Top 10 Super Pit Crowds of All Time per Zac Babb

[Dannymacfan]

Top 10 Super Pit Crowds of All-Time:

1. January 22nd, 1977 vs SMU - 10,600
2 December 16th, 1980 vs DePaul - 9,100
3. March 1st, 1976 vs WT A&M - 8,816
4. February 26th, 2022 vs LA Tech - 8,522
5. February 9th, 2019 vs WKU - 8,195
6. January 17th, 1980 vs Texas - 8,100
7. January 26th, 2024 vs SMU - 7,239*
8. November 16th, 2010 vs Texas Tech - 7,105
9. March 2nd, 1977 vs UT Pan Am - 7,100
10. February 28th, 1976 vs Bradley - 7,087

 

[VideoEagle]

I was there for #1, 2, 6, and 9. 

[Big Z]

2007 Oklahoma State? 

[Greendylan]

It's also worth mentioning that out of the 59 D1 men's basketball games played last night (including a PAC-12 game featuring a top-10 team), North Texas had the highest attendance.  

[CMJ]

23 minutes ago, Big Z said:

2007 Oklahoma State? 

OSU had about 6700 people.  I think it's around 13th place.

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, Big Z said:

2007 Oklahoma State? 

Yeah has to be top 5. I will bet something isn’t reported correctly because that crowded was louder and more full than the Tech game by far. It use to be the picture on the wall when you enter and simply looking at it you could tell there were almost no empty seas down low and the top was quite full. 

[CMJ]

12 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Yeah has to be top 5. I will bet something isn’t reported correctly because that crowded was louder and more full than the Tech game by far. It use to be the picture on the wall when you enter and simply looking at it you could tell there were almost no empty seas down low and the top was quite full. 

No it was not.  I too was at both and there were definitely more fans at the Texas Tech game and it was louder.  Nothing in the OSU game was as loud as Josh White's heroics at the end of regulation in 2010. 

 

Take the L.

[bstnsportsfan3]

17 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Yeah has to be top 5. I will bet something isn’t reported correctly because that crowded was louder and more full than the Tech game by far. It use to be the picture on the wall when you enter and simply looking at it you could tell there were almost no empty seas down low and the top was quite full. 

wrong i was a student for both. the Tech game has a lot more people in it

[CMJ]

There were a lot more OSU fans in 2007 than Tech (or it seems than SMU brought as well).  Here is the court storming I found for 2007.  It's not a great video, but you can tell the bottom section the Cowboy fans were in because it emptied out when Harold Stewart had his windmill jam with around a minute left.

 

 

Edited January 26 by CMJ

[CMJ]

Video from 2010.  The Pit Crew was packed and on point that night.

 

 

[BigWillie]

2 hours ago, Greendylan said:

It's also worth mentioning that out of the 59 D1 men's basketball games played last night (including a PAC-12 game featuring a top-10 team), North Texas had the highest attendance.  

That's nuts. Watching the broadcast, they showed that Gonzaga crowd and it was packed! I think this goes to show how much better it looks to have a smaller capacity arena. For Super Pit at 10k capacity, it really takes a lot to fill.

[CMJ]

The Kennel seats 6K.

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

wrong i was a student for both. the Tech game has a lot more people in it

Not buying it. Granted I choose to not sit in our families season ticket seats and had to go sit right up near the stats board in the upper corner about 4 rows from the top because we couldn’t find any group of 3 seats anywhere below. The tech game I was back near the court and the upper bowl I can say with confidence wasn’t almost maxed out. Especially only leaving 3-5 rows at the top. This is my recollection as they came and emptied out the ref center and we all left the court and everybody stopped their game to walk over. 

Edited January 27 by Andrew

[CMJ]

29 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Not buying it. Granted I choose to not sit in our families season ticket seats and had to go sit right up near the stats board in the upper corner about 4 rows from the top because we couldn’t find any group of 3 seats anywhere below. The tech game I was back near the court and the upper bowl I can say with confidence wasn’t almost maxed out. Especially only leaving 3-5 rows at the top. This is my recollection as they came and emptied out the ref center and we all left the court and everybody stopped their game to walk over. 

Andrew, you're wrong.  The video I posted has PLENTY of empty seats.

[Matt from A700]

In attendance for #4 and #7. That record probably won't be broken, especially if a new arena is built, but hopefully one day I can be there for #2.

[Cooley]

I've always found it interesting that the top attended games (mid 70's - 80) were at a time the student enrollment was just 17,000. Additionally, the population of Denton was 40,000. The games were an event with high powered offenses. (over 92 ppg in 75-76) The collection of talent, top to bottom, remains unmatched. Further complicating things was the fact that NT was independent and with no chance of advancing to a conference tournament. Much less, a very small NCAA and NIT field. 

[Cooke County Kid]

The largest three crowds are 1977, 1976 and 1980. Two of the opponents were “local” and one a big national opponent with a marquee player, Mark Aquire.  NTSU in 1980 had about 18,000 students.  Why were we able to get large crowds then, we were winning and that was the place to be.  It was fun, a great environment.  Currently, we are in a really good basketball conference with regional opponents.  We are good and are beginning to get reputation as such.  Keep winning and they will come.  Just think in our new 6,500 seat arena we would have turned away nearly a 1,000 fans last night.  GMG!

[JT Hammons]

1 hour ago, Cooke County Kid said:

The largest three crowds are 1977, 1976 and 1980. Two of the opponents were “local” and one a big national opponent with a marquee player, Mark Aquire.  NTSU in 1980 had about 18,000 students.  Why were we able to get large crowds then, we were winning and that was the place to be.  It was fun, a great environment.  Currently, we are in a really good basketball conference with regional opponents.  We are good and are beginning to get reputation as such.  Keep winning and they will come.  Just think in our new 6,500 seat arena we would have turned away nearly a 1,000 fans last night.  GMG!

