Crowd For Tomorrow

[uconnsox23]

I'm expecting the stands to be a lot more full tomorrow being a Friday night with two quality opponents. I know there's a lot of Indiana alumni in the New York area. Do we think there will be more red or Husky Blue in the stands tomorrow? I know I'll be there +11 making a ruckus in 111.

 

[msgordon]

with no BET, i think there will be a LOT of uconn fans coming in tomorrow. so ill go with 64/36 uconn

 

[aceboon]

I'll be there, still wouldn't be shocked if IU has more fans in the building, I don't know whats up with UConn fans and these NY trips these days, the support has been lacking.

 

[Ts5034]

The Garden was a red Indiana sea tonight. And they were loud during their game. I will be there tmrow as well and I really hope we get as many fans in there as possible.

 

[BUHusky]

I was at the game to tonight and can vouch there were a ton of IU fans, way more than any other team. Friday or not, I'd be shocked if UConn fans outdraws IU fans tomorrow night. IU travels really well while UConn fans seem to be sitting on their hands at home the last bunch of years. I hope I'm wrong.

p.s.
I'll be there +3 again tomorrow night screaming like hell for our Huskies.

 

[CAHUSKY]

I was at the game to tonight and can vouch there were a ton of IU fans, way more than any other team. Friday or not, I'd be shocked if UConn fans outdraws IU fans tomorrow night. IU travels really well while UConn fans seem to be sitting on their hands at home the last bunch of years. I hope I'm wrong.

p.s.
I'll be there +3 again tomorrow night screaming like hell for our Huskies.

Indiana has 600,000 alumni. Many of which live in NY. That leads to big crowds

 

[BUHusky]

Indiana has 600,000 alumni. Many of which live in NY. That leads to big crowds

Sure.

On tbe flipside, UConn also has a lot of alumni in NYC too. Also, UConn has something IU doesn't...a fanbase that lives an average of 2 hours away by car, train, and/or bus. As Ace correctly pointed out, UConn's support in NYC has been lacking for some time now, for whatever eason.

 

[UConnMike04]

I don't post much, more of a lurker but the main reason is simply this: IU fans that live around here see their team once a year or every two years in this area while UConn fans in this area can see them pretty much anytime in Gampel or Hartford. Not an excuse to not pack the Garden with blue, but that's the reason. More opportunity for us to see them locally, less of a need to make a trip to MSG.

 

[Marat]

I don't post much, more of a lurker but the main reason is simply this: IU fans that live around here see their team once a year or every two years in this area while UConn fans in this area can see them pretty much anytime in Gampel or Hartford. Not an excuse to not pack the Garden with blue, but that's the reason. More opportunity for us to see them locally, less of a need to make a trip to MSG.

I agree with you. Its not rare to see the Huskies in NYC, while it is for the other teams.

 

[upstater]

I'll be there, still wouldn't be shocked if IU has more fans in the building, I don't know whats up with UConn fans and these NY trips these days, the support has been lacking.

Hasn't it been like this for a long time?

I wasn't there for either Brooklyn or last night, but in all the pre-season tourneys I've been to at MSG, there were very few UConn fans, and the place was half-filled. We even had fewer fans than Georgia Tech one year.

 

[upstater]

I have only been critical of Warde Manuel once in his tenure here, and that had to do with Ollie's contract. But for heaven's sake, even Boston U. and Cornell are blitzing alumni about a hockey game coming up in the garden. UConn should be subsidizing, advertising, pushing, emailing, etc., anything to get 5,000 more bodies in MSG for a game like this.

 

[Caronimo]

Going to offer my input here... IU fans were all over the arena and loud. BC fans were nowhere to be seen but louder than our fans down the stretch. I think more of us will show up tonight, but need to get more into the game. Overall it wasn't awful but I would hope we have a better showing tonight. The students made some noise.

 

[patrick]

If section 102 isn't making some noise, I will take full responsibility!

 

[aceboon]

Hasn't it been like this for a long time?

I wasn't there for either Brooklyn or last night, but in all the pre-season tourneys I've been to at MSG, there were very few UConn fans, and the place was half-filled. We even had fewer fans than Georgia Tech one year.

I first started noticing it around the 06-07 season during a St John's game I attended(I didn't attend the the PNIT game you're referring to), but all of the games I've attended since then have had sparse crowds compared to some St John's games I attended in the late 90s/early 00s with an uncle who started my UConn fandom.

 

[whaler11]

It's a solid 6 hours round trip via train from Hartford to the Garden on a weeknight. It's good matchups but it's November college basketball - only diehards pay attention.

The excellence of March makes November a lot less attractive.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Could not go last night as it was a work night and the wife caps the number of nights I go out after work; but, I will be there tonight (as long as I get the leaves done tomrorow).

 

[upstater]

I first started noticing it around the 06-07 season during a St John's game I attended(I didn't attend the the PNIT game you're referring to), but all of the games I've attended since then have had sparse crowds compared to some St John's games I attended in the late 90s/early 00s with an uncle who started my UConn fandom.

