wow... embarrassing... thankfully Penn St plays bball

[cuinknk]

Because he was among the many who considered us a fraud until after the Orange Bowl. One of those "this is the worst 9-0 team in history" kind of guys. But if an SEC team does exactly what Iowa does, then that team is "gutty, resilient", etc.

You said it...after the Orange Bowl, which is also after the Big Ten finally had a respectiable showing in big bowl games again. With the way the Big Ten has performed in out of conference games in the past few years, it's not difficult to understand why someone would view 9-0 in the Big Ten differently than 9-0 in the SEC.

 

[urohawk]

Pat Forde aside.

When you have a down decade+a team without expectations+a recession+a fanbase in general that is spread out over distance=our current problem

Iowa City is clearly the smallest Big Ten town. Most Iowa fans live >30 minutes drive form the arena. People will drive 3-4 hours to watch a football game even when your down but very few will drive more than 30 minutes to watch a poor or average basketball team. Thus if you have a large town within 30 minutes of your arena you are less likely to see the dips if you have a down year.

If they start winning people will comeback. The thing the AD has to correct with this renovation is that even when we were good our student body was below average. This needs to be corrected as a good student turnout sitting around the court will make even a half full arena seem like a good environment (see Michigan).

 

[tm3308]

You said it...after the Orange Bowl, which is also after the Big Ten finally had a respectiable showing in big bowl games again. With the way the Big Ten has performed in out of conference games in the past few years, it's not difficult to understand why someone would view 9-0 in the Big Ten differently than 9-0 in the SEC.

Except that anyone outside of SEC country (and their PR department ESPN) could see that the SEC wasn't all that good either. Seriously. It was 'Bama and Florida. And that was it. Just like last season. Yet everyone lives under the notion that since it was loaded top to bottom 5 years ago it must still be today, when that's not the case.

 

[cuinknk]

Except that anyone outside of SEC country (and their PR department ESPN) could see that the SEC wasn't all that good either. Seriously. It was 'Bama and Florida. And that was it. Just like last season. Yet everyone lives under the notion that since it was loaded top to bottom 5 years ago it must still be today, when that's not the case.

The Big Ten used to live off of it's past too, did you take issue with that? Remember #1 tOSU vs. #2 Michigan, and people thinking (even some media members) they should rematch for a national title? It took one bowl season, tOSU and Michigan losing big in BCS games to change that perception. 2009 was just the opposite for the Big Ten.

 

[BA96MA99]

Pat Forde aside.

When you have a down decade+a team without expectations+a recession+a fanbase in general that is spread out over distance=our current problem

Iowa City is clearly the smallest Big Ten town. Most Iowa fans live >30 minutes drive form the arena. People will drive 3-4 hours to watch a football game even when your down but very few will drive more than 30 minutes to watch a poor or average basketball team. Thus if you have a large town within 30 minutes of your arena you are less likely to see the dips if you have a down year.

If they start winning people will comeback. The thing the AD has to correct with this renovation is that even when we were good our student body was below average. This needs to be corrected as a good student turnout sitting around the court will make even a half full arena seem like a good environment (see Michigan).

I agree with everything, except the driving distance part.

Driving across Chicago takes about as long as driving across half the state of Iowa. Northwestern used to have empty seats, and now they don't. It doesn't matter about the driving distance, it's all about whether your team is winning.

Also, Northwestern as 7,900 undergraduates. More than 30,000 students enroll at Iowa each year. Have you seen Northwestern's student section on tv?

Enough said.

 

[urohawk]

I agree with everything, except the driving distance part.

Driving across Chicago takes about as long as driving across half the state of Iowa. Northwestern used to have empty seats, and now they don't. It doesn't matter about the driving distance, it's all about whether your team is winning.

Also, Northwestern as 7,900 undergraduates. More than 30,000 students enroll at Iowa each year. Have you seen Northwestern's student section on tv?

Enough said.

Actually I think that NW is about the only team that we are ahead of in attendance in the Big Ten this year. NW has small alumni base+no tradition of success+difficulty getting to game=very rarely will get more than 7,000 at a basketball game.

I already agreed that the main problem is our student section. If your student section is good it will cover for an otherwise small crowd.

Edit: Just looked it up and actually you made my point for me. NW only drew 5100 for its home game against Michigan. This is a team with its first chance ever of making the dance and they only drew that many. NW and Iowa are clearly at the biggest disadvantage in the Big Ten for attendance.

 

[JHHawk]

Illinois is tied for 1st in the league in a ''down'' year?....Illini fans know that they have the talent to win any nite out...that is called hope..something that Iowa fans are unfamiliar with anymore.

 

[1977Hawkeye]

I don't think being tied for first in the big ten qualifies as a "down" year, and if it does I would love to have a bunch of down years.

I didn't really say that (ok, I guess I sort of did), but I was just responding to what the OP said. At the time they played Iowa though, they were looking like they were NIT-bound. Not really what they're used to seeing in recent years. A couple of huge wins turned that around recently. Really turned their season around.

 

[olivecourt]

1). this columns doesn't say anything that hasn't already been discussed on this board a hundred times.

2). it's not pat forde's opinion that iowa city isn't a good basketball town right now, it's the consensus of the 50+ basketball writers he polled:

The Minutes asked writers who cover the six major conferences to name the best and worst towns in their respective leagues -- and the best and worst basketball towns. (There can be a distinct difference.)

The results are as follows, with anonymous quotes from the respondents. Feel free to get outraged on behalf of your school's town if it does not get sufficient praise and adoration -- but remember, this is the work of more than 50 writers, not just the opinion of The Minutes

 

[olivecourt]

you should also note that bloomington wins the poll, probably because their fans have stuck by their team even through a ton of coaching turmoil and a very rough start by a head coach moving up from a smaller school. sound familiar? iowa could have the same attendance numbers as indiana, losing or not. they don't because fans choose not to go when the team is bad. fans of schools like indiana, arizona, and others that are well-known for supporting their teams go regardless. it's not complicated.