Basketball attendance

[Zeke]

After seeing Coach K and President What's -his-Name both refer to being in the entertainment business, I have come to the conclusion that student attendance is just a backdrop to the spectacle of a BB game at Cameron. What would a TV production there be without the students - just another one of the 8 or so games shown every night. Where would Dick V. be without his interaction with the students? The athletic dept gets it's money not from attendance but from TV revenue and the students are only "color". The students will attend or not depending on their particular needs at the time, I don't feel too sorry for the athletic dept. seeing as there is other motives than simply student support.

[jimsumner]

The NIT games were part of the Duke season-ticket package. So, upstairs was accounted for. So, the only way to allocate tickets for fans of three fairly nearby schools was to find them downstairs.

I don't believe you can change the season-ticket part of the equation. So, I'm not really sure how to make this work.

[mike88]

After seeing Coach K and President What's -his-Name both refer to being in the entertainment business, I have come to the conclusion that student attendance is just a backdrop to the spectacle of a BB game at Cameron. What would a TV production there be without the students - just another one of the 8 or so games shown every night. Where would Dick V. be without his interaction with the students? The athletic dept gets it's money not from attendance but from TV revenue and the students are only "color". The students will attend or not depending on their particular needs at the time, I don't feel too sorry for the athletic dept. seeing as there is other motives than simply student support.

Unfortunately, this is getting closer and closer to being the case- it's manifest by strange/suboptimal start times (dictated by ESPN) and driven by the huge $$$ at stake.

[Henderson]

After seeing Coach K and President What's -his-Name both refer to being in the entertainment business, I have come to the conclusion that student attendance is just a backdrop to the spectacle of a BB game at Cameron. What would a TV production there be without the students - just another one of the 8 or so games shown every night. Where would Dick V. be without his interaction with the students? The athletic dept gets it's money not from attendance but from TV revenue and the students are only "color". The students will attend or not depending on their particular needs at the time, I don't feel too sorry for the athletic dept. seeing as there is other motives than simply student support.

That seems unduly cynical to me. I think Coach K would disagree and point out that the student attendance is a big motivator for the team, giving Duke a greater-than-usual home-court advantage. TV or not.

But I do agree that there are ancillary benefits in terms of TV exposure. I just don't think those ancillary benefits are driving the hope that students who can walk to the games and get in for free will attend. It's about winning basketball games, and students could continue to assist in that regard. Players want to see it. Coaches want to see it. And get this: Recruits want to see it.

[sagegrouse]

Unfortunately, this is getting closer and closer to being the case- it's manifest by strange/suboptimal start times (dictated by ESPN) and driven by the huge $$$ at stake.

As a TV viewer in the Eastern Time zone for another month, me likes me some 6PM starts. -- sage

[Duvall]

The NIT games were part of the Duke season-ticket package. So, upstairs was accounted for. So, the only way to allocate tickets for fans of three fairly nearby schools was to find them downstairs.

I don't believe you can change the season-ticket part of the equation. So, I'm not really sure how to make this work.

Given the proliferation of early season tournaments, there seems to be an easy solution going forward.

[chaosmage]

As a TV viewer in the Eastern Time zone for another month, me likes me some 6PM starts. -- sage

And those of us who are school teachers on the West Coast... grr.. thanks to whomever for the awesome twitter feed from DBP and Duke Basketball last night. Kept me going.

[Channing]

With all due respect, Duke has been a top 10 school for a long, long time. Nothing new there. I just think students in general need to lighten up a bit. Not saying coursework and exams aren't important, but I am blown away that undergrads are so hyper competitive today.

Thank you. Given the refrain over the last 2 or 3 years one would think Duke's prominence in Academics is new. I don't know what the school was like in the 60s, 70s, and 80s, but late 90s and early 00s, when I was there, had the school with a top 5 ranking (I think) and a minuscule acceptance ratio. We all had heavy course loads and other commitments and, guess what, we didn't even have WiFi, smart phones, or tablets. Later in my Duke career I think they wired the lamp posts in KVille with ethernet jacks, though, if you wanted to use a laptop in KVille. And, I only go back a decade or so, people going back further had even less technology.

Its reasonable to say that today's Duke students just aren't as interested in basketball as past students, but to act like today's students are somehow more burdened or have greater time commitments is pretty misguided.

[Rich]

Its reasonable to say that today's Duke students just aren't as interested in basketball as past students, but to act like today's students are somehow more burdened or have greater time commitments is pretty misguided.

I think that has to do with the make up of the student body more than anything else. The prospective students I interview as part of the Duke Alumni interview program are all ridiculously bright, articulate, ambitious, etc., but the ones that seem to get accepted (in my experience) are less, shall we say, well rounded and more focused on academics. Duke used to be known as a "study hard, play hard" school when I was there in the mid-80's, but I'm not so sure the second part of that is so accurate nowadays.

