Attendance Tracker

[UNTLifer]

6 hours ago, Matt from A700 said:

 

One thing I will say is I hope the Maniacs have a plan for transition of power. This is what, Year 3 or 4 of their program? I'd imagine the leaders are getting close to graduating. The AD can't allow them to lose momentum.

Are they really Maniacs?  They’ve been no shows the last couple of games outside of a row or two. 

[Andrew]

6 hours ago, Matt from A700 said:

I agree with you and share your optimism.

Until we get to that point, I think we are at least headed in the right direction. The number may have slipped under last year's average but I think we're headed in the right direction when you consider this year we had 5 home games on Thanksgiving/Winter Break. Last year only 3.

One thing I will say is I hope the Maniacs have a plan for transition of power. This is what, Year 3 or 4 of their program? I'd imagine the leaders are getting close to graduating. The AD can't allow them to lose momentum.

Maybe they will go back to the pit crew. 

[MCMLXXX]

1 hour ago, UNTLifer said:

Are they really Maniacs?   

Currently having an identity crisis, Some want to rebrand as the Theyniacs. 

[keith]

7,239 for the Ponies is the largest since the 8,522 for the LaTech game in 2022.  It's a great atmosphere for college basketball when we get a good crowd in the Pit.

[UNTLifer]

On 1/15/2024 at 11:03 PM, UNTLifer said:

Are they really Maniacs?  They’ve been no shows the last couple of games outside of a row or two. 

They were awesome last night. Need that every game. 

[MeanGreen22]

2 hours ago, keith said:

7,239 for the Ponies is the largest since the 8,522 for the LaTech game in 2022.  It's a great atmosphere for college basketball when we get a good crowd in the Pit.

Think it was the highest attended mid week game since OU in 2019, no?

[ColoradoEagle]

On 1/15/2024 at 3:40 PM, Matt from A700 said:

One thing I will say is I hope the Maniacs have a plan for transition of power. This is what, Year 3 or 4 of their program? I'd imagine the leaders are getting close to graduating. The AD can't allow them to lose momentum.

That's what happened when the Pit Crew graduated. Someone tried to resurrect it years later, but then they graduated too, I believe.

Wish they'd change the name back, because Maniacs is really lame.

[Matt from A700]

14 hours ago, keith said:

7,239 for the Ponies is the largest since the 8,522 for the LaTech game in 2022.  It's a great atmosphere for college basketball when we get a good crowd in the Pit.

Damn, last night didn't do as much damage in our season average as I would have liked. Those four games over the Winter Break are gonna hurt. Hopefully by the end of conference play we're at least averaging 4K+. That would be a nice milestone to hit and keep building off of.

[Matt from A700]

11 hours ago, ColoradoEagle said:

That's what happened when the Pit Crew graduated. Someone tried to resurrect it years later, but then they graduated too, I believe.

Wish they'd change the name back, because Maniacs is really lame.

I won't restart that argument lol (although I agree). I wasn't around for the Pit Crew days, but it seems like there's more money put into the Maniacs, so you'd have to think it'd be harder for them to go away.

[CMJ]

12 hours ago, Matt from A700 said:

Damn, last night didn't do as much damage in our season average as I would have liked. Those four games over the Winter Break are gonna hurt. Hopefully by the end of conference play we're at least averaging 4K+. That would be a nice milestone to hit and keep building off of.

Last time we averaged 4K a game was the 2011-2012 season.  That was JJ's last season and Tony Mitchell's first.  Things really seemed like we were on a great trajectory at the time (especially with the two NCAA appearances in the previous handful of years too), but even so it's kind of crazy to me that some of our recent squads haven't had better figures.

[keith]

4 hours ago, CMJ said:

Last time we averaged 4K a game was the 2011-2012 season.  That was JJ's last season and Tony Mitchell's first.  Things really seemed like we were on a great trajectory at the time (especially with the two NCAA appearances in the previous handful of years too), but even so it's kind of crazy to me that some of our recent squads haven't had better figures.

With 6 home games left, we need to average 4,300 each of the remaining games to hit the 4,000 average attendance mark for the regular season.

[97and03]

5 hours ago, CMJ said:

Last time we averaged 4K a game was the 2011-2012 season.  That was JJ's last season and Tony Mitchell's first.  Things really seemed like we were on a great trajectory at the time (especially with the two NCAA appearances in the previous handful of years too), but even so it's kind of crazy to me that some of our recent squads haven't had better figures.

I agree to a point but also we have two things going against us. Benford ruined a “generation” of fans (plus the AD demonstrated they didn’t care either by keeping him on). And although Mac and Hodge win, it’s harder to attract the modern basketball fan when an exciting game nets 68 points when the Mavs score 140. It’s effective basketball but it ain’t sexy. 

[CMJ]

44 minutes ago, 97and03 said:

I agree to a point but also we have two things going against us. Benford ruined a “generation” of fans (plus the AD demonstrated they didn’t care either by keeping him on). And although Mac and Hodge win, it’s harder to attract the modern basketball fan when an exciting game nets 68 points when the Mavs score 140. It’s effective basketball but it ain’t sexy. 

I mean...Trilli ruined a generation of basketball fans and then after a promising start it took another 5-6 years for Coach Jones to really build up the program to be good.  Mac did it almost immediately.

