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View Full Version : Home court advantage?



Jay C. Upchurch
1/10/2006, 11:10 PM
There were 5,000 empty seats at OU's Big 12 Conference opener tonight. About 1,000 of the 6,500 in attendance actually cheered during the first 35 minutes of action.

The only time all night the LNC got loud was the final three minutes.

No excuse for the Sooners to get beat. They just didn't shoot well from the perimeter or block out on the defensive boards in the second half.

But I would say OU played about as well as its fans cheered tonight.

It's sad when you can't even say your home court gives you an edge.

NickZeppelin
1/10/2006, 11:12 PM
I can't believe our fans have given up on our team like this.

SeattleOUstudent
1/10/2006, 11:23 PM
insert comments about non-existant student section or alums setting on their hands here

Crimsontothecore
1/10/2006, 11:26 PM
This team sucks! The coaching sucks! It's time for Sampson to take one of those jobs he used to show interest in after every season. I don't want to hear about his great record at OU either...smoke and mirrors! Tonight was as bad as the NU game. Oh well, MAYBE we still have a shot at an invite to the NIT.

NickZeppelin
1/10/2006, 11:28 PM
I don't care about how much our team sucks. GET BEHIND THE TEAM!

The Hornets are a bad team but the fans in that Ford Center and loud and proud of it and get behind it 100% When you have fans get behind your team then you will play better at home and get more confidence for your road games too because of the way you play at home. I can't believe how bad the fans were tonight. We shouldn't even play games in Norman anymore if our fans don't care like they didn't care tonight. I'm ashamed to be a Sooner fan after going to that game tonight.

mcgheevt
1/10/2006, 11:29 PM
Students are still on break although I know a number of in-state students who went to the game tonight.

Sure it was a weekday, but what excuse do the season ticket holders have for not showing up against a former Big 8 rival like Mizzou?

NickZeppelin
1/10/2006, 11:31 PM
I just can't believe our fans just didn't care to show up for a conference game that was HUGE. If you couldn't show up sell your tickets to a Sooner fan you know that could. I'm sure everyone has one here.

IronSooner
1/10/2006, 11:39 PM
Being over break should mean freshmen can't go to the game. At OU everybody moves out of the dorms as sophomores and gets an apartment. Therefore you can go back whenever you want. Not to mention most kids at OU are from OK or north TX. It's just not that hard to make a game people.

I still think they should quit having games at LNC. Take the X-hundred real fans and relocate everybody to the fieldhouse over by the stadium. At least then it'd be loud and it wouldn't look so pathetic when the camera pans around the stadium and nobody's there.

GottaHavePride
1/10/2006, 11:42 PM
We shouldn't even play games in Norman anymore if our fans don't care like they didn't care tonight. I'm ashamed to be a Sooner fan after going to that game tonight.

As I was watching the game, what little crowd noise I did hear mostly sounded like people yelling because someone told them that's what you're supposed to do. There wasn't anything behind it, though.

PrideTrombone
1/10/2006, 11:43 PM
I don't care about how much our team sucks. GET BEHIND THE TEAM!

The Hornets are a bad team but the fans in that Ford Center and loud and proud of it and get behind it 100% When you have fans get behind your team then you will play better at home and get more confidence for your road games too because of the way you play at home. I can't believe how bad the fans were tonight. We shouldn't even play games in Norman anymore if our fans don't care like they didn't care tonight. I'm ashamed to be a Sooner fan after going to that game tonight.

Part of it is the NBA style of basketball versus Kelvin's style of basketball. With the NBA product, even if the Hornets are getting beat down, you're going to see teams run the floor a little bit. With Kelvin, you're gonna see rugby with dribbling.

The other part is that Joe Castiglione is a marketing idiot. He wouldn't know fan atmosphere if it slapped him across his face. Every time the crowd gets into it, he'll swoop in with a scripted advertisement for Bank of Oklahoma and kill all that activity quick, fast, and in a hurry.

NickZeppelin
1/10/2006, 11:47 PM
I don't care if you don't like the style. It's still basketball. You need to be loud and get this team fired up and they'll play better. Basketball is so much a game you need emotion to play with. If you play flat you'll never be that good at it. Our crowd tonight was flatter then the players were. I liked the effort I saw from our players. Our crowd just didn't even try to encourage our players and were completely quiet at times. It's really remarkable how bad it is.

usmc-sooner
1/10/2006, 11:51 PM
I don't care about how much our team sucks. GET BEHIND THE TEAM!

