Florida Atlantic (1/26/25)

[Green Otaku]

[Green Otaku]

Uncharacteristic FT shooting tonight. We left 9 points out there, and I hope that's an anomaly for the season. Hodge and staff have been great at making adjustments.

[Aquila_Viridis]

Baby Crawl was worth the trip in any event. But slamming the door on Atlantic in the second half at home was way more satisfying. 

[Aquila_Viridis]

Sustained winning is the only thing that will fix attendance.

[Coffee and TV]

18 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

Sustained winning is the only thing that will fix attendance.

In the DFW metroplex the Cowboys are the only exception to this rule.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

32 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

Sustained winning is the only thing that will fix attendance.

Uhhh...

We're on an 8 year run of averaging 22-10. Pretty competitive, winning basketball. 

And 5 years before that we had another 8 year run of 21-11. 

This is pretty sustainable. 

[SUMG]

Big kudos to the guys who started the long dormant "Welcome To The Pit!" chant, once the game was in hand.

Hopefully next game....a few more of us can our sections going, too. 

[FirefightnRick]

6 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

So you don’t think there is an issue?  
 

You don’t think there is a problem when I am planning on being in town for the Tulane game on 2/8, and I can buy a GA ticket and basically have my choice of seats?

No & No.

 

Rick

[BillySee58]

Today was a great, stress-free win. 13 points. Just like how you draw it up.

[Greenrex]

3 minutes ago, BillySee58 said:

Today was a great, stress-free win. 13 points. Just like how you draw it up.

Try as I always do to give folks a reason to smile...you are much better than I !

[NorthTexasWeLove]

33 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

No & No.

 

Rick

[Big Z]

 

[UNTLifer]

43 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

No & No.

 

Rick

Who has taken over this account?

[Glory to the Green]

1 hour ago, SUMG said:

Big kudos to the guys who started the long dormant "Welcome To The Pit!" chant, once the game was in hand.

Hopefully next game....a few more of us can our sections going, too. 

I missed this!  I’m not sure I’m familiar with this chant. 

[untcampbell]

1 hour ago, SUMG said:

Big kudos to the guys who started the long dormant "Welcome To The Pit!" chant, once the game was in hand.

Hopefully next game....a few more of us can our sections going, too. 

SUMG,

FFR gets the credit for that one. The younger amongst us probably had never heard it, but jumped right aboard!

 

GMG

[UNTLifer]

Man, Moulaye Sissoko has been the man lately. Goes 14/13 today, plays the most minutes and is a beast in the paint. Floyd was also terrific, but the big guy kept us in the game early and was so solid all night. 

Edited 7 hours ago by UNTLifer

[SUMG]

21 minutes ago, Glory to the Green said:

I missed this!  I’m not sure I’m familiar with this chant. 

It's just a rhythmic chant..."Welcome To The Pit!"....that as you're yelling it....you're pumping your fist in the air, to go along with the words. Used to be done in the 70s and 80s. You do it once the game is in hand...

[greenminer]

https://fausports.com/news/2025/1/26/mens-basketball-owls-fall-to-the-mean-green.aspx

[Glory to the Green]

26 minutes ago, SUMG said:

It's just a rhythmic chant..."Welcome To The Pit!"....that as you're yelling it....you're pumping your fist in the air, to go along with the words. Used to be done in the 70s and 80s. You do it once the game is in hand...

Thanks!  I’ll be on the lookout next time.  GMG!

[Matt from A700]

Mou continues to impress the past several games. He has surpassed NIT Mou.

Kudos to B-Lo for not forcing anything against his former team. Not sure how much of FAU's coaching staff and roster from last year remain anyway.

Need to clean it up at the free throw line.

We're going 16-0 at The Pit.

[Aquila_Viridis]

4 hours ago, NorthTexasWeLove said:

Uhhh...

We're on an 8 year run of averaging 22-10. Pretty competitive, winning basketball. 

And 5 years before that we had another 8 year run of 21-11. 

This is pretty sustainable. 

It's not near enough. For comparison, from 82 to 96, Memphis made the Tournament almost every year. We've never had anything like that, and you can't compare us to other teams that play in places where there's almost nothing else to do. No doubt there is an exceptional culture issue in the faculty, students and graduates, but that is part of the fabric of NT.

