Soapbox Time. Students, get your butts to the games!

[IUHAHN81]

I'd also say that even tho basketball is entertainment, the players are still human.  Meaning they can have adrenalin rushes from the crowd getting behind them.  To me it works both ways.  Yeah winning probably brings more to the building.  But we could probably aid in winning ourselves by showing up and truly rooting them on. Those go hand in hand imo case in point last night with a couple mins left.  The crowd helps the team just as winning helps us fans.

[Magnanimous]

37 minutes ago, Old Friend said:

Then they are spoiled, entitled brats who don't deserve the seats.  Been that way for decades and they have been full for as long as I can remember.   A poor excuse.

Then Tom Crean happened. 

[zsmithey4]

1. All student tickets are not GA. There are many scattered throughout the Hall.

2. These posts are ignorant and take away from students like me that line up hours early to get in the front row of all these games and bring intensity and passion.

3. Monday is a big day for night classes at least from people I know. The Big Ten is partly to blame for changing the schedules.

4. For every fair weather fan you have the passionate fans that show up every game. If you take away seats from the students, you're taking away tickets from the kids that actually care about IU basketball and you will have games full of the fair weather fans you guys are talking about.

[KB0]

I think a significant part of the problem is that the Crimson Guard is run by the marketing department. Students have little say in anything that happens for the in-game experience. 

[Naturalhoosier]

52 minutes ago, mdn82 said:

That was my understanding. My kid currently is going. To get season tix for basketball they have to get season tix for football now which is different and part of the reason there are more people for football games but less for basketball. When I went we didn’t have to get football tix. I think they even have less games to pick from now tbh, but they still aren’t filling them up.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Back in my day sonny, they were giving students IUFB tix (for free) with the purchase of IUBB Tix. 

[Aaron]

This is very simple and something I know about very well and will answer this topic in all aspects with mostly facts and some opinion.

First off as has been mentioned there are so many Monday night classes compared with other nights where students have no choice. I know someone who taught a class last night but let students out early so they could go but most professors do not do that. This aspect of it is completely on the Big Ten and Monday and Friday games should be banned.

Secondly as painful as it is for us locals most of these east coast fans are not familiar with IU basketball and will only go if IU is good or if its a big game. In 2012-2013 and the second half of 2015-2016 every seat was filled almost as has been the case for big games every year and next 2 will be packed. Students may not use the tickets, but besides those court seats no one wants the balcony. I have been somewhat following attendance for other Big Ten teams and most of the weeknight games for teams not at the top of the conference the seats just sit empty and not sold versus IU they are at least sold even if people choose not to attend.

Thirdly the reason the balconies are more empty than ever is a couple years ago IU changed student distribution which I like the new way better. It use to be balcony was not GA and only the lower level seats below row 25 were. This made it so that you would have scattered empties in the lower level GA and it would take forever to fill as you only had as many GA tickets sold as seats available and students would get 1-2 GA games a year. Now with the balcony as part of the same GA tickets, those lower level seats almost always fill by tipoff and the few leftover GA students end up in the balcony who show up late. Students now get 7-8 GA games a year so you are finally rewarding loyalty in some ways. I wish they did this when I was in school 10 years ago. Court level and top of main level are not GA.     

I think this would be a great topic to revisit in a couple years if students still are not showing up once Archie brings up back but for now I am not sure anything different can be done as no one would want the seats in the balcony students are not using. My only suggestion would be to add the court as part of GA with the main level so those don't sit empty. Otherwise I think the way it is now is the best you can do until we start winning big again.

Also even though you had 3,000 or so empties last night (this includes many main level non student seats as well so lets not just blame students) the ones who made it were extremely loud and this was by far the best atmosphere this year besides Duke.     

[Old Friend]

43 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

Then Tom Crean happened. 

Oh yeah.  =)

[Old Friend]

14 minutes ago, Aaron said:

 

Also even though you had 3,000 or so empties last night (this includes many main level non student seats as well so lets not just blame students) the ones who made it were extremely loud and this was by far the best atmosphere this year besides Duke.     

I liked some of your other points; disagreed with others; however I've only been to one game this season so can't comment or verify, but if this comment is true, I find it even more sad.  The building was sterile last night.

[Walking Boot of Doom]

It's 2018 and Indiana basketball hasn't been relevant in almost three decades. This isn't a geography problem, IU basketball doesn't even have the same market share of fans in Indiana as they used to. This is a winning problem. Win and they will come.

Also, just giving more tickets to alumni will result in the same problem. If Indiana isn't winning, very few will want to drag their walkers to their cars, drive through heinous traffic, and watch as their team loses to a mediocre B1G team.

The only solution is winning. IU basketball isn't a religion anymore.

