Geno Offers Tough Love To NCAA

[RockyMTblue2]

Man is in rare form today. Around 12 minute mark he starts on attendance and what to do.

 

[Hamms30]

I mean... he's not wrong. He makes a good point, a lot of people follow their team and it stops there. I'm sure there are many more women's ball fans than he came across as insinuating though. But to his point, not enough to expect to fill off-site arenas not remotely located near the schools playing. I think we'll see that in Dallas for the F4 and NC.

 

[HoopsFan21]

I mean... he's not wrong. He makes a good point, a lot of people follow their team and it stops there. I'm sure there are many more women's ball fans than he came across as insinuating though. But to his point, not enough to expect to fill off-site arenas not remotely located near the schools playing. I think we'll see that in Dallas for the F4 and NC.

Dallas should be OK. It's right in Baylor's back yard.

 

[ASweet3781]

Dallas should be OK. It's right in Baylor's back yard.

I would expect Baylor to get the calls tonight. If they don't make it to Dallas, attendance could be a problem. None of the remaining schools close by and South Carolina's fans now may choose to go to the men's Final 4.

 

[BigBird]

A part of the problem (yeah, here we go again) is that the ten or so teams at the top of the stack are great fun to watch. Mrs. BigBird now considers Husky games "must see" programming. But the sad truth is, when you get below the top 10 or 15, the games are too often just damned painful to watch. Until there are more teams who can really play, we are going to continually gravitate only to our favorites, because they are the most rewarding; they entertain us.

Frankly, watching UConn makes watching a lot of other teams a lot less attractive.

 

[eebmg]

He may take a little heat for that statement. "WBB fans are not basketball fans".

 

[Nuyoika]

I had this exact conversation on the Baylor forum a few months ago. Many think they are WCBB fans but they really aren't. They are just a fan of their school. If you only watch your school and no other teams. You don't love the sport you love that team. That's okay but don't call yourself a WCBB fan say you're a UConn fan or a Baylor or a Kentucky or whoever fan.

That's why I find it hilarious when someone says UConn is ruining the sport then you find out they don't know a damn thing about the sport as a whole because they have only been watching 1 team play for 10 years. How on earth are you going to say anything about the sport as a whole when you haven't seen it? Furthermore, if you as a supposed WCBB fan are only watching one team how then would you expect as fan for the sport to grow if you don't even watch other teams yourself but you want others to? It makes no sense.

People need to understand the demographic in which the sport appeals to first, then understand how that demographic interacts within that industry. WCBB doesn't have a large number of fans as a whole. It instead has pockets of fans dedicated either to a certain team/region/or conference. The NCAA needs to build on that and go from there. You can't force nation wide acceptance. You take what you are given and spend your resources there.

 

[Nuyoika]

Dallas should be OK. It's right in Baylor's back yard.

They didn't pull all that well in the Dallas regionals last year, only about 6K (which is the same as their average at home games), but that is still better than what it likely would have been without them there.

 

[DefenseBB]

I would expect Baylor to get the calls tonight. If they don't make it to Dallas, attendance could be a problem. None of the remaining schools close by and South Carolina's fans now may choose to go to the men's Final 4.

Just STOP! Everyone who thinks just because the Final Four is in Dallas and well, Baylor will help needs to do Two thing:
1. Read the attendance figures from last year Regional in Dallas where Baylor Lost in the regional Final. 3,500 fans. Look at tonight and Fridays attendance in OKC which is also in Baylors back yard, abysmal for a "sport" that thinks it is like the men's game.
2. Understand exactly what Geno said. We, as diehards on this site, for the most part are the minority of WCBB, so stop projecting our passion onto the general public thinking they care the same. THEY DON'T.

The saving grace is usually the Final Four does well as a destination for the NCAA so that should be good.

I think the NCAA should take to heart Debbie Antonelli's suggestion of hosting all 4 regionals in Vegas one year and see how the sessions go. What a great 4 day weekend it could be.

 

[Hamms30]

I like the idea of having the games at venues like Harbor Yard. The smaller venues can be filled and makes the atmosphere better. Baylor could potentially help the numbers in Dallas, but the place in Oklahoma doesn't look that packed and Baylor hasn't punched their ticket yet either. So far Miss St. is giving them a fight.

 

[ochoopsfan]

Geno is right, none of us out here in California stop for red lights or stop signs. Are we supposed too?

By the way, he was sniffling an awful lot and Chong was coughing to start the press conference.

