GDT: Does this count?

[cheeseman]

I agree you have to be careful not to take too much from this game. Negative - ok since we should have beaten them by 30. Positive - now sure what other than that they played up to what should have been expected. All the guys got in and contributed but other than that don't go overboard. I do think games like these can build some individual confidence and maybe some team cohesiveness on the floor but not major breakthroughs. We will all be brought back to reality this Saturday against #8 WSU. Hopefully we can continue to grow during that game and not get dismantled completely.

[slufan13]

It's a confidence booster. Gave some guys who were struggling a chance to get things right. It also let us go with a full rotation and have everyone play meaningful minutes. Every minute on the court from this freshmen class (and sophomore) matters.

They will put up a fight with Wichita St. I still expect a double digit loss but I think they'll do better than they did against Mississippi St.

[bonwich]

Ninth smallest crowd ever at Chaifetz last night with 5209. So far this year, second and ninth smallest on the record books. The two games are explainable, but still the turnstills need to start cranking.

Fairy tale. There were not 5209 people in the house last night.

[2010andBeyond]

Fairy tale. There were not 5209 people in the house last night.

You say this every game. Did you count? Seemed roughly half full to me.

[davidnark]

Ninth smallest crowd ever at Chaifetz last night with 5209. So far this year, second and ninth smallest on the record books. The two games are explainable, but still the turnstills need to start cranking.

I am among the most loyal fans, but a d2 opponent in cold weather on a school night for the kids with the game on TV made the decision to sit this one out very easy. I suspect thousands of others shared my rationale.

[bonwich]

You say this every game. Did you count? Seemed roughly half full to me.

When roughly 10 entire sections are (generously) less than 20 percent full, that means that 10 other entire sections need to be more than 80 percent full and the rest of the arena half full. Didn't happen.

I also said this when we claimed a "sellout" and there were clearly about 200 empty seats in one of the sections behind the students.

My guess last night is there was another group promotion (I think it was CYC for the "sellout") where they distributed end zone seats en masse, in this case on the Billiken bench side, and counted them as "attending." I think we also determined last year or previously that attendance includes all season tickets whether folks show up or not, although I could be wrong on that.

[slu72]

Bonwich, are you implying the bloom is of the Billiken rose because a lot of fans aren't expecting the same success we had over the past 3 seasons, ie everyone loves a winner, a loser not so much? Or do you think it's simply the lousy competition? Have to admit FOXMWS did not give many, if any, pans of the crowd last night. Still you could see there were a lot of empty seats behind the benches.

[Deutschkind]

A game is a sellout when every ticket is sold. I will believe the AD when they said the season opener was sold out. A game easily can be a sell out with actual attendance below capacity. Happens all the time.

[cheeseman]

Look, whether game was a sell out or not or there was 5209 in attendance last night is really rather irrelevant. If you want to call the AD a liar then that is your right - doesn't seem to be productive or have any real positive purpose but to each their own. Some one said all the attendance figures are down during non conference games everywhere and I am sure they are correct. Using Missouri as an example - they draw poorly during their non conference patsy games - check the data if you don't believe it. The truth is the attendance for these games are irrelevant - they produce income and that is all that matters at this point along with wins. Instead of dissing the attendance figures why not focus on the product on the floor - there is plenty to not like if you choose to go that direction.

[billikenbill]

Have we discussed the point that schools often, or always, release the attendance numbers based on tickets sold or distributed, rather than turnstile count? From watching, I doubt if there were more than 2500 people in attendance.

[JMM28]

If I am ticket holder #11,260 (or whatever the last number is) and I get hit by a bus crossing Compton walking to the game, is it not a sellout?

[White Pelican]

If I am ticket holder #11,260 (or whatever the last number is) and I get hit by a bus crossing Compton walking to the game, is it not a sellout?

Apparently only if the people on the bus carry your lifeless carcass up the steps and past the turnstiles. (After you are carefully wanded of course.)

And Chaifetz claims 10,600 as the seating capacity. Although recently we found evidence of at least one seat that doesn't exist. What ELSE aren't they telling us?

[slufan13]

I was there last night

[Cowboy]

-is it better to have Bonwich talking about attendance than a lot of the other crap that happens on here?

-carry on Joe

[hsmith19]

Apparently only if the people on the bus carry your lifeless carcass up the steps and past the turnstiles. (After you are carefully wanded of course.)

And Chaifetz claims 10,600 as the seating capacity. Although recently we found evidence of at least one seat that doesn't exist. What ELSE aren't they telling us?

To add further intrigue, some of those seats they block out as "obstructed view" until all the others sell out really aren't any more obstructed than some of the ones they sell as season tickets in the "Young Alumni" section.

[slufanskip]

sellout ... Wouldn't that be seats sold.

Now the attendance should be the people attending the game not seats sold.

I'm sure that's not the way it works though.

[bonwich]

I'm not accusing anyone of lying, nor am I making any kind of deal about whether Rockhurst drew 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000 -- for a game that irrelevant in the middle of the week, it doesn't make a big difference. I'm just saying that the announced "attendance" figures don't match the actual number of butts in seats. (Oh, BTW, kudos to the students last night. That was a fair turnout for a crappy D-2 game that never should have been on our schedule to begin with. The fact that it was -- now that's something I will take the athletic department to task for.)

Even for the "sellout," the empty seats didn't negate a cool atmosphere. They were simply odd, and were inconsistent with what a "sellout" really is. I would expect random 2s and 4s empty at various spots, as well as the occasional 8s or more in the corporate seats. But several adjacent whole rows in given sections in the upper deck lead me to believe that our definition of a "sellout" has some similarities to when the Rams used to "give away" 1,000-2,000 seats on Friday so that their games would be "sellouts" and could be televised.

[moytoy12]

I'm glad this board finally had the collective balls to debate the "was it a sellout that counts when we played Rockhurst at home" debate.

[kmbilliken]

I'm not accusing anyone of lying, nor am I making any kind of deal about whether Rockhurst drew 3,000 or 4,000 or 5,000 -- for a game that irrelevant in the middle of the week, it doesn't make a big difference. I'm just saying that the announced "attendance" figures don't match the actual number of butts in seats. (Oh, BTW, kudos to the students last night. That was a fair turnout for a crappy D-2 game that never should have been on our schedule to begin with. The fact that it was -- now that's something I will take the athletic department to task for.)

Even for the "sellout," the empty seats didn't negate a cool atmosphere. They were simply odd, and were inconsistent with what a "sellout" really is. I would expect random 2s and 4s empty at various spots, as well as the occasional 8s or more in the corporate seats. But several adjacent whole rows in given sections in the upper deck lead me to believe that our definition of a "sellout" has some similarities to when the Rams used to "give away" 1,000-2,000 seats on Friday so that their games would be "sellouts" and could be televised.

I didn't think it was a good student turnout. There were 5X as many on the court at half time than in the stands and 90 percent of them left. With an on campus arena that student section ought to be full for most home games. I can see casual fans not showing last night, but I would expect a better turn out and at least half the student athletes to stick around.

[BigMouthBilliken]

this thread blows