Bryce Thompson timeline?

[StoopsBros]

Visiting KU tonight - https://twitter.com/coreyevans_10/status/1192865709916856325?s=20

 

[Soonerinkc]

All true. Havent verified Roy but source said the same.

Ill say this... Lack of crowds is hurting but BT knows he can help fill it up next year.

CT, I know you’re connected and that’s great but what makes you think he will “fill it up” if Blake and TY didn’t ...

Not trying to be an ass, just sucks ou fans don’t enjoy basketball...

 

[cjhsooner]

You can tell by the visits. I will eat crow if he picks OU, but visits mean something, scheduling conflict or not. Just saying. Not saying that he didn't have a legitimate scheduling conflict, but that, lumped with Cunningham going to OSU, him visiting there, and also visiting KU, seems to spell trouble for OU.

 

[SoonerBounce13]

CT, I know you’re connected and that’s great but what makes you think he will “fill it up” if Blake and TY didn’t ...

Not trying to be an ass, just sucks ou fans don’t enjoy basketball...

Its about how the team performs.

We actually had great attendence when Blake was here if I recall correctly. The team was really good and fun to watch.

 

[BigTime]

CT, I know you’re connected and that’s great but what makes you think he will “fill it up” if Blake and TY didn’t ...

Not trying to be an ass, just sucks ou fans don’t enjoy basketball...

Crowds were terrific Blake’s Sophmore year.

Buddy’s senior season crowds were good.

Conference crowds were solid Trae’s year until the meltdown by the team.

Our crowds have consistently been better than Okie Lite since about 2007-08. Not saying ours are good but their crowds have been awful.

 

[Stikboy]

Its about how the team performs.

We actually had great attendence when Blake was here if I recall correctly. The team was really good and fun to watch.

This is dead on accurate. I remember vividly many Tubbs, Sampson, Blake, and Buddy era teams too where the house was packed.

If you put out a product that’s next to last in conference, it’s AMAZING how that correlates to low attendance. How difficult is that to understand? SMH

 

[CoachTalk]

CT, I know you’re connected and that’s great but what makes you think he will “fill it up” if Blake and TY didn’t ...

Not trying to be an ass, just sucks ou fans don’t enjoy basketball...

I said help fill it up. BT makes OU a final 4 type team next year. Yes its hard to get there. things have to go right.

14k fans will chant we want bryce tonight at KU. How can a kid say no to that and play at Phog etc...

Kids want that, some dont care and OU has a chance with Bryce. Ou can get fans but they are frontrunners at games sometimes...

 

[CoachTalk]

You can tell by the visits. I will eat crow if he picks OU, but visits mean something, scheduling conflict or not. Just saying. Not saying that he didn't have a legitimate scheduling conflict, but that, lumped with Cunningham going to OSU, him visiting there, and also visiting KU, seems to spell trouble for OU.

OU has been behind KU for a long time.

You arent going out on a limb saying that youll eat crow.

OSU has no chance. Cunningham doesnt care if Bryce goes. His brother got paid. Nothing new. It happens.

 

[skyvue]

This is dead on accurate. I remember vividly many Tubbs, Sampson, Blake, and Buddy era teams too where the house was packed.

If you put out a product that’s next to last in conference, it’s AMAZING how that correlates to low attendance. How difficult is that to understand? SMH

And I can remember lots of complaints about attendance during those years, too. Truly packed houses -- sold out houses, with virtually all the seats filled -- have been relatively rare for OU, at least when compared to a program like KU.

And it's important to remember that while OU may have finished near the bottom in 2018 (actually, they finished tied for sixth, but many on this board prefer to paint as bleak a picture as possible, so I'll play along), we only know that in retrospect. The fact is, there was HUGE buzz around Sooner hoops that season. We know now that the team finished two games below .500 in conference, but Sooner fans didn't know that would happen until, y' know, it happened.

Entering conference play, the team was on a major roll coming off a stellar non-conference performance and Trae was the toast of college basketball nationally. And while they came back down to earth a bit in January, it wasn't panic time. The Sooners were 6-3 in conference play entering February (with a loss at Bama thrown in). February was a disaster of epic proportions and they never recovered, but let's not be revisionist about it: For 2/3rds of that season, there was plenty for fans to be excited about and the team was inspiring the kind of buzz that should attract more casual fans out to games. If, by mid-to-late February, the bloom was off the rose, fair enough, but there's no reason at all for that team not to have drawn big crowds in November and (especially) December and January.

The stance of many on this board appears now to be that conference play is all that matters. No credit is given for non-conference success, for making the NCAA tourney, for a decisive and impressive tourney victory. That's not my viewpoint, but whatever -- I'm not trying to change hearts and minds here.

But it's worth remembering that while the 2018 season undeniably ended terribly and we all carry the emotional scars of that epic collapse, it was actually a very exciting ride for 2/3rds of the season, and if there were attendance issues that year, our "next to last" conference finish wasn't to blame -- except, perhaps, for the last two or thee weeks of that season.

