For Creighton Fans

[Bluejay]

I want to chime in here...

I went to the BE tourney last year. For the championship game, my friends and I were seated in front of a bunch of Providence fans who looked to be a few years out of school. They started the game giving us a lot of shit and talking a lot of trash. We smiled, turned around and started asking them some questions about Cooley and told them how we liked the guy. Next thing we know, the whole tenor of the Providence fans changed and we talked back and forth, in a friendly manner, all game. While I desperately wanted to win that game, when it was over we each wished the other good luck in the NCAA tourney. My only complaint was that my hotel was across the street from MSG and Providence fans stood out in front of the arena screaming and celebrating until about 5:00 a.m.

At the NCAA tourney in San Antonio, I again ran into some Providence fans that were polite and easy going. We talked about Big East basketball and and our respective schools. The Creighton fanbase rooted hard for Providence in their game against No Carolina both because of the Big East tie AND because we have a little negative history with UNC (In an NCAA tourney game two years earlier, they accused Wragge of being a thug (I know, right?) because he fouled one of their guys and the UNC guy suffered an injury. After the injury, UNC fans across the nation bombarded Wragge and other other players with death threats on social media and Creighton message boards. Needless to say, the parents of the Creighton players were among the loudest Friar fans in the arena during the PC-UNC game).

[MackNova]

I always looked at Xavier as the most obvious fit. Good program for a while, and I thought they were good enough athletically where the step up in competition wouldn't affect them as much. The jump from the A-10 to the Big East isn't nearly as big as the MVC or Horizon League (which Butler was essentially jumping from with 1 year in between).

Creighton and Butler were the 'stretches.' You knew Creighton would have a big year 1 but had no idea what to expect after that. You knew Butler had a lot of recent success and a great coach, but you didn't know if they had the athletes to make the step up in competition once Brad Stevens left. Butler suffered initially, Creighton is suffering now.

All things being equal, everyone would take Gonzaga. But their location is what it is, so if they're not an option, Creighton and Butler were fine choices.

Unless there's an influx in talent, Creighton and Butler will probably be 'cycle' schools, especially Creighton because of their location. Have a big year every couple years, but they may take more time to reload than other schools. And that's fine. Creighton may struggle this year and next year, but they may be a Big East title contender in 2 years.

And even in their down years, Creighton still beat Nebraska and Oklahoma, and Butler was 10-2 non-con last year with both losses by 2 points. Plus, both are good fan bases with good arenas. They were the best additions the league could make if Gonzaga is out of the picture.

[Ajay0626]

Any team who thinks they have never had a bad season please step forward. I would be happy to let you know when you have been down. Creighton is down, and a lot of people are witness to it. You know why? I walked into an arena tonight planning to watch my team lose to St Johns, but you know what happened? Somewhere around 8,000-10,000 people came to see the same thing. What happened after that? Creighton won. You wanna tell me you want Gonzaga in the league? Give them a year or two off and see who shows up. CU is having a horrible season this year and people are still coming to the games. Omaha is a bad market? Go %^#} yourselves. Omaha is a great market, we support our team. Even when they aren't that good. Ask St. John's. You wanna play here again? Against that shitty team from Omaha? New Yorkers cry when they think a storm is coming. You know what Omaha does? Gets ready and fights with all they have. We may not have enough this year, but we are going to fight with all we have.

[billyjack]

In 35 years of Big East competition, every school except Syracuse (because their coach has been around for 40 years, though SU fans occasionally wanted Boeheim fired) has had years where they've struggled. Each team has had ups and downs. Long term, the BE has always been a place where programs get strengthened.

So, on the subject of lean years...

Providence and Seton Hall have had more than i can count.
Boston College, West Virginia, Pitt and Miami had sustained periods of struggle.
Even Georgetown had a string of mediocre years.

For each of these teams' strings of poor to mediocre years, the same concerns were raised, like today... the respective college is... too isolated/ too much in the city/ facilities too old/ will never attract good recruits/ will never attract good coaches/ crowds too low/ A-10 team will never compete/ indie team will never compete/ fans too demanding/ fans too passive/ fans burn couches/ student body too small.. etc...

Each time, these concerns were overcome, and the team ended up having sustained success... and then a different team was dragged over the coals...

Here are some examples of sucky years, individual and sustained:

West Virginia was:
4-14 in 1999.
6-10 in 2000.
1-15 in 2002.
5-11 in 2003.

Georgetown was:
6-12 in 1998.
6-12 in 1999.
6-10 in 2000.
6-10 in 2003.
4-12 in 2004.

Miami (Fla) was:
1-17 in 1992.
0-18 in 1994.
4-12 in 2003.
4-12 in 2004.

St John's was:
3-13 in 2005.

Louisville was:
6-10 in 2006.

Cincinnati was:
2-14 in 2007.

Connecticut was:
3-13 in 1986.
3-13 in 1987.
4-12 in 1988.
7-11 in 1997.
6-10 in 2007.
7-11 in 2010.

Pitt was:
5-11 in 1990.
7-11 in 1994.
5-13 in 1995.
5-13 in 1996.
6-12 in 1998.
5-13 in 1999.
5-11 in 2000.
5-13 in 2012.

Notre Dame was:
4-14 in 1996.
6-10 in 2006.

Villanova was:
3-15 in 1993.
6-10 in 2004.
5-13 in 2012.

