State of the program question

[driftwood]

I have always been dumbfounded by how little attention the men's basketball program has received when looking at the success they have had in the last 10 years.

After spending the last 4 years living more than a few hours away from Missoula, i have not had the chance to attend games. But i am curious, how are things looking (without the maroon goggles on)? i know people seem to like DeCuire and his passion, recruiting, etc.

Is it enough to boost attendance to say, 7,500 a game? Consistently win non-conference games against the Power Conferences. Are we on the verge of having the talent to not only win the Big Sky, but win an NCAA tournament game? become a true Cinderella team and make it past the 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament? Put the program on a national stage?

 

[mtgrizrule]

I have always been dumbfounded by how little attention the men's basketball program has received when looking at the success they have had in the last 10 years.

After spending the last 4 years living more than a few hours away from Missoula, i have not had the chance to attend games. But i am curious, how are things looking (without the maroon goggles on)? i know people seem to like DeCuire and his passion, recruiting, etc.

Is it enough to boost attendance to say, 7,500 a game? Consistently win non-conference games against the Power Conferences. Are we on the verge of having the talent to not only win the Big Sky, but win an NCAA tournament game? become a true Cinderella team and make it past the 1st weekend of the NCAA tournament? Put the program on a national stage? Consistently win non-conference games against the Power Conferences.

With the quality of recruits DeCuire is contacting, and surprisingly landing here, I believe the GRIZ will win NCAA tournament games and upset the big boys. I would be pleasantly surprised if the GRIZ were to ever get beyond the round of 32. It will fun and interesting to see what DeCuire with all his own players. As for attendance, with the way school semester system is and current culture, I feel an average of 5,500 would be about the best to expect. Anything above that would be amazing.

 

[driftwood]

On the attendance comment. I know there has been a lot of talk nationally about how the college game needs to make improvements. Probably most notably, shortening the shot clock. Do you think something as simple as shortening the shot clock and making it a "faster" game would be a drastic enough change to significantly boost UM's attendance numbers?

 

[mtgrizrule]

On the attendance comment. I know there has been a lot of talk nationally about how the college game needs to make improvements. Probably most notably, shortening the shot clock. Do you think something as simple as shortening the shot clock and making it a "faster" game would be a drastic enough change to significantly boost UM's attendance numbers?

I feel it will help gradually improve numbers. We also need to consider the prevalence of television and internet has taken a lot of people away from live attendance. It would take an awfully great GRIZ team for attendance to get back over 6k per game. We are at least 3 years away from the GRIZ having a decent out of conference home schedule. If Travis gets a high quality home schedule before then, that would be amazing.

Travis is doing right this season by taking on high quality road games. It looks to me he is 100% in taking the strategy Gonzaga, and more recently, Long Beach State have taken.

 

[citygriz]

On the attendance comment. I know there has been a lot of talk nationally about how the college game needs to make improvements. Probably most notably, shortening the shot clock. Do you think something as simple as shortening the shot clock and making it a "faster" game would be a drastic enough change to significantly boost UM's attendance numbers?

The 24-second clock saved the NBA. But, magawd, that was back in 1954-55--60 years ago! In the years since, everything has speeded up--travel, communications, sprint times, you name it. Now comes college basketball with a big announcement...yes...hold your breath....easy....the shot clock has been reduced to 30 seconds!! Wow! It's now only six seconds longer than the NBA shot clock was 60 years ago! Is college basketball hip or what!

Meantime, Chip Kelly and our own Bob Stitt, among others, are revolutionizing college football. The once ponderous huddle-up, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football of the past has gotten with the faster times. But college basketball? It remains six seconds slower than the NBA was 60 years ago.

I've argued here for a shot clock half-faster than the current 30-second clock. Teams have employed this to great effect. Loyola Marymount was great at it. If you clock a basketball game, you'll find 15 seconds is plenty of time to get the ball up the court and get a shot. This will offend the purists, of course, but meantime both the attendance and the TV ratings will drop for college basketball, as they have for years.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Dahlberg only seats 7,321 so it might be a little bit of a stretch to expect a couple of hundred people to be standing along the rails every game.

But to your main point, I can only speak for myself but I'm pretty excited for this season. I was impressed with the team and especially DeCuire last year. They have a tough, exciting schedule this year where if the Griz can have some success or pull off an upset of one of the bigger name programs, it might spark something special.

 

[driftwood]

Dahlberg only seats 7,321 so it might be a little bit of a stretch to expect a couple of hundred people to be standing along the rails every game.

But to your main point, I can only speak for myself but I'm pretty excited for this season. I was impressed with the team and especially DeCuire last year. They have a tough, exciting schedule this year where if the Griz can have some success or pull off an upset of one of the bigger name programs, it might spark something special.

True about max capacity. I had max capacity at 8,000 in my head. Although, when you look at Washington Grizzly Stadium: Max Capacity is listed at 25,217 - Last weekend they announced an attendance of 26,472. If you fill it, they will throw out a number above capacity.