MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Mr. Ypsi]

We already knew this but Hope led D3 in attendance......Calvin 4th, MIAA 1st as a conference.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2012/may/mens+basketball+attendance+still+strong

the blurb about Hope

In Division III, Hope ran away with its 10th straight attendance title by averaging 3,259 per game, which was more than double the runner-up. The rest of the top five were Wooster (1,607), Wisconsin-Stevens Point (1,474), Calvin (1,397), and Franklin & Marshall (1,311). Hope's total attendance of 52,151 was the second highest in Division III history. The record of 52,719 was set by Hope in 2006.

also a blurb about the D3 tournament

The Division III tournament had 59,492 fans for a 1,352 average in 44 sessions.

I'm not sure how much you guys have looked at this in years past in terms of trends (other than just your individual schools) but it seems like the top attendance-getters aren't as high as in past years. Many years, there have been 3 schools with 2000+ and 6 or 7 with 1400+. This year, UWSP was #3 at 1474. That was with only one WIAC tournament game and no NCAA games, so that would certainly have an impact (these would drive the average up, probably 2k+ for those games on average).

This is the highest Point has "placed" in attendance, but it's 500 fans per game fewer than the next highest, in 05 (Championship #2) when Point averaged over 1900 and was 4th in the country.

Blame Wii, Guitar Hero, and Netflix.

But, Greg, have any of those reached B'town yet?!

I have no clue why Titan attendance has fallen so dramatically (they were generally always top 3, with 2400+).  They were pretty bad for a few years after that 2006 team, but that no longer seems an excuse unless the 'magic' simply wore off and never returned.  Perhaps the jokes about the 'geriatric' fans were true, and deaths have exceeded new fans?

Blame Bingo, Cialis, and those swimming-pool pods from Cocoon.

I know you could care less about karma, but that definitely calls for #800!

[Gregory Sager]

Thanks, Chuck!

[Mr. Ypsi]

You're welcome, though I can't believe I typed 'could care less' (a pet peeve of mine) instead of 'couldn't care less' - the perils of fast typing and slow proof-reading! .

Nonetheless, you got off one of the premier lines of 2012.

I'd still like to know why Titan attendance has gone into the toilet (relatively speaking).

[Flying Dutch Fan]

Noticed the other day that it would appear the Holland summer basketball rec league for the A division (which has included Hope, Calvin, AQ, and C'Stone for many years) was cancelled for this year.

No basketball for the whole summer?  DANG!!

Anyone know the story here?  Hopefully, The Courthouse will still be an option - although currently their website doesn't have any adult BBall listings.

[KnightSlappy]

Looks like Calvin's Board of Trustees meeting is slated for this Friday. According to what I've heard, this will be when the final decision will be made for/against a football team.

[sac]

good mlive write-up from last fall    http://www.mlive.com/smallcolleges/grandrapids/index.ssf/2011/09/why_calvin_college_may_invest.html


Fourth times a charm?

[sac]

Noticed the other day that it would appear the Holland summer basketball rec league for the A division (which has included Hope, Calvin, AQ, and C'Stone for many years) was cancelled for this year.

No basketball for the whole summer?  DANG!!

Anyone know the story here?  Hopefully, The Courthouse will still be an option - although currently their website doesn't have any adult BBall listings.

If I'm not mistaken those leagues have to be certified by the NCAA now, but that may just be a D1 thing.  Seems like I read that somewhere, but that rule may have been around awhile.

I could be totally wrong on this.

[AlwaysHope]

If you're looking for some wonderfull off-season basketball reading, may I suggest the following:

http://scottsbbblog.blogspot.com/

Well done sac!!!!!  Can't wait for the next installment, and I'm looking forward to reading your insights in-season as well.

Amen, FDF . . . this is excellent (you should put the blogsport URL at the end of your e-mails, as KnightSlappy does, Sac).  And I agree:  the Hope-IWU game was, even as a loss, perhaps the most memorable game in my history of watching Hope BB--at least from the crowd frenzy standpoint.  I've enjoyed revisiting the scene near the game's end at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEuAYQ3q7kw

It continues to amaze me the number of people who have watched and been around Hope basketball a lot longer than I have express the same thoughts.

