Why fill out March Madness brackets when Rice has not been there since 1970?

(02-27-2017 10:10 PM)Not-So-Wise Owl Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:39 PM)texowl2 Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 06:10 PM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 03:30 PM)Not-So-Wise Owl Wrote:  

(02-27-2017 03:08 PM)MemOwl Wrote:  I'll add one more thought.

If the Rice Admissions committee has managed to admit a student body that doesn't give a lick about college sports, to the point that kids in the residential colleges don't fill out March Madness brackets, then I believe that all is lost.

Would love to have some intell from folks on campus in about 2 weeks. Would love to know if students, faculty and staff are filling out brackets.

I want to be hopeful. i think an awful lot of Rice students apply to Duke, for example, and at Duke kids sleep in tents for 6 weeks to get tickets to one game.

Wanted to add input as a current student- from what I can tell, significantly less than half of the student body cares enough about college basketball (or sports in general) to fill out March Madness brackets. Beyond small groups of friends that are very sports oriented, the undergraduate population generally lacks any sort of knowledge or passion regarding sports.

Do I think we'd get more students out to games if we were able to schedule better OOC home games? Sure. But I don't think it'd be nearly the increase that many here seem to believe.

Thanks for the perspective. I think most of us on this board thought that was the case.
A huge change from when the older alums were at Rice.

IMHO, the big decline in attendance happened in the last 2-3 Braun years and the year in the wilderness. I am not convinced that this was a 1965 issue as I remember larger crowds in the horrific Bob Polk era than now, of course the student body was much more Texas centric (and less international) then and opponents were the SWC rather the unfamiliar multi directionals from a far off land.

Way more distractions and options for entertainment has impacted this a lot also. Think about a time before internet, smart phones and 500 channels on cable and when very few freshmen drove. College sports provided entertainment and you would get hooked. This and the conference has a lot to do with it. The big WAC years with Utah's, Fresno St and the like were greater an attraction than FIU and Marshall...

Same issue as for football.

I am just not convinced that "exciting style of play" has all that much to do with it in either sport. Interesting, relevant, and familiar opponents and competitive teams are way more important factors.

But many schools are struggling with the same issue. Geesh, even the orange ESU in Austin frequently can't fill their smallish (relatively speaking) student section.

I can't really comment on past vs current situation, but I can say that exciting style of play has more of an impact than you may think. At least for the sports-minded people, I can greatly appreciate an exciting game. I also abhor boring games.

I'm probably in the top 1% of sports fans currently at Rice, yet I couldn't force myself to go to the last two home football games this year. When the team is seemingly built on a mediocre short passing game and some of the worst DB coaching I've ever seen (it's really not that hard to turn your head and find the ball), it just becomes unbearable.

Similarly, two years ago I didn't attend nearly the basketball games I've attended the past two years due to the unexciting play (not Rhoades' fault, that's just what happens when a player like Seth Gearhardt is the best on the roster). I believe MBB two years ago had the same record as last year (12-20 if I remember correctly) but student attendance rose dramatically. The Marcus Evans and Quez's of the world really do help.

I do admit that the more exciting style of play that MBB currently employs doesn't really draw the casual sports fan students any more than a more laid back style. However, neither do better opponents (outside of the marquee matchups which aren't happening anytime soon). The casual sports fan will only come out due to word of mouth. If your friends go to the games and say "Hey, you should come, it's fun", you'll go to the game. Why did those initial friends go to the game? Because it was entertaining. If anyone currently asked me, I'd tell them that regardless of result, Rice FB games legitimately hurt to watch while MBB is enjoyable. That word of mouth spreads much faster than the 'big news' of scheduling a few more top 150 RPI teams.