[JHHawk]

Kravish has offers from Cal and Colorado also according to recruiting websites.
Reel him in,Fran. We need tall guys,and sounds like he can play.

[CAARHawk]

The way you build a program is NOT to convince a bunch of fans to come watch a team that cannot compete. If so, please tell me one time in history that this occurred. Just because something seems reasonable does not mean it can actually happen.

You bring fans in by winning. You do that by finding diamonds in the rough like Gary Trent, Stephen Curry, etc., or by out-recruiting everyone else, or by playing a brand of basketball that levels the playing field athletically.

[Hooper]

Originally Posted by TritonHawkeye

Before the football game I went to the basketball scrimmage, Kravish looks much more physically ready than White. I would be pretty pleased if he was our commit. Sherman and and some former players were spending a lot of time with him...

Also just some quick observations of the scrimmage.

McCabe has some hustle in him, hard nose player that held his own quite well. Much better from the outside than I expected and really very physical player.

Marble also was very impressive. Good shot, good quickness and played defense pretty well.

Basabe... I hope his ankle was hurting him because he was not in much of a hurry to get up and down the floor.

Carwright should do well backing up Cully.

Was also pretty surprised at how well Stokes played. He might a contributor down the road.

Far and away the best player on the court was Payne. His outside shot was fantastic, he drove hard to the hoop and never stopped hustling.

Lastly, I really enjoyed watching May. Man he had a few monster dunks, i think if he really tried he could touch the rim with the top of his head. Seemed much quicker than last year and could be one heck of a player before his days are done at Iowa. Gaten's didn't drive to the hoop but his shot looked silky smooth from the outside.

Good summary and I concur with your points. I thought the intensity was what you would expect at 8:30am. The boys are gonna have to play a little harder. They didn
t seem to me like they wanted to run all that much.

[greghammel]

Originally Posted by CAARHawk

The way you build a program is NOT to convince a bunch of fans to come watch a team that cannot compete. If so, please tell me one time in history that this occurred. Just because something seems reasonable does not mean it can actually happen.

You bring fans in by winning. You do that by finding diamonds in the rough like Gary Trent, Stephen Curry, etc., or by out-recruiting everyone else, or by playing a brand of basketball that levels the playing field athletically.

Name one time when it hasn't? It is obvious every team in history started from scratch. When a team goes through rough times and fans don't show up, it takes them much longer, if ever, to compete again. What was North Carolina's attendance last year? They couldn't compete very well. Do you know why they re-load? Because fans keep selling out the place. Because of this they can recruit better players, because of this they will be out of the gutter sooner than later.

No team in history (well maybe the Florida Marlins or Chicago White Sox) has won without fan support. Simply doesn't happen. Of course winning brings in fans, without a doubt. Everyone likes to jump on a winning team. If the fans quit showing up, it will be very difficult to convince a player they should.

I can't believe you think fans shouldn't attend games because there team is going through a rough time... boo!

[CAARHawk]

Really? Are you serious? North Carolina had a top recruiting class heading into last year's down year. The reason they are able to keep recruiting is because they are a legendary program. Look at ND and Michigan in football. They have been down for awhile and still draw. Why? Because they are legendary programs and people expect them to be back. Same with the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, etc. But all that fan support didn't guarantee that each team stayed out of a slump.

But Iowa BBall is different. It is not a legendary program. It is a program that has had limited sustained success over a decade ago. Really more like the KC Chiefs, Rams, and Jags.

Now you asked me what teams didn't have support until they started winning. How many people went to Davidson basketball games before Curry showed up? How many people were showing up at KState games before Hugs showed up? How many people were going to watch Siena play before FM made them a winner? For that matter in 2000, you could get 4 tickets, 4 sodas, and 4 hot dogs for $40 at Kinnick!

Not saying fans shouldn't show up to games. I just understand the reality that if you have lost your fans you will not get them back until you start winning, or you bring in a recruit that gets people really excited. Really, I hope people do just show up. But there is absolutely no precedent for that to have happened in a similar situation.

[greghammel]

We will have to just disagree. Every team has had fans before they won anything!

[TheNebraskaHawk]

Originally Posted by greghammel

We will have to just disagree. Every team has had fans before they won anything!

Greg, I think the difference we see is between true fans vs fair weather fans...personally, I do not have time for the latter nor do I have respect for them or their opinions!

[JHHawk]

Pro sports are different than college sports. In pro...winning is the only thing,cept for the Cubs. In college there is a lot more loyalty for the home state school.