The Hornets are a bad team but the fans in that Ford Center and loud and proud of it and get behind it 100% When you have fans get behind your team then you will play better at home and get more confidence for your road games too because of the way you play at home. I can't believe how bad the fans were tonight. We shouldn't even play games in Norman anymore if our fans don't care like they didn't care tonight. I'm ashamed to be a Sooner fan after going to that game tonight.

If your ashamed to be a Sooner for the love of God please quit posting your crap on this board. You've posted your picture and you've obviously never played anything more than organized dungeons and dragons. So please go be ashamed somewhere else

PrideTrombone
1/10/2006, 11:56 PM
I don't care if you don't like the style. It's still basketball. You need to be loud and get this team fired up and they'll play better. Basketball is so much a game you need emotion to play with. If you play flat you'll never be that good at it. Our crowd tonight was flatter then the players were. I liked the effort I saw from our players. I liked the fight in this team. I liked the resolve. This was a... a setback. This is not what we wanted. It isn't what we planned. Our crowd just didn't even try to encourage our players and were completely quiet at times. It's really remarkable how bad it is.

Fixed.

OUAndy1807
1/11/2006, 12:31 AM
why does the lack of fan support for OU basketball surprise anyone? In the 8 years that I've been a season ticket holder, I can't think of one game (besides UConn, Texas or osu) that has been even close to capacity. The turnout tonight was actually much better than most, with an estimated attendance of 7,518 according to the post game stats.

King Crimson
1/11/2006, 12:40 AM
the NBA isn't a "style" it's a 24 second shot clock and a means to produce scoring in the same way commercials are designed to sell products. the game on the floor is hardly where the money is made in pro sports.

JMO.

AllAboutThe'O'
1/11/2006, 12:48 AM
Scheduling a home game on a night when there's plenty of high school games across the area and state doesn't help matters, either.

GottaHavePride
1/11/2006, 01:54 AM
the NBA isn't a "style" it's a 24 second shot clock and a means to produce scoring in the same way commercials are designed to sell products. the game on the floor is hardly where the money is made in pro sports.

JMO.

I have a worrying observation. (Worrying to me, anyway.) Given the difference between Kelvin's style of basketball and the game in the NBA right now, why would any kid that knows he could be an NBA-caliber player even sniff coming to play at Oklahoma? I can't remember the last time I saw an NBA game where the teams combined to score less than 150 points. Given that, I think the talent level Kelvin will be able to get on campus might continue to drop.

IronSooner
1/11/2006, 02:01 AM
We haven't exactly had a history of putting guys in the NBA in the last bunch of years either, I'm sure that doesn't help. Najera aside, who else has really made it from a Kelvin team?

AustinTXHorn
1/11/2006, 02:04 AM
why does the lack of fan support for OU basketball surprise anyone? In the 8 years that I've been a season ticket holder, I can't think of one game (besides UConn, Texas or osu) that has been even close to capacity. The turnout tonight was actually much better than most, with an estimated attendance of 7,518 according to the post game stats.
Did they start scanning tickets at basketball games? The old estimations used to just say something like "6,500".

NUSooner
1/11/2006, 02:20 AM
Did they start scanning tickets at basketball games? The old estimations used to just say something like "6,500".

Yes.

BarryBnds
1/11/2006, 03:16 AM
you've obviously never played anything more than organized dungeons and dragons.

:D Line of the year.

TripleOption14
1/11/2006, 06:00 AM
The solution is real simple folks. Start winning some meaningful ball games and fans will show up to up. This solution is universal across the board. In ANY sport if the team is winning good games and playing hard the fans show up. If the team gives a half-assed effort and starts losing games to teams they should kill... sit back and watch your attendace plummet. In basic economics i believe they call it a direct proportion.

RacerX
1/11/2006, 07:20 AM
There were 5,000 empty seats at OU's Big 12 Conference opener tonight. About 1,000 of the 6,500 in attendance actually cheered during the first 35 minutes of action.

The only time all night the LNC got loud was the final three minutes.

No excuse for the Sooners to get beat. They just didn't shoot well from the perimeter or block out on the defensive boards in the second half.

But I would say OU played about as well as its fans cheered tonight.

It's sad when you can't even say your home court gives you an edge.
So I guess the crowd at the Ford Center for the WVU game sucked too?

This team plays an incredibly uninspired version of Kelvin ball.