[Aaron]

Just now, Old Friend said:

I liked some of your other points; disagreed with others; however I've only been to one game this season so can't comment or verify, but if this comment is true, I find it even more sad.  The building was sterile last night.

First 30 minutes atmosphere was mediocre. Last 10 minutes was at a vintage level and really really loud.

Unfortunately, besides Duke outside of cupcakes we have only played Iowa, NW and PSU before last night that could have any atmosphere at all. Iowa and NW were blowouts and PSU always has a week atmosphere as it excites no one. Maryland excites enough that a close game down the stretch creates vintage Assembly Hall which is absolutely was the last 5 minutes.     

[Aaron]

4 minutes ago, Walking Boot of Doom said:

It's 2018 and Indiana basketball hasn't been relevant in almost three decades. This isn't a geography problem, IU basketball doesn't even have the same market share of fans in Indiana as they used to. This is a winning problem. Win and they will come.

Also, just giving more tickets to alumni will result in the same problem. If Indiana isn't winning, very few will want to drag their walkers to their cars, drive through heinous traffic, and watch as their team loses to a mediocre B1G team.

The only solution is winning. IU basketball isn't a religion anymore.

Pretty much agree with this and more or less what I said in my post in much greater detail.

[Old Friend]

1 minute ago, Aaron said:

First 30 minutes atmosphere was mediocre. Last 10 minutes was at a vintage level and really really loud.

Unfortunately, besides Duke outside of cupcakes we have only played Iowa, NW and PSU before last night that could have any atmosphere at all. Iowa and NW were blowouts and PSU always has a week atmosphere as it excites no one. Maryland excites enough that a close game down the stretch creates vintage Assembly Hall which is absolutely was the last 5 minutes.     

Agreed.  Last couple of minutes were "normal."   Big Ten games, no matter the opponent, should be loud.  Duke is loud no matter who they play.  So is Purdue these days. So is Michigan State.   We're making excuses now (not you....collective), and it's not a good recipe.  If we all want recruits and we all want a winner; this "eh" attitude cannot be the way of the Indiana Basketball world.

[Old Friend]

5 minutes ago, Iugradman said:

You should have seen the Howard game. People were yelling stuff at Archie and you could hear them halfway across the arena.

Just shaking my head.  I want that guy to see the honey of this job....not the bull crap of it.  I hate that.  New system, not a bunch of talent....    No wonder he seemed frustrated early on.   I really hope he's patient.  I also believe winning will cure all; but I also believe this is a special place and fair weather fans are a problem.

[HoosierCoop]

Does anyone know what the sideline fans said to the referee that he had to stop the game and warn the bench?

That is a new one.  Not that the refs didn't deserve it last night.

[Trish]

13 minutes ago, Iugradman said:

You should have seen the Howard game. People were yelling stuff at Archie and you could hear them halfway across the arena.

"Come on Archie, get them to shoot and pass better!!!"

 

As Boot pointed out, winning is everything. I was a student at IU when we were #1 in the nation with Zeller and Oladipo. You couldn't find a seat in Assembly Hall. Why is that? Because we were #1 and we were winning. 

We simply need to win and be ranked top 10 or so to increase our attendance. 

[Hoosierfan2017]

I'll be honest... I was a student for the past four years under Crean and there were numerous times I had tickets that I ended up either selling or not going because I was tired of Crean and wanted him gone. It wasn't just that we were bad, it was that we were bad and didn't have much hope of getting better due to Crean's deficiencies. I wish I had student tickets now, even though the team isn't very good still, because I have hope again with Archie in control. 

[OliviaPope40]

1 hour ago, Old Friend said:

I liked some of your other points; disagreed with others; however I've only been to one game this season so can't comment or verify, but if this comment is true, I find it even more sad.  The building was sterile last night.

I was at the Duke I could barely hear a word for the most part although there was some profanity that night. It had the feel of the UK game and hardly anybody sat down. And as others have said the first few minutes weren't that great but the last few minutes was good. 

Edited January 23, 2018 by OliviaPope40

[OliviaPope40]

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2018/01/22/doyel-juwan-morgan-does-all-iu-during-and-after-big-win/1053617001/

Doyle mentions some of what is being said in this thread and I agree with him.

[Old Friend]

2 hours ago, Iugradman said:

It wasn’t mean stuff. We went 12-29 from the FT line in that game and someone yelled out “Free throws tomorrow Archie!”

Whew.   I know many were frustrated early.  Still....he shouldn't be able to hear anyone who's not right behind him.   Hoping time will cure it.

[DChoosier]

10 hours ago, OliviaPope40 said:

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2018/01/22/doyel-juwan-morgan-does-all-iu-during-and-after-big-win/1053617001/

Doyle mentions some of what is being said in this thread and I agree with him.

Thanks for passing along the article. Aside from "doing it all", for the team, Morgan sounds like a great kid.