I really wonder if these St. John's games were simply a lot more popular than early preseason tourneys.

If you look at the height of UConn's ticket sales for bball (very near to 14,000 average) it coincide with that 2004-2006 period. And that's when I saw sparsely attended garden games. I think the team was very popular 10 years ago.

My brother in Westport tells me that travel is just brutal in Fairfield Cty. right now. I wonder if the influx of people has created an impossible travel situation over the last decade.

 

[aceboon]

I really wonder if these St. John's games were simply a lot more popular than early preseason tourneys.

If you look at the height of UConn's ticket sales for bball (very near to 14,000 average) it coincide with that 2004-2006 period. And that's when I saw sparsely attended garden games. I think the team was very popular 10 years ago.

My brother in Westport tells me that travel is just brutal in Fairfield Cty. right now. I wonder if the influx of people has created an impossible travel situation over the last decade.

I also went to the St Johns games in 09 when we were a #1 seed(St Johns was bad tho) and also in '11 during Kemba's year when St Johns had their best team in years and the UConn turnout was pretty poor for those games as well. For me, I'm commuting in from Norwalk after work by Metro North, so when it comes to games during the week its much easier for me to make an MSG game, or Barclays if thats the case like the season opener, then it is for me to make a Hartford or Storrs game, which are impossible. One thing I do wonder about is just how big the FF county fanbase is. When UConn played Duke in the 09 PNIT final, on the train it seemed like there were more frat boys dressed in Duke gear than there were UConn fans.

 

[upstater]

The Duke phenomenon is interesting. I have relatives who became Duke fans when they moved to North Carolina. It has a lot to do with front-running, status and race.

I'll never forget the Pitt newspaper article prior to the 99 championship advising people on who to root for. Called the UConn kids thugs, and the Duke kids real students.

That Duke team had Elton Brand, Magette, Avery and Burgess on it, all kids who left early and didn't graduate. By comparison, UConn had some upperclassmen in Ricky, Jake V., Rashamel, Rip and Kevin Freeman (sure I'm missing someone). It was totally undeserved, but it's the way people look at Duke and the opposition.

I'd never accuse Duke of "milking" the image but for some fans it plays a part. Just like the Celtics were accused of being racist, I'm sure part of the appeal for some fans was the whiteness of the team. Never mind that the Celtics were the first team with a black head coach and the fist team with an all black starting five. Even black fans of the NBA developed a distaste for them, but it's not like the white starters (Bird, McHale and Ainge) weren't great players.

 

[Tenspro2002]

I can't help but feel like weak crowd showings at these high-profile, neutral site events are part of the reason we're not in a major conference. It demonstrates a lack of fan interest or marketability.

 

[upstater]

I can't help but feel like weak crowd showings at these high-profile, neutral site events are part of the reason we're not in a major conference. It demonstrates a lack of fan interest or marketability.

It's a mystery because the support has been weak at these events since forever, but then there's a contrast with the Big East tournament where UConn has the best support of 16 fanbases. So, which are you going to emphasize? The lack of fans in November or the horde of fans in March?

 

[Mots010]

The duke game at msg in 09 was def 60-40 in favor of Uconn. We got our doors blown off pretty quickly in that game though. We have certainly not impressed in MSG outside of the BET lately.

 

[buddy]

Going to offer my input here... IU fans were all over the arena and loud. BC fans were nowhere to be seen but louder than our fans down the stretch. I think more of us will show up tonight, but need to get more into the game. Overall it wasn't awful but I would hope we have a better showing tonight. The students made some noise.

I was at the game. I thought it was nearly even UConn-Indiana. The red color of their clothes make it easier to see. The loud cheering at the end for BC was the Indiana fans. The BC fans overall were few in number and quiet. The UConn student section didn't show up until midway through the first half. Other than the student section, the UConn fans as well were muted in their enthusiasm. The tone of the game, with so many foul calls disrupts the fans as well as the players.

 

[whaler11]

I really wonder if these St. John's games were simply a lot more popular than early preseason tourneys.

If you look at the height of UConn's ticket sales for bball (very near to 14,000 average) it coincide with that 2004-2006 period. And that's when I saw sparsely attended garden games. I think the team was very popular 10 years ago.

My brother in Westport tells me that travel is just brutal in Fairfield Cty. right now. I wonder if the influx of people has created an impossible travel situation over the last decade.

Half the reason I moved out of Fairfield in 2001 was I couldn't take the traffic any more. If it's consistently worse I'd hang myself.

 

[msgordon]

I was at the game. I thought it was nearly even UConn-Indiana. The red color of their clothes make it easier to see. The loud cheering at the end for BC was the Indiana fans. The BC fans overall were few in number and quiet. The UConn student section didn't show up until midway through the first half. Other than the student section, the UConn fans as well were muted in their enthusiasm. The tone of the game, with so many foul calls disrupts the fans as well as the players.

Indiana red is def true. Cuse always has great support at the garden but that damn orange makes it seem even worse