Aaron

Well IU just released the remaining tickets for winter break in interactive map format where you can choose your seat so the official remaining tickets for the 3 games are: 1. Nebraska has 488 seats left with blocks of tickets left in the last few rows of the corner balcony sections and scattered singles in rest of balcony 2. Wisconsin has 7 main level singles left and about 1,600 in the balcony including large blocks in every part of it 3. Illinois has 88 singles left scattered throughout the balcony so it is essentially sold out The announced attendance is always a little lower than tickets left based on past precedent so by the time everything sells you will probably have announced attendance similar to what is left now. Nebraska will probably be somewhere in the upper 16,000 range (capacity is now 17,222 since renovations). Wisconsin will be in the the mid 15,000's and Illinois a sellout. Again I understand the reasoning but it blows my mind that Wisconsin is by far the toughest sell of the 3 Big Ten games. Illinois being a weekend makes sense to me but I thought ticket demand for Nebraska and Wisconsin would be flipped. It brings me back to the threads original point that fans are just looking to go to a game (and the week of holiday break is more convenient a lot) and do not really pay attention to the quality of the opponent which is to bad.

I don't believe the week difference matters as this has been the ticket situation for several weeks. I do think the holiday break matters and had not thought of that when posting the question. I would not be confidant in a complete sellout though. Even last year the Wisconsin game drew 14,098 in a similar situation which was the smallest announced crowd of the year (obviously many of our pre-season cupcake "sellouts" with students had way less in actuality). The lower level will sell out but don't be surprised if we get a similar 14,000-15,000 crowd like we did last year and the smallest of the Big Ten season. This is the one game you really wish students were here and we had a maximum atmosphere. Remember Wisconsin was the team that came closest to beating us in the Hall last year. This game scares me a lot and is the one game at home I am not confident we will win. Just for reference I was very confident we would beat UNC and Kansas and was really worried about the Butler game (so far the only game that has fooled me is Fort Wayne). If anyone is interested I have a good feeling about the Louisville game.

I'm mind blown that as of now the Nebraska game is nearly sold out (just top of balcony left) but the Wisconsin game has plenty of tickets left (a good amount at top of main level and most of balcony). Do our fans not understand that they need to show up far more against Wisconsin and provide a big time atmosphere? I understand why the Illinois game has sold so well (only scattered singles left) as it is a weekend and those sell better. However, there is zero excuse for fans to be buying tickets in droves to see Nebraska but not Wisconsin. Can someone please explain this to me?

Well as the person who started this thread kudos to Glass for solving this situation by moving basketball to 6:30 and than letting people watch bowl game from their seats after on big screen. I have been critical of Glass recently but this was handled 100% perfectly by him given he had no control over the start time of the bowl game!

Also Alex Bozich just reminded everyone on Twitter (and I forgot about this) is they had to dismiss the Tennis coach for a similar reason and Water Polo coach for an unknown reason (although it should be noted program was winning at a high level when dismissed). A disturbing pattern?

If what the Oklahoma player said about ripping players helmet off is true clearly they're were warning signs prior to the hire. Also look how long it took Glass to act as this has been going on for several years. As I said I think Glass is a great guy but clearly he is over looking character issues based on the examples of the 3 coaches I citied above. I would have no problem with Glass staying on as AD but having nothing to do with future hires of coaches. However, trustees need to audit his hiring process

From what it sounds like Fred Glass did right thing but this is THIRD time a coach on his watch has had off field issues. First the softball coach nearly got axed for abusing player, than the women's coach axed for something having to do with off field incident and way he treated people I think, now Wilson for abusing players. How many questionable characters can Glass bring in before people wonder? Interestingly I have met Glass a few times and really like him and think he is a great guy but clearly his judgment in people's character when hiring is an issue. This needs to be addressed.

Almost everyone has IU headed to bowl in Santa Clara. Last I checked that is also IU's Big Ten opener at home. Does the NCAA not have a provision to not let these cross? This makes things incredibly tough on fans (granted bowl is at 8:30 and basketball at 7 so only a slight overlap) who want to attend both and even tougher on media and radio who can't do or be in and broadcast in 2 places at once. Can IU not fight tooth and nail for a different bowl for this reason? I wish the hypocritical NCAA would work with bowl games to ensure these games don't overlap for the fairness of all involved for ANY school. This is not pre-conference cupcakes for basketball anymore but conference games now that should not be over shadowed by exhibition bowls.

I distinctly remember when the IU-Fort Wayne game was announced that IU was in charge of ticket distribution and it would be considered a neutral site game. Now all of the sudden it is being referred to as a 'road game' by every fan, media and person talking about it. What happened? While it helps IU for KenPom and the RPI to consider it a "road game", when it is not even in Fort Wayne's regular gym and will be 3/4 IU fans it should go down as a neutral site win as was talked about when game was announced. Looks like we got a cushier deal than we thought getting something called a 'road game' that was never suppose to be:).

I am a former student and I have to say the new system is brilliant in my opinion. Instead of getting mostly balcony games you now get half your seats in GA and if you are timely and loyal you will no longer have to sit in the balcony very often. This whole system rewards loyal students as it should be.   Last night lower GA was full earlier than in past years because people knew if they did not get there early they would end up in the balcony. Before, there was less incentive to show up early as you knew you would get a good seat in first 25 rows no matter what in GA. Now you must show up early to get a good seat.   As for the balcony not being full no one would want those tickets most likely (especially for no-name U in early season) if they were released to the public every game. The games are full for break because going is a novelty. I also grew up in the area and I always went to break games prior to being a student because these were the only games you COULD go to. If every game had tickets sold you would not have the same numbers as it is no longer special.   The only change I could argue making is releasing Rows 26-45 of the eastside to people on the waiting list if they want them. Otherwise pre-season sell outs whether students attend or not is far more preferable to athletic department moneywise and it keeps opposing teams fans out (although that's rarely an issue).   There is no perfect system but the new one IU has implemented this year is certainly a step in the right direction and I'm not sure there is a better one. People will always complain no matter what system is used