Good post.  I also think it is worth mentioning, it is much more difficult to get a big crowd nowadays compared to back in the day.  Reason?  So many entertainment options available now but maybe even more importantly the advent of ESPN and ESPN + allowing fans to watch basically every single game on their TV at home or online.  That really cuts into the numbers in my humble opinion.

[UNTLifer]

1 hour ago, Cooley said:

I've always found it interesting that the top attended games (mid 70's - 80) were at a time the student enrollment was just 17,000. Additionally, the population of Denton was 40,000. The games were an event with high powered offenses. (over 92 ppg in 75-76) The collection of talent, top to bottom, remains unmatched. Further complicating things was the fact that NT was independent and with no chance of advancing to a conference tournament. Much less, a very small NCAA and NIT field. 

We went to every game as a family. And that’s where all my friends were as well. Great memories at those games. 
 

I will also add from the videos posted above, our Dance Team had much more talent as well. A lot of “thickness” now. 

Edited January 27 by UNTLifer

[NT80]

2 hours ago, Cooke County Kid said:

The largest three crowds are 1977, 1976 and 1980. Two of the opponents were “local” and one a big national opponent with a marquee player, Mark Aquire.  NTSU in 1980 had about 18,000 students.  Why were we able to get large crowds then, we were winning and that was the place to be.  It was fun, a great environment.  Currently, we are in a really good basketball conference with regional opponents.  We are good and are beginning to get reputation as such.  Keep winning and they will come.  Just think in our new 6,500 seat arena we would have turned away nearly a 1,000 fans last night.  GMG!

I was at the 1980 game against #1 ranked DePaul.  I brought a friend and his dad, who was a DePaul grad.  He was impressed with our crowd and the Super Pit.   

Ray Meyer was still coach, in his 39th season.  I remember Kenneth Lyons talking about banging against Mark Aguirre and Terry Cummings.  It was an awesome game!  We held our own, losing 92-86 only three days after DePaul had beaten Texas by 20 in sold out Austin's Erwin Center.

[bstnsportsfan3]

3 hours ago, Andrew said:

Not buying it. Granted I choose to not sit in our families season ticket seats and had to go sit right up near the stats board in the upper corner about 4 rows from the top because we couldn’t find any group of 3 seats anywhere below. The tech game I was back near the court and the upper bowl I can say with confidence wasn’t almost maxed out. Especially only leaving 3-5 rows at the top. This is my recollection as they came and emptied out the ref center and we all left the court and everybody stopped their game to walk over. 

you can buy it or not buy it... i was there for both and was a leader for the pit crew at the tech game. I'm in the video posted above. I PROMISE you, there were more fans for the tech game. In the OSU game, we had maybe a half-full student section. In the Tech game, we filled the entire lower student section and a lot of the upper student section plus we had people standing in the aisles in the lower student section. Just get it into your head that you can be wrong sometimes. 

[Andrew]

12 hours ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

you can buy it or not buy it... i was there for both and was a leader for the pit crew at the tech game. I'm in the video posted above. I PROMISE you, there were more fans for the tech game. In the OSU game, we had maybe a half-full student section. In the Tech game, we filled the entire lower student section and a lot of the upper student section plus we had people standing in the aisles in the lower student section. Just get it into your head that you can be wrong sometimes. 

The student section was half full? Not to start the game. We walked with hundreds of guys from the rec to the game and had to sit near the top of if 217. Now I’m sure there were probably many empty one seats but impossible to find multiple seats by each other anywhere down low 😕 

 

I never said I wasn’t wrong but it didn’t feel less packed. I understand what the numbers say. The OSU game may have just had more single empty seats but it was super loud. We did stay til the end but a lot of guys went back to the rec closer to the end. Idk what it looked like to start or to finish. They had a picture of the game by the doors when you enter. I don’t think it’s there anymore… 

[bstnsportsfan3]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

The student section was half full? Not to start the game. We walked with hundreds of guys from the rec to the game and had to sit near the top of if 217. Now I’m sure there were probably many empty one seats but impossible to find multiple seats by each other anywhere down low 😕 

 

I never said I wasn’t wrong but it didn’t feel less packed. I understand what the numbers say. The OSU game may have just had more single empty seats but it was super loud. We did stay til the end but a lot of guys went back to the rec closer to the end. Idk what it looked like to start or to finish. They had a picture of the game by the doors when you enter. I don’t think it’s there anymore… 

the picture by the doors at the pit was of the tech game... not the OSU game

[Andrew]

41 minutes ago, bstnsportsfan3 said:

the picture by the doors at the pit was of the tech game... not the OSU game

Which gate? Could be…. We don’t know. It’s not there anymore is it? I had to text a few people who all thought it was either OSU or Tech haha. So either way works haha. With the metal detector and such there I haven’t paid attention if it’s still on the wall. At gate A there was something. Either way works. 

Edited January 27 by Andrew

[greenminer]

On 1/26/2024 at 7:48 PM, Cooley said:

I've always found it interesting that the top attended games (mid 70's - 80) were at a time the student enrollment was just 17,000. Additionally, the population of Denton was 40,000. The games were an event with high powered offenses. (over 92 ppg in 75-76) The collection of talent, top to bottom, remains unmatched. Further complicating things was the fact that NT was independent and with no chance of advancing to a conference tournament. Much less, a very small NCAA and NIT field. 

What was DFW sports and entertainment like? I know Cowboys had already won a couple SBs.  I imagine there were not as many options like there are today.