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comparing football to basketball at montana

C

citygriz

Well-known member
uniforms: on the football board, this is a huge topic every year. will we get new unis? what will they look like? how do they compare to other teams? the suspense is almost as great as a new product launch at apple. but basketball? nada. we wear the same ole crappy baggy dull uniforms year in and year out, and nobody gives a rat fart. meantime, this is a big deal for basketball schools. long beach state got props at the tournament this year for their unis. baylor got noticed but plenty with those wild chartreuse duds they wear. ohio? very cool, beautifully designed. if you haven't noticed, you still have time. they just made the sweet 16.

recruiting: in football, we have a whole thread devoted to recruiting, followed by a special announcement night gala, and video highlights of every recruit. but basketball? we've got one thread going here, and it's had seven responses. no intrigue about why the pipeline to the bay area seems to have dried up since will cherry (it hasn't for weber after lilliard), or whether jamar might inspire more recruits from the l.a. area. tinkle is one of the best recruiters we've ever had at montana, yet take away mslacat, and we might have zero news here about recruiting. meanwhile, the weber board is afire about their two new recruits from texas, and one of the longest threads on the wisconsin board tracks the high school exploits of their top recruits. little wonder; recruiting is crucial to success in any sport. that it draws so little interest here indicates the general overall lack of interest in the basketball program.

entertainment: hell, you could go to washington-griz and never see a football game, and you'd still be entertained. tailgating, skydivers, monte, the cannon, streakers, crazy fans--a whole zany culture has developed around football. basketball? used to be a wild announcer, political protests, the zoo, potatoes. now it's mostly pleas. pleas to attend the games. please! (pretty please?)

off-field issues: the football board lights up regularly with the tabloid-esque off-field exploits of its players, highlighting all the exciting and sometimes extra-legal aspects of their extra-curricular activities. basketball? nah. bor-ing!!

one extremely gratifying aspect of the basketball program.
 
Basketball is to Weber what football is to Montana. Unfortunately it will take a couple of years like this, with maybe a NCAA win, to get the fan base excited to football levels...however put the football team in the FBS and start the losing and then you will have more excitement on the basketball board. It is much easier to compete at the D-1 level in basketball then football.
 
guess it must be tradition when bb unis are considered at UM, the 'vanilla' approach, as they look pretty much the same year to year.

I really doubt that bb will ever return to its full on zoo days, I remember some of it....bb outside of the madness is second fiddle almost everywhere and the media cannot focus on anything west of Kansas these days for long
 
citay: Good points, but here are some other thoughts.

Uniforms-We did get new uni's this year and I thought they looked pretty solid. Your right, they didn't create the off-season buzz the football outfits do, but if creating that buzz means wearing neon like Baylor, please count me out.
Recruiting-Your right here, but I think it has more to do with the number of resources available, the number of posters on the respective boards and the total number of recruits. Mslacat is more tuned in with the few folks and places to find that information than the rest of us are.
Entertainment-Football, by it's nature is far more conducive to being a spectacle than basketball. More could probably be done with basketball, but football being played once a week, on a weekend, in the fall is going to be better for a party than a thursday night in the dead of winter. Basketball relies more on the product itself. The proximity to the playing surface and the quick pace of the game are the thing in basketball, football needs the ancillary show to help make it what it is.
Off-field-PLEASE basketball players, keep up the good work here. Your good choices are appreciated!
 
Some might say that people care a little too much about football, rather than that people don't care enough about basketball.
 
So what color were those 16 lifeboats on the Titanic?.. More important, what color was that iceberg looming in the dark off port bow. And are we really having this discussion?
 
Spanky said:
My turn Allweather...what in the world do you mean? :roll:
Click to expand...


I think he is saying, something like, Basketball struggles to draw fans, no matter who we play, who the coach is, and how many Wins they get.

Yet, with football, it does not matter who the coach is, who we play, how good or bad the team really is. Griz nation sells out in football, even when we play the Western States, etc of the football world. People, bitch about both programs, despite the bitching, or what the school does, we still dish out money to the football team, hand over fist. In my opinion, the basketball program deserves a lot more than it gets from the GRIZ fan base. :thumb:
 
Thanks mtgrizrule....Coach Tinkle has the basketball program moving toward a national caliber program. Given his ability to recruit, we are two or three quality players away. I hope coach decides to stay another two or three years so he can continue to build on what he has started at UM.
 
Me too Spanky, but there are some nice jobs out there. I never thought it before, but feel a match made in heaven would be Tinkle and Nebraska.

Same kind of environment, at a premiere football school, in a football crazy state, and centrally located to recruit even more areas. Wayne would be an absolutely perfect fit in Nebraska, in my opinion. Plus he would have the luxury of seeing a plan through for 3 to 4 years, unlike LK at Utah.

Illinois is open too, but I don't see that as good of a fit, even though it would be awesome to be at a true basketball school.

Pac 12 though, has some nice potential openings, maybe not this year, but next year. I hope we see him stay until after Jamar is done.
 
And now back to the originally scheduled broadcast..............to the point why doesn't the BB program get the attention it deserves? Outside of the fact that the intersession kills a lot of potential student interest and FB often goes until mid December and nothing to do with new uniforms, really? I think the first step is to get an SID who gives a rats ass about the program and will promote the hell out it. Until the AD decides to address this issue we can expect continued mediocrity in attendance. Tinks has put a great product on the floor and we could never compensate him his due so that we have to live with. We best enjoy what we have now because Tinks owes it to himself and his family to provide for their long term security.
 
Montana's football program is relevant on a national scale. In the FCS - Montana is one of those at the top and has a shot at a NC every year and Griz fans can banter with people from all around the country about how good the team is. Basketball has to play with the true big boys and is not relevant outside the state so the excitement is not really there. If Tinks sticks around and gets his NCAA win it will push up the support that the B-Ball team receive. Problem there is when that happens, Wayne will move on, Montana will have to find another quality coach who can keep the program at that level which is not easy.
 
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