MBB vs Eastern Michigan 2/7 1pm est

[Bootsy]

App State Basketball fans! Get to the Holmes Center early on Feb 19th when your Mountaineers face Marshall! First 500 fans in the door will score this giveaway:

[appstate24]

App State Basketball fans! Get to the Holmes Center early on Feb 19th when your Mountaineers face Marshall! First 500 fans in the door will score this giveaway:
IMG_4790.jpeg

Give me an ugly win over a loss all day…every day!

GO APPS!!

[AppinVA]

App State Basketball fans! Get to the Holmes Center early on Feb 19th when your Mountaineers face Marshall! First 500 fans in the door will score this giveaway:
IMG_4790.jpeg

I saw “win.”

[PoplarHillApp]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

[proasu89]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

True.

[biggie]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

They did just give 500 jersey away.

[ThkyApp]

Another win is all that matters. I know games are hard to get to, especially on week nights, but for a Saturday game, the crowd was disappointing. After each of the last 2 home games, DK has said the teams deserves to have a bigger crowd. Hopefully we can pack Holmes for Marshall and GaSO games.

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Another win is all that matters. I know games are hard to get to, especially on week nights, but for a Saturday game, the crowd was disappointing. After each of the last 2 home games, DK has said the teams deserves to have a bigger crowd. Hopefully we can pack Holmes for Marshall and GaSO games.

I was at the game, but I think the main issue was the weather (this time). I arrived in Boone at 11 am to really bad road conditions, 0 degree wind chill, and almost all of King Street being closed. I brought my daughter and was starting to think I'd made a mistake. By the time the game was over, conditions had improved significantly, but I headed out of town before it refroze. Made it to the Starbucks before it closed early at 3:30 due to weather. I do wish the students would have shown up, but also understand that 1pm comes early on a Saturday for college kids.

[appfanz]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

They did just give 500 jersey away.

I thought it was 200 jerseys but might have been 500. I also heard a lot of students came and got the jerseys and left. Geez.

[biggie]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

They did just give 500 jersey away.

I thought it was 200 jerseys but might have been 500. I also heard a lot of students came and got the jerseys and left. Geez.

It was 500 but the taking and running doesn't surprise me that much. We just don't have the basketball culture we need, it will take a long time and would be hard to build with the present state of college basketball and our level of available funds.

Wished we could get to the point where we have to do a lottery for student tickets like my daughter deals with in Chapel Hill, but don't see that happening.

[appvette]

Does anyone have an estimate of the average student attendance? I'm guessing around 500?

[NattyBumppo'sRevenge]

Not Saturday, be surprised if 50 if excluding the band. Really need to make it a social event like football. Maybe have an indoor hangout area (reduce seats?) and do a lottery for 500 students, open 2 hours pregame. Maybe create space nearby for fraternity/sorority tailgate that is covered and allow for space heaters, lol. Basketball is harder unless you are really good. Don’t think the solution is simple. Giving free T shirts isn’t the answer.

[Bootsy]

Does anyone have an estimate of the average student attendance? I'm guessing around 500?

There is a core group of students that show up regularly. Maybe 250-300 kids? They are loud and obnoxious to opponents and very entertaining to App fans.

PRO TIP: get the students to stick around by handing out the jerseys at the end of the game, not the beginning. Parents do this sort of thing with our kids everyday.

[AppState222]

i'd guess close to 150-200? but it wasnt good. and even those that did go, a lot of them just sat and watched and it wasnt like i need to yell and make this a tough place to play.

this was my first game of the year, so im also part of the problem (not a student, watch or listen to most of the games, but sometimes just as background noise), but i was definitely struck by how bad the student attendance was. the friend i went with, we talked about it at ale after. how do you get around 50% of your student population to go to a football game, but you cant get 2% to go to a basketball game for a team that is in second place in the conference? it feels like there's always been this attitude of, if you win games, people will come. and that just isnt true. there's got to be a way to tap in to the students and get people there and get them excited about the game.

