UM at S. Utah (Thursday Feb 9th)

[LivingstonNative]

SAC up 32 to 29 over the Weebs.

 

[WILDCATFAN]

Would they have any crowd at all if they didn't have parents of halftime kids?

Can you believe that, must be competing time for bible studies.

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

 

[grizonbob]

Anyone know what the deal was with Rorie tonight in terms of why he played so little... wasn't foul trouble...

 

[fanofzoo]

Would they have any crowd at all if they didn't have parents of halftime kids?

Can you believe that, must be competing time for bible studies.

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

The ladies average just a little less with only 3 wins

 

[GrizWhiz]

Anyone know what the deal was with Rorie tonight in terms of why he played so little... wasn't foul trouble...

He was hurt in the first half and could not play in the second half.

 

[grizonbob]

Anyone know what the deal was with Rorie tonight in terms of why he played so little... wasn't foul trouble...

He was hurt in the first half and could not play in the second half.

Thanks... how serious was his injury?

See Sac State beat Weber 77-74

 

[Colter_Nuanez56]

Moorehead spearheads Griz defense, UM downs SUU
http://skylinesportsmt.com/griz-down-suu/

 

[EverettGriz]

Would they have any crowd at all if they didn't have parents of halftime kids?

Can you believe that, must be competing time for bible studies.

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

Yes.


And there were not 3000 there. In fact, there wasn't 300 there.

This conference is a joke.

 

[DoubleNicks]

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

The ladies average just a little less with only 3 wins

Yeah, pretty amazing the Lady Griz-SUU game had 2,843 considering it was featuring two women's teams that are a combined 1-23 in Big Sky play and a combined 9-37 overall (only 6 wins of which are D1).

 

[rocklobster]

Pritchett has some skills there! So smooth on the drive to the basket! Man, he is going to be fun to watch for three more years!

 

[WILDCATFAN]

Would they have any crowd at all if they didn't have parents of halftime kids?

Can you believe that, must be competing time for bible studies.

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

Yes.


And there were not 3000 there. In fact, there wasn't 300 there.

This conference is a joke.

Wow, hard to argue with that logic...

 

[EverettGriz]

Can you believe that, must be competing time for bible studies.

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

Yes.


And there were not 3000 there. In fact, there wasn't 300 there.

This conference is a joke.

Wow, hard to argue with that logic...

Seemingly so, since you're clearly unable to.

 

[fanofzoo]

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

Yes.


And there were not 3000 there. In fact, there wasn't 300 there.

This conference is a joke.

Wow, hard to argue with that logic...

Seemingly so, since you're clearly unable to.

Get in trouble when the count hits triple figures, like 101,102 and etc.?

 

[WILDCATFAN]

Would Montana average 3,000 if they only had 4 wins on the year? I highly doubt it. :roll:

Yes.


And there were not 3000 there. In fact, there wasn't 300 there.

This conference is a joke.

Wow, hard to argue with that logic...

Seemingly so, since you're clearly unable to.

You beat me, simply saying yes to a question without any facts at all left me speechless. How could I possibly argue with that?

All hail Everett for all is as he says






:roll:

 

[EverettGriz]

'Cat, facts were provided by others in the forum already. Yes, UM would still average 3k. As was pointed out, the Lady Griz hadn't won before this weekend and are averaging 2900.

For the men, it's been a looongggg time since they've only won 4 games. But 10 years or so ago during the Dahlberg renos they were an under .500 team playing in a high school gym and averaged over 3k. So I think it's fair to assume the answer is "Yes".

That all said, as I pointed out and you chose to ignore, why did you say 3,000 anyway? There was not anywhere NEAR 3,000 in SUU's gym. There MAY have been 500, and as someone pointed out, most of those were there to watch their tots during halftime.

This conference is an effing joke.

 

[WILDCATFAN]

'Cat, facts were provided by others in the forum already. Yes, UM would still average 3k. As was pointed out, the Lady Griz hadn't won before this weekend and are averaging 2900.

For the men, it's been a looongggg time since they've only won 4 games. But 10 years or so ago during the Dahlberg renos they were an under .500 team playing in a high school gym and averaged over 3k. So I think it's fair to assume the answer is "Yes".

That all said, as I pointed out and you chose to ignore, why did you say 3,000 anyway? There was not anywhere NEAR 3,000 in SUU's gym. There MAY have been 500, and as someone pointed out, most of those were there to watch their tots during halftime.

This conference is an effing joke.

SUU has had a rough string of consecutive bad seasons so there is of course a lack in fan interest in the program. I have seen the Centrum packed when I have watched Weber play there in person. They have fans it's just when you have so many bad season's in a row interest dwindles. SUU still has the 5th overall highest attendance and 5th highest average in home conference games.

Now what I asked is would Montana still average 3,000 fans a game if they had only 4 wins. The 3,000 wasn't in reference to how many were in attendance in the SUU/UM game. It was simply Montana's average for conference games at home. Also saying "It is fair to assume so" is based on opinion not fact.

