If I were Dan Peters . . .

[zipboy]

and I was looking to fill the schedule out keeping KDs philosophy of home and home and also trying to make Zipboy excited to go to the JAR, who is comparable to Akron?

So I looked up teams with an RPI 125 or better (approx top 35%) for each of the last 3 years. My thought being we either sign 2 or 4 year deals and what is the probability a team will actually be decent for that amount of time? I was a little surprised by what I found.

Taking out BCS teams who I doubt that we would get a home and home with, 58 non BCS teams were in the top 125 for each of the last 3 years. Of those 58, 24 were top 125 all 3 years including Akron and Can't, the only 2 from the MAC.

From an economic standpoint, I figure that we would have to play teams with similar attendance. I know that we might get lucky if Jakkar Simpson ends up at Xavier or Dayton to get a home and home once ala Marcus Johnson but otherwise, we probably are not getting a team that averages 10K to do a home and home at the JAR.

So of the 24 teams that made the cut, teams with attendance under 8K include

Akron, Can't ( roughly 3K)

Houston (4K)

Rhode Island, Wright St, West Can't, UAB (5K)

Butler, Gonzaga, Old Dom, Temple, Tulsa, VCU (6K)

Illinois St, San Diego St, Siena (7K)

A few thoughts

1. I was surprised how little is really out there of quality competition that we might actually get a home and home with

2. Our attendance really does lag our success compared to other teams. I saw a comment from Lou Reed who is leaving CSU for Georgetown and he talked how disappointed he was to never have the fan support at CSU and how hard it is to get that support in NE Ohio. Between Akron, Can't, and CSU, it should not be unreasonable to expect 5K per game. CSU especially with a nice arena, have had good OOC opponents in Cleveland, still draws like flies. If we played teams with attendance like ours, they would all be RIs in the 175 and up range.

3. An Houston vs Akron series would be nice, we still have direct flights to Houston at least for now. WKU or ODU would also get me very excited.

4. Too bad RI and Akron did not renew. That is a perfect type of team for us.

5. I always thought Temple drew more than they do.

Just some random thoughts on a slow Sunday afternoon.

[Dave in Green]

Excellent research! I understand how time-consuming it can be to put together something like this, and really appreciate you sharing. I never thought it would be as easy to find quality teams for the Zips to play home-and-home series with as some others seem to think. But I'm as surprised as you are at how really few meet all the criteria. You never know for sure until you do the math.

[Quickzips]

The reality for the Zips is that the idea of doing nothing but home/home series with teams is never going to work. The only way you can do it is if you don't mind the majority of your OOC schedule consisting of teams in the 175+ RPI range. If I were Dan Peters...I'm telling KD we are going on the road for four big games this year. I'm not having him play Duke, Kansas, Syracuse and Michigan State, but we are going to play on the road against four teams in the Minnesota, Miami(FL), NC State, Texas A&M mold. The Zips have pretty well maxed out the last couple years as far as far RPI goes with the current scheduling philosophy. Time to make some adjustments.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Between Akron, Can't, and CSU, it should not be unreasonable to expect 5K per game.

The big question, to me, remains: "What did UA do to draw 5k?"

What new ideas were implemented to increase attendance? Buehler...Buehler?

Until UA tries something different to get butts in the seats, I really can't fret over attendance...if they aren't fretting, why should I?

The local fan base has proven that they'll show up in 3k numbers if nothing changes. If nothing changes next season, look for 3k again. It isn't rocket science.

There has been a lot of finger-pointing regarding the Zips attendance...and a lot of head scratching and shoulder shrugging...but no one is doing anything to solve the problem.

UA tried to pack the house for one game this season - K.e.n.t. Guess what? They packed the house. Obviously, it can be done.

[Dr Z]

I agree ZB, I liked the RI game. It showed exactly what our team needed to work on. I like the Houston & Temple ideas too. I would go out of my way to see all three of those games.

The one thing that keeps me away from earlier season games is scheduling. I'm not going to a game on Friday night, Saturday night or Sunday day game (during football season). I'm sure I'm in the minority, I'm just saying...

