Remember the electric zoo. Well it came back to the convo last night and the team needed and loved that sixth man. You want our men's team to win then do the same for them they thrive on that energy

Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

You have hit the nail on the head......do #1 & #2 (which is different than #1) and everything else is easy and will take care of itself.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

Agree 100% but would like to add, JMU MBB half court style is boring to casual fans. However the WBB, bodies flying around, going after tip balls, fighting for everything, pressure/deny everything, players loving the game is exciting to watch. The men's coaches should take some the women's "street ball type attitude/culture" and bring it their team.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or singleticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

1 & 3 are closely related. 1 can't be accomplished by scheduling weak, poor and Bourne. Win implies becoming a better team, not scheduling weaker which is the admin's default strategy. A lot of what took place in the Convo last night took place because of the opponent which was forced by a tournament. It would not have been the same had we beaten North/West Central Tri/State Montgomery County School.

We loved beating Virginia Tech, a school we can rarely/never play with the two revenue/marketing sports.

Go Lady Dukes!

Fans don't bring wins. Winning brings in fans. As hazed said, winning will also allow us to schedule better teams. Nobody wants to play an RPI killer. None of that is out of the box thinking. Everyone is trying to do it, some succeed.

Here are some things that I believe we could do outside of just getting wins.
1. Better streaming. Simulcast on multiple streaming platforms for games that didn't have rights sold. To attract new viewers and generally increase availability. These other options also have monetary benefits. Kudos for a good WNIT stream though, saw some VT fans giving props.
2. Find a way to increase alumni engagement/happy hours/watch parties during games. Living in Arlington, I expect there to be more than there is in terms of these. Really a lot of untapped potential there.
3. Bring in the beer for general public. VCU does this. Make basketball games a HH hotspot with some great drink options. Some great breweries in the area. Also, do this for football games. Makes for a better crowd and adds revenue.
4. Kind of feeding off idea #3, tailgating enhancements. Basketball isn't football, we all know that, but how can we bridge the gap a bit better? My idea, food trucks. Even if you have to make a JMU food truck that does nothing but corn dogs or donuts, start somewhere. Let new vendors into an allotted area for free, and suddenly you can create quite the scene that could get packed before a game and bring out locals and students alike. PS, if anyone is familiar with congdon's donuts in ME, I kind of stole this idea from their congdon's after dark, which is a huge success.

I've missed very few home games at VCU over the past 20 or so years. Beer at basketball games is not something that it's all cracked up to be but would totally support beer at football games. The tailgate type setting of #4 could totally work for the new convo. Beer and food vendors in an outdoor, mid-way type setting, opened before, during and after games could certainly add to the social atmosphere, not to mention the money making opportunities. I believe the JMU community would totally embrace a tailgating type opportunity since we're so accustom to (and good at) tailgating. Most VCU fans wouldn't know what a tailgate party even looks like.

I get the mbb basketball scheduling logic. LR if fighting an uphill battle and favors weak. Bourne, same since Brady firing and in general. The scheduling weak approach has/can provide a 300+ RPI with losses.

The strategy has provided a game atmosphere of 950 people a game of which 75% or seniors looking for any reason to leave the house, not exactly an electric zoo.

We have to play CAA teams which can be entertaining if there is a balanced mix of OoC teams that can draw fans. We have not had that for a very long time and the numbers show it.

JMU08, streaming is really a big issue, last night I could watch our ladies flawlessly other times it buffers so much, I simply turn it off. Before anyone starts getting stupid, I worked until 7:00 last night, and can assure you that I would have been at the game otherwise, though my home is in Charlotte, I work in Lynchburg.

(03-29-2019 11:44 AM)RamDawg Wrote:  I've missed very few home games at VCU over the past 20 or so years. Beer at basketball games is not something that it's all cracked up to be but would totally support beer at football games. The tailgate type setting of #4 could totally work for the new convo. Beer and food vendors in an outdoor, mid-way type setting, opened before, during and after games could certainly add to the social atmosphere, not to mention the money making opportunities. I believe the JMU community would totally embrace a tailgating type opportunity since we're so accustom to (and good at) tailgating. Most VCU fans wouldn't know what a tailgate party even looks like.

