Game #25-Cleveland State Thursday February 9 7pm ARC

[valpotx]

This attendance is embarrassing.  The students have no excuse...

[FieldGoodie05]

Attendance is horrific. Students especially, but I'd guess no more than 2500 total on hand tonight to watch this first place team.

Excuses will be: Weeknight, bad opponent. Anyone know if VHS plays this evening?

Do we know each games attendance going back to early 2000s?  If so, what's the actual data show?

When we were students in the early 2000s quite a few of us spread out around the seat backs section.  Just saying we should probably see some data overall.  Still need more student involvement though.

[govalpogo]

End of an era?  That's a little fatalistic.  Embarrassing, certainly.  I feel for the students who have shown up since the new year.  I remember how hard it is to get excited when there's only a couple or few dozen of you.  I was in the student section during that 08-09 year, that was rough.  I think the Oakland game really hurt casual student attendance.  I'll bet it reinforced the "small time" feel of Valpo for a bunch of students.  I'm not saying it's right...but I saw the same thing happen after the Butler heartbreak in 07-08.  I had classmates that NEVER went to another game because they didn't want to put their hearts out there.   

[crusader05]

Not only has attendance dropped but I also feel that the teams' connection to the fans have dropped with Vashil being the final one from the Rowdy era where the team seemed much more engaged with the campus culture.  It was 2 years ago that the team stopped coming up to stands and now without Vashil I don't know if theres' another player who has a presence on campus. I"m not saying its everything, but in a small school like Valpo feeling connected to the team goes a long way.

I would love to see more students at the game but I also would love to see more active player engagement with the campus.

[valpotx]

From the 1999-2000 to 2003-2004 seasons, the stands were pretty much full.  Not sure what games you are referencing from the early 2000s, but it wasn't when I was in school.

[hailcrusaders]

End of an era?  That's a little fatalistic.  Embarrassing, certainly.  I feel for the students who have shown up since the new year.  I remember how hard it is to get excited when there's only a couple or few dozen of you.  I was in the student section during that 08-09 year, that was rough. I think the Oakland game really hurt casual student attendance.  I'll bet it reinforced the "small time" feel of Valpo for a bunch of students.  I'm not saying it's right...but I saw the same thing happen after the Butler heartbreak in 07-08.  I had classmates that NEVER went to another game because they didn't want to put their hearts out there.

I'm not arguing that this isn't a factor, but I don't understand the mentality of students who think that way. So you went to a big game and they lost. So what? Go to the next one, because they'll win next time. It shouldn't feel like it's only worth two hours of your life when the team wins. Fairweather fandom at it's finest.

[hailcrusaders]

It was 2 years ago that the team stopped coming up to stands and now without Vashil I don't know if theres' another player who has a presence on campus. 

They straight up stopped doing this? That's a shame. The whole team used to do it, it shouldn't take Vashil to lead the charge. Unless they were told to stop by the coaching staff?

Even so, the postgame "Valpo on three!" shouldn't be the only reason students come to the game.

[oklahomamick]

Mlb halftime interview.....does he truly believe what he just said or was he being politically correct? 

A couple years ago I attended a dinner in St. Louis put on by the alumni club.  Mlb answered 6-9 questions from the 25-30 people who attended.  If I got to ask him a question, how are your true feelings about the HL tourney being held in Detroit?

[VU2014]

I'm a little lost for words for the lack of student attendance. Something the Athletic Department should make effort to look into. I think the lack of student interaction with the team may have something to do with it. Vashil was always very very popular, but even before then the Rowdy era with Kevin Van Wijk and the whole team was all over campus eating lunch at the Union. Bryce/Homer were frequently chatting it up with students in cafeteria. Not sure ML has the same amount of time with such a young family.

Also ESPN3 probably plays a role to a degree of chipping away at attendance from student and general admission.

Maybe the University is recruiting a different crowd of students? Maybe the new class isn't quite as into sports and more into the arts or something. Idk.

A quick demographic break down:
-3,183 undergraduates
-1,361 law and graduate students (probably aren't coming to many games)
-From most U.S. states and about 50 countries
-29% multicultural students (Valpo has always prided itself for its diversity but at least at my experience not many foreign students went to the basketball games when I was there for whatever reason. Valpo has become much more depend on foreign students the last decade or so (higher tuition prices and not dependent on scholarships along with a less likely chance of defaulting student debt since many countries heavily sponsor their citizens college tuition like Saudi Arabia)
-26% Lutheran
-25% Roman Catholic
-34% other Christian faiths
-15% other faiths
-Nine men's and 10 women's NCAA Division I varsity sports teams
-Mascot: Crusader
-School Colors: brown and gold
-100+ co-curricular organizations
-Nine fraternities, six sororities
-61% of students live on campus (That # seems abnormally low. When I was a Freshman in 2010 I can almost guarantee you the amount of commuter students was lower. Could be a big factor.)
-Hundreds of students participate annually in concerts, plays, and exhibitions, with access to state-of-the-art performance facilities
-Students combine perform more than 220,000 hours of community outreach and service-learning annually

http://www.valpo.edu/about/

[VU2014]

Mlb halftime interview.....does he truly believe what he just said or was he being politically correct? 