[Matt from A700]

9 minutes ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

It's not near enough. For comparison, from 82 to 96, Memphis made the Tournament almost every year. We've never had anything like that, and you can't compare us to other teams that play in places where there's almost nothing else to do. No doubt there is an exceptional culture issue in the faculty, students and graduates, but that is part of the fabric of NT.

I agree. Eight consecutive winning seasons and so far only one Big Boy Tournament to show for it.

I'm not even asking for a FAU run (yet), but we need to get to the second weekend of the Tournament. Sweet 16, please baby Jesus. One of those two wins needs to be over some relevant-to-this-area Big XII/SEC team, not some high-seed Mountain West or Big East school. The same year we captured our first NCAA Tournament win was the same year Abilene Christian took out Texas, I believe.

Get to the Sweet 16 and then have a Gregg Marshall-like run of success - seven straight Tournament/Top 25 appearances, six straight years with at least one NCAAT win, a trip to the Final Four sprinkled in.

It may sound silly, but at this point I think a fourth straight NIT appearance does nothing to help the outsiders - unengaged alumni, conference mates, and casual college basketball fans - think higher of UNT.

I always want to see us compete in postseason basketball after so many years of it, and the NIT shouldn't always be considered a failure, but the second weekend of the NCAAT, when there are fewer teams left, fewer games and most of the nation would be watching our game... that's what we NEED right now.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

1 hour ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

It's not near enough. For comparison, from 82 to 96, Memphis made the Tournament almost every year. We've never had anything like that, and you can't compare us to other teams that play in places where there's almost nothing else to do. No doubt there is an exceptional culture issue in the faculty, students and graduates, but that is part of the fabric of NT.

 

45 minutes ago, Matt from A700 said:

I agree. Eight consecutive winning seasons and so far only one Big Boy Tournament to show for it.

I'm not even asking for a FAU run (yet), but we need to get to the second weekend of the Tournament. Sweet 16, please baby Jesus. One of those two wins needs to be over some relevant-to-this-area Big XII/SEC team, not some high-seed Mountain West or Big East school. The same year we captured our first NCAA Tournament win was the same year Abilene Christian took out Texas, I believe.

Get to the Sweet 16 and then have a Gregg Marshall-like run of success - seven straight Tournament/Top 25 appearances, six straight years with at least one NCAAT win, a trip to the Final Four sprinkled in.

It may sound silly, but at this point I think a fourth straight NIT appearance does nothing to help the outsiders - unengaged alumni, conference mates, and casual college basketball fans - think higher of UNT.

I always want to see us compete in postseason basketball after so many years of it, and the NIT shouldn't always be considered a failure, but the second weekend of the NCAAT, when there are fewer teams left, fewer games and most of the nation would be watching our game... that's what we NEED right now.

I don't think you guys are getting it. Ok, make the s16. Cool. Then we'll talk about how we can't get to 5k att because we have to make an e8. Then it'll be because we've never made a f4. 

Or 19/25 years this century we have played .500 ball or better. 

Until the CULTURE gets shifted it will always be something. We need an AD that has a fire in his belly and a vision to shift the culture to where it needs to be and be vocal about that vision. If Jared can't do it or doesn't know how then he needs to go. It's bare minimum job responsibility stuff...

[FirefightnRick]

4 hours ago, Aquila_Viridis said:

It's not near enough. For comparison, from 82 to 96, Memphis made the Tournament almost every year. We've never had anything like that, and you can't compare us to other teams that play in places where there's almost nothing else to do. No doubt there is an exceptional culture issue in the faculty, students and graduates, but that is part of the fabric of NT.

This.  As soon as you start to realize who we are then it’s easier to understand that our attendance (issues) match our culture.  
 

I promise @UNTLifer, this isn’t @PlummMeanGreen taking over FFR’s account.

As of right now we’re averaging 3100 per home game.  Attendance has ranged from around 2400 to 4,029.  

This makes me fairly certain that each time 3,100 people are surrounded by 10,000 seats, that it will remain traumatic enough to keep the strangely infatuated by what attendance looks like on their TV set in hormonal therapy for years to come.

Things we all know.

We don’t play in a P4 conference. Hosting Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas, Houston, TCU, Baylor etc would certainly increase it.  But we don’t. And early home scheduling has usually been uninteresting to most.  So unless we get an invite this isn’t going to change.

