Scott Van Pelt Rips SMU...I Mean Maryland

by **PonyKai** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 11:50 am

Scott Van Pelt went on a 3 minute tirade on Maryland's students and their fan support. Obviously, we aren't Maryland, but replace UMD with SMU and Duke/ACC with Memphis/CUSA and NCAA with CBI/NIT and it rings pretty true. At least it does to me.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcspor ... and_s.html

Here are some gems:

"The notion that a college basketball team like Maryland would have to be great in order to earn the support of the student body is laughable. You can wait the rest of your life to be that jaded and that cynical, ok? But when you're in college, to think that the team has to earn your support? That's not how it works. You just support 'em because you go to college. And you're only there for a short period of time, so try not to suck. Try not to be so jaded and cynical, and show up eight times a year for conference games. It's not like we're asking you to solve cancer. Go to a basketball game. It's freaking free."

"They had to provide it for themselves. And this is disgraceful, man. It's disgraceful that you can't be bothered to show up for a 9 o'clock game on a Wednesday night and provide a good atmosphere for a basketball team that's still not out of it."

"...you're in the middle of the conference season, still have a chance to make the tournament, you're gonna have to run the table. And the team can use some support. And this might sound corny, and this is where I might sound like an old guy, and I don't give a bleep...."

by **Monkeystang** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 12:04 pm

I cannot agree with you more. Good or bad, we should have more people at the game. I also think we should have more alumni there. We have too many people in the Dallas area that have graduated from this great program and do not show any support.

by **Junior** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:23 pm

Heck, even I've started going to games. I'm late to the party, but at least I'm there now.

by **GiddyUp** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:42 pm

there are attendance problems all over the country now in fball and bball - people have better things to do unless it's a real meaningful game, Duke, Kansas, or Kentucky.

by **PonyKai** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:37 pm

For the students, it's unacceptable. Van Pelt's right on the money. These games last maybe two hours, you can booze before, booze afterwards, study afterwards, whatever. The Coliseum sits right in the middle of campus and is walking distance easily from dorms and spitting distance from frat row.

Sorry, when it comes to this I'm firmly in Scott's corner, especially regarding the students. A game is even shorter than the football games, one's on the weekend usually, and there's no Boulevard to suck fans in to.

by **One Trick Pony** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:10 pm

Attendance is the single biggest gift one can give to SMU athletics. Especially if you buy a ticket .

That's what I can give this year.

by **LA_Mustang** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:36 pm

I've always been a fan of Scott Van Pelt

by **Clubs** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:27 pm

I completely disagree. Students have no obligation to attend games, neither do alumni. Maybe this seems crazy to a guy who spends his entire life reporting sports. It's about tradition and attendance problems take time to change.

by **hoopmanx** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:58 pm

I'm a Terp & Mustang, and banter back and forth w/SVP on the Terp board pretty frequently. He's a good guy that has good takes. He's also a Gary Williams apologist. The student body and many alumni, just aren't inspired by the direction of the program. They've been ranked roughly 11 weeks since 06, are on the outside looking in right now, and have lost every single profile game this season. They recruit poorly for a program of that magnitude, especially considering location etc.

The crowd for the NC State game sucked, and Maryland should have gone the Crum route, and figured out a way to renovate Cole. Instead, they have a monster gym, where they've yet to play truly meaningful games, w/tons of entertainment options in DC & Baltimore. Kids are apathetic and would rather play video games.

Van pelt is right, students should pack games. Maryland is just a disgruntled, volatile fan base. SMU needs a fan base, and won't have one until it's the cool thing to do. It's going to take a few years, and some big games on TV, and a lot more wins. I don't care if it's a frontrunner crowd, let's get Moody crazy. Great old gym

by **NickSMU17** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:10 pm

Are you related to PonyDoh?

by **ponyscott** » Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:08 pm

NickSMU17 wrote:Are you related to PonyDoh?

Yes they are one and the same...

by **DallasDiehard** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 3:16 am

Scott Van Pelt is greatness.
He's dead-on with this. Good stuff.

by **hoopmanx** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 7:59 am

DallasDiehard wrote:Scott Van Pelt is greatness.
He's dead-on with this. Good stuff.

He's a very good Terp, I'll give him that. We don't see eye to eye on tons of stuff, but lack of student support for legit games, is a pet peeve we can all relate to.

by **Charleston Pony** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 12:53 pm

SMU has had attendance problems for a long, long time...but I agree we should have FAR MORE than the 1500 who regularly attend games at Moody. A great home court advantage starts with the students. When they pack the courtside bleachers and are rowdy, it make for a more enjoyable game for the old timers in attendance. Moody can rock with only 4-5k in the place. Just like the transition from TX Stadium/Cotton Bowl to Ford, I've felt for years Moody could have been remodeled and seating capacity reduced to as few as 6k seats. Would make for a much better game day atmosphere if we could just have our guys playing in a packed and rowdy Moody

by **EastStang** » Sat Feb 26, 2011 4:31 pm

I have watched Maryland hoops for years and will say this. Gary Williams is an excellent coach, who doesn't want to get dirty in the current cesspool that is NCAA hoops recruiting. He doesn't want to recruit the one and dones. He doesn't want to mess with the coaches with itchy palms in the AAU. He doesn't want to sell his soul to shoe companies (although he has adopted UnderArmour - but that's owned by a UM alum). The result is that Gary has had some difficulty in the ACC where some coaches have flexible ethics. He also recruits kids who have some academic ability unlike Lefty who would recruit the stereotypical idiot. Maryland now follows a four year model, I think. Teams grow together and every four years or so, they do very well. The rest of the time they do okay. I wish that we had half of the success that Maryland has had under Gary Williams. And yes, I agree with Scott that UM fans are passionate, but fickle as a hot coed.