*** Gameday Thread: #23 Texas A&M vs Southern ***

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bobinator
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In reply to Adam87inSA • 9:10a, 11/21/24
AG
They don't show up for midweek games at Olsen either unless we're playing Texas or something. Last year attendance started to pick up for midweek games a bit but we were ranked in the top five like all season.

Olsen also has a supply and demand issue that Reed doesn't because it's like half the size. Olsen is basically sold out with season tickets, so if we're REALLY good, the only chance people have to watch us play is some of those midweek games.

And don't give me the midweek numbers at Olsen because they're counting tickets sold, and like I said Olsen is basically sold out with season tickets. I've been at those midweek games. Most of them there's about the same number at that basketball game last night.

Reed with 5,000 people looks emptier than Olsen with 2,000.
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Proposition Joe
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In reply to AggieCrew44 • 9:11a, 11/21/24
AggieCrew44 said:
Proposition Joe said:
Ranked #24 for a mid-week game in the South/Southwest means absolutely nothing.

The loss to UCF to start the year cratered any hope of us having decent non-conference attendance.
Yet people complain about our program. If a road loss craters your home attendance your fanbase doesn't care about basketball

Fanbases in the South/Southwest don't care about basketball unless you are a Top 15 team.

There's gobs and gobs of data to support that.

To think College Station, TX is going to buck that trend is silly.

The formula has been the same for two decades. You either need to be a Top 25 team playing a "name" opponent, or you need to be a Top 15 team. Otherwise attendance is going to be paltry.

It's not an A&M exclusive problem.
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Aggie09Derek
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 9:11a, 11/21/24
AG
While I agree no reason can't get some grass roots efforts together to at least get students in the building

So many huge orgs - seems like could do some contests between them for non conf and get them to show up (Corps, FLOS, Greeks, carpool, etc). With so many new apartments build walking distance to Reed and student population exploding just sad how few go to games.

We used to see flyers on campus reminding people about games, chalk on sidewalks etc to get word out. Is that a thing still? TMF/AD has everyone's email that has a sports pass, send an email morning of games reminding them about game.

Students start showing up and I think local crowd follows.
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bobinator
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In reply to Aggie09Derek • 9:20a, 11/21/24
AG
We've all been talking about the same things on this board for literally two decades now.

It either doesn't work, it's not worth the money, or both.

Maybe if the athletic department hired some kind of arena culture czar and gave them a budget to try some things you could move the needle a little bit on student attendance, but what's that worth for games like this?

I've been banging this same drum for years but the key isn't trying to make attendance better at these games, the key is making the experience better at the games people do come to so they're more likely to come back.

Instead, every single year, the first big game is a traffic clusterf****, like a quarter of the crowd can't get to their seats in time, the concession lines are absolutely out of control, etc. etc.

At least the wifi seems to actually work this year so far.
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Detective Jake Peralta
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 9:23a, 11/21/24
AG
Dude...we had over 11k less than a week ago.

We could've beaten UCF by 40 and it wouldn't have effected a Wednesday night game against Southern one iota.
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GrayMatter
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In reply to t - cam • 9:24a, 11/21/24
AG
t - cam said:
GrayMatter said:
AggieCrew44 said:
I think we needed that adversity before going to Vegas. We absolutely had to perform that half and we did
Against Oregon or Creighton a la Iowa St last year definitely. At home against Southern, inexcusable and shouldn't of happened. They better feel lucky that Southern couldn't make a shot to save their life.

Not making free throws is a head scratching wtf for me.
To be fair, them missing shots was not lucky. They could not get good looks for their best players.
They were making them in the first half.
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BigJim49 AustinNowDallas
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In reply to bobinator • 9:26a, 11/21/24
AG
bobinator said:
We're getting absolutely zero from our legendary Manny/Carter/Hefner trifecta.
Or anybody else!
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Proposition Joe
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In reply to Detective Jake Peralta • 9:44a, 11/21/24
Detective Jake Peralta said:
Dude...we had over 11k less than a week ago.

We could've beaten UCF by 40 and it wouldn't have effected a Wednesday night game against Southern one iota.