Other than an Oregon State or App State we rarely play non-con schools in Denton most outside of college basketball fandom have ever heard of,….including today with FAU.

I would claim the “We’re not the only show in the metroplex” excuse but of the 3700 who showed up on a damp, cold one o’clock Sunday afternoon  today, 3660 and change were alumni and general fans.  To me, that’s not outstanding, but that ain’t horrible, either.

So who WASN’T there today?  The Students. 

There’s 8,000 to 15,000 students within walking distance(My Walking Distance, and I’m 58) of the Super Pit, yet there was only 35-50 students sitting in the Maniacs Section today.  

Why?  I don’t know.  I can only guess?  

Maybe it's because the general student doesn’t like basketball, or hadn’t heard of FAU?  Maybe they’re disgusted paying fees to athletics that go to play-for-pay athletes while they wait tables, sell lawnmowers, mow lawns or stock groceries at Piggly Wiggly on East McKinney St. to pay for rent and food(What? When did they go out of business?)?  

It’s possible that for many students the games just are’nt that fun enough to return on a Sunday afternoon?  On average the game day atmosphere doesn’t look fun to me, especially if I were a student?  Other than the baby race today, the in-game atmosphere, the music, the entertainment during timeouts and the contest activities as usual were all over the place and not fun.  

Today we were getting our asses kicked by FAU.   But later we countered with a 6-0 run to get back in the game, forcing the Owls to take a time out.  What do we do as a sports entertainment entity at that moment?  We shush everyone and kill the euphoric excitement of the play on the court with a P.A. announcement about the volleyball team or something, followed by a lame-ass video of two of our players discussing god knows what on the scoreboard overhead.

What’s that sound?  Oh shit we got a flat tire, let me pull over pfffffffffffffffffff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The mascot.  As an ex-Scrappy and possibly the only “Professional”(Oh no, not another “NR” story, but anyone could have done this if you knew and respected and worked for the great Jim Hobdy in the 80’s),  mascot here posting or reading this, I’ll remind that a mascot is in fact for entertainment.  Other than one many years back I haven’t seen Scrappy do anything towards entertainment in any way form or fashion.  Mascots are mostly for the kids.  But done right, with an athletic and energetic individual inside can and should add to the overall atmosphere.  

The dance team, ummm I thought was there for entertainment?  I’ll be nice, and I’m being nice,…… and just remind those of you who are new here and may not know, that for 20 to 25 years, prior to 20-17,18,19?, somewhere around there, the North Texas Dancers were considered the DFW minor league to the world renowned Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.  NOT ANY MORE!

This is all sports entertainment wet blanket 101!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah, the Cheerleaders.  The cheerleaders are still great at what they do.  The NT chant needs some help at times, but they keep the noise up and are still an athletic, competitive group who still seem to pride themselves at maintaining the top standards the championship teams of the past set for them. 

 So I have no idea why the other 45,550 students don’t show?  But the 35-200 who do are fairly consistent depending on the day of the week and the opponent.  It’s been that way for years.  And I know this.  We all know this.  So that’s why it’s no longer an issue to me anymore, and doesn’t affect whether I support or not. Nor should it be for anyone else.   Hell, the university PAYS $10,000(last I heard) per year to the lone “OFFICIAL” student spirit organization to perform their sworn duties for this school, that of promoting and protecting our spirit & traditions.  Yet they’re no where to be found on game days in the Super Pit, at least not that I’ve seen?   I think the Maniacs get some funding, also?  So, if the university cant even pay for student attendance then what can you do?

I’ll finish with this.  Several have mentioned, and I agree that maybe we need to hire someone knowledgeable of the inner workings and entertainment of a successful minor league baseball program?  Those people seem to really know how to inject some fun into a game day atmosphere. 
Might be something to consider?

Rick

Edited 7 hours ago by FirefightnRick

[NorthTexasWeLove]

40 minutes ago, FirefightnRick said:

This.  As soon as you start to realize who we are then it’s easier to understand that our attendance (issues) match our culture.  
 

I promise @UNTLifer, this isn’t @PlummMeanGreen taking over FFR’s account.

As of right now we’re averaging 3100 per home game.  Attendance has ranged from around 2400 to 4,029.  

