(10-24-2019 11:24 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(10-24-2019 10:42 AM)JMad03 Wrote:  

(10-24-2019 07:46 AM)#YEEHAWDUKES Wrote:  

(10-24-2019 06:27 AM)JMURocks Wrote:  

(10-22-2019 10:27 AM)RamDawg Wrote:  Students behind the basket surrounding the band feeding off their energy. If Charlie wants to take a road trip to RVA to learn something, I got two tickets for him, any game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J8ppQBMPT0

That's how you sell out an arena. Alums and the general public want excitement, not a golf clap crowd. Surprised just how much VCU has stepped up their environment, JMU used to be like this (and the house was full).

They really need to reconsider at least the band, student, and general public seating layout. You want contagious energy to spread and fill the place.

No it’s not. You sell out an arena by winning. Do you think VCU would have all these sell outs if they won 30 games over the last three seasons? No students would be there

Bingo. Winning solves everything.
If anyone has been in the Convo when we were winning they could tell you what kind of environment that place was. Students didn't have awesome seats yet that place was on fire.
Do I think JMU should do a better job with placement for students? Sure but I think they are fixing that at the new arena.
But all of it will be for nothing if the team cannot win games.

Home court advantage in basketball makes a big difference in winning. We haven’t had that in a long time. The two are interdependent. Need the student excitement to provide that advantage. Lefty knew that and did everything possible to excite and engage the students.

Student seating was better in the past. Closer to the action. The admin went out of their way to take students out of the game and “tone it down.” That was a strategic mistake.

Exactly. It isn’t too late to fix until April when seats are assigned to ticket holders, but the initial public release of the student seating configuration is a fail. It needs to change.

Home court advantage matters a lot in college basketball and you can put empirical numbers to it. I wonder if they asked coach Rowe what he would prefer to help maximize winning. Would he like more students around the court with passion and energy or would he want to quarantine them all at one end of the court?

Here is an optimal configuration at NC State. Compare and contrast to JMU’s proposal...