Shockers vs UAB Ticket Special

[ShockerFever]

For those who want to know Marshall's feelings about this game and whole situation, I encourage you to listen to the podcast of the first 5 minutes of the coach's show, if you haven't already.. And if you would like, refute what he had to say.

[ShockerFever]

Why would tix sell for this? It's UAB .......... and intrust / Shox office screwed the season tix holders last year by stuffing us in the rafters. Da

I'm starting to get pissed off with the UAB knock. For those of you knocking UAB, they have had a better 10-year history than we have. They've been to more NCAA appearances, have had a better collective RPI in that period, and has the potential to boost our RPI for what would surely otherwise be a 300 RPI team from the MEAC Conference. Oh and by the way, they made the NCAA's last year, something our far Superior Shockers failed to do. I just love the slamming of their school, like we are so "above" them.. Get that crap out of here. It's so weak sauce.

And apparently you missed the part about bringing better BCS-caliber opponents in to IBA, which will be based on the sales of this game.

IBA didn't screw anybody so you can drop that garbage right now. WSU may have dropped the ball on including it in the season ticket package but you were seated based on priority points. And for the upteenth time, the seating was determined by a computer program, based on proximity to a center court view, not on height. IBA is square. Koch Arena is round. I'm not gonna go into that again, but you do the math. And you even sound more incredibly shallow with that last point. WSU decides NOT to include the game in the season ticket package so now you decide NOT to go? You just damned WSU for including it last season. And now you're damning them for not including it this season? It sounds like they were damned no matter what they did, all the while getting a Top 100 team into IBA at home, without a return game with guaranteed money.

Da?

Ya, you really "da"ed everyone with that solid block of wisdom.

[Metalkatz]

Royal, You may be right that Marshall wouldn't care at the end of the year but you don't know how he feels for sure. What we do know for sure is that he stated several times last year that he wanted to improve the profile of WSU by bringing in teams to IBA for games (it sounded like he was committed to it to me). Again on one of the Sports Radio programs, he stated this year that WSU fans needed to answer the call and buy tickets because there were other possible BCS games that promoters were entertaining that we may lose with a bad turn out for this UAB game. From all of his statements the past two years, Marshall has a vision for how to use IBA to upgrade our program and some of our fanbase may be fighting against it.

Yeah I agree about this, but after having 14k last year for Tulsa wouldnt that be enough to get a higher profile bcs team in? I mean for all thigns considered UAB is a lateral move. So we have to sell at or above 14k again to maybe have a chance to pull a bigger name? hmm that stinks! Wish we could have this year, maybe next year when we loose a lot of our seniors higher profile teams will come calling. ha ALSO if we sell this game out, what do you bet for the next "higher profile" game the ticket prices will be raised a little. "If they sell out for UAB wonder what they will pay for UK, KU, UCONN, etc."
Nonetheless go shockers! =)

[shox1989]

Yeah I agree about this, but after having 14k last year for Tulsa wouldnt that be enough to get a higher profile bcs team in? I mean for all thigns considered UAB is a lateral move. So we have to sell at or above 14k again to maybe have a chance to pull a bigger name? hmm that stinks! Wish we could have this year, maybe next year when we loose a lot of our seniors higher profile teams will come calling. ha ALSO if we sell this game out, what do you bet for the next "higher profile" game the ticket prices will be raised a little. "If they sell out for UAB wonder what they will pay for UK, KU, UCONN, etc."
Nonetheless go shockers! =)

If we end up with a poor crowd, we won't have to worry about seeing any BCS teams playing WSU here in the future.

In fact, if we do poorly and KSU draws well, you can bet that there will be annual BCS games in Wichita, they just won't include the Shockers.

And THAT would really stink.

[ShockerFever]

Yeah I agree about this, but after having 14k last year for Tulsa wouldnt that be enough to get a higher profile bcs team in? I mean for all thigns considered UAB is a lateral move. So we have to sell at or above 14k again to maybe have a chance to pull a bigger name? hmm that stinks! Wish we could have this year, maybe next year when we loose a lot of our seniors higher profile teams will come calling. ha ALSO if we sell this game out, what do you bet for the next "higher profile" game the ticket prices will be raised a little. "If they sell out for UAB wonder what they will pay for UK, KU, UCONN, etc."
Nonetheless go shockers! =)

The Tulsa game was not done by an outside promoter last year. It was a game WSU had a contract with, was included in the season ticket package, and isn't even comparable to the game with UAB this year. Last year, the game had a 9,500 head start on attendance thanks to season tickets.

Anything that'll determine future games with potential BCS opponents at IBA will be based off of this year's UAB game. It also may show how well we draw as a city for NCAA Tournament games..

[ShockerFever]

If we end up with a poor crowd, we won't have to worry about seeing any BCS teams playing WSU here in the future.

In fact, if we do poorly and KSU draws well, you can bet that there will be annual BCS games in Wichita, they just won't include the Shockers.