Hawks should serve beer and have coeds in halter tops,and cub fans would flock to the place, assuming some bad baseball might break out.

[CAARHawk]

You are right about the fair weather fans. But that is what you have to go with if you don't have enough "true" fans, which seems to be the case or Carver wouldn't be empty.

If you build some consistent success, some of those fair weather fans will turn into "true" fans.

[IATrainMaster101]

Originally Posted by CAARHawk

Really? Are you serious? North Carolina had a top recruiting class heading into last year's down year. The reason they are able to keep recruiting is because they are a legendary program. Look at ND and Michigan in football. They have been down for awhile and still draw. Why? Because they are legendary programs and people expect them to be back. Same with the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, etc. But all that fan support didn't guarantee that each team stayed out of a slump.

But Iowa BBall is different. It is not a legendary program. It is a program that has had limited sustained success over a decade ago. Really more like the KC Chiefs, Rams, and Jags.

Now you asked me what teams didn't have support until they started winning. How many people went to Davidson basketball games before Curry showed up? How many people were showing up at KState games before Hugs showed up? How many people were going to watch Siena play before FM made them a winner? For that matter in 2000, you could get 4 tickets, 4 sodas, and 4 hot dogs for $40 at Kinnick!

Not saying fans shouldn't show up to games. I just understand the reality that if you have lost your fans you will not get them back until you start winning, or you bring in a recruit that gets people really excited. Really, I hope people do just show up. But there is absolutely no precedent for that to have happened in a similar situation.

Why was Fry so convinced he could turn Iowa Football around? You're both right and wrong. It is not a matter of one or the other it is both. Fans and victories impress recruits, and atmosphere and victories keep fans comming. A great program needs both, and one feeds the other without question.

[deanvogs]

Originally Posted by IATrainMaster101

Why was Fry so convinced he could turn Iowa Football around? You're both right and wrong. It is not a matter of one or the other it is both. Fans and victories impress recruits, and atmosphere and victories keep fans comming. A great program needs both, and one feeds the other without question.

This is the correct answer! It wasn't that long ago when Iowa was top 20 in attendance every year. Hopefully getting away from Lick, and from Alford, the fans will start coming back. I think if we put a decent product on the floor, that is fun to watch, they will return!

[TritonHawkeye]

I think it will be incredibly hard for Iowa to fill the stands even with a good basketball team. TV has come a long way since we were in the Top 20 in average attendance.

I love the Hawkeye's but leaving my house in the middle of winter to watch a basketball game is tough when I can watch it on my 55" HD TV in the comforts of my own home...

The key are the students, you have to get them in the stands...

[1977Hawkeye]

Originally Posted by TritonHawkeye

I think it will be incredibly hard for Iowa to fill the stands even with a good basketball team. TV has come a long way since we were in the Top 20 in average attendance.

I love the Hawkeye's but leaving my house in the middle of winter to watch a basketball game is tough when I can watch it on my 55" HD TV in the comforts of my own home...

The key are the students, you have to get them in the stands...

Some 2010 Men's Basketball attendance numbers:
http://www.ncaa.org/wps/wcm/connect/...b6be967b4a3893

How many bad teams do you see listed in the Top 20? You'll notice that there are some cold-weather teams in the Top-20 as well. What do those teams have that Iowa doesn't? Tradition? Success? You bet! They are winning programs, and people come out to watch them play, even if it's cold out.

To me, the attendance (or lack thereof) is almost entirely all about the fans just not giving a rip about Hawkeye hoops the past few years.

Win, get people to care, and they will start showing up for games again. It was just 5 short years ago where we won 25 games and our conference home games were pretty full. In the 1990's when we were winning, I remember virtually every single game being televised if you were in-state. Never missed a game unless it was maybe the first-round game in some tournament in Puerto Rico or something.

I agree on the student section - we have to get that going. That's the #1 thing IMO to getting a good atmosphere going in Carver.

[sioux34]

Barta did not help Fran in the least for the upcoming season. If I was the AD, I would have cut both season and general admission ticket prices in half. I think you could have sold more than twice the tickets, and gotten even more revenue from concessions and parking. Once the program gets back to winning, then you could start moving ticket prices back up.

The way things are, I predict that Carver will continue to look like a morgue, no matter who the coach is, and what style of play they employ. Now, if Fran is able to make the team competitive, we could see an increase in attendance, but I am not looking for miracles in the first season.