I won't say we would've won if not for the video. There's no way of knowing that. But we looked like a completely different team last night. You'll never convince me that the distraction and (at least in the first half) the shuffled rotation wasn't the reason for why we looked like this.
(03-13-2022 08:25 PM)anti-zip Wrote: Not surprising. We dropped to 150 on Kenpom after last night. 5th in the MAC. An NIT bid seemed like a pipedream.
Yeah, Toledo is the only MAC team in NIT. There still is one tournament to go (or two?). I assume they will decline if invited. Counting tournament games, KSU had the second best record in the MAC, 1/2 game behind Toledo. Rated 5th in the MAC is absurd.
(This post was last modified: 03-13-2022 08:35 PM by Muskrat.)
(03-13-2022 08:16 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote: So what's the deal with our fans?
I’m glad someone brought this up. Last night’s crowd was by far the lowest for a Kent State/Akron final and easily the lowest-attended championship game in KSU history.
We have an aging fan base. The Elite Eight was two decades ago. Absolutely nothing has been done to “turn over” or “reboot” the Kent State fan base. To make it younger. For all their faults, Indians management has done a decent job of changing the venue and game presentation to attact younger fans, and it’s been done without alienating the older fan base.
I’ve said for years we do a terrible job at getting our players out into the Kent, Stow, Tallmadge, Streetsboro and other surrounding communities to build relationships with fans. We do an even worse job, an ABYSMAL job of marketing to middle-aged adults with families. My wife and I went to Kent and have a family of four and have never once been contacted about attending an athletic event.
Beyond that, though is the issue of image.
Sorry, but Dads with young sons and daughters aren’t coming to watch you if you’re going to carry yourself like an idiot on social media or on the court. We know the demographic of people who sit in the comfy blue seats at the MAC Center. They aren’t going to support a group that spews F-bombs, n-words and flails the middle finger around like its a shiny new engagement ring.
Add in a pinch of pandemic and the fear/uncertainty that has come with it, and you’ve got the reason why we barely averaged 2,000 fans per home date this year.
The simple things...
When we break a huddle, have someone yell WE ARE... in the microphone. (Crowd replies "Kent State") It might take a few times, but it will catch on.
We have local celebrities that graduated from Kent. Invite them to be honorary guest at the game. Heck, invite major celebrities once in a while!
We have the Wagon Wheel right? Every day the week we play Akron, have someone stand in front of the MACC and let students pose for selfies. (Do the same with any trophy we win!) Take the wheel around campus and have different departments take pictures. Take it to businesses. I've honestly never seen the wagon Wheel outside of a game or when we tout it at a basketball game. Ask people to use a specific hashtag, so it goes viral.
This is not hard stuff. It's not reinventing the wheel. The Rubber Ducks have been doing this stuff for years.
Thanks, AlphaFlash. I'd read what he said but hadn't seen the video. As I said several pages ago, I experienced many things in locker rooms in the late 1950s and early 1960s - a long time ago - much, much worse. The only thing that was really wrong was posting it on Snapchat (I don't even know what that is).
(03-13-2022 08:16 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote: So what's the deal with our fans?
I’m glad someone brought this up. Last night’s crowd was by far the lowest for a Kent State/Akron final and easily the lowest-attended championship game in KSU history.
We have an aging fan base. The Elite Eight was two decades ago. Absolutely nothing has been done to “turn over” or “reboot” the Kent State fan base. To make it younger. For all their faults, Indians management has done a decent job of changing the venue and game presentation to attact younger fans, and it’s been done without alienating the older fan base.
I’ve said for years we do a terrible job at getting our players out into the Kent, Stow, Tallmadge, Streetsboro and other surrounding communities to build relationships with fans. We do an even worse job, an ABYSMAL job of marketing to middle-aged adults with families. My wife and I went to Kent and have a family of four and have never once been contacted about attending an athletic event.
Beyond that, though is the issue of image.
