Pilgrim back in OSU win

[BigTime]

over Fang and Coppin State. Watched most of it. James Anderson deserves to mentioned as a guy that is in the running for Big 12 poy. I have always thought he was an All-Big 12 type of guy, but after watching 4 or 5 poke games, I really do think he has a chance to be the very best in our conference. Really impressive player.

I thought for sure that the pokes would top us in attendance tonight, but I am fairly certain that they did not despite our poor showing on Monday night. Nobody was at the GIA tonight. The funny thing is that they no longer even put the tickets scanned in the box score. The past two games have showed only tickets sold. lol

I guess if OU had some turnouts under 4000 folks then I would probably not want the tickets scanned in our box score.

 

[HoHum]

over Fang and Coppin State. Watched most of it. James Anderson deserves to mentioned as a guy that is in the running for Big 12 poy. I have always thought he was an All-Big 12 type of guy, but after watching 4 or 5 poke games, I really do think he has a chance to be the very best in our conference. Really impressive player.

I thought for sure that the pokes would top us in attendance tonight, but I am fairly certain that they did not despite our poor showing on Monday night. Nobody was at the GIA tonight. The funny thing is that they no longer even put the tickets scanned in the box score. The past two games have showed only tickets sold. lol

I guess if OU had some turnouts under 4000 folks then I would probably not want the tickets scanned in our box score.

It really thinned out at the end, but sadly this was one of the best crowds all year. The Pacific game might have had...5500? This probably had around 4500.

I'll say there will be...8500 Saturday against T. Tech.

Pilgrim looked like had lost 10 pounds after being sick. Hopefully he's good to go for conference play. Could mean the difference between 9-7/8-8 and 6-10.

My prediction for conference play is 8-8 right now. If shots would start falling it would go up, but I guess you have to get to a point where you admit the team just isn't a good jump shooting team.

 

[BigTime]

It really thinned out at the end, but sadly this was one of the best crowds all year. The Pacific game might have had...5500? This probably had around 4500.

I'll say there will be...8500 Saturday against T. Tech.

Pilgrim looked like had lost 10 pounds after being sick. Hopefully he's good to go for conference play. Could mean the difference between 9-7/8-8 and 6-10.

My prediction for conference play is 8-8 right now. If shots would start falling it would go up, but I guess you have to get to a point where you admit the team just isn't a good jump shooting team.

My guess was between 4 and 4.5K at the crowd's peak. And sadly, I am pretty doggone good at estimating sparse men's college basketball games.

 

[Seymore Cox]

Question for anyone who has been to a thunder game. Can their pressence be attributed to the decline in attendance between the two schools? About how many of those fans do you think would be at an OU or OSU game?

 

[seniorsooner]

Good question.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Question for anyone who has been to a thunder game. Can their pressence be attributed to the decline in attendance between the two schools? About how many of those fans do you think would be at an OU or OSU game?

I didn't think it would affect OSU as much as OU, but I think at this point we have to say there is SOME impact on both schools.

I think the real test will be if/when Ford gets OSU back to being a really good team... I mean in the top 25 and clearly in the top 4 of the Big 12.

If OSU is still pulling 4.5-5K for crappy non-conference games and less than 10K for conference games at that point, I think it's clear that the Thunder have pulled some fans away.

 

[Mr.B!!!]

I definately thought it would have a bigger impact on OU becuase fans from Tulsa do not generally drive down to OU games [but will make that drive for an oSu game]. That said, there are a BUNCH of oSu fans in the North OKC/Edmond area and I'll bet their $$$ have gone to Thunder tickets.

Personally, I have not bought Thunder tickets [single parent, long hours at work], but even being a "fan" and trying to catch "all" of the games on television is a substantial time commitment. Overall I'm happy that the Thunder are in OKC, but both schools are getting hit on attendance and "passion" for thier respective teams.

One other thing about oSu attendance...success in football will impact interest in basketball prior to January. There is a reason why the LNC is generally half-full until mid-January, and it is becuase those $$$ and interest go into football. With the success that oSu is having in football, it can't be too suprising that basketball attendance is down.

Sorry, this post was more sctterbrained than intended, but I guess the point is that fans/alumni at both schools generally have jobs that have them working a minimum of 40 hours a week, then (at least in the OKC area) you throw in another sports option that is readily available and accessible and I think that you can see the decline in support for the two basketball programs, both monetarily and time-wise (attendance).