[Quickzips]

The one thing that keeps me away from earlier season games is scheduling. I'm not going to a game on Friday night, Saturday night or Sunday day game (during football season). I'm sure I'm in the minority, I'm just saying...

This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. You are essentially saying that we shouldn't play any games until football season ends. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday during the day. That is when people are looking to be entertained the most. They aren't nearly as likely to come out to a weeknight game because of work, school and other commitments the next morning. Look, if you are a bigger football fan than a basketball fan that is fine. But to say we shouldn't schedule games during the three "primetime" entertainment slots of the week is unreasonable.

[Dr Z]

The one thing that keeps me away from earlier season games is scheduling. I'm not going to a game on Friday night, Saturday night or Sunday day game (during football season). I'm sure I'm in the minority, I'm just saying...

This is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. You are essentially saying that we shouldn't play any games until football season ends. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday during the day. That is when people are looking to be entertained the most. They aren't nearly as likely to come out to a weeknight game because of work, school and other commitments the next morning. Look, if you are a bigger football fan than a basketball fan that is fine. But to say we shouldn't schedule games during the three "primetime" entertainment slots of the week is unreasonable.

I didn't say we shouldn't schedule those games. I said I knew I was in the minority. Those games don't fit my lifestyle. I'm just stating a fact. I hope all Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday day games (during football season) sell out at the JAR.

[Quickzips]

Went back and took a little gander at some attendance numbers over the last five years. Don't know how much this really tells us, but I find it interesting. The Zips have only broken the 3,000 attendance barrier for a home OOC game seven times in the last five years. The two most attended games were both bracketbuster contests in February. Surprisingly the best attended OOC game of the last five years was the Austin Peay bracketbuster in 2007.

Austin Peay - Saturday February 17, 2007 - 5pm tip - 4231

VCU - Saturday February 23, 2008 - 11am tip - 4098

Dayton - Saturday December 6, 2008 - 7pm tip - 4059

Youngstown St. - Saturday November 26, 2005 - 5pm tip - 3886

Malone - Saturday December 12, 2009 - 7pm tip - 3381

Nevada - Friday December 22, 2006 - 7pm tip - 3302

UIC - Saturday December 29, 2007 - 7pm tip - 3056

Interesting to note that outside of the bracketbusters the other five games were all during football season on Friday or Saturday night.

[Zipmeister]

I wonder how accurate other schools attendance numbers are. I know the attendance inflation factor at Wright State is pretty severe. For example, if they report 4k, actual attendance was closer to 2K. Their inflation factor is inversely related to actual attendance. For instance if they report 8k in all likelihood there were 6k there. They have done this for a long time and I think it has something to do with an inferiority complex. UD routinely plays to near sellout crowds (13k) just across town.

[Captain Kangaroo]

Went back and took a little gander at some attendance numbers over the last five years. Don't know how much this really tells us, but I find it interesting. The Zips have only broken the 3,000 attendance barrier for a home OOC game seven times in the last five years. The two most attended games were both bracketbuster contests in February. Surprisingly the best attended OOC game of the last five years was the Austin Peay bracketbuster in 2007.

Austin Peay - Saturday February 17, 2007 - 5pm tip - 4231

VCU - Saturday February 23, 2008 - 11am tip - 4098

Dayton - Saturday December 6, 2008 - 7pm tip - 4059

Youngstown St. - Saturday November 26, 2005 - 5pm tip - 3886

Malone - Saturday December 12, 2009 - 7pm tip - 3381

Nevada - Friday December 22, 2006 - 7pm tip - 3302

UIC - Saturday December 29, 2007 - 7pm tip - 3056

Interesting to note that outside of the bracketbusters the other five games were all during football season on Friday or Saturday night.

More interesting to note -

We have lost to 5 of those teams, a combined 9 times, within the past 4 seasons:

Austin Peay (once), VCU (three times), Dayton (twice), Nevada (twice), UIC (once)

We need to do a better job of beating those opponents where the public seems to have a heightened interest in the result.