 

[UcMiami]

ND/Stanford played a great game in front of ... Drum Roll ... 2527 attendees. in a 'hot bed' of basketball 'Lexington, KY' with a sports fanatic national following for the ND brand and a pretty strong national brand for the winner Stanford. And it was essential for fan attendance to be within 300 miles which is the distance from South Bend.

 

[nwhoopfan]

hosting all 4 regionals in Vegas one year

I think the NCAA would balk at holding Tournament games in the sports betting capitol of the world. Almost every western conference has their conference tourney in Vegas now (even though almost none of them have member schools in Nevada), but those are sponsored by the individual conferences, not the NCAA.

 

[nwhoopfan]

ND/Stanford played a great game in front of ... Drum Roll ... 2527 attendees. in a 'hot bed' of basketball 'Lexington, KY' with a sports fanatic national following for the ND brand and a pretty strong national brand for the winner Stanford. And it was essential for fan attendance to be within 300 miles which is the distance from South Bend.

That's pretty sad.

 

[UcMiami]

And OKC with another 'local' team and another great OT game had a total of 3128. So depending on what they get in Stockton with two east coast teams Bridgeport may match the total attendance at the other three sites combined:
Bridgeport: 8830 SRO
Lexington: 2527
Stockton: 3128
Total: 5655

The big question - can Stockton top 3175?! they got a reported 4500 for the first day, but that was with a west coast team playing

 

[Buzzyboy]

Dallas should be OK. It's right in Baylor's back yard.

With Baylor out, who knows how many of these Baylor fans will still show up? A lot of fans are fans of their team and don't really know or care too much about anyone other than their team.

 

[HuskyFan1125]

Smaller venues for regionals would be a better idea. It's defiantly louder and seems packed.

The Vegas idea is intriguing and I would be all for it. One big example is the women's World Series in softball is always in Oklahoma City and everyone knows every year when and where it's gonna be and the stadium is always packed and people in the "yard".

Women's sports are differnent and need to be looked at differently. Think outside of the box and do something original.

 

[HardHatGuy#2]

By the way, he was sniffling an awful lot and Chong was coughing to start the press conference.

WE'RE DOOOOOOMMMMED!!!!!!!!!

 

[cohenzone]

If GA had never walked in the UConn door, how many folks on the BY would be fans of women's hoops?

It isn't far fetched to say that UConn and Tennessee brought wider appeal to the sport than it ever had. Uconn has an appealing sports product. But even on the BY, so many who post on the men's hoops board turn their noses up at even UConn women's hoops.

We are vacationing right now in Myrtle Beach. Two days ago, on a day when the Lady Gamecocks (a biological impossibility) won, the local TV sports I saw talked about the men's team and zero mention of the women. That's right, here in South Carolina. Last night, a different station, at the very end of the sportscast, the guy said, and tomorrow the Lady Ganecocks play to make the final four. A tag line mention.

There just isn't broad appeal in the sport far beyond the communities where a team plays, and at that, pretty much only where there is a successful program.

 

[wire chief]

Geno had me laughing as he described the initial attitudes of Diana, Lou, Kaleena et al. About his whole team I'm sure he doesn't sing, "I wish they all could be California girls".

 

[oldude]

On Saturday at Webster Bank Arena, I was standing in line and talking to a couple guys (UConn fans) who had already purchased their tickets to Dallas, before MD bowed out and before UConn had even taken the floor vs UCLA.

I wouldn't worry too much about attendance in Dallas at the FF. While there may be a bunch of folks from Waco trying to unload their tickets, there will be a sea of blue Husky fans ready to snatch them up.

I would also point out that last season's FF in Indy was supposed to be almost a home game for the Irish. But ND stumbled and the FF ended up with 2 west coach teams, Cinderella Syracuse and that team from Northeastern CT. As far as I could tell, there wasn't an empty seat in the place.

 

[pspr11]

Any one else notice Geno grunting while getting up after his interview? Sounds like me.

 

[Waquoit]

Any one else notice Geno grunting while getting up after his interview? Sounds like me.

That's why you need to eat your prunes.

 

[sarals24]

I live in Dallas and haven't bought my tickets yet...I am waiting to see if UConn makes it and then hopefully there will be some cheap Baylor fan tickets available. If anyone needs to unload some PM me!

 

[seeya27]

I live in Dallas and haven't bought my tickets yet...I am waiting to see if UConn makes it and then hopefully there will be some cheap Baylor fan tickets available. If anyone needs to unload some PM me!

I too live in Dallas but bought tickets to the FF several months ago. Holding my breath that UConn wins tonight, which I expect they will. A potential match up with MD had me concerned for sure.