USD Women in the WNIT

[Nidaros]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Attendance: 1361 lol

Not a money maker for the Tourney. Are the students still on break? Dont tell me its because the yotes were not playing SDSU.

[Southeast]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Wow, an announced attendance of 1300? That's an embarassment. Those girls deserve better.

[goon]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

I guess I was right saying it would be under 2000. When we were in the WNIT it was such a big deal I thought because we couldnt make the tourney anyway but had a chance to keep playing and it was exciting I thought for the school and fan base. I guess if you want you can blame the media for lack of coverage compared to what we got but also probably hype and school support. Granted USD is hosting but its hard to justify for 1000 fans IMO.

[yotefan90]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Wow, an announced attendance of 1300? That's an embarassment. Those girls deserve better.

I know there is always a pessimism by some on USD attendance figures, but for the past 4-5 years, that is misplaced. Sure it may look lighter on a regular season game, but that is often because some season ticket holders are not there, however their tickets are sold and therefore counted. I hardly think that USD is the only school to do that. As for last night, trust me when I say it was an accurate number, and those that were there were into it and helping the ladies. There were no season tickets to be left wondering about as everyone that was there had to buy a ticket. I hoped for more, but understand all the competition for people's time last night.

The attendance for Monday nights game with Colorado will be a telling number. A big conference school coming in on a Monday night with no state boy's BB or men's NCAA games to compete with. I am hoping for a 2500-3200 number, but that is no given. It is not near the sell-outs that State had in their home WNIT games, but it would still be a good showing for supporting this great group of Coyote BB players.

[Grizzled_Jack]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Good turnout at the first SDSU WNIT was a marker of transition for both the men's and women's program. No distractions this time, anything less than 4k for the second round game would be disappointing. You have a very good women's team that's one of two d1 teams still in play in this state. Support them.

[SturgisJeff]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Colorado takes out the yotes.

[MaddogJack]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

The attendance for Monday nights game with Colorado will be a telling number. A big conference school coming in on a Monday night with no state boy's BB or men's NCAA games to compete with. I am hoping for a 2500-3200 number, but that is no given. It is not near the sell-outs that State had in their home WNIT games, but it would still be a good showing for supporting this great group of Coyote BB players.

No to discredit the Yotes or beat my chest about the Jacks - but it is unfair to compare the Jacks/Yotes - because they were definitely different circumstances.

That said, the Lady Yotes deserved a great showing and it sounds like the crowd wasn't horrible. There have been nights that we Jacks fans have had more than our share of excuses. Yotes will miss Hegge, but I think Coach Williams is doing a pretty good job and will have them ready for next year. He didn't leave Wayne State "in peril" when he left to come back to the U, as WSC is headed to the Elite Eight.

[SDSUAlum08]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Attendance: 1569

That's terrible.

[Nidaros]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Attendance: 1569

That's terrible.

Would the WNIT do it again? That is allow USD to be a host?. All hat and no cattle.

It makes you wonder what attendence plays in these games. Also did USD offer a bid to be a host? I thinking they lost a few dollars on this deal.

[bigticket1]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

The problem in Vermillion is that about 10 % of the people are Yote fans and the rest are anti - SDSU fans.

[Southeast]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

The problem in Vermillion is that about 10 % of the people are Yote fans and the rest are anti - SDSU fans.

Unfortunately, you nailed it with this statement. Just take a look at the few topics that have any interest on their message board. It's pretty much "Hate state" or the sound of crickets. The exact same trend was obvious in attendence this year. That's too bad, because they had a good women's team. They were worthy of at least 3,000 fans for a tourney game against a Pac-12 team. What kind of numbers will they draw next year with a team that is almost assured of being significantly worse? The Summit League needs "coyote nation" to get its act together.

[filbert]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Unfortunately, you nailed it with this statement. Just take a look at the few topics that have any interest on their message board. It's pretty much "Hate state" or the sound of crickets. The exact same trend was obvious in attendence this year. That's too bad, because they had a good women's team. They were worthy of at least 3,000 fans for a tourney game against a Pac-12 team. What kind of numbers will they draw next year with a team that is almost assured of being significantly worse? The Summit League needs "coyote nation" to get its act together.

I've had a notion rattling around in my head, where it popped in while me and Snookums were walking around in a desert park outside Albuquerque last weekend.

It's about "the rivalry," and has probably been further fueled by the success the four Ohio teams have had in this year's men's basketball tournament.

The thought is: Is it really so outrageously, ridiculously outlandish to think that one day, both SDSU and USD will make it to the NCAA men's basketball tournament? Is it really any more out-of-reach than SDSU or USD having success in D-I in the first place? I recall the acrimonious discussions (you can scarcely call them "arguments") about how "ridiculous" and/or "arrogant" it was for SDSU to move to D-I in the first place. Well, we're here. The SDSU football and men's basketball, and volleyball teams have made it to the Division I playoffs, and the baseball program is right on the doorstep of doing the same. The SDSU women's basketball and soccer teams have WON NCAA Division I tournament games. The standard at SDSU is no longer simply making the NCAA tournament (in whatever sport). The goal at SDSU is now not only "just" to make the tournament but to then advance.