I have been watching Hope basketball since the early 1960's, and yes, I saw GVW when he played for Hope.  As far as the frenzy at the IWU game, it did exceed everything I have experienced in those 50 years; fans, most of whom were not students, were dancing in the aisles and in their seats.  The IWU fans couldn't believe what they were seeing.  Of course, years ago we did not have the music to help work up the crowd into a frenzy like we do now.  Although the old Civic was loud, add another 1,000 fans plus the music and you have an electric atmosphere.

Only thing remotely comparable was the Hope-Calvin game at the Civic in 1965, my freshman year, when Hope beat our neighbors to the east in double overtime +!  The game actually ended about 10 minutes after the second overtime buzzer went off, including the first wild celebration on the court when the game technically had not ended.  But I am not sure Old Knight wants to hear this story again; it nearly ruined his childhood!

[Mr. Ypsi]

If you're looking for some wonderfull off-season basketball reading, may I suggest the following:

http://scottsbbblog.blogspot.com/

Well done sac!!!!!  Can't wait for the next installment, and I'm looking forward to reading your insights in-season as well.

Amen, FDF . . . this is excellent (you should put the blogsport URL at the end of your e-mails, as KnightSlappy does, Sac).  And I agree:  the Hope-IWU game was, even as a loss, perhaps the most memorable game in my history of watching Hope BB--at least from the crowd frenzy standpoint.  I've enjoyed revisiting the scene near the game's end at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEuAYQ3q7kw

It continues to amaze me the number of people who have watched and been around Hope basketball a lot longer than I have express the same thoughts.

I have been watching Hope basketball since the early 1960's, and yes, I saw GVW when he played for Hope.  As far as the frenzy at the IWU game, it did exceed everything I have experienced in those 50 years; fans, most of whom were not students, were dancing in the aisles and in their seats.  The IWU fans couldn't believe what they were seeing.  Of course, years ago we did not have the music to help work up the crowd into a frenzy like we do now.  Although the old Civic was loud, add another 1,000 fans plus the music and you have an electric atmosphere.

Only thing remotely comparable was the Hope-Calvin game at the Civic in 1965, my freshman year, when Hope beat our neighbors to the east in double overtime +!  The game actually ended about 10 minutes after the second overtime buzzer went off, including the first wild celebration on the court when the game technically had not ended.  But I am not sure Old Knight wants to hear this story again; it nearly ruined his childhood!

As one of the fans in the IWU section, I have to take issue with the highlighted sentence.

I date back to the Fred Young Fieldhouse (the 'Shirk' is probably close to 20 years old now, but that is not MY memories); we drove the fire marshal crazy because the average attendance was probably 300-500 over capacity!  And LOUD.  And CRAZY.

The atmosphere that night at DeVos was incredible, but I don't think it exceeded anything many of us could believe!   [Probably about half the fans in the IWU section wouldn't remember Fred Young, but there were many of us who remember that era.]  I'm very disappointed that they are no longer pressuring Hope for the attendance record, and no longer even perennial top 3.

[oldknight]

If you're looking for some wonderfull off-season basketball reading, may I suggest the following:

http://scottsbbblog.blogspot.com/

Well done sac!!!!!  Can't wait for the next installment, and I'm looking forward to reading your insights in-season as well.

Amen, FDF . . . this is excellent (you should put the blogsport URL at the end of your e-mails, as KnightSlappy does, Sac).  And I agree:  the Hope-IWU game was, even as a loss, perhaps the most memorable game in my history of watching Hope BB--at least from the crowd frenzy standpoint.  I've enjoyed revisiting the scene near the game's end at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEuAYQ3q7kw

It continues to amaze me the number of people who have watched and been around Hope basketball a lot longer than I have express the same thoughts.

I have been watching Hope basketball since the early 1960's, and yes, I saw GVW when he played for Hope.  As far as the frenzy at the IWU game, it did exceed everything I have experienced in those 50 years; fans, most of whom were not students, were dancing in the aisles and in their seats.  The IWU fans couldn't believe what they were seeing.  Of course, years ago we did not have the music to help work up the crowd into a frenzy like we do now.  Although the old Civic was loud, add another 1,000 fans plus the music and you have an electric atmosphere.

