ThreeifbyLightning
Heisman
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RE: Feb 1 and 3 basketball games
(02-05-2018 04:46 PM)SpaceRaider Wrote: facilities are important, but St Marys Gaels, one of the better non Power programs' 'gym' could be described as a high school type gym and they manage to be competitive...
Nearly half of St. Mary's roster is made up of Australians. A majority of their points come from Australian players. They have a pipeline to Australian that isn't concerned with 21st century American kids views on "amenities."
Not the best of comparisons. And I'm going to guess St. Mary's has poured a lot more if their NCAA money into arena and players area/locker room upgrades than UTSA has.
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02-05-2018 06:19 PM |
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thefaU
Special Teams
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RE: Feb 1 and 3 basketball games
We're just a few years ahead of UTSA. We finally got our football stadium built in 2011 (we had been renting Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale) and the construction for our athletic complex just began this week.
I think some people forget how young some of our programs actually are. We didn't start a basketball program until 1988 (moved up to D1 in 1993) or a football program until 2001 (moved up to FBS in 2005).
It's not only the facilities we have to build or upgrade, but also acquiring the talent and fan support while still competing with those who already have the name recognition and winning history. But UTSA has clearly shown the ability to recruit some major basketball talent.
The reality is that C-USA 3.0 has five football programs started since the 2000's (six since 1991). This is double the Sun Belt.
And unfortunately for basketball, football should be the priority. $$$
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02-05-2018 06:59 PM |
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MTPiKapp
Socialist
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RE: Feb 1 and 3 basketball games
(02-05-2018 05:30 PM)cr11owl Wrote: (02-05-2018 05:02 PM)Hilltopper413 Wrote: (02-05-2018 04:46 PM)SpaceRaider Wrote: facilities are important, but St Marys Gaels, one of the better non Power programs' 'gym' could be described as a high school type gym and they manage to be competitive...
The key aspect of that picture is all of the butts in the seats. You can overcome poor facilities with great fan support. St. Mary's may have a tiny gym, but I'd bet they produce a great atmosphere when they pack people in.
+1. Tudor Fieldhouse only seats 5200 or so but it’s incredibly loud when it’s full. If the locker room is nice and the AV equipment is updated an arena doesn’t have to seat 10k+ to be great for college basketball.
Gonzaga seats 6k.
Hell, Cameron Indoor(9,314) would only be the fourth largest arena in CUSA(behind UTEP, MT and UNT) and that's only a few hundred more seats than Charlotte, Marahall, and ODU.
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02-05-2018 10:55 PM |
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UTSAMarineVet09
Corporal of the Board.
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RE: Feb 1 and 3 basketball games
There is also a vote today and tomorrow to increase the Athletic fee. Also, on the powerpoint for the vote, the Athletic Director mentioned that there will be a capital campaign this coming Spring for the construction of new facilities.
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02-06-2018 12:56 PM |
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