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Dave, This is some very interesting stuff. A few thoughts..... 1) How bad is our luck sometimes, when Temple was a WIN and the fewest number of people were there to see it? This one is also the greatest mystery as to why nobody was there. I can't figure out why that day would have been a problem. Did we have some major snowstorm or something? The number would indicate that there was almost NO walkup sales, since we probably had that many tickets sold beforehand. 2) I think sticking a home game against a fairly recognizable opponent (there's no home runs in this list), very infrequently, into a weak home lineup of OOC games is probably not going to catch the attention of too many of the "Joe Akrons" who aren't continuously paying attention to Zips athletics. 3) The most recent one, the 2011 VCU game, worked so well because there was so much Buzz leading up to the game, Keith vs. Shaka, and the introduction of Terry Bowden. One of the very few times we've ever created a "you gotta be there" buzz in the local community over a Zips basketball game. 4) The timing of the Nevada game in 2006 was just absolutely horrible. That could have been a huge night for Zips basketball. Unfortunately, it was right at the beginning of Christmas weekend. Even I didn't make it because we were already on the road heading out of town to stay with family for the holiday. I'm still mad that I missed that one. What a thrilling finish, coming up just a bit short against a then-ranked team at home. When do we ever get that kind of opportunity? 5) I think that beating teams like this is what would have the impact to potential area fans, regardless of whether it's a home game or not. In fact, as much as I want to attend games like this, an ESPN game on the road would have far greater impact. I wonder what would happen to tickets sales if we beat a few of those teams on that list and THEN had one of them coming to the JAR?

Just hypothetical, but imagine if Akron was the #20 ranked team in the country right now. And a couple thousand more people were flocking to the JAR for a basketball game. Rightfully assuming that it would be because we are a "national power", and they are college basketball fans, do you really believe that the style of the gym would keep them away? When thousands more people were attending UA soccer games a few years ago, when we were nationally ranked...and the new complex was not yet constructed, do you really think any of them were saying "this is an old complex....I don't want to go anymore"? People aren't going because we aren't doing anything significant enough to get them interested. If we were, there's plenty of people who would sit in the top corner of the bleachers to be a part of it.

My guess is, the only reason you build a NEW 4,400 seat arena is if it works for the kind of crowd size history you need, and you have no aspirations to get to a bigger league. I know someone who's very involved in BG athletics, and he claims it works well for them. So be it. And they are getting some conveniences that they never had before.

Funny, isn't it? They actually all make a great effort to get the crowd up and energized. The problem in Akron is that as soon as the contest ends, everyone goes back to normal behavior.

The one real encouraging thing to me is that we got to 70 points. We had struggled to get there all year against decent competition. Reggie and Deji hit SEVEN 3-pointers off of the bench tonight, and many of them were very timely. That really was the scoring punch we needed.

You know, I have just as many dreams as anyone else about Akron getting to a higher level. But, I have always said that we're not doing anything collectively as fans at this point to push the "we need a larger arena" issue. It appears that attendance has even dropped a bit in recent years. Without looking, if we examined attendance at each game for the past 5 years or so, can we find any time other than maybe a few OU or Ken+ games where we truly exceeded 4,500 people actually in the arena? For now, if a new arena is really not on the near horizon, I think we can sacrifice a little size for a few more amenities. We might be a few seats short a time or two, but for those of us who frequent the JAR, I think we'll be a much happier group. And even those people who would make up the 3,000 to 4,500 numbers at some games (the infrequent attendees) would have an improved experience too. If we stick basically to improvements that would have needed to be made, regardless of whether a new arena is built, there might not be any negatives to making these improvements to the JAR.

Dave, All I can say is that I hope we see the potential to eventually increase our footprint in this populous section of Ohio as much more realistic than WKU would ever be able to siphon out of Bowling Green Kentucky, which also happens to be within hours of two of the most prestigious college basketball programs in the country.

The Savage Arena renovations were outstanding. Unfortunately for us, we are not in a position to reduce our seating capacity, and still have 7,300 seats. Luxury boxes would even further complicate the problem. This goes all the way back to building the place too small to begin with, while adding the classroom wing to satisfy the grant requirements.

Right on the money. Basketball will need to do the same thing that soccer did, to some extent...beat some people who matter. Without a good business/alumni donor base, and no big-time single donor in our midst, this would be the only other way to raise our profile, change how people view us as a program, and grow.

Now you just gave me a great laugh while reading about a very serious topic to me. I needed that. And you're so right.

Like most of you, I can't get this off of my mind. And here's the bottom line.... WE are a very small minority. The dreams of a few dozen of us here, and a few thousand more in the community, for the future of UA basketball does not add up to the support needed to make it happen. Our ONLY SOLUTION is to raise more money. There's a school down in the South-Central part of our state that gets plenty of money for their basketball program, and they were eliminated in the first round of the tournament last year, and haven't won a title since 1958 !!! Why? Because their alums and supporters still BELIEVE that they always have a chance to win a title, no matter the results of the last 56 years. People here don't have that belief. Until they do....the necessary dollars aren't coming. So, what could change that? There's really only a few possibilities. 1) Knocking off a few big opponents to start to change the belief structure. 2) Seize every opportunity to PUBLICIZE anything related to our desire to grow the program and elevate into a higher league. It doesn't matter if it's fact, fiction, or someone's dream. Talk about it. And talk about it as often as possible. It raises how potential fans and supporters in the community view us. 3) Hope that we find a very rich person who loves UA as much as the head of Nike loves the Oregon Ducks.