Only thing remotely comparable was the Hope-Calvin game at the Civic in 1965, my freshman year, when Hope beat our neighbors to the east in double overtime +!  The game actually ended about 10 minutes after the second overtime buzzer went off, including the first wild celebration on the court when the game technically had not ended.  But I am not sure Old Knight wants to hear this story again; it nearly ruined his childhood!

And now, thanks to your reminder, the ruination continues as I rapidly advance into old age.   I thought I had successfully completed therapy but it appears there is a lot more than 20 years of psychic damage we're talking about here.

[oldknight]

We already knew this but Hope led D3 in attendance......Calvin 4th, MIAA 1st as a conference.

http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/public/ncaa/resources/latest+news/2012/may/mens+basketball+attendance+still+strong

the blurb about Hope

In Division III, Hope ran away with its 10th straight attendance title by averaging 3,259 per game, which was more than double the runner-up. The rest of the top five were Wooster (1,607), Wisconsin-Stevens Point (1,474), Calvin (1,397), and Franklin & Marshall (1,311). Hope's total attendance of 52,151 was the second highest in Division III history. The record of 52,719 was set by Hope in 2006.

also a blurb about the D3 tournament

The Division III tournament had 59,492 fans for a 1,352 average in 44 sessions.

I'm not sure how much you guys have looked at this in years past in terms of trends (other than just your individual schools) but it seems like the top attendance-getters aren't as high as in past years. Many years, there have been 3 schools with 2000+ and 6 or 7 with 1400+. This year, UWSP was #3 at 1474. That was with only one WIAC tournament game and no NCAA games, so that would certainly have an impact (these would drive the average up, probably 2k+ for those games on average).

This is the highest Point has "placed" in attendance, but it's 500 fans per game fewer than the next highest, in 05 (Championship #2) when Point averaged over 1900 and was 4th in the country.

Blame Wii, Guitar Hero, and Netflix.

But, Greg, have any of those reached B'town yet?!

I have no clue why Titan attendance has fallen so dramatically (they were generally always top 3, with 2400+).  They were pretty bad for a few years after that 2006 team, but that no longer seems an excuse unless the 'magic' simply wore off and never returned.  Perhaps the jokes about the 'geriatric' fans were true, and deaths have exceeded new fans?

Q (or anyone), any thoughts?

I don't know if IWU streams their games on the internet but I'm wondering if schools that do so, are suffering at the gate because of it. That might explain why some top attendance schools have seen a loss of fans in recent years.

[sac]

I got a guy who did wonders on my Bald-Wally phobias.


PS  (this is not dirty)

[hope52]

at least summer basketball starts  pretty  soon  in  june

[Titan Q]

I do think it's fair to say that most IWU fans who attended IWU/Hope NCAA tournament game were blown away by the atmosphere.  IWU fans are certainly used to huge Division III crowds and an electric atmosphere (as noted, not quite as consistently in recent years for some reason -- but the big conference games are still electric at IWU), but I think it was just the whole "choreography" of the DeVos crowd that had everyone buzzing.  I was not at that game but have talked to so many people who were, and the general feeling is always just "wow."

And IWU's players were blown away too.  It's the reason they incorporated the Interlude Dance into their pre and post game rituals the next 2 weekends.  They thought it was just really cool...

Locker room before Sweet 16 game vs Wooster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA7yBixILCc

Locker room after defeating Wooster:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L8lAW6-8Kg&feature=relmfu


In Salem one of IWU's seniors told me it was the "most amazing atmosphere he's ever played in."  And as I hear Titan fans now debating the "best IWU game they've ever seen" the 2 OT win @ Hope seems to be coming in at #1 or #2 pretty consistently. 

It's fair to say that game made a huge impression on IWU's fans and players.

[hoopdreams]

Simply awesome Titan!  It's the "little" moments like those that I remember so well and miss so much, some 25 years later....