 

[Stikboy]

I’m not exactly sure what point you’re trying to make. If you’re saying there was poor attendance during the Trae Young year, I’m not going to disagree with you. Half a season isn’t going to train the fans or change their interest level that fast. I’ll say this, the last 3 years of sub par performance has a lot to do with it. Had Kruger kept final 4 momentum going in pretty sure the crowds would be much better. Now keep in mind NO ONE(besides KU who has the worst football program in 1-a) is going to have stellar crowds in November/December. All I’m saying is that if Kruger could establish a culture of at least competing for the conference for a few years in a row, more posteriors would start to attach to seats. It’s not my theory, it’s a fact and has happened many times in LNC before.

 

[WichitaSooner]

I’m not exactly sure what point you’re trying to make. If you’re saying there was poor attendance during the Trae Young year, I’m not going to disagree with you. Half a season isn’t going to train the fans or change their interest level that fast. I’ll say this, the last 3 years of sub par performance has a lot to do with it. Had Kruger kept final 4 momentum going in pretty sure the crowds would be much better. Now keep in mind NO ONE(besides KU who has the worst football program in 1-a) is going to have stellar crowds in November/December. All I’m saying is that if Kruger could establish a culture of at least competing for the conference for a few years in a row, more posteriors would start to attach to seats. It’s not my theory, it’s a fact and has happened many times in LNC before.

I don't think I agree with your last point. There were times during Kevin's heydey when the LNC wasn't close to full for top 10 matchups. And while we haven't been nearly as good the past three years as we would prefer, the fact remains that we have been one of the more consistent programs in the country outside the truly elite programs. Few programs have made the tourney as regularly, and if you eliminate Capel, we have done it consistently for 35 years under numerous coaches. If that isn't enough to train fans to show up, what is? I think people are way too willing to make excuses for the sorry attendance and atmosphere. The lack of a reliably good student section is worst of all.

 

[daqman]

Crowds were terrific Blake’s Sophmore year.

Buddy’s senior season crowds were good.

Conference crowds were solid Trae’s year until the meltdown by the team.

Our crowds have consistently been better than Okie Lite since about 2007-08. Not saying ours are good but their crowds have been awful.

Okie lite crowds might be awful but the ones who show up know how to make noise. Our fans sit there and don't make a sound. 2000 people sitting quietly creates an embarrassing atmosphere.
I always thought Sooner fans would show up to watch a star player but even that theory failed during Trae's year.
I have given up on OU basketball ever winning anything significant ever again.

 

[skyvue]

Half a season isn’t going to train the fans or change their interest level that fast.

That half-season (it was more than that, but whatever) came just 18 months after a Final Four season. Yes, 2016-17 was disappointing, but anyone who wasn't excited by (and didn't come out to watch) the show that Tray and the Sooners put on in the first three months of the 2017-18 season missed a lot of fun. Sure, it came to a disappointing end, but unless those fans had Nostradamus-level forecast skills, the collapse that was to come wasn't the reason they didn't fill the house in those early months of the 2017-18 season.

 

[inoref]

For all the NBA lovers ..You can thank the thunder for some of the issues with crowds or lack of. Doesn't hurt football but basketball suffers, even when OU is good.

 

[WichitaSooner]

For all the NBA lovers ..You can thank the thunder for some of the issues with crowds or lack of. Doesn't hurt football but basketball suffers, even when OU is good.

Does that account for crappy attendance in the decade before the Thunder existed? Does it explain why students don't attend games?

 

[ByronHoustonsSweatyPalms]

Does that account for crappy attendance in the decade before the Thunder existed? Does it explain why students don't attend games?

Lot of sold out arenas when Kelvin and Eddie were coaching. It can happen again.


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[oudna]

Does that account for crappy attendance in the decade before the Thunder existed? Does it explain why students don't attend games?

It doesn’t explain it all obviously. But the Thunder have put a dent in attendance. I know several former season ticket holders that have moved that direction.

 

[WichitaSooner]

Lot of sold out arenas when Kelvin and Eddie were coaching. It can happen again.


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I disagree with "a lot." Outside of KU, Bedlam, and maybe another game or two, it was rarely full. Better than the past few years, yes, but never what it should have been.

 

[sheepdogs1]

I disagree with "a lot." Outside of KU, Bedlam, and maybe another game or two, it was rarely full. Better than the past few years, yes, but never what it should have been.

It's a different world, be it for the better or not, but even Duke has problems with attendance and they put a winning product on the court each and every season while their arena is somewhat small.

 

[Eielson]

Lot of sold out arenas when Kelvin and Eddie were coaching. It can happen again.


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Every year we complain about attendance on here. Then somebody posts the numbers and shows attendance isn't as bad as most claimed. Then we repeat monthly.