Louisiana Officially Opens Men's Basketball Practice

[GeauxLouisiana]

I don't buy Jay Walker's company line that having good teams play here won't improve attendance; but even if it doesn't, that isn't why I want to schedule good teams anyway.

You don't have to buy the company line. You just have to look at the attendance numbers of when teams like Tennessee, Houston, LA Tech, Nevada have played here. The biggest attendance game of the last decade was against flippin Denver. Why did fans go to that game? It was the 10th game of the 11 game winning streak at the end of the 2011 season.

[ManAboutTown]

You don't have to buy the company line. You just have to look at the attendance numbers of when teams like Tennessee, Houston, LA Tech, Nevada have played here. The biggest attendance game of the last decade was against flippin Denver. Why did fans go to that game? It was the 10th game of the 11 game winning streak at the end of the 2011 season.

That's because we weren't good then.
You people think having "good" teams coming in should equal attendance, which is imbecilic.
You think people are showing up to see us get wrecked?
No. People show up when they believe their team has a reasonable shot a victory.

This is a tired argument.

[CajunAmos]

Lets imagine you have a very successful program with a very good RPI and since you have a very good RPI there are a number of teams who are willing to play you home & home. Man, that would be the days.........................................................


Sounds like softball and baseball, right.

[CajunEXPRESS]

You don't have to buy the company line. You just have to look at the attendance numbers of when teams like Tennessee, Houston, LA Tech, Nevada have played here. The biggest attendance game of the last decade was against flippin Denver. Why did fans go to that game? It was the 10th game of the 11 game winning streak at the end of the 2011 season.

It's not about attendance, not about victories, it's about developing teams worthy of at large bids, teams that can actually win some games in the NCAA tournament.

[GeauxLouisiana]

That's because we weren't good then.
You people think having "good" teams coming in should equal attendance, which is imbecilic.
You think people are showing up to see us get wrecked?
No. People show up when they believe their team has a reasonable shot a victory.

This is a tired argument.

Which is the point that a few posters have made. Bringing in better teams does not equal better attendance. Some posters here feel that by paying better teams (see P5/upper G5 schools) more money, the attendance will go up. It won't.

[ManAboutTown]

Which is the point that a few posters have made. Bringing in better teams does not equal better attendance. Some posters here feel that by paying better teams (see P5/upper G5 schools) more money, the attendance will go up. It won't.

It's a combination of both.
You have to win AND schedule good teams at home.
That's the only formula.

[Hark Mudspeth]

Get better at basketball and everything else will take care of itself.

[cajun4life]

Get better at basketball and everything else will take care of itself.

Exactly! Marlin has underachieved. Basketball is probably the one sport where we could be the primier team in Louisiana. But we haven’t bought enough players. Not do we have a coach that could get us to that level.

[GeauxLouisiana]

Exactly! Marlin has underachieved. Basketball is probably the one sport where we could be the primier team in Louisiana. But we haven’t bought enough players. Not do we have a coach that could get us to that level.

With the latest scandal hitting NCAA basketball last week, I'm hoping we haven't bought any players.

[cajun4life]

With the latest scandal hitting NCAA basketball last week, I'm hoping we haven't bought any players.

Even if we did we aren’t getting our moneys worth. But my statement was sarcasm.

[Turbine]

I don't buy Jay Walker's company line that having good teams play here won't improve attendance; but even if it doesn't, that isn't why I want to schedule good teams anyway.

"You should've been there!" is the only walk away quote that will begin to attract fans.

[VObserver]

Which is the point that a few posters have made. Bringing in better teams does not equal better attendance. Some posters here feel that by paying better teams (see P5/upper G5 schools) more money, the attendance will go up. It won't.

I don't care at this point if UNC W draws less than Mc Neuse. I care that we challenge our team to improve and that we play games with the idea, no matter how unrealistic, that we can improve our RPI enough to earn an at large NCAA bid. Even if we fail, and have to get in by winning the conference, it might be as a 10 seed instead of as a 14, giving us hugely improved chances of winning a tournament game.