 

[oSuJeff97]

One other thing about oSu attendance...success in football will impact interest in basketball prior to January. There is a reason why the LNC is generally half-full until mid-January, and it is becuase those $$$ and interest go into football. With the success that oSu is having in football, it can't be too suprising that basketball attendance is down.

Perhaps... but interest in OSU football was pretty strong back in 2003-04 also... that was the peak of Les Miles' time, and football attendence and interest was (at that time) at an all-time high.

Just like this year, OSU was 9-3 that year and went to the Cotton Bowl.

At the same time, OSU basketball attendence was still going very strong... there were only a handfull of really bad non-conference games with less than 10,000 fans in attendence, and most games were in the 11-13K range and there was still a waiting list for season tickets.

Looking back on the box scores, OSU had like 9,500 in attendence for a late December non-confernce game against Samford... this was like 2 days before the Cotton Bowl that year.

(Although OSU did go the Final Four that year, remember that team didn't really take off until conference play. In fact we were drilled in our first conference game that year at Tech.)

 

[Mr.B!!!]

Perhaps... but interest in OSU football was pretty strong back in 2003-04 also... that was the peak of Les Miles' time, and football attendence and interest was (at that time) at an all-time high.

Just like this year, OSU was 9-3 that year and went to the Cotton Bowl.

At the same time, OSU basketball attendence was still going very strong... there were only a handfull of really bad non-conference games with less than 10,000 fans in attendence, and most games were in the 11-13K range and there was still a waiting list for season tickets.

Looking back on the box scores, OSU had like 9,500 in attendence for a late December non-confernce game against Samford... this was like 2 days before the Cotton Bowl that year.

(Although OSU did go the Final Four that year, remember that team didn't really take off until conference play. In fact we were drilled in our first conference game that year at Tech.)

Fair enough, but how much $$$ did the football tickets cost back then? That is the other thing that is maybe hurting oSu attendance, the average family/fan is being priced out of attending both football and basketball games? I'm not saying this to brag to be boastful or otherwise becuase I know too many people that are WAY more successful than me, but I have a solid six-figure income in a relatively stable profession and I could not afford to buy season tickets to OU Football, OU Basketball and attend say 20 Thunder games without it subtantially impacting my ability to provide essentials for my family.

There is something that troubles me more and more, the average "fan" is being priced out of attending games; more troubling is when state institutions are the ones setting the price [not a swipe at Holder or Castiglione, but when a STATE institution is setting a price that keeps people out of seats, FOR WHATEVER REASON, I find it a bit troubling]. Admittedly, a little off the topic, but personally I'd like to see the state's Universities be a little more "taxpayer" firendly. Every person who pays taxes in the State of Oklahoma in some way provides support to either OU or oSu as a whole, and I think the athletic departments of BOTH schools have lost sight of that fact.

 

[oSuJeff97]

Fair enough, but how much $$$ did the football tickets cost back then? That is the other thing that is maybe hurting oSu attendance, the average family/fan is being priced out of attending both football and basketball games?

Excellent point. I can certainly attest that season tickets for football are much more expensive now.

I'm sure there are people who used to have season tickets to both that have choosen football, as basketball season tickets were always kind of pricey.

But another big factor for OSU has been student attendence. It has been WAY down since Sean Sutton plunged OSU basketball into mediocrity... they just don't roll out like they used to.

 

[MVPx2]

I thought James and Keiton looked really good last night. Page finally looked the part people have been waiting for him to look. Now granted, it was against Coppin St., but it was nice to see him do the little things and knock down open looks. Shaw looked pretty good in his first career start. You can tell he is still developing offensively, but he was aggressive on the boards and played some good D. His free throw shooting is a thing of ugliness, though. Pilgrim definitely asserts himself on the glass, although he had to tone it down a notch once he picked up 2 fouls (both questionable, one VERY ticky-tacky IMO). By far the best passing I have seen all year by this team (season-high 21 assists). Pretty funny seeing KP go in amongst the bigs and convert an and-1. Roger Franklin was pumped! Good stuff.

I know there are several posters on the OSU Rivals board who admitted that they have been to more Thunder than OSU games this season. Probably several reasons for this.

• I think the harsh winter weather has probably kept some, but not too many, away. Still, some may not feel like making the hour trip from OKC/Tulsa to get home at 10 and go to work early the next morning.
  
• The non-conference schedule has been a joke at best, and there isn't much excitement to see the team play the Coppin States' of the world.
  