And THAT would really stink.

So does that mean you 180'ed your initial boycott of IBA because KSU was coming to Wichita but not playing WSU?

[shox1989]

So does that mean you 180'ed your initial boycott of IBA because KSU was coming to Wichita but not playing WSU?

No I am still boycotting IBA. I have not been to any events there since the announcement of the West Virginia game. I am obviously making an exception for WSU.

I will go to the WSU-UAB game but I will NOT attend anything else held at IBA.

If Kstate starts a series with WSU then I would drop the boycott, until then I am not attending anything at IBA except WSU games (which if we have a bad turn out on 11/25, I probably won't have to worry about any more).

[pinstripers]

A couple months ago, I told Sub that I thought 7,000 would be the number. Dunno what it will be, but we shall see. The Shox season ticket holders will not flock to this game unless forced to, and no amount of scolding will alter that. That leaves those that cannot afford season tickets in the first place, and these prices are too high for many of those. If I go, it will be in primo seats discounted heavily at the last moment. I don't give 2 hoots about UAB, regardless of their past 10-year history. You only get one chance to make a first impression, and basketball at IBA, was an epic fail for many. If those who were disappointed last time, chose not to attend, that is certainly their perogative. It's not anyone's duty to attend.

[vtshocker]

If we fill the arena for this game, promoters will bring bigger teams to IBA. Now lets support our team and show up

[_kai_]

To touch on Fever's mention that people need to stop knocking UAB, they actually are ranked around the 32nd mark for being best program over the past 72 years by Sagarin ratings. They're are actually more than twice as prestiged as Wichita State because we're ranked in the 80's.

[proshox]

I have watched basketball in many college and pro facilities. To call the Tulsa game an epic fail is beyond reasonable. It was as good as any arena to watch a game outside of a few of the classics. The coaches and players from both teams loved the atmosphere and anybody I know with an open mind loved it. I think hating IBA says more about the person than it does about the facility....

Folks will get to this game once we get closer....

[Kung Wu]

I have watched basketball in many college and pro facilities. To call the Tulsa game an epic fail is beyond reasonable. It was as good as any arena to watch a game outside of a few of the classics. The coaches and players from both teams loved the atmosphere and anybody I know with an open mind loved it. I think hating IBA says more about the person than it does about the facility....

Folks will get to this game once we get closer....

+1

I didn't see a single person leaving that building with a frown. There were a lot of people bitching leading up to the game, but when game day arrived it all stopped. After the game everyone was smiles. Only a couple posters came back to complain about their seats after the fact, IIRC. Mainly those posters were jaded about their seat assignments and not the seats themselves (and I don't blame them, some people got hosed but that's the nature of an imperfect system).

I was initially a hater but I am now a convert. IBA is GREAT for WSU basketball!

[SubGod22]

We're talking about the average fan here when we talk about UAB. The average fan simply doesn't care as UAB brings nothing to the table for them. Tulsa would bring the average fan in because of the history. UAB???? Not so much.

And if seats were based off of priority points, there's no way in HELL I would have sat where I did. About 12 rows from the court behind the Shocker bench. I liked my seat, but I sure as hell can't afford that right now and I've heard enough bad reviews from the top to know I'll never spend money to sit up there for any event.

I'd like to know what number the promoter would consider a success. Hopefully that number is around 10k.

[pinstripers]

Just thinking that had it been a rousing success, ticket sales would be going better. There were people around us that left in mid-game, and they were frowning. I am sure that not everyone had the same quality experience, whether good or bad.

[Kung Wu]

We're talking about the average fan here when we talk about UAB. The average fan simply doesn't care as UAB brings nothing to the table for them. Tulsa would bring the average fan in because of the history. UAB???? Not so much.

Can't argue with that. Though, I do wonder if the average fan cares that much who is in the other jersey when it comes to going to a game. Our average attendance doesn't seem to change that much from game to game regardless of opponent (although the non-D1 opponents see a noticeable big drop off). However you may have a point .. we may hit our saturation point at around 10k?

And if seats were based off of priority points, there's no way in HELL I would have sat where I did. About 12 rows from the court behind the Shocker bench. I liked my seat, but I sure as hell can't afford that right now and I've heard enough bad reviews from the top to know I'll never spend money to sit up there for any event.

Yeah, I can relate to people complaining about getting bad assignments based on priority points (and those keeping mum about getting pleasantly surprised when they got seats they probably shouldn't have). Again that's just the nature of an imperfect system that should improve in the next few years as the staff get feedback on what works and what doesn't.

As to the bad reviews from the top, I'll hold judgement until I experience it for myself. I think most of the bitching was about people getting a worse seat than they should have and were just trying to "stack" their complaint.

If pinstripers is correct and people were leaving early because the seats in his area were that bad (and not just the usual people that leave early for personal reasons, etc), then there is obviously a problem at some level.