What did he say? I walked away and missed the interview with MLb.

[crusader05]

Tonight is also the first night of Dance Ensemble which is huge on campus, both in students dancing (I think they have 18 pieces this year) and attendance. It's a pretty big deal and even got a write up in the chicago tribune this year.

Not a full reason but on a small campus that stuff can have an effect

[VU2014]

NKU wins 69-67 vs Green Bay!! Huge for conference standings. Green Bay is now 9-4

[hailcrusaders]

It's no secret that our bench has made huge progress throughout the season, but it's games like these that make me feel better about the future of Crusader Basketball after Peters, Hammink, and Walker (our top three scorers) graduate.

[FieldGoodie05]

It's no secret that our bench has made huge progress throughout the season, but it's games like these that make me feel better about the future of Crusader Basketball after Peters, Hammink, and Walker (our top three scorers) graduate.

Walker is a junior with Max.

[govalpogo]

Well on the court, nice game.  Every W is important.  NKU tried very hard to give their game away, fortunately GB didn't take advantage.  Congrats to the team on another 20 win season!

[hailcrusaders]

It's great to have a well rounded campus with stuff to do outside of sports, such as Greek Life, Dance Marathon, Dance Ensemble, dramas and music performances, Color Run, what have you. That said, I know other schools make an effort to schedule these things around home games for their flagship sport. You won't see Notre Dame schedule major non-football related events on Saturday afternoons in the fall, especially when it's a home weekend.

As far as on campus residency, 61% does seem low to me, but I wonder if that's 61% of all students, or just undergrads? Oftentimes, you'll see that statistic only calculated with undergraduates. I can't imagine a lot of law students are going to be living on campus. Nonetheless, I seem to remember that figure being over 70% only a few years ago, largely thanks to VU's (fairly strict) housing policies for non-commuters. Residency percentage is usually much lower at other schools, particularly large publics.

[hailcrusaders]

It's no secret that our bench has made huge progress throughout the season, but it's games like these that make me feel better about the future of Crusader Basketball after Peters, Hammink, and Walker (our top three scorers) graduate.

Walker is a junior with Max.

He is. Point being, most of our scoring comes from upperclassmen, and that usually makes me worry about "rebuilding" years in our near future. But tonight shows that we will still have a lot of potential.

[crusadermoe]

I got home and pulled up ESPN3 and saw the crappy attendance and then I saw 8-10 folks beat me to the rant.  But I have to chime in.  You know from my posts that I think VU2014 hit the only possible reason  for low student numbers.  It can only be we recruit a type of student who just doesn't care. If they don't care about campus culture, they should be really great alumni donors someday.   

I sure hope it is not the "snowflake theory" which is my term for someone saying on this thread that some of our current crop of delicate students might have had their "hearts broken" by the Oakland loss similarly to a student he knew in 07-08 who just couldn't bear an ARC trip after a loss to Butler.  Are you freakin' kidding me?? !!    I would have killed to watch this type of team with the guys on campus when I went to VU.

Alec decides to come back for his senior year and the students decide to leave!   What a shame.  The same dedicated two dozen kids will probably come to the JLA anyway and it will be less embarrassing to have that number in Detroit!   What an embarrassment tonight was to our alumni and our University.

[JPEven]

It can only be we recruit a type of student who just doesn't care.

many of them would rather cr4p on the mascot than cheer on the basketball team...

[VU2624]

If the customers aren't coming to your store it is not the customers fault.

[covufan]

The students should be coming out to see Alec close out his incredible Valpo career, at the very least


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[VUBBFan]

I was disappointed in the Fan Zone tonight also but for some reason section E just to the south of the Zone was filled with what appeared to be students. Maybe as many or more than in the Fan Zone its self. Why I don't know, just throwing it out there. That a puzzle to me. Anyone explain?

[justducky]

Those two impostors brought in to impersonate Derrik and Jay are near dead ringers. Wherever did Matt find them? I hope the NCAA doesn't decide to look into it when they finish with Jubril.

[hailcrusaders]

I was disappointed in the Fan Zone tonight also but for some reason section E just to the south of the Zone was filled with what appeared to be students. Maybe as many or more than in the Fan Zone its self. Why I don't know, just throwing it out there. That a puzzle to me. Anyone explain?

I think someone on the board has mentioned this, but it's not uncommon for students to sit outside the student section. Often other athletic teams who wish to sit together. I don't know what the official policy is on student seating -- are they allowed to sit in the mezzanine, which is rarely full? Or just the official student section behind the basket? I only sat there during my days. Whatever the "policy" is, it doesn't seem to be enforced, which normally I respect, but it could hurt student participation this way.

[VU2014]

Coach Gore did the post game press conference today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ogNbXvtwTc