Where are all the students?

[yankeewc]

Even the suits are here

 

[buddy]

Even the suits are here

It just reiterates that there should be no XL games until UConn is P5.

 

[Matt1010]

They are at Nickel Night...

 

[Kitaman]

They need to find a way to give students steep discounts or a method to fill them in the empty seats. Its sad to see so many empties when you have students who would have loved to be there and should.

 

[UConnSwag11]

It's a thursday, shltty weather, below freezing, 30 min bus ride/car ride against tulsa... they're home or at the bar

 

[UConnSwag11]

I thought the turnout was pretty good for the weather and a weekday game

 

[Kitaman]

It's a thursday, shltty weather, below freezing, 30 min bus ride/car ride against tulsa... they're home or at the bar

Kids are soft nowadays. When I was in college we would walk 30 miles each way barefoot, in 15 pound coat in a blizzard with sub-zero temps. to see our team.

 

[mjmoney23]

Thought the attendance was weak overall tonight. I think this was the only week night game that the xl all year. A lot of empty seats, might have been the most empties since the exhibition. The student section was actually more full than it was a for few games this year.

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Kids are soft nowadays. When I was in college we would walk 30 miles each way barefoot, in 15 pound coat in a blizzard with sub-zero temps. to see our team.

You forgot uphill both ways.

 

[BUConn10]

Thursday night is one of the biggest social nights at UConn, especially for the 21+ legal drinking crowd, which tends to also be the crowd that has cars on campus allowing them to make the half hour drive.

 

[UConnfan8]

I thought the turnout was pretty good for the weather and a weekday game

What weather??? We live in CT.....weekday game? At 7 PM? C'mon, it's not like this was a 11 AM Saturday game. That turnout was embarrassing tonight. #1 team in the conference and a very important game for our season and whole sections above the baskets aren't touched. I shake my head at any poster who claims that playing at the XL is a good thing. It's not. For a team with 4 titles and considered a perennial power, we should at least be able to fill 17,000 on a Thursday night with literally zero bad weather against the #1 team in the conference.

 

[ZackB05]

The game was over by 9. They could have been drinking in Storrs by 9:45. No excuse. Poor showing by the students.

 

[BUConn10]

The game was over by 9. They could have been drinking in Storrs by 9:45. No excuse. Poor showing by the students.

UConn may be the only major athletic program in America that asks its students to drive half an hour for a large majority of both major sports' games. Coupled with an administration that is actively working against students in terms of parking, vehicle ownership on campus (DESPITE being in the middle of no--where where there is ample space to provide parking for everyone), as well as trying to stifle every potential social event off campus, and you get a result like you see tonight. Not saying we shouldnt play games in Hartford and East Hartford (for football), but its very understandable to me as a student that graduated from Storrs last year.

 

[David 76]

Thursday night is one of the biggest social nights at UConn, especially for the 21+ legal drinking crowd, which tends to also be the crowd that has cars on campus allowing them to make the half hour drive.

Big social night at 7:00 pm? Come on. Weak

 

[BUConn10]

Big social night at 7:00 pm? Come on. Weak

Its really not that simple from a students point of view. Game is until 9, half hour drive back plus the half hour wait to get out of the parking garage during the post-game rush and you are looking at being back at Storrs around 10pm. Totally sober, you had no chance to pregame (essential part of a night out at UConn) and now you have to wait in a hell of a line to get into one of the three pathetic bars on campus that are each the size of a small living room. Nickel night specials also start at 7pm and end at 10pm, when all the drink prices go back to regular price, and the bars usually clear out 70% of the crowd. If you go to the game tonight, your night out in Storrs is basically over, kudos to the students that made the trip.

 

[BoatShow]

I like people that feel like students somehow owe it to the university to be a body in a seat.

 

[Jerry1714]

Honest question, does any P5 school play its football and half of its basketball games 35 min from campus?

 

[BoatShow]

What weather??? We live in CT.....weekday game? At 7 PM? C'mon, it's not like this was a 11 AM Saturday game. That turnout was embarrassing tonight. #1 team in the conference and a very important game for our season and whole sections above the baskets aren't touched. I shake my head at any poster who claims that playing at the XL is a good thing. It's not. For a team with 4 titles and considered a perennial power, we should at least be able to fill 17,000 on a Thursday night with literally zero bad weather against the #1 team in the conference.

Up until like this morning weather was calling for several inches of snow tonight. I'm sure many people wrote off going to the game tonight.

 

[lange10]

I'm a current student. Such a hassle to get to Hartford, you have no clue. It's a 4-5 hour event bc of the driving and traffic. I went tonight and was disappointed in the turnout, though. Many students were selling on buy/sell today. I don't know, I don't get it. I'll do whatever it takes to be at every game, hartford or gampel if I have a way of getting there. It's that simple. Bleed blue

 

[BUConn10]

I like people that feel like students somehow owe it to the university to be a body in a seat.

Especially an administration that regularly gives terrible seats to the student section. I dont care about XL student section seating as XL is for the masses to begin with, but Gampel is a historic place with great history. At the VERY LEAST, the student section in Gampel should mirror what Duke, Pitt, Michigan, MSU students get, which is the lower level along the court. The homecourt advantage at Gampel is legendary, and the student body plays a huge role in that, they should be rewarded. Like KO said during First Night "They're afraid to play us here!"

 

[FeedTheDove]

Unless we're playing a ranked or big name opponent, student attendance at XL will be mediocre. That's just the way it is. As a current student it always pains me to turn around and look at the weak turn out at XL. In terms of today, it was a Thursday so everyone is basically at nickel. I don't really get it either, the only explanation is that most students don't really give a s*** about these games unless it's an excuse to go get hammered. It's a shame because there's a good handful of knowledgeable students who are 100% dedicated every single game.

I've loved my four years at UConn cheering in the student section, but one thing I've learned is for a school with as much basketball success as we've had the past couple of decades, we have some pretty misinformed and dispassionate students. I know this is true for most schools, but it shows on a night like tonight. Playing the number 1 team in the conference in a revenge game to keep our season hopes alive and we can't even fill the bottom bowl of the XL.

I don't mean to derail the thread, but I've always hated the way the student sections are set up. I understand that there isn't much to do to change this, but when the student section is split into multiple sections, the fans that are not as close to the action don't feel involved. If they don't feel involved, they get bored. When they get bored, they lose interest and then they don't come. If the student section were set-up along the side of the court instead of behind the basket (I know this won't ever happen) lots more students would feel involved, which means lots more students would be showing up.

Anyways, I don't want to turn that great night into a negative I'm just putting my two cents in as a fourth year student. You will always get mediocre student attendance at XL. You will usually get pretty good to great student attendance at Gampel. It's just how it is. Let's get this W on Saturday.

 

[The Viking]

Solution is simple.

XL needs to have nickel night when UConn is in town.

 

[The Viking]

The problem with putting kids around the court is that you have a lot of rich older folks who don't like to stand up when things get exciting unless it involves free T-shirts being thrown to the crowd.

 

[willie99]

They need to find a way to give students steep discounts or a method to fill them in the empty seats. Its sad to see so many empties when you have students who would have loved to be there and should.

I'm not sure I know of another school that doesn't do this

we are all about the money

 

[temery]

I'm not sure I know of another school that doesn't do this

we are all about the money

My guess is we are the rule, not the exception. Money rules.