OUAndy1807
1/11/2006, 08:33 AM
The solution is real simple folks. Start winning some meaningful ball games and fans will show up to up. This solution is universal across the board. In ANY sport if the team is winning good games and playing hard the fans show up. If the team gives a half-assed effort and starts losing games to teams they should kill... sit back and watch your attendace plummet. In basic economics i believe they call it a direct proportion.

I would agree, but back when we had the final four team we still didn't draw a good crowd.

Soonerus
1/11/2006, 08:46 AM
I agree win some key games and the crowds will follow...OU is now competing for fans where it had little or no competition before...

TripleOption14
1/11/2006, 09:03 AM
Also, this is stricly my observation coming from 1000 miles away but.... Kelvin's style of ball doesn't seem to work unless he has a TRUE PG who can score and penatrate. kinda in the mold of a AI(w/o the 20 bad shots a game) or better yet a Steve Nash or Tony Parker type PG. Just my observation though.

TopDawg
1/11/2006, 10:15 AM
Attendance at basketball games nationwide has been a concern for many athletic departments out there. It's not just an OU problem. Even North Carolina dealt with the same kind of problems within the past 5 years.

There are a few notable exceptions, but we're going through the same thing most schools are going through.

Jay C. Upchurch
1/11/2006, 11:00 AM
In response to this quote from an earlier post...
"Given that, I think the talent level Kelvin will be able to get on campus might continue to drop."

Hello? Might continue to drop?

This is probably the best overall talent Sampson has had on campus since he's been here and he just signed a national top-5 recruiting class seven weeks ago.

This team is struggling because it has shot poorly from the perimeter and isn't playing with the urgency and determination most Sampson teams possess. I think that will change over the next few weeks.

Too much talent not to make a hard run as the season progresses.

NickZeppelin
1/11/2006, 11:04 AM
I think we should make a run but if we can't shoot well it'll be tough to do that. Basketball is a game that feeds of emotion. I was surprised our team played hard last night despite no real fan support.

JohnnyMack
1/11/2006, 11:29 AM
This team is struggling because it has shot poorly from the perimeter and isn't playing with the urgency and determination most Sampson teams possess. I think that will change over the next few weeks.


Struggling because it shot poorly? A Calvin Sampson team? Surely you jest.

Rock Hard Corn Frog
1/11/2006, 11:58 AM
I certainly will not exclude myself from this even though I live 4 hours away but I'm really disappointed with the fan support. It is obvious that those of us that post on this board care but I don't think there is a very big fan support of Sooner Basketball even when the team is winning. We shouldn't have to be 12-1 at this point for fans to come to the game and support the team. I know if I lived in the OKC area I'd go to as many games as I could but I don't.

I can tell you from being one of small monority of OU fans at Allen Fieldhouse that players can feed off the home fans. I'm not simply excusing last night's loss because the fans weren't there and those that were weren't making enough noise but players often draw energy from a home crowd, very often officials calls are affected by a loud partisan crowd. I know the energy level of the team seemed very low for most of the game, especially the first 10 minutes and I think the crowd had at least something to do with that.

For all the Kelvin bashing that goes on I think the success he and OU has had has exceeded the fan support that the team has had. I'm not trying to be an apologist because he is getting paid well but OU is the defending Big 12 regular season champs playing their first conference home game and the home croud is virtually non-existant. OU shouldn't have to be playing the Pokes or the Whorns to fill the LNC.

Again, preaching to the choir here. We care. I just wish more did.

Pricetag
1/11/2006, 12:32 PM
Scheduling a home game on a night when there's plenty of high school games across the area and state doesn't help matters, either.
Let's not forget about the Hornets-Pistons game, either. I saw the Hornets mentioned in the thread, but nothing about the Pistons being in town last night.

It's going to be tough for OU on the nights that the Hornets play. The OKC folks are so determined to make the NBA thing work that I think the Hornets will win out every time for those fans who attend both, unless it's Texas or OSU.

jrboomersooner
1/11/2006, 12:35 PM
But I would say OU played about as well as its fans cheered tonight.

It's sad when you can't even say your home court gives you an edge.


When I get a scholarship to to come and cheer regardless of how the team plays I'll be all over it.

Cam
1/11/2006, 08:14 PM
I'm not sure if the game was played on Owen Field with a sell out crowd that it would've mattered.

It seems to be more mental with these guys. They're in a funk and better figure out a way to get out of it quick, or they've wasted a season.

Collier11
1/11/2006, 08:51 PM
Scheduling a home game on a night when there's plenty of high school games across the area and state doesn't help matters, either.