I guarantee you if Texas A&M had a #10 next to their name for the game last night instead of a #23, it would have impacted attendance. There is decades worth of data that support higher rankings drive higher attendance.
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bobinator
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 9:52a, 11/21/24
AG
I also legitimately think the Texas football ticket pull hurt student attendance a little bit. You're talking about hundreds/thousands of your more hardcore sports fans who were sleeping outside and standing in the rain all weekend and into Monday.
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Detective Jake Peralta
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 10:03a, 11/21/24
AG
Respectfully disagree (not that I'm happy about it).

Your original post blamed attendance against Southern on a loss to UCF and I just don't think that's reasonable.
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Proposition Joe
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In reply to Detective Jake Peralta • 10:21a, 11/21/24
Detective Jake Peralta said:
Respectfully disagree (not that I'm happy about it).

Your original post blamed attendance against Southern on a loss to UCF and I just don't think that's reasonable.

That's not what my original post said, my original post said that loss cratered any hope of us having decent non-conference attendance, not that it necessarily would have made a mid-week game against a directional school (in the most literal of senses) a good crowd.

But it's silly to say a ranking of #10 vs a ranking of #23 does not impact attendance. There's not just plenty of supporting data in college hoops, anyone who has been around A&M hoops for a decent period of time could confirm.

It's not going to skyrocket the 2500 crowd to 10,000 -- but more people come out to watch a Top 10 team. Whether you categorize it as "not knowing basketball" or not, any casual fan who tuned in or checked a score of that UCF game is not tuning back in until conference play starts.
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bobinator
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 10:36a, 11/21/24
AG

Quote:
any casual fan who tuned in or checked a score of that UCF game is not tuning back in until conference play starts.
Eh, I think that's a little extreme. Next week will make a big difference also.

Plus we play Texas Tech in a couple of weeks, people will watch that one
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t - cam
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In reply to GrayMatter • 10:44a, 11/21/24
AG
GrayMatter said:
t - cam said:
GrayMatter said:
AggieCrew44 said:
I think we needed that adversity before going to Vegas. We absolutely had to perform that half and we did
Against Oregon or Creighton a la Iowa St last year definitely. At home against Southern, inexcusable and shouldn't of happened. They better feel lucky that Southern couldn't make a shot to save their life.

Not making free throws is a head scratching wtf for me.
To be fair, them missing shots was not lucky. They could not get good looks for their best players.
They were making them in the first half.


Yeah, and they were wide open. This team clearly got ripped at halftime and the open looks disappeared.
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frenchtoast
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10:51a, 11/21/24
If you don't blame marketing, you're not a real Aggie.
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TheDecadeSapling
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In reply to Aggie09Derek • 10:59a, 11/21/24
AG
I was there from 11 to 15 and I felt like the university did a terrible job promoting sports outside of football. It was definitely the bare minimum, which is sad.
Give me the guy who shoots for excellence and fails over the guy who shoots for mediocrity and succeeds.
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Detective Jake Peralta
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In reply to Proposition Joe • 11:02a, 11/21/24
AG
Yeah, I still disagree.

If we were going to rank factors for attendance last night, I'm not sure the UCF game would crack the top 25.

Have a great day!
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Proposition Joe
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In reply to Detective Jake Peralta • 11:17a, 11/21/24
Detective Jake Peralta said:
Yeah, I still disagree.

If we were going to rank factors for attendance last night, I'm not sure the UCF game would crack the top 25.

Have a great day!

Fine to disagree, decades of data doesn't support that though. I can state beyond a shadow of a doubt that a #10 ranked Texas A&M team would have drawn more fans last night than a #23 ranked Texas A&M team.

A significant number? Possibly/probably not. But not one iota? It's simply wrong, and not worth debating further -- so you too have a great day
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AggByMarriage
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11:23a, 11/21/24
I am an Aggie fan…

And I like college basketball way more than football and I like college football way more than college baseball.

I guess that makes me a different kind of 2 percenter

Attendance is driven by performance and tradition. Reed Arena will see more seats filled the better the team does, that's simple enough. However, there will always be empty seats at Reed.