Sorry, but Dads with young sons and daughters aren’t coming to watch you if you’re going to carry yourself like an idiot on social media or on the court. We know the demographic of people who sit in the comfy blue seats at the MAC Center. They aren’t going to support a group that spews F-bombs, n-words and flails the middle finger around like its a shiny new engagement ring.
Add in a pinch of pandemic and the fear/uncertainty that has come with it, and you’ve got the reason why we barely averaged 2,000 fans per home date this year.
The simple things...
When we break a huddle, have someone yell WE ARE... in the microphone. (Crowd replies "Kent State") It might take a few times, but it will catch on.
We have local celebrities that graduated from Kent. Invite them to be honorary guest at the game. Heck, invite major celebrities once in a while!
We have the Wagon Wheel right? Every day the week we play Akron, have someone stand in front of the MACC and let students pose for selfies. (Do the same with any trophy we win!) Take the wheel around campus and have different departments take pictures. Take it to businesses. I've honestly never seen the wagon Wheel outside of a game or when we tout it at a basketball game. Ask people to use a specific hashtag, so it goes viral.
This is not hard stuff. It's not reinventing the wheel. The Rubber Ducks have been doing this stuff for years.
So you want to steal/use the Penn State cheer? Oh thats right we have, numberous times. All these suggestions have been done, remember hype guy and girl, most people said it's to loud, the music is too loud. The hype guy from the Cavs was at some games, He is a Kent grad, It's too loud, why are they doing that, The Cheerleaders do as much as they can. When half the crowd (chairbacks) sit on their hands , this is what you get.
They have paraded the Wagon Wheel around during zippy week in football season. It is a football trophy.
(03-13-2022 08:16 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote: So what's the deal with our fans?
I’m glad someone brought this up. Last night’s crowd was by far the lowest for a Kent State/Akron final and easily the lowest-attended championship game in KSU history.
We have an aging fan base. The Elite Eight was two decades ago. Absolutely nothing has been done to “turn over” or “reboot” the Kent State fan base. To make it younger. For all their faults, Indians management has done a decent job of changing the venue and game presentation to attact younger fans, and it’s been done without alienating the older fan base.
I’ve said for years we do a terrible job at getting our players out into the Kent, Stow, Tallmadge, Streetsboro and other surrounding communities to build relationships with fans. We do an even worse job, an ABYSMAL job of marketing to middle-aged adults with families. My wife and I went to Kent and have a family of four and have never once been contacted about attending an athletic event.
Beyond that, though is the issue of image.
Sorry, but Dads with young sons and daughters aren’t coming to watch you if you’re going to carry yourself like an idiot on social media or on the court. We know the demographic of people who sit in the comfy blue seats at the MAC Center. They aren’t going to support a group that spews F-bombs, n-words and flails the middle finger around like its a shiny new engagement ring.
Add in a pinch of pandemic and the fear/uncertainty that has come with it, and you’ve got the reason why we barely averaged 2,000 fans per home date this year.
The simple things...
When we break a huddle, have someone yell WE ARE... in the microphone. (Crowd replies "Kent State") It might take a few times, but it will catch on.
We have local celebrities that graduated from Kent. Invite them to be honorary guest at the game. Heck, invite major celebrities once in a while!
We have the Wagon Wheel right? Every day the week we play Akron, have someone stand in front of the MACC and let students pose for selfies. (Do the same with any trophy we win!) Take the wheel around campus and have different departments take pictures. Take it to businesses. I've honestly never seen the wagon Wheel outside of a game or when we tout it at a basketball game. Ask people to use a specific hashtag, so it goes viral.
This is not hard stuff. It's not reinventing the wheel. The Rubber Ducks have been doing this stuff for years.
So you want to steal/use the Penn State cheer? Oh thats right we have, numberous times. All these suggestions have been done, remember hype guy and girl, most people said it's to loud, the music is too loud. The hype guy from the Cavs was at some games, He is a Kent grad, It's too loud, why are they doing that, The Cheerleaders do as much as they can. When half the crowd (chairbacks) sit on their hands , this is what you get.
