PonyFans.com

Last night the student section was moved completely to one side - the side of our players bench. The other side was converted to a media section or something - about ten guys sitting there with laptops.

Anyone know if this is permanent? Hopefully they'll open that back up to the students once conference play begins.

diamond_tom wrote:Last night the student section was moved completely to one side - the side of our players bench. The other side was converted to a media section or something - about ten guys sitting there with laptops.

Anyone know if this is permanent? Hopefully they'll open that back up to the students once conference play begins.

Unfortunately, this is a permanent move. It really sucks especially when conference plays rolls around and students are having to sit all the way down in the corner past our bench when they could be at center court.

That's too bad. The student section was the best thing about Moody. I guess next year the students will be off of the floor completely.

It is absurd. The whole floor used to be students. What now? They will be scattered around the upper level? We a way to build student support.

email Doh and let him know your displeasure

When the students actually fill up the section behind our bench, then we can start complaining. Besides, it's perfectly normal (and CUSA rules) to have a no-student buffer zone behind the visiting bench (Duke does this). If done correctly, the visitors should still be able to hear the students from 20 feet away.

Kudos to the students who were there though.

There were a couple of guys who seemed to actually know how to lead cheers at a basketball game. They were even doing the "Boink, boink, awwwwwww pass ..." on a couple of Illinois state possessions. Less effective when only 2 (plus me across the arena) are doing it, but good effort nonetheless.

That is crazy. It must be stopped - it is 100% the wrong direction if you think you are going to build a student following.

And we need to tell CUSA we will put our people where we want to - someone needs backbone over in the athletic department.

\

There were a couple of guys who seemed to actually know how to lead cheers at a basketball game. They were even doing the "Boink, boink, awwwwwww pass ..." on a couple of Illinois state possessions. Less effective when only 2 (plus me across the arena) are doing it, but good effort nonetheless.[/quote]

yeah that was actually me and my buddy. Unfortunately, no one else caught on, so we sounded like 5 dumb guys screaming boink. I really wish the fans across from the students would join in on the defense/let's go mustangs cheers. It really helps out not going to lie.

DiamondM wrote: Besides, it's perfectly normal (and CUSA rules) to have a no-student buffer zone behind the visiting bench (Duke does this). If done correctly, the visitors should still be able to hear the students from 20 feet away.

kinda, but not really. At Cameron, the students sit opposite of the team benches. That is, suppose we moved the team benches in Moody to the opposite side, in front of my seats, as it were. Then, yes, there would be some seats behind the opponents' bench where some media sits, some visiting fans/families sit, and recruits visiting campus, as well as some season ticket holders sit. This leaves the entire opposite side (i.e. where the team benches are now, as well as the students) to be full of only students. An entire side that, at Cameron, has a grand total of about 1500 students standing on the pullout bleachers. And it looks great. 1500...that's all it takes to at least make the pullout bleachers look good.

Please stop the Duke comparisons. In one game Duke has more students than SMU in a whole season. Student section at Cameron used to be louder. Now, with sooo many foreign students and kids that have no idea what sports are, the crowd has died a little. Still the best, but has diminished over the last ten years.

right - the smu student section is a joke

thank you harry. keep it up!

RGV Pony wrote:

DiamondM wrote: Besides, it's perfectly normal (and CUSA rules) to have a no-student buffer zone behind the visiting bench (Duke does this). If done correctly, the visitors should still be able to hear the students from 20 feet away.

kinda, but not really. At Cameron, the students sit opposite of the team benches. That is, suppose we moved the team benches in Moody to the opposite side, in front of my seats, as it were. Then, yes, there would be some seats behind the opponents' bench where some media sits, some visiting fans/families sit, and recruits visiting campus, as well as some season ticket holders sit.

Um, since I actually was a Cameron Crazy, I feel qualified to describe the student seating. Yes, most of the students sit across from the benches -- those are the preferred seats, and the ones that fill up first when the doors open about an hour before tip. They also happen to be the side that the camera sees. (In most college arenas, the cameras are opposite the benches, but not at Cameron.) However, there are students who sit on the opposite, non-tv side behind the benches. There used to be a group of guys who specifically sat behind the opponents' bench (before I was there in the mid 90s) to harass the opposing team. There is now a large buffer zone to prevent that.

My point was simply that there is no reason to complain about not having seats behind the opponents' bench because (a) that is normal; and (b) the students are not yet filling up the seats they do get.

Harry0569 wrote:\

There were a couple of guys who seemed to actually know how to lead cheers at a basketball game. They were even doing the "Boink, boink, awwwwwww pass ..." on a couple of Illinois state possessions. Less effective when only 2 (plus me across the arena) are doing it, but good effort nonetheless.

yeah that was actually me and my buddy. Unfortunately, no one else caught on, so we sounded like 5 dumb guys screaming boink. I really wish the fans across from the students would join in on the defense/let's go mustangs cheers. It really helps out not going to lie.[/quote]

Thanks, and keep it up. Eventually someone might catch on. If it makes you feel any better, I'm yelling "boink, boink, aw pass, shot, miss, rebound," right along with you up in section N across from the visitors' bench. It's a shame that the blue chairs aren't very vocal, I agree. But until the students are turning out in consistently greater numbers, there is going to be no groundswell for moving them up and putting students around the perimeter of the court.

It does boggle the mind that WE need so much darn media seating -- one whole end of the court plus behind visitors' bench.