4,741...Smallest Crowd Ever?

[HuskyHawk]

Fact is that if the NCAA Tournament was at 64, certainly 68 teams, several of the early UConn Big East teams would likely have been invited. Between 1978 and 1984 it went from 32 to 40 to 48 to 53 teams. In 1985 it finally settled on 64. I suspect that in a 64 team field, the 1979-80 team (20-9), 1980-81 (20-9) would both have been at least bubble teams. I would bet the 1981 team got a bid. The 81 Team had wins over Syracuse, Georgetown, and St Johns, so it had a solid resume, too. The 1980 team had a comparable record but lesser resume than the 81 group.

Agree, and those were really fun teams. Mike McKay was an awesome leaper and was a really highly recruited guy who came to UConn over some bigger (at the time) names.

 

[UConnLen]

OF COURSE ... you all touched on what is the big difference. You can find the game - the TV feed - almost always today. When we were fanatics, you had to go to the game OR you just didn't have anything til you read it in the paper the next morning. In a Snowstorm like Tuesday, you wouldn't risk driving if you can search anyhow you can for the game. Pay the CBS fee ... whatever.

When younger (and one of the first years I had kids), I would sneak out of my house (near Albany) and drive East on gamedays til I could get the WTIC feed on the radio. YES, I did listen to a game in Lee, Massachusetts once. Most games, I can get on the computer or on cable. Twitter or Yahoo Gamecast on my iPhone gives me the fix I used to get by radio.

Pudge-heck living in Uncasville we had to drive to the top of Franklin Hill [Rt 32] to listen to the game on WILI. Many cold nights Budfrog and I spent there. Seems that WTIC had to change the direction of its signal at sunset of something like that and we couldn't get the game there or the Whalers were on!

 

[David 76]

I remember a big women's game at the Civic Center (I think Tenn.) in a huge storm and the place still packed. That was about the peak of huskymania for both teams (mid to late 90s)

 

[ecasadoSBU]

The official UConn website has that 'Cuse game as a 71-69 win for us on February 20, 1985, but it lists it as a Storrs game. I think there has to be a mistake on the website because it doesn't list any Hartford games other than the CT Mutual Classic, and I know that we played there often during the Big East season. We beat Syracuse both times that season actually, with a 70-68 win at the Carrier Dome earlier in the season.

I remember the student section chanting "Earl Kelly is the real pearl!" and feeling like we were world beaters for having swept them.

yep, it says storrs pretty much for every year even the early 2000s. i guess they didnt bother putting the correct locations.

 

[Waquoit]

The official UConn website has that 'Cuse game as a 71-69 win for us on February 20, 1985, but it lists it as a Storrs game. I think there has to be a mistake on the website because it doesn't list any Hartford games other than the CT Mutual Classic, and I know that we played there often during the Big East season.

Yeah, all Big East games were played in the Civic Center by league mandate, until Gampel was built.

 

[freescooter]

I remember a big women's game at the Civic Center (I think Tenn.) in a huge storm and the place still packed. That was about the peak of huskymania for both teams (mid to late 90s)

The whole attendance thing is a problem for sports in general, not just UConn. The Boston Red Sox had an average attendance that was 3000 less per game in 2013 (for the regular season). Cincinnati Bengals didn't sell out their home playoff game this year until a couple of local firms stepped in at the last minute and bought the remaining seats to avoid a tv blackout in Cincy. Green Bay had trouble selling out its home playoff game to the extent that the NFL extended the Blackout deadline twice. Let me repeat. The Green Bay Packers couldn't sell out a home playoff game. There are real concerns that if the weather is bad, there will be empty seats at the Superbowl for the first time since about II. Only 1 BCS Bowl sold out its ticket allocation. With virtually every game televised, often with better views than you get in the venues, multiple replays from multiple angles, it is becoming less and less important to be there. So it isn't only a UConn problem. The other issue, I think is too many meaningless games against teams nobody cares much about. For UConn, and other major power schools, the regular season is just not that big a deal any more. Yeah, you have to perform to get to the "real" season which starts in mid-March and ends the first Monday in April, but it isn't that hard to do and unless there is a marquee opponent, being there isn't necessarily twice the fun. Throw in avoiding price gouging to park, $8 beers, and the question becomes why in heck would you risk life and limb on a snowy night to travel to Hartford when you can be nice and cozy at home and have a perfectly fine experience.

 

[Milo65]

You also need to understand that the in the field house days, the very best games were only played at the HCC. Of course the attendance would be higher, even in a storm. The fact that an 0-5 Temple team drew poorly during a snow storm is not surprising.