[msdukie]

Other than the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do you think most folks in SEC country have even started to think about basketball in a meaningful way?

Other than the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do you think anyone in SEC country has ever thought about basketball in a meaningful way?

I live in Florida, where shockingly most of their alums or "fans" don't know who Billy Donovan is, I can vouch for this.

[jimsumner]

Other than the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do you think anyone in SEC country has ever thought about basketball in a meaningful way?

I live in Florida, where shockingly most of their alums or "fans" don't know who Billy Donovan is, I can vouch for this.

The folks at Vanderbilt like their hoops.

[OldPhiKap]

Other than the Commonwealth of Kentucky, do you think anyone in SEC country has ever thought about basketball in a meaningful way?

I live in Florida, where shockingly most of their alums or "fans" don't know who Billy Donovan is, I can vouch for this.

Vandy
Arkansas
LSU
Florida, back to back champs ( my experience differs from yours)
Kentucky

While SEC is clearly a football-first conference, they have had good hoops programs.

But the point is still the same -- given that the entire country has two more weeks of extremely important football games, plus conference tournament games -- who really cares about basketball games right now? A late season football result has much more meaning than a pre-Thanksgiving basketball game. Even at Duke, our next two football games mean the difference between winning our division or not, and whether we are playing a big bowl or a minor one. Our next two basketball games mean little in the grand scheme of things.

To everything there is a season. This is historical football season, and crunch time at that. If basketball wants to encroach on that, fine -- but does so at its own peril.

And I do not think anyone can accuse me of being less than silly-passionate about our basketball team. But nothing is more important in my Duke world for the short term than beating Wake and then the lying, cheating, thieving, scheming, weasel-bastages from the Dump on the Hump. I will of course watch any hoops game in that period and pull as hard as hell for us -- as I have for every game we have played so far -- but in November it is secondary.

So be it if you disagree, reasonable minds can differ.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Vandy
Arkansas
LSU
Florida, back to back champs ( my experience differs from yours)
Kentucky

While SEC is clearly a football-first conference, they have had good hoops programs.

But the point is still the same -- given that the entire country has two more weeks of extremely important football games, plus conference tournament games -- who really cares about basketball games right now? A late season football result has much more meaning than a pre-Thanksgiving basketball game. Even at Duke, our next two football games mean the difference between winning our division or not, and whether we are playing a big bowl or a minor one. Our next two basketball games mean little in the grand scheme of things.

To everything there is a season. This is historical football season, and crunch time at that. If basketball wants to encroach on that, fine -- but does so at its own peril.

And I do not think anyone can accuse me of being less than silly-passionate about our basketball team. But nothing is more important in my Duke world for the short term than beating Wake and then the lying, cheating, thieving, scheming, weasel-bastages from the Dump on the Hump. I will of course watch any hoops game in that period and pull as hard as hell for us -- as I have for every game we have played so far -- but in November it is secondary.

So be it if you disagree, reasonable minds can differ.

I concur on the priorities in November and so does Bob Harris.

[OldPhiKap]

I concur on the priorities in November and so does Bob Harris.

If I am with you and Bob, I am in better company than I deserve.

Put another way, we beat Louisville last November then lost to them in March. Which one will you remember a year from now?

Beat Wake, Beat the Holes, Beat the Noles! In the interim, I hope the hoops team continues to grow into a great team and I will enjoy that maturation process as we move into conference play in January.

Women looking good too, great recruiting by Coach P. Great time to be a Devil.

[freshmanjs]

Put another way, we beat Louisville last November then lost to them in March. Which one will you remember a year from now?

both

[OldPhiKap]

both

And I hope you remember the fun of our bowl victory, too. I will buy the first beer and look forward to meeting you there!

[-jk]

...

Put another way, we beat Louisville last November then lost to them in March. Which one will you remember a year from now?
...

Hate to say it: I'll remember a leg... Ick.

-jk

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

If I am with you and Bob, I am in better company than I deserve.

Put another way, we beat Louisville last November then lost to them in March. Which one will you remember a year from now?

Beat Wake, Beat the Holes, Beat the Noles! In the interim, I hope the hoops team continues to grow into a great team and I will enjoy that maturation process as we move into conference play in January.

Women looking good too, great recruiting by Coach P. Great time to be a Devil.

Last month it was the Championship of the Commonwealth of Virgina. This month it's the Championship of the State of North Carolina.

[TruBlu]

Women looking good too

Is that you, Brent Musburger?

[OldPhiKap]

Is that you, Brent Musburger?

If I ever refer to our basketball venue as "The Cameron," go ahead and pull the plug.

I have disliked the cheeseburger for 30 years -- makes Jim McMay sound reasonable.