By "some" you must mean about 75 of the 4,000 seats that are in the Hawks Nest.
What needs to happen is the generous donors who sit in the first 10 rows at CHA (on the TV side) such as yourself, Mr IowaBanker, need to unite. If there was a considerable group of you that would be willing to move 10 rows back (above the permanent yellow bars) they could push the first 10 rows back under the permanent structure (as they do during practices) and put in bleachers for the students to use. This would negate the need for any tarps or "killed seats." Plus the Hawks Nest would be on the TV side (showing off a fun atmosphere on TV - good for recruiting) and feeling as if they were involved in the game. Case study: Michigan. Their students sit in an ideal location (and only on one side of the court). They made the bold change when times were tough. As you mentioned, Duke and MSU do this. So does Illinois. Their students (gasp!) actually stand on the floor. As Tom Izzo said, a rocking arena will get you 4-5 more wins/season.
If the university is serious about rebuilding this program as quickly as possible (we're going on about a half-decade long stretch of irrelevance here...) then one of first things they should do is make an investment in the student body - you know, the people who actually stay until the end of the game. Half of the first row of the arena on the TV side (the first row!) was empty during the CRITICAL overtime portion of the game on Saturday afternoon. I am not exaggerating. If you pay so much to support this university and care so much about this basketball team, like so much of us do, then why in the hell would you leave the team during the portion of the game that matter the absolute most so that you can be the first one to your car? Seriously? I cannot fathom that. That's reason enough for Iowa to do what so many other schools successfully have done and make an investment in the student section.
4,000 seats in the Hawks Nest? Give it a rest. They didn't sell 1/4 of that many this year. They have allotted that many next year, but that's not what is going on today. So your comment is disingenuous.
I was there until the clock showed 0.00 after overtime, so I did not leave the team dring the portion of the game that mattered the most. Let's get that clear right off the bat. And for the record, I don't sit in Row 1 either. I'm in the first 10 rows, yes, but I'm also in a corner, and there are plenty of student section seats that are every bit as good as mine...and they're not always full either.
The students need to make an investment in the basketball program. People like my wife and I have already done that. The students need to step it up. They come 10,000 strong to Kinnick 7 Saturdays a year, but they can't get more than a few hundred to home basketball games? They're not all hunkered down studying either...they're making a choice, and it's sad. It costs them FIVE DOLLARS per game, so they aren't expensive. These kids have money to buy football season tickets and plenty of alcohol on the weekends, so I don't want to see the "they can't afford them" argument either, because it's lame.
Not only have my wife and I had season tickets for 8 years running, and donated well to the I Club, but most of those years we also had a 4 hour round trip to Carver, and we got there for almost every game (other than very poor weather). The students live right there in IC and can walk, drive, or hop on the cambus, so getting there shouldn't be an issue either.
It's all about "want to", and for the past several years, the students in large part have shown they do not want to attend games and support their men's basketball team, and that's sad. My wife and I are more than doing our part, so I'm sorry, but I don't see the need to give up our decent seats for a group of students that haven't shown an interest in supporting the team.
You didn't address my argument about other schools with strong student sections that don't have low sideline premium seats. What about Purdue, Indiana, Iowa State, or Missouri? Their students come and sit behind the baskets, and they come in droves. I want to hear what you have to say about that.
For that matter, the students in Kinnick aren't sitting on the 50 yard line either, but they show up.
I'm just tired of this lame excuse. Let's see our students show up and make their presence felt in games, rather than on the message boards complaining.