Texas Arlington (12/3/15)

ColoradoEagle · December 4, 2015

Also...let me say this...very poor student turnout by UTA to watch a team that has NCAA Tournament potential and who is coming off wins over Ohio State, Memphis and who took UT to overtime before losing a close one. That surprised me.

Not sure why. Other schools like to give UNT crap and call us a commuter school, when that really hasn't been the case for a long time. UTA, however, is the definition of a commuter school. I've actually seen more decals/plates on cars for UT-Dallas than I have for UT-Arlington. That's after having lived in Richardson, Dallas, Denton, Lewisville, and Fort Worth. I think I've seen someone wearing a UTA shirt in the wild once.

Not to take anything away from the program, because I'm envious of what they have right now. They just don't have a student body that's invested in the school.

Edited December 4, 2015 by ColoradoEagle

CMJ · December 4, 2015

I get it, but I just think winning less than 10 games is kind of hard to do. Hell, it's so tough even Benford hasn't been able to manage it yet...

Benford mostly had JJ's guys his first two years. That may help explain part of why we were able to win at least 12 games every season he's been here.

BillySee58 · December 4, 2015

Not sure why. Other schools like to give UNT crap and call us a commuter school, when that really hasn't been the case for a long time. UTA, however, is the definition of a commuter school. I've actually seen more decals/plates on cars for UT-Dallas than I have for UT-Arlington. That's after having lived in Richardson, Dallas, Denton, Lewisville, and Fort Worth. I think I've seen someone wearing a UTA shirt in the wild once.
Not to take anything away from the program, because I'm envious of what they have right now. They just don't have a student body that's invested in the school.

Yup. The not having a football thing really kills them with that. I'm from Arlington, and so many UTA students take not having a football team as a prompt to become a Longhorn fan, since they're a branch to University of Texas anyways. And for many of them they already were Longhorn fans so it's done easy. And that's only part of their problem.

UNTFan23 · December 4, 2015

As to their crowd...nice, but nothing to write home about. We met a couple of UTA grads at J. Gilligan's on Abram St. Where we met up before the game for burgers and beer. These two said that UTA had made a big deal out of the game and discounted tickets and promised everyone a t-shirt after the game ( got two...there were bank t-shirts or something like that-left them there). They said the parking garages would be packed and 5000 were expected. Well, the parking garages were not full 30 min. before game time when we arrived and no where near 5000 made it into that arena. But, still, it was loud and the UTA fans were definitely into the game.
That UTA team is darn good! We got beat by a superior team last night...man for man they matched up against our guys and pretty much beat them time and time again. They appear to be well coached and UTA seems to have their coach, but how long he will stay if UTA makes a run this year is anybody's guess.
I saw a earlier estimate by UNTFan23 that we had about 100 fans in attendance. I would guess that was about right...included in that crowd were Willie Davis and Bill Miller...two of UNT's greats! All things considered, not a bad turnout on a weeknight by the UNT faithful, but I recall days when we ventured over to watch games played on the stage where many times that number of UNT fans made the trek. Sign of the times I guess. Too bad.
Also...let me say this...very poor student turnout by UTA to watch a team that has NCAA Tournament potential and who is coming off wins over Ohio State, Memphis and who took UT to overtime before losing a close one. That surprised me.

We're not in any position to critique UTA's attendance or student turnout. They have us beat in both aspects right now.

MeanGreenDan · December 5, 2015

Yup. The not having a football thing really kills them with that. I'm from Arlington, and so many UTA students take not having a football team as a prompt to become a Longhorn fan, since they're a branch to University of Texas anyways. And for many of them they already were Longhorn fans so it's done easy. And that's only part of their problem.

I went to UTA for my freshman and sophomore year, and this is all true. I lived on campus for two years and never went to a game, despite being a huge sports fan.

The lack of buzz around campus for games is probably very similar to what we see now at North Texas, which is basically none.

KRAM1 · December 5, 2015

We're not in any position to critique UTA's attendance or student turnout. They have us beat in both aspects right now.

Just because we can't doesn't give a potential NCAA team "cover" for poor attendance. If it were the reverse, UNT students would be packing the Pit. They have in the past, they will again!