its not the only reason, and it sounds like an excuse and our attendance was bad before the portal also- but i think for me, the portal really hurt how well i know the team and connect with them. its took so long to learn the new guys. only paying attention to results and not players, it took me a while to say ok, dodd is the key and our best player. and then it took me longer to casually call him zo in conversation. there's no one on the team who i feel a strong connection to.

i hope luke wilson stays. he seems like he could become that face of the team. emotional, plays hard, has ridiculous oversized tshirts that give him a signature look, has a lot of ability, but also cant shoot free throws worth a damn where i can like him and cheer for him and also be frustrated by him. which i say in the most positive way possible as weird as that sounds.

dont know how to attract the students, but if youre the marketing team, you gotta look at it and say, hey nothing we've done for basketball is working, lets brainstorm, throw everything at the wall, and see what sticks.

[spacemonkey]

Give the students sideline seats opposite the camera....throw it against the wall. See if it sticks.

[APPdiesel]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

They did just give 500 jersey away.

I thought it was 200 jerseys but might have been 500. I also heard a lot of students came and got the jerseys and left. Geez.

It was 500 but the taking and running doesn't surprise me that much. We just don't have the basketball culture we need, it will take a long time and would be hard to build with the present state of college basketball and our level of available funds.

Wished we could get to the point where we have to do a lottery for student tickets like my daughter deals with in Chapel Hill, but don't see that happening.

it seemed like there was a lot of momentum on this front a few years ago. Students would pack in all the way up to the rafters but that’s faded some in the last 2 seasons.

[fjblair]

That would mean the Athletic Department would actually have to spend minimal dollars on the fan experience at the games. It would also involve some marketing, which for basketball is pretty much nonexistent.

They did just give 500 jersey away.

I thought it was 200 jerseys but might have been 500. I also heard a lot of students came and got the jerseys and left. Geez.

It was 500 but the taking and running doesn't surprise me that much. We just don't have the basketball culture we need, it will take a long time and would be hard to build with the present state of college basketball and our level of available funds.

Wished we could get to the point where we have to do a lottery for student tickets like my daughter deals with in Chapel Hill, but don't see that happening.

it seemed like there was a lot of momentum on this front a few years ago. Students would pack in all the way up to the rafters but that’s faded some in the last 2 seasons.

NIL decimated that team and the fan momentum that was built, this year the same thing will happen. To build a fan base you need continuity.

[biggie]

Yeah that was my meaning behind present state of college basketball at our level. Very hard to have sustained good seasons to keep student excitement up year after year given NIL/TP.

[APPdiesel]

They did just give 500 jersey away.

I thought it was 200 jerseys but might have been 500. I also heard a lot of students came and got the jerseys and left. Geez.

It was 500 but the taking and running doesn't surprise me that much. We just don't have the basketball culture we need, it will take a long time and would be hard to build with the present state of college basketball and our level of available funds.

Wished we could get to the point where we have to do a lottery for student tickets like my daughter deals with in Chapel Hill, but don't see that happening.

it seemed like there was a lot of momentum on this front a few years ago. Students would pack in all the way up to the rafters but that’s faded some in the last 2 seasons.

NIL decimated that team and the fan momentum that was built, this year the same thing will happen. To build a fan base you need continuity.

Yes and no. Continuity is a key component, I’m not arguing that, but it’s also about student culture. Basketball games will always be fighting bad weather, ski slopes, and just general course work of being a student for attendance. But students 4 years ago didn’t come out en-masse because they were all buddies with Justin Abson and Trayvon Spillers. They came out because basketball games were can’t-miss affairs. Our football student attendance is the envy of the conference because the culture of can’t-miss-this is alive and well. All of those factors matter: familiarity, winning, and fan-culture matter. How to achieve that for basketball too is the million dollar question.

I think about the movie “We are Marsha” when Anthony Mackie’s character says “I need you to go to the dorms and get everyone down that courthouse at 3:00”. “I need you to find every friend you knew in freshman orientation and get them there at 3:00” etc etc. We need a culture of “everybody brings 2 friends” until it catches fire and is self sustaining.