Boston College was:
4-12 in 1986.
3-13 in 1987.
6-10 in 1988.
3-13 in 1989.
1-15 in 1990.
1-15 in 1991.
2-16 in 1995.
6-12 in 1998.
3-15 in 1999.
3-13 in 2000.

To summarize, there is no doubt in my mind that if any of the 10 of us struggle, then soon enough we'll improve and get stronger.

[cu blujs]

In case anyone wonder's if CU's fans will stop showing up after losing 9 of 10, I just got an email from the CU athletic department stating that there are now 50 reserved seats left and that standing room only tickets will go on sale 10:00 a.m Saturday morning. That means more than 17,500 tickets have been sold for the game.

Also, the approximately 6,500th fan through the gates on Saturday will be the 3,000,000th fan and will get all kinds of cool swag, including korver and mcdermott bobblehead dolls.

There is no way a program with that kind of support stays down for long.

[Omaha1]

Coach Mac advanced to the next round of the ESPN Infiniti Coaches Charrity Challenge. He is participating in support of the Abide Network which was started by a former Creighton player - Josh Dotzler - which helps serve poor in the area.

You can cast your vote here:
http://promo.espn.go.com/espn/contests/ ... ?next=home

bump.

Coach McDermott is currently in 5th place. If you have an ESPN.com login, it literally takes 2 seconds to vote and help Abide reduce poverty. Please and thank you.

[Bill Marsh]

. You wanna tell me you want Gonzaga in the league? Give them a year or two off and see who shows up.

Why would you knock the Gonzaga fan base? They give great support to their team. The place Is sold out every game despite competing in a mid major conference, and there's a long waiting list to get tickets.

Spokane would be a great market. Top 100 metro area (500K) and a million people within driving distance. No pro sports in the area to compete with, and the only other college competition is Washington State, who always sucks eggs. They are to Spokane what PC is to Providence and Creighton is to Omaha, the focal point of local sports interest.

[marquette]

. You wanna tell me you want Gonzaga in the league? Give them a year or two off and see who shows up.

Why would you knock the Gonzaga fan base? They give great support to their team. The place Is sold out every game despite competing in a mid major conference, and there's a long waiting list to get tickets.

Spokane would be a great market. Top 100 metro area (500K) and a million people within driving distance. No pro sports in the area to compete with, and the only other college competition is Washington State, who always sucks eggs. They are to Spokane what PC is to Providence and Creighton is to Omaha, the focal point of local sports interest.

Gonzaga has great fan support, but in fairness we are talking about a 6,000 seat arena that they are constantly selling out and there is a waiting list for. Could they sell out an arena the size of the CLink every night? Maybe, but I have to believe that the 14,000 seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena could return a higher profit margin even with some rent fees.

[Bill Marsh]

. You wanna tell me you want Gonzaga in the league? Give them a year or two off and see who shows up.

Why would you knock the Gonzaga fan base? They give great support to their team. The place Is sold out every game despite competing in a mid major conference, and there's a long waiting list to get tickets.

Spokane would be a great market. Top 100 metro area (500K) and a million people within driving distance. No pro sports in the area to compete with, and the only other college competition is Washington State, who always sucks eggs. They are to Spokane what PC is to Providence and Creighton is to Omaha, the focal point of local sports interest.

Gonzaga has great fan support, but in fairness we are talking about a 6,000 seat arena that they are constantly selling out and there is a waiting list for. Could they sell out an arena the size of the CLink every night? Maybe, but I have to believe that the 14,000 seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena could return a higher profit margin even with some rent fees.

In all fairness we're talking about games against mid major competition they're selling out.

Their arena is about the same size as the on-campus facilities of both Villanova and St. John's, both of which are used fora. Number of regular seasons games each year including Big East games. Bring Big East competition into Spokane each year and I expect that we would see a number of games moved to Veterans Memorial arena each year.

Whether the arena in question is 6000 or 14000, my point was that Gonzaga has a loyal fan base that supports the team. I don't know why anyone would question that.

[marquette]

Gonzaga has great fan support, but in fairness we are talking about a 6,000 seat arena that they are constantly selling out and there is a waiting list for. Could they sell out an arena the size of the CLink every night? Maybe, but I have to believe that the 14,000 seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena could return a higher profit margin even with some rent fees.

In all fairness we're talking about games against mid major competition they're selling out.

Their arena is about the same size as the on-campus facilities of both Villanova and St. John's, both of which are used fora. Number of regular seasons games each year including Big East games. Bring Big East competition into Spokane each year and I expect that we would see a number of games moved to Veterans Memorial arena each year.

Whether the arena in question is 6000 or 14000, my point was that Gonzaga has a loyal fan base that supports the team. I don't know why anyone would question that.

I am not questioning whether Gonzaga has great fans. They clearly do. I am saying that Creighton, at this point, appears to have a special fan base. Will it hold up if the team has 5 consecutive losing seasons? Who knows. I don't expect us to have to find out because kids like playing in front of packed houses on tv against big time opponents. And while Gonzaga does have great fan support, 6,000 fans is hardly an outrageous expectation even in a mid-major league. Some examples: Bradley (MVC) 6,608 in 2013-14. UTEP (C-USA) 8,088. Weber State (Big Sky) 6,814. Fresno State (MWC) 6,776. Wichita State (MVC) 10,732. UNLV (MWC) 13,125.

Again, Gonzaga is great. Creighton, IMHO, is special.