godanesgo99

I had a conversation with a bunch of UA Students last night. These were your typical 'sports fan' guys. Of the 25+ kids I was talking to, none of them could name a single starter on this years team, and the only name they could come up with was Peter Hooley. I was truly disappointed. If a group of guys, all in a fraternity, that are all your typical sports fan type guys can't name a starter on this team - then something is wrong at the University and their internal marketing. I love the billboard on I90 I saw this morning, and a couple of days ago while wearing a Purple UA shirt I had multiple people start conversations with me about this years team - so the area locals are starting to follow and get involved - the student issue needs to be fixed. Not only for "Asses in the Seats" today, but with future Alumni support.

We asked Artie at Across the Street if he'd be serving breakfast before the game, but he said he'd never get waitresses in that early, plus he'd have to be in at 5 am to open. But their regular opening is at 11, game time. Plus, I think he has season tickets, so I would assume he would be at the game not at work. I would think he would try to just open at 10 or 10:30. Anyone know what City Line is doing?

I saw that too. Click on the section itself and you will see no seats available though. Problem with the program they use to show the stats. All seats gone, yet it still shows availability in the section summary. My guess is that it only updates overnight.

It's not the end of the world...just disappointing. I'm sorry to harp on this but how was the ticket dept supposed to stop this? Ask everyone who they were rooting for? Even on the phone this could've been done. There are ways to stop out or market ticket sales, this happens all the time based on mailing address of credit card used etc. I understand maybe our online ticket system doesn't filter based on that but I know other places do it. Pro teams do it all the time to limit sales during playoffs etc. Because of the demographics of the UA student population and where to go after school, I don't think that would help much. There are a lot of UA fans on LI... Anyone know what section they bought up? I hope it's not the one I am in!

Spent 45 minutes trying to get through on the phone as I was no where near a computer. Kept hitting redial while at an eye exam. Luckily the eye doctor understood. After the appointment, I started to head to SEFCU as I could get there before a computer. Finally got through as I was getting to the base of the Northway. Supposedly all chairbacks were sold to season ticket holders yesterday, and the best I could get with 6 together was section 700 Row N. I would think the game will sell out before EOB today. Stopped in SEFCU anyway as I was so close to pick up the tickets instead of having to wait in the Will Call line on Sat morning, as I was stuck in it for 15 minutes before the VT game. Only 2 people working the phones, thus the trouble getting through. From what I understand, people have not been nice on the phone because of the trouble getting through. My only issue is that they didn't update the message on the line: "Tickets go on sale 10AM on Tuesday" That message was still playing at 10:40! It would have been easy for them to set the message to change at 10am to something like - "due to high demand we are currently working with other customers. Please try again later" I am sure people thought that they hadn't opened thanks to the message. Go Danes!

Albany still at #17 with 229 points , StonyBrook now #34 with 24 points

Anyone know when tix are available? I don't see them online yet

WTF

According to Google Earth Pro... Walking from the average parking space in the closest section of the Dutch Lot is 1,950 feet or 0.37 miles (0.25 as the bird flies) Walking from the ultra far parking lot on the other side of I-87 at Yankee Stadium is 0.34 miles - most of which is in a covered walkway (0.26 as the bird flies) The outside furthest lot on Oakland St for the Carrier dome is 0.31 miles (0.24 as the bird flies) and no one parks that far away for basketball - that section is only used during football when the place is full. And for Penn State football - the lot is right next to the stadium - Furthest spot at Beaver Stadium is 0.23 miles away

Oh and I looked at your Coastal Carolina example. I haven't seen a home game yet from this years box scores with attendance of 2,600. Not sure we want to model ourselves after that.

