Bobcats stop Hornets

[superhornet]

After a 16-16 first half (what's up with that?), Montana state opened up a decent lead in the second half, but couldn't really put the pesky Hornets away until the very end. The story of the first half was NOT defense as the score might otherwise indicate, but HORRIBLE offense and EXTREMELY cr@ppy officiating (both ways). The offenses settled down after the break, and the scores understandably improved. Treys at the end kept Sac in the game, but they mostly chose the wrong Bobcat to foul (Marquis Navarre), and his lights-out free-throw shooting sealed it during the last minute.

I went to see Erik Rush, whose father was a co-worker of mine while I was in the Navy. He played well up and down the court until he started shot-shotting free-throws during the Hornets' frantic comeback, which made the final score more interesting than it might otherwise have been.

The Hornets played hard, but have to overcome the first-half jitters to win games. Had there been a 48-minute effort on offense vice 24 and a little bit, Sac could have won this game handily.

MSU won 58-53.

 

[williestarbuck]

We'll have ugly games sometimes. Just hate to have them at home. This was a tough weekend, losing 2 we could have won and now looking at a long road stretch. Conference playoffs does not look promising, but we'll make it tough for anyone who thinks they can see us coming and count a win...

On another note, it's very disappointing to see 700 on one night and 500 the next game. There is no reason why that gym shouldn't sellout every game. We draw what 7 to 8,000 for football and we can't attract 1/3 to 1/4 of that crowd for basketball? WTF. Good marketing should be able to accomplish that.

 

[SDHornet]

It’s the NFL playoffs and another team people in Sac don’t care about. I was surprised 500 people showed up to yesterday’s games.

 

[superhornet]

The $12 ticket prices and heightened security in a facility like that merely based on the fact that it's MEN's basketball probably had something to do with it. Between girls' hoops and gymnastics, I've never seen the like there. It was disgusting.

 

[sacattack]

you can get tickets to the kings games now for $10.00

 

[williestarbuck]

I don't think you have to give the tickets away to fill the gym. Everyone complains about the cost of seeing a movie but we still go and by that expensive popcorn anyway. Look guys, I'm brain stormin here. I know why the gym is empty. But all I hear is why we can't...we can't fill this gym, we can't extend the gym, we can't play at Memorial, we can't go to Arco, and we can't build on campus.

But there's 8,000 hornet fans who already comes to games, just not basketball. Well, how do we get them? That's my question. We don't have to seek them out. They're already out there. We just have to find a way to get them to the games. How do we make it fun?

At the Maryland Terps games, the student body has a sheet of newspaper. While the visiting team's starting line up is announced, the whole student body section holds the paper up as if they're reading. The arena is quiet. And when the announcer's momotoned voice says the last name, the student body crumbles up the paper, throws it towards the visiting team and yells, "You Suck!"

And then of course the arena goes nutts when the home team is announced. That sets the tone for the whole game and from there its a party.

For now, forget the arena...What if the university invested in a real scoreboard. At the break, they can playback highlights, or during a break near the end of a close game, playback the winning shot of a game that happend in the past, or have fan involvement displayed on the screen. Etc., etc.

If we pack the gym it will certainly pay for a scoreboard. How about a pregame lounge (drinking area with beer, wine and well drinks).

My point is, there has to be a way to make coming to Hornets games fun, and investing in a marketing group might help.

 

[SDHornet]

Williestarbuck, you have great points about the student body getting involved, and I can say from experience that this is something Wanless doesn’t want nor has he ever encouraged. Yes that’s right I said it, he couldn’t care less if the student body was involved. In the 2005 Big Sky Conference QUARTERFINAL TOURNAMENT GAME the Hornets got off to a lousy start and couldn’t make a field goal. So naturally the fans remained standing until the first basket was made. The problem is it took the Hornets midway through the first half until a FG was finally made. Well because it took so long some fans remained standing for an extended period of time; so security made everyone sit down so everyone could see. I mean who in their right mind discourages fan involvement at a sporting event?

http://media.www.statehornet.com/media/storage/paper1146/news/2005/03/09/Opinion/Editorial.Wanless.Winless.With.Student.Fans-2424023.shtml

I have personally been asked to leave a basketball game for standing up and trying to get people hyped up as well. The group I was with refused to sit after being repeatedly asked to sit and we were eventually asked to leave. To add to this insult, we were in the student section when we hosted “the farm extension” in 2007. How is it not proper to want to get others hyped for the lone rivalry game the Hornets play?! It’s absolutely pathetic that rabid behavior is not encouraged in the student section. Then people hop on these boards and complain about why there is no student involvement. If ever a campaign to get more students to go to athletic events is started, it won’t come from Wanless.

And you are right about the alcohol adding to the atmosphere. I definitely incorporated alcohol with any Hornet event when I was a student and it made it a ton more fun (and a hell of a lot more bearable). The problem is I think the CSU presidents banned alcohol sales at ALL on campus events. (Banning alcohol at a PUBLIC venue is unconstitutional imo. Where is the ACLU when you need them?!)

*rant over*