(02-21-2020 12:28 PM)e-parade Wrote: (02-20-2020 02:08 PM)Eagle78 Wrote: As a BC alum and fan, I am absolutely mystified by this thread.
BC would have no interest whatsoever in ever leaving the ACC for BB or any other sport so this talk is waste of air.
Yes, BC's BB program has struggled in recent years - though this year they sit in the middle of the pack in the ACC. BC's FB program has certainly pulled its weight int the ACC - in 15 seasons of ACC play, making bowl games in 12 of those seasons and playing in two ACCCG's. Those in the ACC know that BCFB is seldom an easy opponent.
I love how the Umass and UConn fans jump on this conversation as it applies to BB. No mention of FB, of course, as BC has crushed their teams whenever they have played BC. Both the UConn and Umass programs have been at the bottom of CF for a number of years now.
What people might not realize is the renaissance that is taking place in BC athletics. Boston College is a wealthy school and it is making a huge investment in athletics. Take a stroll across campus sometime. You will see a new football IPF that is among the BEST of such facilities in all of college football. New baseball/softball complexes have been built as well as an IPF dedicated to baseball and softball. When it is completed, BC will have THREE indoor practice facilities - the Fish Center for FB, the "Bubble" - inflated for the winter months for soccer, lacrosse, etc, and the Pete Frates Center (finished this summer) for baseball/softball. On top of this, BC just finished a new $200M student recreation center which will house a number of olympic sports.
Last year, BC launched a $150M athletics - only fundraising drive. Reportedly, over $100M has already been raised to meet this goal. Next up, a new MBB/WBB dedicated practice facility.
After last season, BC put significantly more $$'s into the FB coaching staff and hired a whole new coaching staff. I would not be shocked if after the season we saw something similar in MBB.
I think in the coming seasons we will see the fruits of these investments. BC is already a solid ACC FB program. They will be even better in the coming years. I expect BB will have a similar trajectory.
Again, I do wonder why this topic even comes up. I do think people get mixed up with the "Catholic" identity here. People seem to invariably compare BC to the Catholic BB schools when, in fact, they are in may ways dissimilar. While they may all be "Catholic" institutions, they all have differing views on athletics. I have great respect for the Catholic BB schools (my daughter is a proud alum of G'town) but BC's philosophy as it relates to athletics is much more in line with Notre Dame as opposed to the Catholic BB schools.
BB will get better in the coming years. The $$'s are there to make this happen.
Again, I think this thread is baffling.
BC Football is better than UMass Football. Happy?
I made no mention of UMass being a better choice for the Big East for any reason because I think neither will ever happen.
I mentioned that, very specifically, BC basketball doesn't get great support in terms of fans. The ACC averages just under 11,000 in attendance last year. BC is down at 5300. The Big East average 10,000. (source: http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/stats/m_basketba...ndance.pdf)
So yeah, thanks for mentioning that people weren't talking about football in a thread specifically about basketball and acting all condescending about it. We all know there's literally 0 chance BC would leave the ACC, we were just listing out why the non-football conference of Big East also wouldn't be interested in it.
So, the BE wouldn't be interested in something BC would also have absolutely no interest in. Well, sure seems like a great basis to discuss such a topic right there
Also, your use of the attendance data point you linked to form your opinion that BC doesn't get great support in terms of fans for MBB is not a good one. While the data is of course accurate, you have not applied the necessary sensitivity analysis to determine if the data truly supports your view.
Here is the issue -
You compared BC's 2019 attendance to the ACC aggregate. Do you realize that Conte Forum is the 13th smallest arena out of the 15 ACC teams - by a country mile in many instances? Of course the numbers are gonna be skewed when you take into account that BC's max capacity is 8,606. That compares to 33,000 for SU; 22,090 to L'vlle, 21,750 to UNC, 19,557 for NC state...and so on. Even if BC sold out the arena for every game, they would never compare well to the aggregate because the other teams in the Conference can put so many more fans into their places.
When you compare BC's attendance, to those ACC schools with similar size arenas - GT with an 8,600 capacity, and Miami with a 7,972 capacity - the attendance numbers are similar when you compare each school's home attendance against visiting ACC teams (which is the only true apples-to-apples comparison as each school plays wildly different non conference schedules that have significantly different fan appeal). When you compare BC, GT and Miami home ACC attendance for THIS season to date. The numbers are very similar.
BC: 6,354 average attendance through 7 Conference games (74% of capacity)
Miami: 6,051 average attendance through 8 Conference games (76% of capacity)
GT: 6,411 average attendance through 7 Conference games (75% of capacity)
As the data shows, attendance for all three schools is remarkably consistent this year based on (1) the size of their arena and (2) their respective team performances to date - GT is 7-8 in Conference play to date, while BC is 7-9 and Miami is 6-10.
These factors determine fan interest in a program year-to-year more than anything else, IMO. Given the mediocre years each team is having - fan attendance is very consistent and, in fact, one might say solid given the years they are having.
When each team improves, their numbers will go up and I have no doubt there will be more sellouts at each place. As I said before, even that, however, will come nowhere near erasing the disparity to the Conference aggregate given the huge differences in arena size.