Who'd have thunk it, back in 2004 when with no small amount of trepidation even among the faithful, SDSU stepped out of the NCC/D-II comfort zone (which was crumbling rapidly around us) and into the great unknown of NCAA Division I?

So now, as a state, here we are. Both SDSU and USD are now (as of next year) tournament-eligible in all sports in which they compete. For a fan of South Dakota (the state) athletics, is it really any more unthinkable now, than it was to imagine the wide success of SDSU's athletic programs in D-I, to anticipate the day when both the Jackrabbits' and the Coyotes' men's basketball teams are in the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament field? Such an event would be, along with the event of one of the two schools advancing to the Regionals, the next "biggest day in South Dakota state athletics."

"The Rivalry" is--or can be, anyway--great fun, and a way to tickle the interest of the causal SD sports fan in the state's two largest universities. But the problem is, it seems to me, that for a lot of people, "The Rivalry" becomes the reason to associate with one or the other school. It may be somewhat more apparent (at least from our yellow-and-blue point of view) to be more of a problem on the USD side, but we all know that there are plenty of SDSU "fans" who only get up for USD games, too. That could just be a function of the relative sizes of the fan bases--I'm not sure there's much argument that SDSU objectively has a larger fan base than USD around the state and region. The number of rivalry-mad fans may actually be equal on both sides, but they just seem more significant ("strident?") in the USD camp. I eagerly await the results of a demographic market study on the question, to see for sure. Maybe someday somebody will actually take such a survey. (Maybe somebody already has, but I'd understand why the results might be considered something of a "trade secret.")

I know, as far as I'm concerned, if we had managed to pull out that win vs. Baylor in Albuquerque, that would have been unmeasurably more satisfying and thrilling than any win that the SDSU men will pull off against the Coyotes. (Well, a Summit League championship game might come close, but even that wouldn't be anything like the same sort of thing as a win in The Tournament. It's just a whole different environment in the Big Dance.)

So I guess this ends with a plea for people--SDSU and USD alike--to raise their sights, and raise their expectations. "The Rivalry" can be fun and all, but it's really a very small thing in the larger universe of Division I college athletics. There is bigger game afoot. Both schools' fan bases should be turning more of their effort and attention to hunting that game, rather than spending their energy and resources on "the game."

That's my $2 (you know, 2 cents, with inflation).

[bigticket1]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

Unfortunately, you nailed it with this statement. Just take a look at the few topics that have any interest on their message board. It's pretty much "Hate state" or the sound of crickets. The exact same trend was obvious in attendence this year. That's too bad, because they had a good women's team. They were worthy of at least 3,000 fans for a tourney game against a Pac-12 team. What kind of numbers will they draw next year with a team that is almost assured of being significantly worse? The Summit League needs "coyote nation" to get its act together.

I don't know how many of you saw it,but on the KSFY 10:00 pm news on Thursday night after the Jacks lost,they ran a stupid piece where they interviewed some people in a bar in Vermillion who said they could never cheer for the Jacks,how they hated blue and gold ( I know it's yellow,but thats what they said ) etc... Rather than being in the Dome that night watching their womens team make history,they were sitting in a bar , crying in their beer and having Jacks envy. I'm not sure what bothered me more , their attitude or the fact that KSFY saw the need to run the story in the first place.

[filbert]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

I don't know how many of you saw it,but on the KSFY 10:00 pm news on Thursday night after the Jacks lost,they ran a stupid piece where they interviewed some people in a bar in Vermillion who said they could never cheer for the Jacks,how they hated blue and gold ( I know it's yellow,but thats what they said ) etc... Rather than being in the Dome that night watching their womens team make history,they were sitting in a bar , crying in their beer and having Jacks envy. I'm not sure what bothered me more , their attitude or the fact that KSFY saw the need to run the story in the first place.

Exactly the attitude my above missive was arguing against. And there are enough yellow-and-blue people who feel the same about vermillion-and-cream to keep the destructive/counter-productive elements of "The Rivalry" going for the indefinite future.

And so I say again: there is bigger game afoot.

[jackmd]

Re: USD Women in the WNIT

There are potential benefits and yet inherent risks to a successful program at a rival school. It certainly forces each to excel in order to compete. Yet, there is only so much talent and so much revenue/resources available at the current level. I certainly don't cheer for USD to fail, there is too much at stake for the student athletes and coaches that dedicate so much of their lives to the program. However, I'm not interested in seeing them surpass SDSU as it pertains to success in athletic competition, I've invested too much to just ignore that possibility or to support it emotionally of financially.

The resumption of the rivalry has been beneficial to this point and that should be recognized. A few bonehead fans in a bar or on a forum doesn't change that fact. However, to ask everyone to smile and cheer for the other program is taking it a step to far in my opinion and won't lead to any change in competitiveness outside the rivalry. Instead, choose to focus attention on improving the programs and your preferred university. Here is where many of us have the biggest problem. The attention on the rivalry can distract for the greater task that is at hand. If that occurs that would be the definition of tragedy. The biggest game of the year cannot be the USD game every year. The biggest game of the year has to be the game played that day/night.