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Anybody listening to Bernie


lefty

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summarize what was said. i had heard around 8 that tuna was going to tell us why vashon could beat slu but i was going to a meeting and didnt hear again until now.

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He began with how he's been pumping up the Bills but then said you can't have it both ways. He said the Bills should beat a mediocre Dayton team on the home court but, when they don't, the fans start whining. Comments like 'Well, our kids go to class' and how the fans reminded him of CYC parents. He went on about the lack of fan's standing yelling and cheering when the game was on the line. Someone on the show, not Tuna, said the SLU was the worst D-1 atmosphere he'd ever seen. I might be slightly exaggerating here but this guys comment was very negative. Tuna then took off on Brad's slow tempo style of play being the reason noone gets into the game. Bernie pretty much defended Brad in the whole thing but Tuna was stirring the pot. I got a phone call then and had to stop listening. I'm sure you'll get Bernie's recap in the bits tomorrow.

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one would think watching the billikens the last 8 games or so that they would recognize that the billikens indeed are running when the opportunity presents itself. charlotte and dayton both were especially examples of faster tempo. tuna apparently hasnt attended in awhile.

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The atmosphere is terrible. Savvis never even looks half filled. What's the point of getting a new on-campus arena if you aren't going to fill it up. Fans are fans, and if they wont go to Savvis, down the street than they arent going to go to the on-campus arena either.

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actually, i thought it was fairly loud weds nite. the fans stood most of the last few minutes of both regulation and ot. and the crowd would have sold out the new arena. so vtime i think you are wrong.

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You know you are a real mystery. Sometimes you make a whole lot of sense other times it's like you're in the twi-light zone. The new arena will hold 10,000 people for hoops. There were 10,000+ at Savvis on Wednesday night, now 10,000 fans = 10,000 seats....hello. Also, on the live stream that is the loudest I've ever heard our crowd. I know nothing about this Tuna guy, but it sound's like he's got a real h**d on for SLU.

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I've said many times before it starts with students and attracting students to games. Sure many have disdain for the apathy of current students. But thinking beyond that, in order for SLU to create any type of atmosphere, it begins with students...obviously having a great atmosphere for them and winning etc...also involved but you start with students...and recycle it with incoming class after class after class. Commitment from Administration to win, to have the facilities, to be able to market to students and young adults. Plenty of old people and little kids go, this isn't the issue.

I for one though uncertain of the right size of the new arena, think it will only add to the college atmosphere, as opposed to filling the place with Joe random guy coming in to see a good game when they are doing well. While those folks are welcomed too, they aren't the focus. SLU should have a goal of a couple of thousand students EACH game. ...at least.

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Coming off of a 9 win season, what the hell do people expect.....

If the Billikens reel off ten wins to start next year or somehow make the tourney this year we could easily average over 15000 fans next year AND be in the top 10-20 in attendance. No the palsied oldsters won't stand up all game, but anyone calling the atmosphere at SAVVIS for dayton the worst they've ever seen certainly didn't watch the SLU/DU broadcast and hasn't been to Moo Arena lately.

Vman. I'm sure Vashon has a better atmosphere than savvis does sometimes. Someday when the Bills have the gaudy records and the recruiting budget V does we'll compete......

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Some of the comments about the "atmosphere" against Dayton are way, way off. it was about the best of the year except maybe Gonzaga. At the end it was pretty loud and a very exciting finish, despite the loss. The final 6-7 minutes of the first half were breathtaking.

Also, some comments on the board and by local media about how bad it supposedly is at SLU, and at Savvis, obviously are completely misinformed if not ignorant. To say it is the worst Dvision I atmosphere is ludicrous. Obviously that person did not see the broadcast from Duquesne, where it looked like 17 people showed up. I understand the use of exaggeration but give me a break.

Does anyone have access, for example, to attendance figures for other A10 teams in recent years? I imagine this year that SLU is at least in the top 2 or 3 in A10 attendance but do not have figures to back it up. In fact, my guess is we do pretty well attendance wise against many of the so-called "top" programs. 10K per game is pretty good for college basketball.

Get real. Blame some of that lack of "atmosphere" on Savvis, but it could be way, way worse.

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>Just remember Vashon lost to my high school, Peoria Notre

>Dame. I think Tuna needs to be canned.

Ill second that. PND > Vashon. Vashon is still 0forpeoria.

Secondly, if you put the crowd from the Dayton game into the new on campus arena, about 500 people are going to be standing outside. The atmosphere would have been deafening. If I had to guess, we'll probably wind up in nationally in the 40-50 range in attendance this year. Not too bad for a team coming off a 9 win season.

Thirdly, i really don't care if bernie is on the bandwagon, I've never been a huge fan. I think a lot of you over emphasize the post's effect on things. I'd rather have the local TV guys behind us, as well as some national pub on ESPN, sportsline.com, etc. It's not as Bernie goes, so goes the program. Who cares what some yahoo says on his show? From teh sounds of it, the guy isn't the most classy guy. Who cares! How about winning 3 next weekend!

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the student section weds nite was filled all the way up to the portals. one of the best student attendance nights of the year imo. diane and the blue crew have obviously made significant strides in raising student spirit and activity.

in the past, i was one of the biggest slu student riders around. but it appears to me that the students have turned the corner. i have faith in the bluecrew to continue their good work and increase student participation and attendance more.

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two thousand students is a lot, almost 33% of undergrads. When I was at SLU it was still mostly a commuter school for city and county kids. Most of the students who went to games lived on campus. We went with a group of 9-12 regulars...all lived on campus. I don't know what the makeup is now, ie local vs boarders, but if it hasnt' changed much, I don't know how you get the locals to come. We'd ask them to go, but they either had jobs to go to or weren't going to make the ride back in after classes. If 10% of the crowd is students, that would be a great lift. You've got to have the regulars that go year in and year out. At UNC for example, they had a large contingent of students under the basket, I would guess 2,000 the rest of the crowd didn't look like students.

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I'd say the resident/commuter ratio has changed dramatically since you were there. It's most likely even better than when I was there. Just think of all the dorm rooms and apartments that have been added to the campus in the last few years. The student fan base is there, it just needs to wake up.

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do you realize that our attendance this year would have put us right about top 50 last year in the entire country?

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Thanks for the compliment Roy! Courtside: I know that everyone thinks that overnight we should go from average about 200 total student fans to selling out Savvis, but that's not going to happen realistically. At the beginning of the year, I had the same thoughts, but after I realized that this kind of thing takes time, student attendence this year (especially since Christmas Break) has impressed me. Kids are starting to talk basketball in class to their friends...and I'm not the one starting the conversations, something I've never really seen much of in my almost 3 years at SLU.

SLU is not an athletic school; it is an ACADEMIC school. Students don't come here because they love SLU basketball...most of these kids had SLU as a back-up plan for when they didn't get into their top college choices. It is very hard to get kids like that to come to games and support athletics in general. I'll use Blue Crew as an example because I actually know our numbers (I'm not sure about student turn-out in general), but I think it's a huge accomplishment to go from having about 10 fans at the last home game last year to having 200+ at Wednesday's game.

Students are making huge strides to get to games now, so we should be thankful to them for making time to do it. For as apathetic of a student body that we are, it says a lot that they take the time to get on a bus and travel to a game off-campus, and I only expect attendence to get better.

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