BBall tailgating is an interesting thought. Do any other schools do this?

Guessing the cold weather season might dampen it some, but the bison do have huge ones in north pole conditions. Would probably work out better in Nov and March than Dec and Jan.

(03-29-2019 08:27 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  Because I don't think this is going to happen on its own, here are some ideas for helping make this happen (for the MBB program, that is)...

1. Win. I know it seems simple and obvious, but winning more consistently will bring a lot of fans to or back to attending home games.

2. Stop losing. OK OK, it is the same as #1, but what I mean by this is stop losing games at home to teams we should be beating. We shouldn't be losing to The Citadel. We shouldn't be losing at home to the last place team in the CAA (UNCW this year). It seems like every time we appear to be building some resemblance of momentum, we come home and throw a turd on our own home floor like we did in the final regular season weekend losing to W&M and Elon (and looking really bad in the process). And btw, those last 2 games were 2 of our better attended games I think. Didn't help a bit.

3. Schedule more interesting games. I'm not saying we have to sign a ridiculous contract with UVA or VPI&SU or the like where we guarantee we visit their place 9 times for the 1 return visit to our place, but we need to be more creative and provide season ticket holders more interesting games. Same for students. I don't think playing The Citadel motivates them at all. Most of the CAA schedule for that matter (which we have no control over) doesn't motivate them. Winning will motivate as I've already mentioned, but to get the student body out they will want to see some teams they actually recognize.

4. Rowe and players get out to the student body. Go to frats and sororities. Go to club meetings. Be as visible as possible. Beg and plead if necessary, thank students for their attendance, etc. Show videos to these groups of the old days Electric Zoo. Plant seeds and see if a swell of students can run with it.

5. Incentives from the athletic association to get students to attend. Be more creative in trying to attract season ticket or single game ticket holders from the alumni base and locals. Give away tickets if needed.

#1 above is a must and will set the stage for everything else. It (a return of the E-Zoo) can be done. I don't think it will be done by just encouraging others to show up. The athletic administration and Coach Rowe must embrace it and work for it.

Indeed. Win and win against legitimate opponents.
We will see what Rowe schedules for the coming year, but so far he has lied to the fanbase.
Remember his hiring press conference? He said “I will play anyone, anywhere”. Liar.
The truth is that he has avoided strong competition at all costs.
In addition to the ridiculous 4 DIII “games” he has only played one power conference team in 3 years. Huh? 35 OOC games and one challenging opponent?

Brady played 9 power conference teams in 8 years. Still not enough.
Keener played 8 power conference teams in 4 years. Better and pretty good for a CAA that was much stronger and was full of strong RPI games in conference. Keener lost, but at least he played legit teams.
If you are playing in a one bid league like the CAA has become after losing ODU, VCU, and George Mason, then the OOC needs to be even more challenging. Why not 4, 5, or 6 games against some stud programs? And the $$$ for playing most of these games on the road is more than MBB makes in the entire season from ticket sales, donations, NCAA tourney payouts combined.
Check out the crap conference games last year. JMU played 13 games IN conference against teams rated #219 or higher. Awful. Why junk up the OOC with more garbage teams that have no appeal to the fanbase?

It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Agree and somewhat disagree. We all agree winning will bring a lot of folks in or back in. Times are very different today though and far from an apples to apples comparison to the days of the Lefthander at JMU. All games are streamed live for starters now. Back then if you wanted to see the game you almost always had to be in the Convo.

Today students (heck even older fartekers like me) want good mobile phone connectivity as another example (and one that has improved a little at the Convo but still not great in my opinion). JMU back then wasn’t viewed as a “football school”. It is much more today. JMU has lost at least 2 decades of students in terms of interest in MBB. Winning will do wonders. But it will need to be consistent over a number of years to get to selling out every game like those glory days of the past. And, the experience needs to be great, not good.

