I think we can all agree the overall atmosphere and game experience at the Schott has improved greatly the past few years, really since Thad and Gene Smith took over. That said, they were practically begging people to come to the Iowa game and they had to remind people they still play during the week (granted, the home schedule in conference was a little weird on the back end - no more saturday games, early sunday games, etc). I know those over 40 probably won't get THAT into it unless it's a big game, but is there more that can be done to create even a more home-court advantage?
Here are some ideas (thanks in part to an extremely slow work day). Let me know what you think:
1) During the starting lineups of the opposing teams, yell "SUCKS" after every player. E.g. "Starting at center for Indiana, a 6'11'' sophomore from .... Cody Zeller" (Students/fans) - "SUCKS!") Repeat 4 more times. I know they do this elsewhere and it's kind of cool/funny/however you want to look at it. It's a lot more creative than just "Booooooooo."
2) Or during the announcing of the opposing starting lineup (if the above idea isn't "creative" enough), just do the "I Believe That We Will Win" chant, perhaps best performed by the Utah State student section - I'm at work and can't link, so open another tab and Youtube it, it's like a minute long but pretty cool in my opinion.
Like I said, I'm going stir crazy so maybe I'm over-thinking. Maybe there's nothing to improve at the Schott. I have no affiliation with the student section or Nuthouse, but perhaps some current students could comment. What say you?
The sucks thing is not classy. I'm not a purist or anything, but wouldn't it be better if we just did O-H-I-O around the arena while they announced the other team, as if we weren't paying attention?
I agree though, we need to come up with ways to keep the atmosphere up. We know it can be good, but it needs to be good the whole game, every game.
WB
When did student sections suddenly have to be classy? O-H-I-O is nice, but it's not intimidating. In Duke's student section they hand out sheets with information about each player on the opposing team and what they'e going to chant whenever that player is on the court/has the ball.
It's not so much the cheers and what not.......it is the amount of personal seat license folks and sometimes the upper bowl especially early in the season is packed more than the lower bowl when folks don't show up or show up just to be there and don't really cheer to loud down low. Personally feel that once it is close to halftime they should allow folks from the upper bowl come down and fill in as many seats as possible
These would be cool if we were in highschool. Fact is its not convienent for anyone to go to midweek games against Iowa Tuesday night. I live off campus and it is an enormous hassle getting to the schott. I could walk across campus for 40 minutes in the freezing cold or wait in line for overcrowded busses. The limit the university puts on student tickets is a joke and the main reason the crowd often times feels like your at an NBA game. And honestly the vast majority of people at these games are sober which does not help....