Holden and King-Davis are good players, Pinkard would probably be in rotations for other teams, but the rest of the squad would have a hard time getting on the court in practice for other CAA teams. Coming into the game I was concerned that Holden and MKD would go for 25 each and we'd lose a tight one. We dominated Delaware at all facets of the game today. Even FT%, for the nitpickers.

(02-06-2016 09:10 PM)SoCal Frank Wrote:  Enjoyed the first half on tv. Important to keep in mind that these guys, UD, are really like a mediocre D2 team.

I'm still getting used to a world in which there's a W&M game where one team has lots of guys that don't belong in the CAA and it's not W&M.

Sitting close to the bench, we get to see a lot of what goes on there. It is no secret that Rowley is the cheerleader on the bench. He celebrates (in spectacular fashion) every three that is made by the guys on the floor.

Heartwarming event of the night: When Paul hit that shot, the starters on the bench all stood up and gave it the same celebratory gestures that he uses. Really touching to see. This is a special group of guys.

I thought the game looked big time on TV. Way to represent! Will the crowds be there for Ali/Frazier II when the Hawks' come to town?

The Thrilla' in the Villa'....you can have that...:-)

I never thought I would see a day at Kaplan like yesterday. A GREAT day for William & Mary on Charter Weekend, a great day for the Tribe basketball program. And televising it all to a NBC Sports nationwide audience.

And a wonderful sight to see the athletic department bring about thirty-five former players representing every decade from the 1950s on to the court during a TV timeout for a roaring tribute from the crowd. Just great.

(02-07-2016 08:21 AM)BigTribe2 Wrote:  I never thought I would see a day at Kaplan like yesterday. A GREAT day for William & Mary on Charter Weekend, a great day for the Tribe basketball program. And televising it all to a NBC Sports nationwide audience.

And a wonderful sight to see the athletic department bring about thirty-five former players representing every decade from the 1950s on to the court during a TV timeout for a roaring tribute from the crowd. Just great.

Solid post.

Biggest crowd since ODU came to town in 2010. UD brought (literally) 5-6 fans yesterday who were probably family members. 6,000 TRIBE fans is a beautiful sight and showed well on national television. I also like Smokin' Al and RT.

Imagine if we had a Gold Rush game hosting ODU, UR, or even JMU. We might hit 8,000.

Yep, it definitely brought back the feel of the Kap back in the early 80's, something that I thought might have been permanently lost. Glad to see it back.

Plus, ...BIG plus, this team gives you something to get excited about. They play beautiful team basketball. Energy feeds off energy and when you get a Tarpey steal and breakaway dunk, Omar slamming one down along the baseline or Cohn weaving his way in the lane and then sending a pass out to "Howitzer" Burchfield who calmly bombs in another 3 from long range, then the crowd just goes nuts! It's a great feeling.

Two big Thursday encounters coming up, with a Towson revenge game in the middle. Important stretch for the good guys.

A couple of points.

First, yesterday is the way it used to be in the late 70's. It's been done before, and can be done again.

Second, the concept of Gold Rush day is to pick one Saturday that everyone can come back for and works for students, alumni, the program, etc... circle the date on the calendar if you will.

Third, the sooner we fans move away from thinking about attendance in terms of who's on the schedule (ODU, Spiders, etc), the better. The focus needs to be on our team, supporting our team, regardless of who our team plays.

So, yesterday, the date was drawn months ago ... against a winless CAA team (didn't know it at the time)... in a game that folks could have stayed home and watched on TV ... and the attendance was through the roof ... because the focus is on our team and the event.

This will inevitably spill over into other games on the schedule...another purpose of Gold Rush...as people like what they see.

It looks like Gold Rush is here to stay...

So now, let's work on a second Saturday hoops game, and the logical place to build an annual event surrounds Senior Day, the last Saturday of the season.

Regardless, none of this works if the team isn't likeable, and doesn't play an exciting brand of hoops ... and the team has clearly kept their end of the bargain.

(02-07-2016 08:21 AM)BigTribe2 Wrote:  I never thought I would see a day at Kaplan like yesterday. A GREAT day for William & Mary on Charter Weekend, a great day for the Tribe basketball program. And televising it all to a NBC Sports nationwide audience.

