(12-26-2012 03:43 PM)VCUfan Wrote: Interesting that I'm 'some VCU dimwit', but not one rebuttal was made. Excellent argument.
Please feel free to enlighten this dimwit if you have something valuable to share.
1. All of Mason's success has been under 1 coach (Jim Larranaga) who left when his AD did not commit resources to compensating him in response to Shaka Smart's new contract. Larranaga actually approached Miami about their position when that happened, they did not seek him out. They have never had any relevant success under anyone else in their history.
Our AD was putting the finishing touches on a raise for Larranaga when he threw his petulant temper tantrum and left. He was going to get a million bucks, it just didn't happen as quickly as he would've liked. So we gave Hewitt the million instead.
Shaka's salary was relevant only as it impacted Larranaga's enormous ego. And quite frankly, why would we have felt compelled to matching Shaka's salary for a coach 30 years older who probably had 3-4 more years left tops? That would've been irresponsible and pretty stupid.
Also, not that it matters for the purposes of this discussion, but we made the NCAAs once under Ernie Nestor and barely missed in Rick Barnes' only season before he left for Providence. Joe Harrington also had some good teams at Mason that had the misfortune of being in the same conference as David Robinson.
(12-26-2012 03:43 PM)VCUfan Wrote: 2. Jim Larranaga had 5 NCAA appearances, the only other appearance in program history was as a 15-seed in 1989. Larranaga advanced in 2 out of those 5 appearances. 2 of the other appearances were as a 14-seed. They were really only nationally-relevant (top 60) in 2006 and 2011 of any of the years they went to the NCAA's. The other 3 years they went to the NCAAs they had double-digit losses.
Those are all facts, although our current coach took both Siena and Georgia Tech to the tournament and has reached an NCAA final. Since he's only in his second season at Mason (24-9 first year wasn't exactly awful), I'd say it's a little too soon to suggest that we're just gonna fall off the map without Larranaga.
(12-26-2012 03:43 PM)VCUfan Wrote: 3. They had widely publicized plans to build a basketball practice facility that they scrapped because the admin thinks it's unnecessary to spend all that money for one program. They practice in an athletic center that is open to all athletics teams as well as students. They also play in an arena that was built in 1985.
The sparkling new Recreation Athletic Complex is basically the basketball team's practice facility attached to a fitness center for students and faculty. The RAC has a full-sized gym that is reserved for the basketball team whenever it wants it; it's not like they have to practice alongside students playing pickup games.
Now I'm as guilty as anyone of wanting the latest bells and whistles. But given the millions that were invested in that building just a few years ago, I can understand our admin opting to make investments elsewhere.
Speaking of which, we put $15 million into upgrading the Patriot Center just a few years back. It's obviously not the best arena in the world, but it's far from the worst, either.
(12-26-2012 03:43 PM)VCUfan Wrote: 4. George Mason's average RPI over the last 10 seasons is 85.6 (per NCAA.org) and they have finished outside the top 100 3 times in that span, 2 of those were following their Final Four:
02-03: 93
03-04: 81
04-05: 154
05-06: 26
06-07: 124
07-08: 63
08-09: 51
09-10: 158
10-11: 24
11-12: 82
Not sure what looks so bad about that -- especially in a mid-major league with a bunch of bottom-feeders bringing the top teams down.
(12-26-2012 03:43 PM)VCUfan Wrote: 5. George Mason does not deliver the Northern Virginia or DC market. Their attendance has steadily decreased almost every year since their Final Four in 2006. Here are the last 10 seasons (per NCAA.org):
02-03: 3,347
03-04: 3,864
04-05: 3,937
05-06: 4,533 (Final Four year)
06-07: 6,834
07-08: 6,494
08-09: 6,295
09-10: 5,837
10-11: 5,896
11-12: 5,161
6. They are in Georgetown's market competing for the same viewers. Georgetown carries the market much more than George Mason which is still viewed as a commuter school in the region and outside of the Final Four bump, has little interest in the community outside George Mason. They never averaged more than 5,000 before the Final Four despite being a large urban school of over 30,000. They have steadily decreased in attendance nearly every year since getting that bump.
Have I misrepresented anything about George Mason here? Feel free to correct me if I have.
You'll get nothing but agreement from me that the university does a poor job of marketing the program and attracting fans, although our attendance has gone back up over 6,000 this season and we don't have the luxury of being basically the only "pro franchise" in town like VCU does.
But using attendance as the only measure of Mason's popularity in the DC market is flawed for a couple reasons:
1. We've struggled to find name opponents willing to play in Fairfax, especially since the Final Four -- and with both Georgetown and Maryland right down the road (as well as the Caps and Wizards), you're not gonna get the casual fan in the building for the collection of low-majors we usually host. We've lost something like four home games in the last five seasons, so it doesn't seem to have anything to do with a lack of on-court success.
2/ We'll be on TV 26 times during the regular season, which obviously means somebody believes our product is delivering eyeballs within the region.