• There is still a large contingent of Sutton loyalists who hate that Sean was fired and do not accept the Travis Ford hiring. If they are still OSU loyalists, they aren't showing it by attending simply because their guy was shown the door (and rightfully so, IMO).
  
• No "name" players. Anderson has been fantastic, and he is probably the best player no one is hearing anything about. He goes about his business quietly, and never makes any ripples. Obi and Moses (when not hiding a joint in his shoe) have been good, but they are playing in the shadows of Anderson and don't generate much buzz outside the region. OSU is a team of one really good/great player, and a bunch of role players at this point.
  
• The Thunder is looking like a pretty salty little team at this point in the season. Durant, Westbrook, and Green are really solidifying a nucleus to build around for years to come. Last year it took the team until March to reach 15 wins, and they have already met that mark this season. Just a lot of excitement in the air.

It will be very interesting to see how the Big XII portion of the schedule fares for this team. Teams in this league will be able to key on and gameplan around James Anderson, so the other four on the court need to be able to consistently step-up and provide points. The frontcourt looks like a rotation of Moses, Franklin, Shaw, and Pilgrim at this point. If Pilgrim can get over his issues that have kept him in the doghouse and Moses can keep his nose clean (pun intended), I think OSU's frontcourt should be alright since they play mostly a 4 guard lineup anyways.

Here's to hoping for some great games and matchups this Big XII season!

 

[skyvue]

Does anyone really think oswho's current "success" in football qualifies as an excuse for their pitiful attendance in hoops?

They've been this "successful" on the gridiron for a while now, as they've made it standard practice to pad their record by beating up on a handful of patsies in the non-conference portion of their schedule before taking care of the cellar dwellers and most of the mid-range teams in the Big 12 while almost invariably falling to the top teams in the conference.

Given that, it's ironic to note that this year's aggie hoops schedule looks like it could have been drawn up by someone in the football program.

 

[Cowboyslikeus]

Does anyone really think oswho's current "success" in football qualifies as an excuse for their pitiful attendance in hoops?

They've been this "successful" on the gridiron for a while now, as they've made it standard practice to pad their record by beating up on a handful of patsies in the non-conference portion of their schedule before taking care of the cellar dwellers and most of the mid-range teams in the Big 12 while almost invariably falling to the top teams in the conference.

Given that, it's ironic to note that this year's aggie hoops schedule looks like it could have been drawn up by someone in the football program.

Well...When the schedules were formed, most thought that Georgia and Houston would be quite formidible...OU stank away from Norman...Don't blame that on anyone in Stillwater.

The Cowboy home basketball schedule has been incredibly lackluster...Probably will find out in the next 5 days if OSU has any threat of finishing in the top 4 in the conference race, IMO.

 

[earlpearl]

The cost may be attributted to 3000 fans but that is it. 10000 season tickets were sold. The apathy blows my mind for this reason alone. If you are going to buy the tickets, why not show up.

 

[Sam]

The cost may be attributted to 3000 fans but that is it. 10000 season tickets were sold. The apathy blows my mind for this reason alone. If you are going to buy the tickets, why not show up.

Welcome to one of OU's basketball biggest issues, got fans who buy the seasons tickets to go to 2-5 games all year. Very frustrating isn't it?

 

[skyvue]

Well...When the schedules were formed, most thought that Georgia and Houston would be quite formidible...OU stank away from Norman...Don't blame that on anyone in Stillwater.

What does the OU football team struggling away from home have to do with anything?

I don't think anyone thought Houston was going to be particularly good -- they were considered a surprise team this season when they came out of the gate so fast this season. Georgia, I'll give you.

But then, if you'll read my post more carefully, you'll see that I wasn't talking about just this year, but the past several seasons. oswho has long made a habit of fattening up on non-conference patsies in football, and then, when they emerged from that part of the schedule unbeaten and with impressive stats, proclaiming themselves a team on the rise, ready to take the next step.

But somehow that next step always proves a bit too steep.

I don't know how good oswho will prove to be in hoops this season -- I've not given them much thought, truth be told, as we've got our own problems, but I do know they scheduled a lame non-conference slate, seemingly taking their cue from the football team.

And I don't think a four-loss football campaign is such a breakthrough season that it should distract the purportedly fervent aggie fanbase, given their longstanding status as a traditional hoops power (coughcough) and the state's preeminent "basketball school" (coughcoughcough).