[NorthTexasWeLove]

3 hours ago, 97and03 said:

I agree to a point but also we have two things going against us. Benford ruined a “generation” of fans (plus the AD demonstrated they didn’t care either by keeping him on). And although Mac and Hodge win, it’s harder to attract the modern basketball fan when an exciting game nets 68 points when the Mavs score 140. It’s effective basketball but it ain’t sexy. 

The whole generation of fans thing is old. It stems from football. 

We are good. We are flirting with a decade of competitive basketball. We have 45k students enrolled. Thousands of alum in Denton alone. Get your ass to the gym, period. No reason this run of basketball isn't pulling 5k a night. It's inexcusable. 

[Andrew]

4 hours ago, 97and03 said:

I agree to a point but also we have two things going against us. Benford ruined a “generation” of fans (plus the AD demonstrated they didn’t care either by keeping him on). And although Mac and Hodge win, it’s harder to attract the modern basketball fan when an exciting game nets 68 points when the Mavs score 140. It’s effective basketball but it ain’t sexy. 

UNT plays a lot less games than the Mavs. What are the odds when UNT has a home game the Mavs even play… much less st home. Sure people will enjoy Luka dropping 73 a lot more but 15-16 UNT home basketball games shouldn’t be difficult to attend (especially for students). 

[keith]

First of all, that game was a kick in the nether regions.  We let that one get away and may bite us come conference tourney time.  Second, this was a let down attendance-wise.  I was hoping that this stretch of home games would build off the SMU game and see us with attendance solidly in the 4K range (4500+) , but we back slid into our typical home crowd.  Disappointed.  I think the team could have used some home crowd energy late in the game.

[wardly]

Regarding Benford, if memory serves we were paying off a fired football coach, didn't have the money to fire the basketball coach, so he coached the last year of his contract. Benford was a really nice guy who couldn't coach and didn't know what to do with Tony Mitchell.

[keith]

So it took losing a starter who slipped on a sweaty floor before we upgraded from towels to mops?  It was bound to happen eventually, I guess.  Injuries happen, I get it, but this?  Who knows, maybe mops would not have made a difference in this case, but come on.

Anyhow, a nice bounce back on the attendance front with 4,316.  FTs hurt, but neither team lit it up from the charity stripe.  Our team lives outside the arc and 1-9 (11.11%) in the second half is what did us in.  We still have 4 more home games (1 more regular season home game than the previous seasons) to get our Super Pit mo-jo back and finish strong.

[HoosMeanGreen]

It’s time to give away tickets (free to charity groups or 2 for 1) and earn it back via concessions.  Pack the Pit by hook or by crook! 

[Keith7]

I wish they would update the music in the Super Pit. They've played the same 5-10 songs for the last 15 years. I know it has little to do with the attendance but this felt like a good place for my one complaint.

[UNTLifer]

Anyone notice that one of our rims has a  black zip tie on it?  I assume it is to hold the net on. You can’t tell me we can’t afford to replace the rim. 

[keith]

7 hours ago, UNTLifer said:

Anyone notice that one of our rims has a  black zip tie on it?  I assume it is to hold the net on. You can’t tell me we can’t afford to replace the rim. 

I did notice that and also wondered why we didn't just replace the rim.  Also, I think it was the UAB game, but the color guy (former coach I think who never stopped talking, but I can't recall his name) mentioned that the rim on the student side of the court was a soft/forgiving rim.  He's been around basketball and this was something he noticed and thought it was important enough to mention it during the game.  

Edited February 5 by keith

[Matt from A700]

On 2/4/2024 at 8:36 AM, keith said:

So it took losing a starter who slipped on a sweaty floor before we upgraded from towels to mops?

Well, it normally takes someone important dying before a stoplight's placed at a dangerous intersection.

On 2/4/2024 at 8:36 AM, keith said:

Anyhow, a nice bounce back on the attendance front with 4,316.

I liked the alumni/community turnout, I thought the sideline sections filled in quiet nicely. Like normal for a weekend game, not very many students other than the few rows of maniacs standing. I just don't get why student attendance is so much worse on Saturdays when games normally don't start any later than 5 p.m. Game ends at 7:30 at the latest, at that point the night is still very young for a college student who wants to go out and party afterwards. And I assume most of the students who are at weeknight games aren't commuters and are still on campus or in Denton on Saturdays.

[Matt from A700]

So from my math, we now need to average almost 4,450 for the last four home games to bring our average above 4K:

60,000 - (3,841 * 11) = 17,749

I think it's possible, considering our last Saturday game against a no-name like South Florida drew 4,300. We've got two weekend games left to benefit the alumni and two weekday games to benefit the students.

This Thursday against Memphis, I am hearing the Greeks should be making an appearance finally.

Saturday the 24th sounds like will be a pregame tailgate against UTSA.

Sunday the 3rd of March against ECU is our last weekend home game and I haven't heard anything but we need to go all out on this game too, hopefully with a tailgate like the LA Tech game a few years ago. Needs to be a big push to have 5,000+ at this game.

Wednesday the 6th is our last home game of the season against FAU who may or may not be ranked. Hopefully the students are out in full force again and more alumni can make it out as well.

[CMJ]

South Florida may be a no name, but they are currently alone in first!