C-USA tournament in Dallas

[Bigtime41]

When is the conference tournament for the ladies and will SMU fns come out and support them? Based on looking at the conference standings, SMU has a real good shot of winning the tournament and getting into the dance. Based on conference stats, SMU is 4th in attendance averaging around 1150 fans per game. How many does Moody seat? Does anyone believe that SMU ladies can pack Moody with their fans and is winning all that it will take to bring the fans out? Before I die it would be nice to see a women's game in Moody and the stands filled with fans especially looking at the fact that the tickets are cheap. Any thoughts?

[Stallion]

I hope you are in good health.

[The XtC]

The tournament is March 2-5th, and SMU will probably play its first game on the 3rd.

Moody seats about 9,000.

No, I dont think the SMU community will ever truly support its womens basketball team, much the same way they will never truly support the soccer, swimming, Tennis, or other programs. Most dont even know the tournament will be here, and wouldnt have any interest if you told them. Sorry, I know thats not what you want hear, but its unlikely to change in my lifetime. The best you can do is give the team all the support you can, and not worry about anyone else. There is no point in beating your head against a wall.

[abezontar]

If it makes you feel any better I knew a guy who was at Tech when they had Swoopes and won the NCAA tournament, and he never went to a game and swore that no one should ever watch women's basketball, because it was a worthless sport. And this guy was/is a youth pastor.

[tmustangp]

i will come across as a jerk.. but its women's bball.. it won't happen.. i respect the girls for being college athletes.. i was a college athlete and my father was.. so i am not full of it by saying i respect them for being college athletes.. i mean it.. but i also mean it when i say its womens bball

[tmustangp]

no one should ever watch women's basketball, because it was a worthless sport. And this guy was/is a youth pastor.

hahahahahaha

[Bigtime41]

The comment about "it's women's basketball" as if it's some inferior form of bball is what the problem is. I have only been following the sport the last 8 years and the skill set as grown tremendously. For the game to have evolved to this point is amazing when you are aware of the past and the silly stereotypes that held the women's game back. The women's game to me is like when I go to the rec center and play ball. It is highly competitive, highly skilled and played mostly below the rim. It's a catch 22 for females when it comes to women's ball. Most males want them to play the game at a high level like a guy but remain a foxy lady while on the court. That's an oxymoron. Reality is you can expect a world class female athlete to "go hard" on the court and then off the court be who she is which is a lady. The issue is that most males don't want to view them as serious ballers and don't respect the women's game for what it is and how it's played. The game is at a point where women can do basically everything a man can do except consistently dunk at will. There are physical restraints and major differences in the genders that prohibit those types of highlights but you have to respect the game and then you can truly enjoy the game. As a fan I am excited and cautious about the new recruits that are coming in because they are going to raise the level of play and performance at SMU. They are going to bring an exciting up-tempo style of ball to Moody. If the fans don't show when they do start consistently winning it will make it extremely difficult to continue to successfully recruit TOP TIER local talent. Look at the fact that Arthur has SMU third. It's nothing different on the girls side however, hopefully with this class the girls side can begin to bring in some more TOP TIER local talent. The 2006 recruits all had other major D-1 options but chose to try and make something happen here and I just hope there community loyalty and choice to do so will be appreciated once they take it to the next level. It's sad that the conference tournament is here and the student body, alumni, and local fansare projected to not show and support them. I am however banking on the fact that when they start to consistently win over the next 4 years that the fans will show their support because Dallas as a whole supports a winner.

[abezontar]

I hope that if we can ever get as good as Baylor or Texas we will get the same kind of media hype and turnout, who knows though, we may be hampered by the same thing that hampers us now, and that is that the Dallas community doesn't know we are here. (I'm not blaming the DMN, although I have been perturbed by their coverage lately)

[youngalumpony]

I consider myself a pretty big supporter of SMU athletics, and I support the sports that I enjoy watching, football and basketball. Haven't missed a home football game since I started school here, and have been to the large majority of men's and women's bball games over the same time. A couple weeks ago, I spent my Wednesday night at the men's game against Tulsa, then went to the women's game the following Sunday against conference leading Tulsa. Say what you want about the quality of women's bball, but while the men's game was a painful draining away of 2 hours of my life, the women's game was a very high quality of basketball.

