4,741...Smallest Crowd Ever?

[Pudge]

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.

 

[nimzovich]

I remember going to see UConn play Georgetown in the Field House (somewhere between January 1980 and January 1983) with my father; he was dropping me off back in Storrs after winter break. I remember climbing those rickety rafters and feeling like a gymnast after walking up 20-25 rows. I also vividly remember sitting on the floor underneath the basket at the Field House for games during those same years.

But, is the 4,741 from Tuesday night the smallest HCC/XL crowd ever for a UConn game? I say yes until proven otherwise.

i would think that it was the smallest announced crowd (there was a time that they announced tickets sold) ever for HCC/XL...

but i would guess that the smallest UConn home crowd since 1978 for a game not in Storrs, was Dec 10th, 1985 at the New Haven Coliseum against Fairfield. The announced crowd was 3587.....

 

[BoatShow]

Does anyone remember the two NIT games in 2001? I recall being shocked at how small those crowds were. I'd be surprised if they were over 3k in Gampel.

EDIT: Attendance listed at 3200 for the first game and over 8K for the second, but I know it was nowhere near that.

I was at that Detroit game and 8k seems right. I
was 13 though so I was probably more about staring at cheerleaders and wishing I could shoot like Albie than counting fans.

 

[UconnDon]

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.

Hah, reminiscent of my idiocy. From my residence in Greenwich, I would drive to the I95 rest area in Fairfield which was the closest contact point for WTIC reception. I would take my beers with which to listen to the game, and pop corn available in the rest center stores. My wife and sons were convinced I needed some psychiatric assistance.

 

[freescooter]

I agree. Even in the Perno years, the team was very popular, including pre-Big East (that's why we were invited). I fondly recall Karl Hobbs, Vern Giscombe, Mike McKay, Corny, Chuck A, Norm Bailey etc. Some really good teams too. The program only had a real down stretch in the early Big East years, from 82-83 to 86-87. But the team was quite popular during those years despite the records (I was on campus from 84-88).

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.

 

[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.