And a wonderful sight to see the athletic department bring about thirty-five former players representing every decade from the 1950s on to the court during a TV timeout for a roaring tribute from the crowd. Just great.

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It would have been even greater if they had identified the former players by name and year of graduation.

They surely would have if the commercial tv timeout allowed the time. No way to do it in just 1-2 minutes.

Perhaps next year bring them out and introduce them before the game before the National Anthem, and then stand with the team for the Anthem and player intros. Would be very effective.

(02-07-2016 10:38 AM)BigTribe2 Wrote:  They surely would have if the commercial tv timeout allowed the time. No way to do it in just 1-2 minutes.

Perhaps next year bring them out and introduce them before the game before the National Anthem, and then stand with the team for the Anthem and player intros. Would be very effective.

This is a great idea. Marketing former players is so useful on many fronts. It highlights tradition, connects the past with the present, brings in not only the player, but the players family and friends and cements in the mind of the fan that they support something meaningful. Tribe basketball. When you visit the cathedrals of the game and see all the tributes to the past, it's inspirational. This year I've been to Haskins Arena in El Paso, and Phog Allen in Lawrence. Great memory makers. Yesterday's effort at the Kaplan is a step in that direction. This promotion can grow to encompass the entire season.

Thought we were settling for perimeter shots too much early on, but had to be hard to resist when UD was giving them away - open looks everywhere.

Nice offensive spark by Burchfield late in the first half to take the lead up a notch. Malinowski playing with so much confidence.

As for our starters - when they are in rhythm, looks like we've got 5 seniors on the court. A joy to watch.

I absolutely think we should be highlighting our basketball tradition. Many students, even those who are really into sports, simply have no idea how rich put basketball history is. Everyone knows we've never made the tournament but very few know that we used to play David Robinson and Jerry West, that we beat UNC when they were #2, or that Bill Chambers holds the rebounding record. If we can get a whole generation of students to buy in to Tribe basketball it would go a long way towards improving the program.

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Adding to your post about tradition, we should be displaying lots of pictures, jerseys, etc. everywhere in Kaplan as you enter and leave. It doesn't take much money to do that.

I care about tradition now as I have gotten older. I am not sure many of the students care about it at all. I admit that I did not either when I was 18-22 years old. We went to the games to support the team and our classmates. During that time, the team was really, really bad and not even competitive most of the time. Overall, the crowds were small except for when a big name opponent(like Duke) came in. Most students did not come out because they were not interested and the team was not competitive.

For the older alumni, some history and jerseys would be nice, but I don't think the students will care anything about it. Playing a fun style, winning, and having a great atmosphere is all they will care about. The team itself is selling W&M basketball right now as much as anything else. That being said, there have been fantastic efforts by the staff the last 5 years to try and get people to care and to come out. For the most part, those efforts have been very successful. As long as the Tribe is winning and playing exciting basketball, fans of all ages will come out. No doubt it was loud yesterday and has helped the team the last 2 games especially.

Sustained success and the entertainment value of the game day experience will build the home crowds. It's fun to be part of a raucous crowd. It makes fans feel like they are part of the team. If that feel is there and the fun is there, students will make it a priority to get to the games.

I recall VCU had OK crowds. But it wasn't until their final 4 run did it become a hot ticket. Now most games are raucous and a sell out.

Many blame studies why students haven't shown in the past. I say if you put out a product that students feel invested in they will wait until after the game to hit Swem.

we see it when the football team is good... 2000-3000 students have shown up to football games.

the same number will show up for basketball games when the team is good.

Tying the Gold Rush to charter day is awesome and I hope the CAA lets us continue to have a home game on this weekend each year.

Student turn out would be awesome. I remember in the 70s when we would get the crowd we did yesterday many times each season. The community supported the team much better and the teams themselves were similar in terms of winning and losing. Bruce Parkhill had a good run and there were games where the place was full.

I think tradition is a tie-breaker of sorts. When the team is mediocre no one is going to give them the benefit of the doubt and come out to the game if the program has a reputation of being a perennial loser. But if we highlight the historical strengths of the program it may get some people interested even when the team isn't killing it on the court.

Good photos of the game and crowd

http://www.tribeathletics.com/galleries/?gallery=841