Really, something tells me you just look for excuses not to go to a game and haven't been to too many. Which venue ? Which sport do you want me to start with? So you really think there are spots for 30,000 basketball fans within the distance dutch quad is from the carrier dome. How about 100,000 people at penn st , ohio state football, etc. You want a smaller venue. Even at Coastal Carolina basketball (the most recent new basketball arena I went to) I was at least as far away from the arena as at home. And I don't want to hear any excuses like it is warmer there . they can walk, but I can't here To them the 35 degrees it was that night I was there is ever bit as cold. The personal preference is I hate parking garages. I rather walk a little further than get stuck in 1. The knick with a big crowd(concert not LCC game) is among the worst getting out of time wise..I let the guys like you park in the garage while I walk to my car and pull right onto the road and then highway You have no idea how many games I have been to. I did grow up with season tickets to Syracuse during the Billy Owens days. Still have fond memories of Derrick Coleman, Lawrence Moten, Scott Mckorkle and my personal favorite: Mike Hopkins. I too hate garages, and when I go downtown - I park on the street and walk. When I am with my wife, and the weather is nasty - I do park in the garage because of her. You miss my point - I am a big fan and go to every game I can possibly make it to. If the point is to bring more people to the games - you have to make the casual fans comfortable so that they become super fans. The teams you mention have built huge fan bases and do not need to cater to the casual fan to fill the arena. In Albany, NY - you have to make it easy for people. You have to make people want to make a night of it. I asked a few typical 'sports fan' guys in my office if they have been following UA this year, and they mention reading it in the paper or hearing about it on the radio - but they could care less. I asked if they have been to a game - and they said they did a few years ago - but they hated walking to the RACC (some of them didn't even know it was SEFCU now). Also - those venues you mention with 30,000 or 100,000 - do they have a walk that has no protection, nothing lit, across a dreary campus in January when it is 4 degrees? When it is 26 and slushy in February? Umm no. They have vendors. Tailgate parties. Stuff going on. People like you and I will go to games if we have to park in Colin's Circle and have to walk through 2 feet of snow to get there. My wife and child will not. Unfortunately, the capital region is full of people like my wife, not college basketball fans.

It's all a matter of opinion, but mine is that you are wrong on the walking piece. A garage where the current SEFCU lot is would be an eye sore so that is not where I would put it if one were to be built. The long walk in the dark on a windy campus to get from Dutch to SEFCU most definitely hurts attendance in the winter. Something tells me all those games you mention that Bob87 has been to have just as poor attendance as we do. I can tell you for 100% certain my wife would rather go to see Siena play because the parking is closer and even when there is a walk you have things to see, it's well lit, buildings to block the wind and overall more pleasant. She will not go to SEFCU during a night game or on a real cold day. The real fans will go whenever and wherever they can, but if you want to increase attendance you need the casual fans and families buying 4-5 tickets instead of just 1 or 2. The tickets are already cheap enough. Just make it more accessible and comfortable and more casual fans will attend. More attendance turns more casual fans into super fans.

Thank you for this BTW - great site!

That's because they don't use any thought process and just take the highest RPI. Ignores that Albany has a higher Power Ranking than SB on reatltimeRPI. The funny thing is that the game that Stony Brook won in Albany now has a ? mark next to it on realtime rpi - meaning that it was a "bad loss."

Up to #17... (225 points) Convincing wins in the AE tournament and we might be able to pull off a #14 seed and have a half way decent shot at making some noise in the tournament. Other teams of UA interest: Yale is #12 with 434 points (probably UAs biggest win of the season) Iona is #16 (top in the MAAC) with 283 points Buffalo entered the poll at #21 with 122 points (some poster on the TU blog is always rambling on how Buffalo is the class of upstate NY this year with the highest RPI) Stony Brook got 14 points Bucknell got 5 points (and beat UA early season) NJIT got 1 point Vermont got 0 points (I think they were tougher than NJIT) Siena got 0 points (which is too many)

From what I understand the neutral site will cost the conference too much money. In the old format the host schools paid for the right to host the tourney and that is how the conference made money. In a neutral site format the conference would have to pay the site to host the tourney there and it would cost too much. I don't know if this is truly the case but what I have heard. Actually what really needs to happen is the conference needs its "One Bid Wonder" to make it to the Sweet 16 two or three years in a row (starting with UA this year) and then the money thing becomes a non-issue. Add a couple million a year to the conference from the NCAA and a lot of these problems go away.