College Station is too far away from Houston, Austin, and DFW for fans to make a trek a couple of times a week for a game that last a couple of hours. bobinator's observations about Olsen are correct.

The basketball program is not a part of the tradition here. We're known nationally as the 12th Man, not the 6th Man. And yes, I know what the basketball booster club is called…

Winning will change things and that takes time. Recruiting here is harder than other D1 programs and buying a roster is not the answer. And please, don't try and sell the "Coach makes $x. He should just win", when we paid some $76,000,000.00 to some bozo NOT to coach here.

Love to change things that are easy to change. Make the student section behind the visiting team. That would make things more fun… but then the hypothetical fan that was suppose to show up to that game couldn't sit there.

Basketball is a long season. We get to watch a lot of games. Every loss is not fatal, but lots of our fans seemed to be wired that way. I am looking forward (still) to this season.
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StinkyPinky
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In reply to AggByMarriage • 11:37a, 11/21/24
AG
I stopped at "way more than college baseball".
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HotardRat
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In reply to AggByMarriage • 11:43a, 11/21/24
AG
AggByMarriage said:
Basketball is a long season. We get to watch a lot of games. Ever loss is not fatal, but lots of our fans seemed to be wired that way. I am looking forward (still) to this season.

Yes, this is what makes the premium board unbearable for basketball. Our sports fanbase is 90% comprised of people who view everything through football lenses.

And yes, college station is just too far. I'm the only one of my Aggie friends that watches every men's basketball game. I pump up the program all the time to try to get them into it. But even I haven't been to a game in several years. Weeknight games are out of the question, and Saturday games would only work if it's a morning or afternoon game.

Compare that to my Kansas Jayhawks in-laws who can drive 45 minutes from Kansas City whenever they want for a KU game.
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AggByMarriage
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In reply to StinkyPinky • 11:44a, 11/21/24
StinkyPinky said:
I stopped at "way more than college baseball".


Yeah, I get it. Like I said, I'm a different kind of 2 percenter. That said, given last year run by the baseball team and all the associated drama. I will be watching more baseball this coming season than I had prior for life.

If anyone can make me a baseball fan it will have to Texas A&M.
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Complete Idiot
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11:44a, 11/21/24
I guess everyone would agree that coming from more than an hour away for a 2 hour game on a weeknight is not a reasonable expectation. Only those unencumbered by family or work obligations generally are able to do that.

I am always a bit surprised more students don't go - top 25 team, minutes to the arena, part of your sports pass, beats studying or scrolling through social media (please don't mention last night's first half).

I'm always hoping more locals turn up as well, the population of BCS has really increased over the years and families in town could consider this entertainment. I do think more giveaways, special events, some type of marketing would help and maybe they've tried before and proven me wrong on that.

I guess it's really just students - I wish more would show up. Did I attend many basketball games in the 90's when I was a student? No, not many so I am a hypocrite I guess. I was mostly a baseball and football attendee with occasional basketball games. I only had to walk a few hundred yards to attend when I was on campus the first 2 years.
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_lefraud_
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11:51a, 11/21/24
AG
Getting students should be easy.

Figure out a system where if a student attends every basketball game, then it guarantees them first deck football ticket pulls the following year. Have students scan their ID or something when they leave the basketball game.

If A&M is going to continue with giving students prime football tickets, figure out how to use that to grow attendence for other sports.
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AggByMarriage
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In reply to Complete Idiot • 11:53a, 11/21/24
Put the student section behind the visiting team. Easy way to get more student fans.
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bobinator
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In reply to AggByMarriage • 11:56a, 11/21/24
AG
The SEC won't let you put students behind the other team, it's why we had to shift around the entire student block at Kyle Field.

They're also not going to move the student section at Reed Arena unless they completely overhaul the entire arena or something because you'd have to move people out of season tickets they've had forever.

But this discussion is an annual tradition for going on like 20 years now.

Just like the first game after students return from winter break being an absolute disaster and people wanting to overhaul the student ticket system, which also never happens.
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AggByMarriage
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In reply to HotardRat • 12:09p, 11/21/24
HotardRat said:
AggByMarriage said:
Basketball is a long season. We get to watch a lot of games. Ever loss is not fatal, but lots of our fans seemed to be wired that way. I am looking forward (still) to this season.