I think you can remove the word "likely".

I think you are going to get some of this. I was briefed on some of the ideas that came out of that study a couple of years ago, and here are a couple of things that stuck out at me. 1) Moving the seats forward and eliminating the track, and putting concessions/concourse behind the current upstairs seating. The only drawback is that this is where we'll lose some of our capacity by making those corridors wind around and behind the upstairs seating areas. 2) The possibility that the VIP area will move to the downstairs concession area, with a glass wall looking out onto the court from behind the South basket. 3) All individual seating. 4) The JAR's structural makeup makes it impossible to expand the facility. I knew that the University would come out with their own plan after the outcry against a downtown arena during the months leading up to the last election cycle. Only time will tell if it's a bluff in our negotiations to get something done with the City. But the truth remains that we would prefer our own facility, rather than a "shared" facility (yeah right) with the City. To tie this with another recent discussion, we could probably get more if the people and businesses around here would throw their financial and social support towards us. There's still too many people around here who think that the "home team" is the school down towards the bottom of the state. Until then, we have resource limitations. And with a pretty consistent 3,000 range in attendance through an entire era of winning basketball, how do we force anyone to seriously look at the "increased capacity" argument? This would still take me somewhat by surprise if it actually happens. But, the JAR renovations, as I see it, can still accomplish a lot of things. I would mostly be upset that we would probably delay our ability to attract higher conference affiliation by having a small facility, and that we can't build any luxury suites.

Hey, I hear you. I come from a law enforcement family, so you know how I feel. I just want to make sure people realize that a political campaign is taking place here, and you are not being misled into thinking that we are just opening the doors of our jails and letting everyone out. As far as the Arena is concerned, I wasn't implying that it should have been packaged with another issue. The fact that it was a sales tax and not a property tax is what creates the obstacle.

Before you sell yourself on what you hear in the press coverage that accompanies campaigns for more funding, or add to the creation of any unnecessary hysteria in our community, please at least recognize the words "low-level" and "non-violent". Regardless, the arena was not going to happen in this fashion. And in my opinion, it might be a long time before a sales tax can be sold to the public for this particular purpose either.

If I had to make a guess about how this all will end up, based on what I am personally hearing, this would be it.

Good observation. I don't know if you are entirely accurate, but it seems that we frequently use off-the-ball screens to bounce shooters out to the perimeter for open looks, but never seem to employ them anywhere else.

I did notice the Bluffton crowd. I know they are a small school, but I made the comment during the game that they must have brought half of the student body with them. I'm sure it is a big game for them, in a close proximity. I'm sure we'd respond the same way if Cowlumbus State would ever schedule us.

I don't know. Saturday was the pinnacle of what I had been seeing lately. When a 6'-6" guy is turning and scoring on him down low with an almost effortless lay-in off the glass, and his attempts to score over similar players are wild hook shots fading away from the basket, that's troubling to me. We all hope that it's conditioning, obviously.

Dave, I think we have to assume that he really wanted to see a lot of BJ, and has a genuine interest in increasing his role, if he shows he can handle it. The only other glaring thing we noticed was the continued awful play of Mr. Johnson. Walter played a lot of minutes at PG, and him and several others are not even listed on the on-line roster. I really took notice when he almost dunked a tip in situation on an offensive rebound. That's pretty impressive for a guy who appears that he can't be much over 6' tall. I wish I had access to his profile

Interesting. I felt that the influx of cars seemed minimal compared to a normal game, but Frenchy said in the postgame that this was the largest crowd so far this year.

This is exactly what I am referring to. And we have the city, the people, the business community and the alumni numbers to easily be able to bring it in. The only problem we have is attitudes and perceptions. Akron people are failing to acknowledge that Akron is our local University, that they play in the highest division of college athletics, and that these much-needed resources would absolutely help us climb to a more nationally-recognized level in all sports.

Akron is something like the 50th largest University in the country. We are also in a decent size city. We SHOULD be able to easily gather the resources to support competitive D-1 Football and Basketball, to at least adequate mid-major standards. Emphasis on the word SHOULD. Again, if people around here ever understood who our LOCAL team really is, this would not even have to be a discussion.

Dave, I think this was a nice response for some people to read. The long version. The version that I did not include in my response. I just want to touch on a couple of points... 1) I was just wanting to make the point that if people are going to talk so much about a lack of player development, they also need to consider that maybe many of these guys did not have the talent that we thought they did when we recruited them. 2) Yes, I think some opinions from people come without proper knowledge. As I disclosed recently, I am involved with the U and the Athl. Dept. in a number of different capacities. So, I do clearly understand the commitment of our coach, and I do think we are fortunate to have him. But, I certainly don't think he's beyond criticism. Many times, people will criticize out of frustration and desire for us to continue to grow larger as a program. I often even feel the same way.

Another good point. I guess the closest thing would be Zeke/Chauncey/Walsh two years ago. We only had one last year, and will only have 2 this year.