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Who should I use as an example as to why students come to games? Some other perennial horrific mid-major football program or some other decent mid-major who has never won anything other than games against weak conference foes? Their attendance isn't going to be anything other than marginally better than ours. You can't show me a program who has never won anything or doesn't win anything and has great attendance. 2) What it takes to win at a high level seems like it would be a much more valuable conversation to me. If you win at a high level attendance takes care of itself. Seems much more productive than talking about the next failed gimmick that attracts an extra 200 students to a single game and never come back when we lose. Skip wanted to know the root of the problem and I gave him it. Create a product the fans want and demand will be there.

I don't think there is anything wrong with it at face value. However, being that budgetary reasons have been blamed for many shortcomings of the program (ex. losing a game because of travel logistics), then I do have a problem with it. Its either A) budget isn't as big of a problem as some make it out to be or B)we aren't being smart with money. Winning is the ultimate goal here. I think this promotion is good as was the professional soccer player night. But should we really be running costly or potentially costly promotions when we cant even give our team reasonable travel from Charleston, SC to State College, PA?

My apologies if I've missed the point. Coming from a recent graduate (less than a few years removed), you can try to put lipstick on the pig all you want with all the gimmicks, but the only thing that matters is making basketball or whatever sport relevant for people to come. I realize we aren't a "pig", we are actually a decent mid major program, but the point still stands. Please don't turn this into an OSU bash fest, but not many people grow up Akron fans believe it or not. They don't go to games just for the hell of it. You obviously have your core group of students that attend every game, you have your students that attend some games (OU, Toledo, Can't State), and then you have your students that attend zero games. What is an acceptable number of students you are ok with? You can complain all you want about it, but the fact is that more students are at least attending some games now than ever before. What games are they coming to? GAMES PEOPLE CARE ABOUT. You want people to come to the games for good? Stop losing to Miami and NIU, and go out and beat somebody that people and ESPN will talk about. Take the program to another level. You can only do so much with your conference opponents, but there are definitely chances in the OOC and the tournament(s). And no im not talking about taking our OOC schedule from an average RPI of 200 to 100. I'm talking about scheduling teams people have heard of and beating them. OSU, Cinci, Xavier, Michigan, Michigan St, Notre Dame, anyone. USC sucks, but beating them made us feel a little better about the loss of Tree right? I have a friend who transferred from Akron to OSU. She has zero interest in sports, but bought season tickets for OSU football because attending football games is the thing to do at OSU. Why is it the thing to do at OSU? People talk about them because they win games that people care about. How many corny ass promotions does OSU run to get buts in seats? Marketing? Winning markets itself. Students camp out for a week just to get tickets to a Duke/NC basketball game. Do students at Akron stay in and study while Duke students make time to go to basketball games? No. I just can't beat this point enough and its been had over and over which is why I may come off edgy. Take the program to another level and attendance will rise. Create a product people care about. The program looks topped out for the time being (even though I think the young talent level is higher than ever). Attendance isnt going to change permanently unless you give a reason to. Getting students to go to games to watch the team should be the goal. Not coming to a game to get $5. How to take the program to another level is a much better discussion really. Its really simple economics. If there is demand for your product people will buy it. Make your product in demand. OU had an average attendance increase of ~800 the year after they made the sweet 16 compared to the prior year, a 34% increase in ticket revenue, and a 53% increase in season ticket holders. I feel the potential is even greater in Northeast Ohio with no elite college basketball within a reasonable distance.

ESPN3 makes every game watchable on TV!

15-0. National Championship or bust.

Good point morris. The general consensus for this board when discussing university issues is that the problem is everybody else who doesn't make a living associated with the U. Football is holding the basketball team back. They have no money. They can fly in soccer players from all over the world, pay students ~15000 (assuming 800/game for 3 games) to come to games, refuse to play at any high profile team's place and take a pay day(and a chance to get a big win and generate excitement for the fanbase/state/country), but money is a problem. So much of a problem that is cost us a game at Penn St due to crappy travel plans. Lets set priorities straight and have accountability.

skip or anyone else who wants to talk about the good old days in an attempt to attack the current generation of students, please take a look at who has broken the student attendance record multiple times the past few seasons. newsflash- you guys didn't have better student attendance back when you had to walk up the hill 5 miles both ways to class.

How often do businesses change their name for the hell of it?

My thoughts: Stupid. Not even a directional name like NEOU. Directional state school names sounds generic. So many things need work with the U/sports/fanbase, and a lot of it deals with a lack of identity. Starting over from scratch sounds amazing. /sarcasm

I dont think its going to happen either, but who wouldn't be interested is a better question. I dont have a reason to think there won't be plenty of options.

I agree with this. This is KDs most talented roster in the 5-6 years I've been following the program. Maybe just not on the high end (Tree), but not much you can do about that. Someone should develop though. I am probably more critical than others, but cant knock KDs recruiting the past 2 seasons.

All that depth paid off in OT. Too bad a go to scorer can't be developed out of it.

Ben was an unrated prospect at QB and only had 1 offer- from Miami obviously.

$5 is about the value of the free chick-fil-a sandwich voucher they give away every game. Not sure why they expect that to draw students...Giving away free shirts would be a better giveaway.

This might be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. Almost as bad as the NFL wanting Katy Perry to pay them to perform at the Super Bowl.

new marketing ploy gets mention from RovellDarren Rovell ‏@darrenrovell 10m10 minutes ago Akron giving $20 to students to attend final 3 men's BB games http://www.gozips.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/releases/20150216c3v8hx … (H/T @ddapsis, @STLMetsFan5)

Nice shot by Juice. Walters defended well. Great team effort overall and it was nice to see some guys seriously step up tonight. Walters even provided some quality minutes. However, I cannot support Deji sitting during the last few minutes in any way possible. I'm tired of losing to Toledo.

I get nervous every time Johnson touches the ball.

We make excuses for losing games against mediocre majors with things like "travel arrangements", but we have no problem flying our alumni soccer players in from all over the world to promote a game. Not that I think it wasn't a good idea, but its obvious priorities aren't in line if we are going to use excuses as silly as travel arrangements and the budget is as tight as it is. And people want to blame football, but are against cutting programs that do not or will not ever generate any revenue for the program. Football vs basketball on this board is played out and lazy thinking. OU has made tourney runs and they have a nice mid-major football program that they've invested in. Toledo certainly invests in their football program, and their team has been viewed as a serious mid-major the past few seasons (even though they have been a disappointment considering expectations).

Antino is playing amazing. Aaron has hit some big shots off the bench. I wouldn't mind Aaron getting some more of Kwan's minutes really. Its great to have Deji back..but shooting horrible from the 3 outside of the Jackson boys. Also missing way too many bunnies. Have a feeling the wheels fall off in the 2nd, but I hope I'm wrong!

You can tell its not a sellout, but I wouldn't say the crowd looks disappointing on TV.

Quick cash isn't the reasoning for the proposition. Being fiscally responsible is the reasoning behind the thoughts. Not only do the sports I mentioned not generate "quick cash", they generate zero cash at all and never will. I don't see anyway that it would be pushed to the high school level or lower because you aren't traveling clear across the country or paying coaches a comfortable salary to coach golf at a level that nobody cares enough to pay to watch.

They have shot better from inside the ark than from 3 all season. We lost to yet another team that we shouldn't. Probably because we shot so poor on what should be higher % shots. Maybe they should practice them more. You're better than using an anomaly to make a point.

Its a good thing we have all that depth.

i really don't have an opinion on TW one way or the other. I would say the Ianello hire is a fire-able offense itself, but its hilarious how he gets all the blame for that and no credit for anything else.