Yes, this is what makes the premium board unbearable for basketball. Our sports fanbase is 90% comprised of people who view everything through football lenses.


I call this fan "football guy". I love talking about college basketball, but football guy makes it hard. Every loss seems to be "well the season is over" or "fire the coach". And if we are down at the half of a game it's "well this game is over".

It's exhaustive, but I'm an A&M basketball fan so I better deal with it.
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Inca
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In reply to AggByMarriage • 12:10p, 11/21/24
AG
I seriously doubt the seating area is in the Top 5 reasons students don't attend non conference games.

As bobinator mentioned, not allowed to seat students behind the visitor bench. And I'm one of the people that have had tickets in that section literally since Reed opened. They aren't making us move.
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AggByMarriage
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In reply to bobinator • 12:11p, 11/21/24
Did not know that… that's too bad.

I guess we just have to win more
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miller0926
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12:18p, 11/21/24
AG
For those that want the student sections along the sideline, go watch a Penn St. or SMU game and look at how bad it looks with horrible student attendance. Not every school with that setup looks like Duke/Gonzaga/Auburn/Sparty every game.
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StinkyPinky
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In reply to AggByMarriage • 12:44p, 11/21/24
AG
AggByMarriage said:
StinkyPinky said:
I stopped at "way more than college baseball".


Yeah, I get it. Like I said, I'm a different kind of 2 percenter. That said, given last year run by the baseball team and all the associated drama. I will be watching more baseball this coming season than I had prior for life.

If anyone can make me a baseball fan it will have to Texas A&M.
Just having fun. Tune into the baseball games this year. I guarantee if you watch the first three to four (and join us on the game threads) you'll be a fan. Especially since we're set up to have another amazing run. This is our year!
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75AG
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1:21p, 11/21/24
AG
On a positive note, there were 6 Corps Turds there last night. That's a 6-fold increase over previous games.

Also, I have seen coaches keep a poorly playing team on the court at halftime, but I have never seen a coach keep a team in the locker room until the buzzer. Buzz was ripping some asses last night. And it worked.
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HotardRat
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2:54p, 11/21/24
AG

Looks like Penn State is having the same problem we are. And the replies sound very similar to the replies here too.
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bobinator
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In reply to HotardRat • 3:29p, 11/21/24
AG
Almost every school deals with the same issues. I do think there's a couple of things they could do league/nationally to juice interest in college basketball, but they'd be pretty radical changes.

1 - Move the season back three weeks. Instead of starting on a random Monday in early November, start the season Thanksgiving week. Have all of those neutral site tournament games be the first week of the season, that would kick off hype a lot more rather than basically three weeks of all of the best teams destroying bad teams.

2 - Start conference play earlier with some weekend games and move some non-con games to midweek games later in the season similar to baseball. This would give some teams some bigger home games earlier in the season, which would be especially helpful for teams that have a hard time getting quality non-con opponents to come to their arena. The Big Ten already kind of does this, everyone plays two conference games before the holiday break.

3 - Move the conference tournaments for the big conferences to the middle of the season. Everyone knows how pointless these conference tournaments are for the big conference teams, so put them in December and get rid of the stupid double and triple byes. There wouldn't be much incentive for the top tier teams, but there already isn't anyway, led the mid-pack teams battle for the auto bid during that week between Christmas and New Year's when the only thing on TV is third tier bowl games.
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Rongagin71
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In reply to bobinator • 3:37p, 11/21/24
AG
bobinator said:
Yeah, after the big game with the huge crowd Friday I figured we'd come out pretty flat and Southern is of course going to come out firing.

We'll eventually going like a 25-3 run or something but it's still annoying to watch.
Blue star
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HotardRat
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In reply to bobinator • 3:49p, 11/21/24
AG
Not saying #2 would be ineffective, but I really wouldn't like it.

In terms of A&M-specific solutions, the simple-but-expensive solution seems clear to me. Gotta have a smaller venue for volleyball and smaller basketball games like this one.
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