[The XtC]

[quote="abezontar"]If it makes you feel any better I knew a guy who was at Tech when they had Swoopes and won the NCAA tournament, and he never went to a game and swore that no one should ever watch women's basketball, because it was a worthless sport. And this guy was/is a youth pastor.[/quote]

Abe, if it makes you feel any worse, your friend appears to be an extreme minority. Tech averaged over 4,300 per game during Swoopes 2 years there, BEFORE they won the national title, or even a conference title. After Sheryl graduated, attendance nearly doubled. They were selling out their gym for womens basketball. Since the opening of their new arena, they have averaged over 12,500 per game, and have sold out (capacity 15,050) seven times. Tech is having a down year, they're .500 on the year (12-12, and 7-6 in the Big 12.) but they are still drawing 11,875 per game. Their smallest home crowd this year was 10,038, more than 1,000 fans over the maximum capacity of Moody. So, in a year when they are in danger of a losing record (serious underdogs in their last 2 regular season games), they would have sold out Moody for every game, and outdrawn the SMU mens team by roughly a 10:1 margin.

I was around during the Swoopes era, as well. The regular season game at Moody drew over 3,000, mostly Tech fans. Their SWC tournament games, also at Moody, drew over 5,000. I guess your pal didnt have much influence over his Raider brethren, he seems to have failed miserably im his attempts to talk them into staying away from the evils of womens basketball.

Bigtime- The SMU womens team has won consistently in the recent past, and it did nothing to change attendance. In the late 90's and 2000 we were consistently making the NCAA tournament, won the WAC title twice, and were competitive with the best teams in the country. Every year the ladies would knock off at least 1 nationally ranked team. It didnt make any difference. The fan support was still the same hardcore group it always was.

Attendance at SMU isnt driven by our own performance, its opponent driven. SMU fans will turn out in big numbers to see a weak SMU team play a big name opponent, but wont come to see a winning team play a weak opponent. I'm not just talking about womens basketball, when the mens team was favored to win the WAC in Sasser's last year, we still didnt draw anything for most of our non-conference games. Our Soccer programs are amongst the best in the country, but the SMU community will not support them. The break-up of the SWC killed any chance of building an audience for womens basketball, because it took away the big name opponents that SMU fans were familiar with. It didnt matter that Colorado State or La. Tech were ranked in the top-10, our fans didnt consider those schools big enough, and had no interest in seeing them. Its a cultural thing, its not in SMU's nature to support something and help it grow, they'll wait until afterwards before considering jumping on the bandwagon.

[KnuckleStang]

I enjoy watching women's b-ball. Female players are more fundamentally sound than men. They don't act like they're trying to get on sportcenter everytime they touch the ball. I like that.

[Charleston Pony]

Attendance at SMU isnt driven by our own performance, its opponent driven. SMU fans will turn out in big numbers to see a weak SMU team play a big name opponent, but wont come to see a winning team play a weak opponent.

Its a cultural thing, its not in SMU's nature to support something and help it grow, they'll wait until afterwards before considering jumping on the bandwagon.

Big Jon - you are right on the money. I know there are a lot of people out there who think winning will suddencly cure this cancer (our lack of fan support), but the truth is this has been an issue for over 30 years now...and regardless of what some may remember, it was an issue during our days of national prominence in the 80's. SMU only sold out for a gimmick promotion or because of who the opponent was.

[White Helmet]

I think Moody's capacity is like 8997 because it always annoys me when I see the sign, I think Damn couldnt they squeeze in 3 more seats. Though some of the seats at the very top under the press box have severly obstructed views, I sat there once, at a HS game not an SMU game.

[Bigtime41]

So in summary based on the replies it really doesn't matter whether the girls program gets TOP Recruits or not, the fans will not show up,right? That's really sad when you think that Coach R is trying to raise the level of play with this new class and currently in 2nd place. I know that Oklahoma will be here next year and she is upgrading her schedule. I got to believe that if the schedule is upgraded, the team wins, they open things up and play a more up and down style of ball that people will come out. If I am to understand the trend, they must first win and then the next year fans may come out. This really makes it difficult to recruit any big name local talent because everyone wants to play to crowds like at Tech, or TEnn. What a bummer!

[Peruna Knight]

I enjoy watching women's b-ball. Female players are more fundamentally sound than men. They don't act like they're trying to get on sportcenter everytime they touch the ball. I like that.

I agree with you..They aren't always trying to show off. they are more respectful and thankful for the people that come out and watch