(03-31-2019 10:55 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Agree and somewhat disagree. We all agree winning will bring a lot of folks in or back in. Times are very different today though and far from an apples to apples comparison to the days of the Lefthander at JMU. All games are streamed live for starters now. Back then if you wanted to see the game you almost always had to be in the Convo.

Today students (heck even older fartekers like me) want good mobile phone connectivity as another example (and one that has improved a little at the Convo but still not great in my opinion). JMU back then wasn’t viewed as a “football school”. It is much more today. JMU has lost at least 2 decades of students in terms of interest in MBB. Winning will do wonders. But it will need to be consistent over a number of years to get to selling out every game like those glory days of the past. And, the experience needs to be great, not good.

I agree. Winning is the biggest factor in generating a filled arena, but the other elements you’ve outlined play a role too. Standards have changed and it is simply a different time. In some ways sports fans have become more discriminating on how they’ll spending their time and money, but it all starts with winning. After 20 years of mostly lousy to mediocre results in MBB I’m surprised JMU has as many fans as it does. Here’s to hoping that’s about to change for the better.

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

(03-31-2019 12:01 PM)Longhorn Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:55 AM)Wear Purple Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Agree and somewhat disagree. We all agree winning will bring a lot of folks in or back in. Times are very different today though and far from an apples to apples comparison to the days of the Lefthander at JMU. All games are streamed live for starters now. Back then if you wanted to see the game you almost always had to be in the Convo.

Today students (heck even older fartekers like me) want good mobile phone connectivity as another example (and one that has improved a little at the Convo but still not great in my opinion). JMU back then wasn’t viewed as a “football school”. It is much more today. JMU has lost at least 2 decades of students in terms of interest in MBB. Winning will do wonders. But it will need to be consistent over a number of years to get to selling out every game like those glory days of the past. And, the experience needs to be great, not good.

I agree. Winning is the biggest factor in generating a filled arena, but the other elements you’ve outlined play a role too. Standards have changed and it is simply a different time. In some ways sports fans have become more discriminating on how they’ll spending their time and money, but it all starts with winning. After 20 years of mostly lousy to mediocre results in MBB I’m surprised JMU has as many fans as it does. Here’s to hoping that’s about to change for the better.

Coach Lefty was before my time. Up until the last 5 years ago, other than who won-who lost, I didn't really follow JMU all that much. For that time, mid 90's what kind of game/culture did he play/have? (half-court, fast past, run the clock, pressure D ?) I'm guessing the fan experience and atmosphere was "electric"? A team having a style that's entertaining too watch can offset some of the game loses. What was the football program like? Was JMU more of a basketball school than a football school back then?

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

And if UVA was winning at the Dave Leito and Pete Gillen level prior to Tony Bennett those UVA tickets would not be that popular either. Folks like winning and winning brings folks to the arena and makes it be a place to be. Sure the ACC > than the CAA and DUKE/UNC will always be a hot ticket. But if UVA was not a great great ride, there would not be much interest in Pitt/BC/Miami/Wake games.

(04-01-2019 10:00 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

And if UVA was winning at the Dave Leito and Pete Gillen level prior to Tony Bennett those UVA tickets would not be that popular either. Folks like winning and winning brings folks to the arena and makes it be a place to be. Sure the ACC > than the CAA and DUKE/UNC will always be a hot ticket. But if UVA was not a great great ride, there would not be much interest in Pitt/BC/Miami/Wake games.

Agreed there is not as much interest for Pitt/BC/Wake as Duke but there is still much better interest in Pitt/BC/Wake and/or OoC opponents that have a pulse compared to teams nobody knows at all.

I know JMU has to schedule conference teams and some conference teams are interesting but in addition to the CAA games, scheduling weak so we can claim we won is pathetic. Does any team on earth besides JMU think this way?