There arent highschool games on wednesdays cus of FCA and Church, thats not even close to an excuse

Collier11
1/11/2006, 08:52 PM
Plus,the reason the atmosphere sucks is student seating is a joke...see DUke, kentucky, kansas,etc. to see how student seating should be, the band is F'n' annoying with their 248 renditions of Boomer Sooner, there is hardly any music played over the loud speakers that would actually get you excited, and we are a boring basketball team even when we are good

OKC-SLC
1/11/2006, 09:16 PM
When I get a scholarship to to come and cheer regardless of how the team plays I'll be all over it.
heh.

TopDawg
1/12/2006, 11:00 AM
There arent highschool games on wednesdays cus of FCA and Church, thats not even close to an excuse

The game was on Tuesday, no?

TopDawg
1/12/2006, 11:01 AM
Plus,the reason the atmosphere sucks is student seating is a joke...

That's not even close to an excuse. Student seating was, if anything, worse when I was there, and that place was pretty loud consistently.

The main difference? The football team sucked back then.

Collier11
1/12/2006, 03:56 PM
im not makin excuses for the students, Im just saying that we are not provided the same benefits as other big time programs are. If kelvin wants this to be treated like a big time bball school then he needs to treat the fans as such, like I said see kansas, kentucky, duke, etc. Those fans are given every oppurtunity to make those places LOUD

TopDawg
1/12/2006, 03:59 PM
im not makin excuses for the students, Im just saying that we are not provided the same benefits as other big time programs are. If kelvin wants this to be treated like a big time bball school then he needs to treat the fans as such, like I said see kansas, kentucky, duke, etc. Those fans are given every oppurtunity to make those places LOUD

I'm confused. What benefits do the fans get at those places that they don't get here? And what role does/would/should Kelvin play in getting those benefits to the fans?

It seems to me that our fans have just as many opportunities to make our place loud as fans at other schools.

Collier11
1/12/2006, 04:18 PM
Lets see, all of those schools surround the floor with the students rather than in three different sections away from each other, those three schools mix in band with actual music over the speakers to get us pumped up(dont think that matters ask any student how much they are sick of hearing boomer sooner 136 times a game during football and bball season), and those schools play an exciting brand of bball, as far as Kelvin goes...if he wants this to be a bigger bball school he would def. have a say in any of those things. Im not saying its all on him, but he could put his two cents in about all of those topics including the fact that he has continually bragged about this track team that he has recruited the past two years yet we still play the same ol boring slow down offense that we have always played. We are absolutely wasting Taj Grays senior year right now

OU_Sooners75
1/12/2006, 04:59 PM
I don't care about how much our team sucks. GET BEHIND THE TEAM.


Ironic you would say something like this.

NickZeppelin
1/12/2006, 05:36 PM
Who said I wasn't behind our football team 100% despite that they weren't well coached or a very good team?

TopDawg
1/12/2006, 05:50 PM
Lets see, all of those schools surround the floor with the students rather than in three different sections away from each other, those three schools mix in band with actual music over the speakers to get us pumped up(dont think that matters ask any student how much they are sick of hearing boomer sooner 136 times a game during football and bball season), and those schools play an exciting brand of bball, as far as Kelvin goes...if he wants this to be a bigger bball school he would def. have a say in any of those things. Im not saying its all on him, but he could put his two cents in about all of those topics including the fact that he has continually bragged about this track team that he has recruited the past two years yet we still play the same ol boring slow down offense that we have always played. We are absolutely wasting Taj Grays senior year right now

OK, well most of those things just seem more like administrative things than coaching things to me. Unless you're privy to conversations Sampson has with the administration, it's unfair to say he's not doing his part to make LNC exciting (outside of the style of play).

But I think the style of play knock is a poor excuse. Style of play should only come into the picture for fans who have no loyalties.

OU_Sooners75
1/12/2006, 06:26 PM
Who said I wasn't behind our football team 100% despite that they weren't well coached or a very good team?


LMAO...whatever makes you sleep at night.

God knows the only thing you have played besides with yourself is zelda and D&D.

If you dont understand what goes on, dont comment on it.

You are not a Sooner, you are just a poser!

BarryBnds
1/14/2006, 12:11 PM
Struggling because it shot poorly? A Calvin Sampson team? Surely you jest.

That made me think of the incredible offensive (you can take this word to mean two things) performance in the second half of the Big XII finals a couple of years ago. I think we scored 2 points.