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Putting the popularity of BSC basketball in perspective

Silvertip

Well-known member
Last week more people, 5,028, attended the Lady Griz game against Wyoming game than attended MEN'S games involving BSC games in Portland, Boise, Flagstaff and Greeley COMBINED! Football or basketball, the interest in the Big Sky is pretty much limited to Montana . Pathetic...
 
Silvertip said:
Last week more people, 5,028, attended the Lady Griz game against Wyoming game than attended MEN'S games involving BSC games in Portland, Boise, Flagstaff and Greeley COMBINED! Football or basketball, the interest in the Big Sky is pretty much limited to Montana . Pathetic...

Sad, but true. Of course, Montana Women's BB has been in the top 25 in average attendance nationwide for many years.
 
Silvertip said:
Last week more people, 5,028, attended the Lady Griz game against Wyoming game than attended MEN'S games involving BSC games in Portland, Boise, Flagstaff and Greeley COMBINED! Football or basketball, the interest in the Big Sky is pretty much limited to Montana . Pathetic...

It was sure different with Idaho and Boise when they were in the conference. It is not the same conference and is not getting better with UNC. I'm starting to think we should look for a better home.
 
Silvertip said:
Last week more people, 5,028, attended the Lady Griz game against Wyoming game than attended MEN'S games involving BSC games in Portland, Boise, Flagstaff and Greeley COMBINED! Football or basketball, the interest in the Big Sky is pretty much limited to Montana . Pathetic...

Mot sure about it just being limited to just Montana. The EWU/Montana basketball game had around 3,000 Saturday, and that was with very few students being school is not in session. Attendance is very pathetic in some of the other BSC schools, though. Too bad.
 
If you look at Men's BB Attendance for the 05-06 season, the BSC didn't have a team in the top 100 in average attandance. The Conference ranked 18th out of 31 Conferences with an average attendance of a paltry 2,741, which surprisingly is up 358 fpg over the previous season. For sake of comparison, the Big West Conference only averaged 1,975 per game, down 713 fpg from the previous season.

Looking at Women's BB Attendance for the same period, Montana was ranked 27th in average attendance at 3,855. As a conference the BSC was ranked 11th with an average of only 1,213 per game.

In case anyone was wondering, the best average attendance the Lady Griz ever had was 5,235 per game during the 1994-95 season. The single game record is 9,258 set in 1988 against the kittens.
 
Well the 1,200 seat arena will be rockin at Sac State Thursday night! Filled to capacity baby!
 
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.

i'm reminded of the basketball coach at michigan who was stuck with an old delapidated gym about the time he was trying to recruit cazzie russell back in the 60's. on russell's recruiting visit, he just happened to lose the keys.

i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.
 
citygriz said:
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.

i'm reminded of the basketball coach at michigan who was stuck with an old delapidated gym about the time he was trying to recruit cazzie russell back in the 60's. on russell's recruiting visit, he just happened to lose the keys.

i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.

Gonzaga recruited just fine to their old facility. The success at the OLD Dog Pound enabled them to get the new one. In fact, if you go to the venues in that conference, they are nothing to brag about. I agree on Sac, but they are in the process of building new facilities which will be top notch. MSU and UM have good facilities. I haven't been to NoCo. EWU is average at best. NAU is nothing great. Weber is excellent. Idaho State is well, Idaho State. PSU likes to play in Stott becuase they think they have an advantage their.
 
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.

i'm reminded of the basketball coach at michigan who was stuck with an old delapidated gym about the time he was trying to recruit cazzie russell back in the 60's. on russell's recruiting visit, he just happened to lose the keys.

i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.
 
citygriz said:
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.

i'm reminded of the basketball coach at michigan who was stuck with an old delapidated gym about the time he was trying to recruit cazzie russell back in the 60's. on russell's recruiting visit, he just happened to lose the keys.

i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.

You answer with the same post???? :werd:
 
Reese Court *is* average - but it is head and shoulders over most of the basketball facilities in the Big Sky. There has been talk of building a new arena in Cheney some time in the next 5 years. Not sure when or if that will happen, though, since they're right in the middle of building a multi-million dollar Ice Arena/Rec Center, of all things. That, coupled with the fact that they are no where near being complete with the Woodward renovations makes me think that building a new basketball arena won't happen anytime soon. I like Reese anyways. It holds an adequate number of people (6K +), and it can get very, very load in there.
 
EWURanger29 said:
Reese Court *is* average - but it is head and shoulders over most of the basketball facilities in the Big Sky. There has been talk of building a new arena in Cheney some time in the next 5 years. Not sure when or if that will happen, though, since they're right in the middle of building a multi-million dollar Ice Arena/Rec Center, of all things. That, coupled with the fact that they are no where near being complete with the Woodward renovations makes me think that building a new basketball arena won't happen anytime soon. I like Reese anyways. It holds an adequate number of people (6K +), and it can get very, very load in there.

Having recently watched the EWU - GU game at the MAC, it's really just Reece with a bit more window dressing, fancier concessions, and seats underneath the baskets. Other than it's just another gym.

Rennovations to Reese should be way down the list. It's fine.

I did hear that Eastern is considering a D-III hockey program to go along with the new ice arena.
 
kalm said:
I did hear that Eastern is considering a D-III hockey program to go along with the new ice arena.

Per DIII rules, DI schools can no longer drop down into DIII for any single sport. That said, the Spokane area market would seemingly be a great location for a NCAA DI hockey team. The west needs more schools (only has Denver, Colorado College, and Air Force currently). The one entry-level conference, the CHA, would take all-comers, so there's no conference affiliation worries. Recently, Grand Canyon U in Phoenix announced they are starting hockey. The Big Sky has a number of cities where hockey would likely go over well: Northern Arizona formerly had a DI team (dropped it when they couldn't get a conference affiliation), and Ogden, Portland, Missoula, and Bozeman would all be good hockey towns. Long term, perhaps hockey would be a way for the Sky to get better exposure.
 
citygriz said:
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.
...
i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.

If Big Sky facilities are an issue, UND should be seriously considered if the Sky adds a tenth team. Since 2001, almost $200 million in facilities have been constructed, and more (an indoor track/football practice facility) are likely on the way.

The Ralph - hockey/basketball
rea_interior.jpg

The Betty - volleyball/practice for basketball
betty.jpg

The Al - football and possibly soccer when changed to field-turf
alerus_interior.jpg
 
citygriz said:
look around the big sky, and mostly what you see for either football or basketball are mediocre facilities. the walkup sky dome should be turned into storage lockers, the sac state gym is dingy--compared to the helena high school gym--and when i first saw the portland state gym, i thought i'd wandered into a handball court. bascially, the big sky is about two generations behind the rest of civilization when it comes to athletic facilities, many of which will soon be turned over to the science departments for archeological digs.

i'm reminded of the basketball coach at michigan who was stuck with an old delapidated gym about the time he was trying to recruit cazzie russell back in the 60's. on russell's recruiting visit, he just happened to lose the keys.

i wish montana would lose the keys to the whole b.s.c. you simply can't recruit top-notch kids to a conference with facilities like these, and except for the occasional breakout by a montana or a weber state or maybe even a northern arizona in basketball, the conference will remain mired in mediocrity.

Poor analysis.

The WCC is the same way from a facility standpoint, and has produced good athletes in the past (Steve Nash) and is able to recruit good athletes currently (GU).

Not to mention Rodney Stuckey and the previous group of Eagles that were stolen from the Huskies out of Western Washington and led EWU to the dance 3 years ago.

The BSC is a mid-major. Montana is the class of the conference. What's wrong with that? You're selling your program short by bitching about the Big Sky.
 
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