Maybe "Brighten the Lights of Madison" to be Replaced by "Let's Schedule Weak So We Can Win"

Are JMU sports participation events or striving to be grow and be the best possible by playing and defeating the best possible?

(04-01-2019 11:09 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 10:00 AM)ShadyP Wrote:  

(04-01-2019 09:07 AM)Purplehazed Wrote:  

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

This is your opinion. For me and many of my friends the competition very much matters. Also, competition is more than butts in seats, competition defines peer groups.

If JMU has an admin that believes nothing but winning matters, bring on DIII, bring on the weakest teams we can find that is athletic soul crushing.

FCS can be and may be a version of this belief. We can out build and out spend the fcs and win playing Incarnate Word which is better than having to compete against programs with the same resources.

I hope this belief does not make it to the classrooms.

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to UVA - any ACC/AAC/top 100 team?"
Anyone/Many - "yes, thanks"

Friend making offer - "want my tickets to JMU - Nearly any CAA/MEAC/NEC/Patriot team"
Anyone outside of HBG - "No"

Competition matters.

Thanks Lady Dukes for bring St. Johns, GW, GTown, VT and NWestern to HBG!

And if UVA was winning at the Dave Leito and Pete Gillen level prior to Tony Bennett those UVA tickets would not be that popular either. Folks like winning and winning brings folks to the arena and makes it be a place to be. Sure the ACC > than the CAA and DUKE/UNC will always be a hot ticket. But if UVA was not a great great ride, there would not be much interest in Pitt/BC/Miami/Wake games.

Agreed there is not as much interest for Pitt/BC/Wake as Duke but there is still much better interest in Pitt/BC/Wake and/or OoC opponents that have a pulse compared to teams nobody knows at all.

I know JMU has to schedule conference teams and some conference teams are interesting but in addition to the CAA games, scheduling weak so we can claim we won is pathetic. Does any team on earth besides JMU think this way?

Maybe "Brighten the Lights of Madison" to be Replaced by "Let's Schedule Weak So We Can Win"

Are JMU sports participation events or striving to be grow and be the best possible by playing and defeating the best possible?

I agree and disagree.....JMU should try to get 2 P5 games on the schedule each year and these games will almost always be on the road (unless someone hooks JMU up with a 2 for 1 deal) which is just fine. JMU has made a renewed effort to schedule old CAA foes that are of regional interest over the last couple of years and sounds like this will continue (UR/GMU/ODU); have been unsuccessful getting VCU to agree to a home-home deal (and I support not playing VCU without a return home game). JMU has also been scheduling other VA teams on some interest (Radford/Longwood/Norfolk St). I don't like playing 2 DIII games, have no issue with one which tends to generate a lot of local/Harrisonburg interest.

(03-31-2019 10:16 AM)White Hall Wrote:  It’s simple, win and the fans will show up. It’s not about the arena or the schedule. During Lefty’s era, the Convo was sold out for every game, didn’t matter which night of the week or the opponent. Win consistently and nothing else matters.

Think it's a bit of both. Lefty worked hard to generate student and fan support. He started midnight madness and was always friendly with the students and let them know how much their support mattered. He also did generate a winning attitude, and people believed we could knock off the giants. The convo was a hostile place that no opponent wanted to be.

Consider this: In 95-96 (an awful 10-20 season), 5,500 showed up at the end of the year to watch JMU beat VCU 76-75. Does that win happen with an empty convo? I doubt it, we lost 81-70 at VCU earlier that year. We also played a tough schedule that year against teams like Auburn and Houston. This was the norm.

Yes, a winning tradition had been established, but it was deeper than that. It all started with the students. Get students excited about showing up, allow them to make noise and go crazy, and the rest will follow IMO. Paying fans also want to be part of something exciting, not a dead quiet graveyard.

JMU would be wise to make the new arena as student friendly as possible, including prime seats. Its no accident teams like Duke follow this pattern.