beach State, and Air Force. This season NMSU is expected to host Colorado State and San Diego once the schedule is finalized. There have been good MWC and BWC schools which have come to the Pan American Center.
The reason I made note of games like NMSU games against UNM and UTEP and UVU's games against BYU and Weber State is because their is a community interest which could give these games an additional bump in attendance; outliers from the WAC's typical home games. CSUB hosting Fresno State is that type of game. BUT, CSUB needs a bigger venue to fully benefit from the interest this type of game could draw. As I said prior, CSUB is capped at under 4K playing in the Icardo Center.
Top attendance games (in last four seasons) of the four programs I think will drive WAC attendance in the future...
New Mexico State
1. Chicago State (3/7/15) - 12,572
2. UTEP (11/15/13) - 10,019
3. UM Kansas City (1/2/17) - 9,893
Grand Canyon
1. UM Kansas City (2/25/17) - 7,502
2. Louisville (12/3/16) - 7,493
3. New Mexico State (2/11/17) - 7,479
Utah Valley
1. Utah State (12/10/16) - 6,792
2. New Mexico State (1/28/17) - 6,246
3. Utah State (12/13/14) - 6,121
Seattle U.
1. Washington (12/22/16) - 6,163
2. Washington (11/21/14) - 5,319
3. Idaho (3/1/14) - 3,573