This makes me fairly certain that each time 3,100 people are surrounded by 10,000 seats, that it will remain traumatic enough to keep the strangely infatuated by what attendance looks like on their TV set in hormonal therapy for years to come.

Things we all know.

We don’t play in a P4 conference. Hosting Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Texas, Houston, TCU, Baylor etc would certainly increase it.  But we don’t. And early home scheduling has usually been uninteresting to most.  So unless we get an invite this isn’t going to change.

Other than an Oregon State or App State we rarely play non-con schools in Denton most outside of college basketball fandom have ever heard of,….including today with FAU.

I would claim the “We’re not the only show in the metroplex” excuse but of the 3700 who showed up on a damp, cold one o’clock Sunday afternoon  today, 3660 and change were alumni and general fans.  To me, that’s not outstanding, but that ain’t horrible, either.

So who WASN’T there today?  The Students. 

There’s 8,000 to 15,000 students within walking distance(My Walking Distance, and I’m 58) of the Super Pit, yet there was only 35-50 students sitting in the Maniacs Section today.  

Why?  I don’t know.  I can only guess?  

Maybe it's because the general student doesn’t like basketball, or hadn’t heard of FAU?  Maybe they’re disgusted paying fees to athletics that go to play-for-pay athletes while they wait tables, sell lawnmowers, mow lawns or stock groceries at Piggly Wiggly on East McKinney St. to pay for rent and food(What? When did they go out of business?)?  

It’s possible that for many students the games just are’nt that fun enough to return on a Sunday afternoon?  On average the game day atmosphere doesn’t look fun to me, especially if I were a student?  Other than the baby race today, the in-game atmosphere, the music, the entertainment during timeouts and the contest activities as usual were all over the place and not fun.  

Today we were getting our asses kicked by FAU.   But later we countered with a 6-0 run to get back in the game, forcing the Owls to take a time out.  What do we do as a sports entertainment entity at that moment?  We shush everyone and kill the euphoric excitement of the play on the court with a P.A. announcement about the volleyball team or something, followed by a lame-ass video of two of our players discussing god knows what on the scoreboard overhead.

The mascot.  As an ex-Scrappy and possibly the only “Professional”(Oh no, not another “NR” story, but anyone could have done this if you knew and respected and worked for the great Jim Hobdy in the 80’s),  mascot here posting or reading this, I’ll remind that a mascot is in fact for entertainment.  Other than one many years back I haven’t seen Scrappy do anything towards entertainment in any way form or fashion.  Mascots are mostly for the kids.  But done right, with an athletic and energetic individual inside can and should add to the overall atmosphere.  

The dance team, ummm I thought was there for entertainment?  I’ll be nice, and I’m being nice,…… and just remind those of you who are new here and may not know, that for 20 to 25 years, prior to 20-17,18,19?, somewhere around there, the North Texas Dancers were the DFW minor league to the world renowned Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders.  NOT ANY MORE!

Cheerleaders are still great at what they do.  They keep the noise up and are still an athletic, competitive group who still seem to pride themselves at maintaining the top standards the championship teams of the past set for them. 

 
This is all sports entertainment wet blanket 101!!!!!!!!

 

So I have no idea why the other 45,550 other students don’t show?  But the 35-200 who do are fairly consistent depending on the day of the week and the opponent.  It’s been that way for years.  And I know this.  We all know this.  So that’s why it’s no longer an issue to me anymore, and doesn’t affect whether I support or not. Nor should it be for anyone else and I suggest reminding life is just too short to worry about it any more.  Hell, the university PAYS $10,000(last I heard) per year to the lone student spirit organization to do their sworn duties, that of promoting and protecting our traditions, and they’re no where to be found on game days, and in fact voted among themselves out of one tradition, that of lighting the tower green for road victories, simply because it became too burdensome.  And the university didn’t even know it for years until recently.  Yet they still get funded, and I haven’t seen them at a basketball game in DECADES.  So, the university isn’t truly concerned about attendance, why should I?  Why should you?  It’s who we are.

I’ll finish with this.  Several have mentioned, and I agree that maybe we need to hire someone knowledgeable of the inner workings and entertainment of a successful minor league baseball program?  Those people seem to really know how to inject some fun into a game day atmosphere. 
 

Rick

Yeah, man... you don't seem frustrated at all by it...