They have paraded the Wagon Wheel around during zippy week in football season. It is a football trophy.
I tend to agree. Unless the crowd gets a lot younger most of this stuff won’t help.
(03-13-2022 08:16 AM)AlphaFlash Wrote: So what's the deal with our fans?
I’m glad someone brought this up. Last night’s crowd was by far the lowest for a Kent State/Akron final and easily the lowest-attended championship game in KSU history.
We have an aging fan base. The Elite Eight was two decades ago. Absolutely nothing has been done to “turn over” or “reboot” the Kent State fan base. To make it younger. For all their faults, Indians management has done a decent job of changing the venue and game presentation to attact younger fans, and it’s been done without alienating the older fan base.
I’ve said for years we do a terrible job at getting our players out into the Kent, Stow, Tallmadge, Streetsboro and other surrounding communities to build relationships with fans. We do an even worse job, an ABYSMAL job of marketing to middle-aged adults with families. My wife and I went to Kent and have a family of four and have never once been contacted about attending an athletic event.
Beyond that, though is the issue of image.
Sorry, but Dads with young sons and daughters aren’t coming to watch you if you’re going to carry yourself like an idiot on social media or on the court. We know the demographic of people who sit in the comfy blue seats at the MAC Center. They aren’t going to support a group that spews F-bombs, n-words and flails the middle finger around like its a shiny new engagement ring.
Add in a pinch of pandemic and the fear/uncertainty that has come with it, and you’ve got the reason why we barely averaged 2,000 fans per home date this year.
The simple things...
When we break a huddle, have someone yell WE ARE... in the microphone. (Crowd replies "Kent State") It might take a few times, but it will catch on.
We have local celebrities that graduated from Kent. Invite them to be honorary guest at the game. Heck, invite major celebrities once in a while!
We have the Wagon Wheel right? Every day the week we play Akron, have someone stand in front of the MACC and let students pose for selfies. (Do the same with any trophy we win!) Take the wheel around campus and have different departments take pictures. Take it to businesses. I've honestly never seen the wagon Wheel outside of a game or when we tout it at a basketball game. Ask people to use a specific hashtag, so it goes viral.
This is not hard stuff. It's not reinventing the wheel. The Rubber Ducks have been doing this stuff for years.
Jim. You are spot on.
We have had season tickets since 70’s and have been generous about donating annually. Whenever a coach needs something we have been supportive. No more , done and our seats have been empty all season .
Love our coaches and student athletes. Current Athletic Dept Admin
Is by far the least fan/donor friendly we have experienced. They have turned Kent Athletics into a “good old boy exclusive club”. If you are not part of it you are excluded from many benefits regardless of how much you give.
It’s been painful this year not attending but now we will move on .
Very disappointed with what KSU Athletics has become.
The barista at a coffee shop I go to is the roommate of the team videographer who made the video. According to him it was done after the 2nd Akron game right after they had their little incident with the crowd. It’s been around for awhile. Obviously he is not a verified source so take it for what it’s worth. It makes some sense though as emotions were probably pretty high at that moment.
(This post was last modified: 03-15-2022 06:46 AM by burden.)
(03-15-2022 06:44 AM)burden Wrote: The barista at a coffee shop I go to is the roommate of the team videographer who made the video. According to him it was done after the 2nd Akron game right after they had their little incident with the crowd. It’s been around for awhile. Obviously he is not a verified source so take it for what it’s worth. It makes some sense though as emotions were probably pretty high at that moment.
Are you saying this video was filmed in the locker room after the game at Akron? They wore yellow unis that game, in the video the unis were all gray like they wore against Ohio in the tourney semis.
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Kent State vs. Akron -MAC Final
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![[Image: DWD_7660.JPG?width=1920&quality=...format=jpg]](https://kentstatesports.com/images/2022/3/12/DWD_7660.JPG?width=1920&quality=80&format=jpg)