ESPN now has Kansas vs. Albany (15 Seed)

Umm, I have been to a bunch of games this season and a bunch last year and before a few weeks ago, I didn't know it was there... and several employees at SEFCU apparently did not know either. I do not remember seeing it there as recently as the Stony Brook Game. You sure it's been there all season? I must be blind.

BTW - Apparently someone is reading this board in UA Administration ... suggestions from this thread taken... and...

Honestly, I am really impressed with the attendance outside of students during the last few home games. Today would have been much closer to sell out if the students cared. Looked like you could have fit another 100-150 in the 2 baseline sections. Add to that the fact that I doubt that the pep band counts in attendance numbers, there goes another 50-60 seats. The only other empty seats were behind the Vermont bench, so I assume those were allocated to Vermont. I did see a few students in the normal paid sections though. I have been to 4 home games this year + the Siena game. I can never make Wednesday night games or I would have been to more. That said, I direct you to the asses in the seats thread. The walk from Dutch quad sucks at night and when it is cold, and the entrance near the stadium doesn't have enough parking nor is it an inviting entrance on that side. If the SEFCU was easier to park at and more inviting from the outside we could easily beat the Aints in attendance - at SEFCU (with enough seating as well). It is really time for better facilities or a move downtown. I bet student attendance would remain unchanged or improve.

Don't know how much they cost, but they are great. They fill in that empty space in the corners and make the place feel even more full than it was. Need 2 more and have 1 in each corner. How greedy am I? LOL

Don't know if I have ever seen a worse reffed game. I know it is SOP for refs to run off the court, but I think they had extra motivation today. They probably would have been attacked if they were anywhere near the floor for 30 seconds longer. Great win. I haven't looked at the stats since leaving SEFCU, but it felt like UVM shot like 20% from the line. That was the difference IMO.

Just follow realtimeRPI's bracket and sportsranking.coms brackets. Both of them pick us to lose in the conference tournament. To them we are underdogs!

Don't want to Jinx it - I mean the underdog team did win the last few years in a row! That said, if for some reason UA does get upset in the tournament, we will have missed out on all of the speculation fun that we get to have now!

Not a consideration, this isn't a popularity contest... That Niagara loss is killing us.. If we run through the AE tourney, we'll have an RPI somewhere in the 110 range. That coupled with the fact that we would be in it for the third time in a row which always gets some love from the panel means probably a 15 seed. I don't see a way to get 14 unless there are some massive upsets in other conference tourneys that they can then take those teams and slot under us. The blowout loss to Holy Cross hurts almost as much. They were so good against us, but fell apart as a team. The loss at St. Francis (PA) was pretty bad too - but you are right - Niagara kills us. From ESPN Ratings - our worst games: Worst Games for BPI Tue, Dec 30 Niagara L 65-47 9.3 -------------1.7 Wed, Dec 3 Holy Cross L 74-57 7.9 ----------3.2 Sat, Dec 6 St Francis (PA) L 69-59 24.6 ---12.5 Sat, Nov 29 UNLV L 75-59 17.1 ---------------23 Mon, Dec 8 Bucknell L 61-58 43.2----------- 36.5 On the flip side - Best Games: Best Games for BPI Mon, Jan 19 Stony Brook W 64-47 93------- 95.6 Sat, Dec 20 Yale W 64-60 66.6 ---------------87.3 Wed, Nov 19 N.J.I.T. W 65-48 83.9----------- 85.8 Wed, Jan 28 Vermont W 47-44 62.8--------- 75.5 Fri, Feb 13 N.J.I.T. W 65-59 72.8------------- 75.4 Also of note: The close loss at Providence had a score of 71.2 The Feb 4th Win at home vs. New Hampshire only got 48.9 Very interesting rating structure they use...