Here are the current numbers for conference attendance in the Big Sky listed from highest to lowest in total attendance. (Conference Games only)

Rank - School - Total Attendance - Average - # of home games

1. Weber State - 33,749 - 6,749 - 5
2. Montana - 27,833 - 3,976 - 7
3. Montana State - 15,237 - 2,539 - 6
4. North Dakota - 14,787 - 2,112 - 7
5. Southern Utah - 11,881 - 1,980 - 6
6. Eastern Washington - 10,223 - 1,703 - 6
7. Idaho State - 7,901 - 1,580 - 5
8. Idaho - 7,889 - 1,127 - 7
9. Northern Colorado - 7,747 - 1,291 - 6
10. Northern Arizona - 6,775 - 967 - 7
11. Sacramento State - 5,760 - 822 - 7
12. Portland State - 4,068 - 581 - 7

 

[EverettGriz]

Soooooo, from an applicability standpoint, you might as well have been asking why the moon isn't made of cheese.

And I can presume we all agree based on your numbers that this conference is an effing joke.

 

[WILDCATFAN]

Soooooo, from an applicability standpoint, you might as well have been asking why the moon isn't made of cheese.

And I can presume we all agree based on your numbers that this conference is an effing joke.

Yes, outside of Weber this conference's attendance number's are a joke.

 

[grizzlyjournal]

Soooooo, from an applicability standpoint, you might as well have been asking why the moon isn't made of cheese.

And I can presume we all agree based on your numbers that this conference is an effing joke.

Yes, outside of Weber this conference's attendance number's are a joke.

I think I'm going to jump into this debate, for better or worse... mainly because I've followed Everett's arguments over the years (most of the arguments with which I agree). I'm not much of a trash talker, so my arguments are not meant as slams (for the record: I've followed Big Sky basketball since its inception and have a high regard for Weber State hoops).

Arguments for/against fan support of school teams MUST be universally considered in any analysis. While Weber State men's basketball has the best fan support in the Big Sky by a significant margin... things change dramatically from there. Fan support for Montana sports -- in raw statistical numbers and in support per-citizen averages (school/community etc.) are darn good. I'd bet the numbers might compare well with some Mountain West schools. Hence, Everett has a pretty solid argument overall. Let's look at some basics:

Men’s Basketball
1. Weber State 59,993 6,666 - 9
2. Montana 41,020 3,729 - 11
3. Montana State 33,487 2,392 - 14
4. North Dakota 20,469 1,861 - 11
5. Southern Utah 20,215 2,022 - 10
6. Eastern Washington 17,876 1,375 - 13
7. Idaho 11,723 977 - 12
8. Idaho State 9,735 1,391 - 7
9. Northern Colorado 9,744 1,083 - 9
10. Northern Arizona 8,804 880 - 10
11. Sacramento State 7,576 756 - 10
12. Portland State 5,511 501 - 11

YEP, Weber State ranks far ahead of the Big Sky. But what about women's basketball?
Big Sky Women’s Basketball Attendance -- 2016-17
1. Montana 34,071 -- 2621
2. North Dakota 19,935 -- 1661
3. Montana State 15,111 -- 1511
4. Weber State 12,217 -- 1018
5. Northern Colorado 12,037 -- 1003
6. Eastern Washington 10,106 -- 856
7. Idaho State 9,619 -- 874
8. Southern Utah 6,751 -- 614
9. Northern Arizona 4,075 -- 370
10. Sacramento State 4,699 -- 492
11. Idaho 3,865 -- 483
12. Portland State 1,874 -- 234
So far this season the results show Montana's averages -- despite its low standing in the Big Sky -- well ahead of every other school in the Big Sky, ranked nationally as well. WHAT IF -- in a consideration of how winter sports receive support -- we combined the averages for women's and men's basketball?

Big Sky Conference 2016-17-- ALL BASKETBALL ATTENDANCE
1. Montana 75,091
2. Weber State 72,210
3. Montana State 45,598
4. North Dakota 40,404
5. Eastern Washington 27,982
6. Southern Utah 26,966
7. Northern Colorado 21,781
8. Idaho 15,588
9. Idaho State 13,600
10. Northern Arizona 12,879
11. Sacramento State 12,275
12. Portland State 7,385

So, am I manipulating statistics unfairly to Montana's advantage? Well, what it shows is that the UM and the city of Missoula support its two basketball teams combined far better than most other teams in the Big Sky, with Weber State a close second. However, the argument should NOT stop there, if we're comparing how schools and communities support their teams. We could add attendance figures for soccer, women's volleyball and softball and I'll bet (couldn't find accurate attendance figures) that Montana would surge even farther ahead of the remainder of the Big Sky (average per. game attendance for UM soccer was 359 per game compared to WSU's 260). I heard, at one point, that UM volleyball attendance was over 400 per game, even though the team was in last place.

Of course, we haven't thrown-in average football attendance figures. When we do, that's where Montana outpaces the rest of the Big Sky significantly.

What these stats prove is that the University of Montana -- despite having one of the lowest student enrollments in the Big Sky -- receives overwhelming fan support when compared to the rest of the Big Sky. There's foundational support in western Montana to make UM a mid major school... with the right kind of conference alignment. I also believe that UM, if it joined the Mountain West for instance (I know... a long shot at best) would compete pretty well, on average, in men's and women's basketball. I'm not certain about football. A lot of wild conjecture, but not on one point: Everett has made a strong argument for Montana to consider a move out of the Big Sky over the years. Or, more realistically, the Big Sky Conference should probably look at some form of restructuring in the near future... one that recognizes travel schedule, facilities, fan support, competitiveness in an effort to make it a true mid major conference. That's my argument.

 

[fanofzoo]

Yeah that goes for me too.