The unofficial online home for fans of the UAB Blazers. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Soft sellout - everything but the ring around the top of the arena. We probably won't break any fire codes like I'm sure was the case will the 9,000+ that more than surpassed capacity, unless people were coming and going.

Can you blame memphis? They will be in a powerhouse league playing Tulane, ECU and SMU twice each year. It would be a step down for them to play UAB now.

I don't think it has set in for them yet that they won't be playing the C7 teams.

I suspect that you will have between 8000 and 8500 at the game tomorrow night.

(01-11-2013 12:05 PM)58-56 Wrote:  Can you blame memphis? They will be in a powerhouse league playing Tulane, ECU and SMU twice each year. It would be a step down for them to play UAB now.

I'd rather see Memphis aign with Cincy, UConn, Temple, USF, UCF over FIU, MTSU, UTSA, FAU, UNT...I'd also like for Tulsa to come along too.

I suspect that Cincy & UCONN may be making the next move.

USF & UCF may be tied at the hip & will be together wherever they are.

(01-11-2013 12:23 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:05 PM)58-56 Wrote:  Can you blame memphis? They will be in a powerhouse league playing Tulane, ECU and SMU twice each year. It would be a step down for them to play UAB now.

I'd rather see Memphis aign with Cincy, UConn, Temple, USF, UCF over FIU, MTSU, UTSA, FAU, UNT...I'd also like for Tulsa to come along too.

If UAB were invited, we would be gone too.

If the ACC wanted UConn and Cincy they would have taken them...the Big 10 and Big 12 need to sit back and adjust to their new members for a couple seasons before the make more moves IMHO

MTSU and ODU could be good baketball rivals for UAB

(01-11-2013 12:32 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  MTSU and ODU could be good baketball rivals for UAB

Agreed. MTU is currently the best team in Tennessee.

(01-11-2013 12:39 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:32 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  MTSU and ODU could be good baketball rivals for UAB

Agreed. MTU is currently the best team in Tennessee.

if you go by an RPI rating in January...I don't worry about the rpi until March...besides, we still have 2 OOC games left to play....Harvard and @Xavier.

that said, MTSU has a solid team...

(01-11-2013 12:44 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:39 PM)BlazerGold09 Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:32 PM)UofMemphis Wrote:  MTSU and ODU could be good baketball rivals for UAB

Agreed. MTU is currently the best team in Tennessee.

if you go by an RPI rating in January...I don't worry about the rpi until March...besides, we still have 2 OOC games left to play....Harvard and @Xavier.

that said, MTSU has a solid team...

I'm just poking. Ya'll have a safe trip coming down. Gonna be a fun game!

In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

@DanWolken: Sad that tomorrow is likely the last Memphis-UAB basketball game in B'ham for quite some time. Some of most fun games I've covered anywhere.

(01-11-2013 12:50 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

The BJCC didn't always bring 16k+. I wasn't around then, but didn't we have some small crowds there that were awful?

(01-11-2013 12:50 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

We haven't needed to expand Bartow. What the hell are you talking about. Are you saying Bartow is too small? 8500 is a respectable size arena. It gives us a good home court advantage when it has a respectable crowd and it should not have been bigger.

I know you are trying to shoehorn one of your pet soapbox themes into this conversation, but you failed miserably.

(01-11-2013 12:50 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

So far we are averaging 3,540 at The Bart this season. That is 41% of capacity.

Once Cincinnati and Louisville left for the Big East, Memphis became the premier game each season. Now that they too are leaving for the Big East, I'm not sure who will become the new premier game. I'm sure The Bart is big enough to handle the new premier game, if not too big.

(01-11-2013 01:08 PM)KevMo4UAB Wrote:  So far we are averaging 3,540 at The Bart this season. That is 41% of capacity.

Once Cincinnati and Louisville left for the Big East, Memphis became the premier game each season. Now that they too are leaving for the Big East, I'm not sure who will become the new premier game. I'm sure The Bart is big enough to handle the new premier game, if not too big.

For one year at least, North Carolina willbe the premier game. After that, who knows? Maybe Memphis again.

(01-11-2013 01:01 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:50 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

We haven't needed to expand Bartow. What the hell are you talking about. Are you saying Bartow is too small? 8500 is a respectable size arena. It gives us a good home court advantage when it has a respectable crowd and it should not have been bigger.

I know you are trying to shoehorn one of your pet soapbox themes into this conversation, but you failed miserably.

I'm a believer that those who don't learn from the past may be doomed to repeat past mistakes. I believe a <9,000 seat Bartow Arena was a statement of LACK OF BELIEF in the school's future and I don't want the same message to be transmitted to the public with the design of the OCS. There are a lot of seats between 8,000 and 20,000 and I believe UAB should have found a bigger point on the scale to build. How can UAB expect the public to think of our program as a serious new contender in major college sports when we don't project that in our own building efforts? THAT"S what the Hell I'm talking about.

BTW, There have been about a dozen new stadiums shown on this forum from around the nation. How many were as small as the one presented @ UAB for a D1 program?

(01-11-2013 01:01 PM)the Dragon Wrote:  

(01-11-2013 12:50 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  In reviewing the presented numbers from the two locations, I'm not sure that the "much smaller is better" was the right way to have gone @ Bartow Arena, even then. I bring this up in light of the similar direction we took in designing an OCS in that same spirit. There is always the "We can always enlarge the place LATER" position, but how is that working so far for Bartow Arena? Perhaps the way WE believe is what we need is how others instate are prompted to believe about UAB athletics in general. Did UAB "set the bar" too low from the start? Perhaps UAB needs to rethink that 25,000 or so design BEFORE building it that small. The size of seating capacity may be considered by the public as a statement by the school as to what UAB's own BELIEF LEVEL is in the future of the school's program.

NO, I'm not saying the BOT would have endorsed a larger stadium, but we couldn't have gotten a worse reaction / result than we did for our "bandbox" design.

The BJCC didn't always bring 16k+. I wasn't around then, but didn't we have some small crowds there that were awful?

By small crowds, if you mean 6 to 7 thousand, then yes.

If we beat Memphis tomorrow, I say yes. If not, I say no. We expect haase to turn things around. But we've lost 10+ in a row against them. We were becoming a cupcake on their schedule. I say were because I plan on Uab winning tomorrow.