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http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Thursdayfeature.shtml
Empty gyms something new for Jacks
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 12/16/2004
Women finding atmosphere at Division I different from that of Frost Arena
Editors' note: This is another in a series chronicling South Dakota State's move to Division I from a variety of viewpoints.
LOS ANGELES - "I think the one thing our players have enjoyed (this year) is seeing other places, the facilities, the campus, the venues, the towns," Coach Aaron Johnston said. "But they have clearly been surprised by some of the atmospheres that we've played in."
Johnston's Jackrabbits return home Saturday for a doubleheader with the SDSU men, facing Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 2 p.m. It likely will be one of the last times the men and women will play back-to-back games in Frost Arena, and the SDSU women could be the ones who will lose some fans in the future with that split. . . .
With the school's move to Division I, doubleheaders like Saturday's - in which the early women's game piggybacks the men's crowd - will come to an end because that just isn't how D-I operates. An unspoken concern remains that when the women fly solo, Frost Arena will lose its hostile qualities with fewer fans.
Athletic Director Fred Oien doesn't feel that's the case at all. He said his department will use traditional marketing methods to advertise the team, but that their three straight Elite Eight appearances in Division II and the 2003 national title show fans that the quality and local flavor surpasses any hype.
"We think our women's basketball team has earned their own crowd," he said. "If you've got the right kind of athletes, the support will be there."
If tradition was a turnstile, then USC's women's games would be up there with UCLA men's and Laker basketball games in the winter in terms of hard-to-find tickets around L.A. Instead, the two-time NCAA title winning team is mired in obscurity in the dense Southern California market. . . .
"It was pretty barren," Johnston said afterward. "It wasn't the best arena we've ever played in. I think our players are constantly reminded that we're pretty lucky at South Dakota State, with the facility and fan support."
Plus, when it's a sunny 85 degrees year-round and the ocean is within walking distance, women's hoops just isn't a top option in a pro sports town and on a football-mad campus. In fact, the biggest cheer of the Saturday's game came when it was announced that USC quarterback Matt Leinart had won Heisman Trophy.
Minus the 3,085 fans that showed up for a game against nationally-ranked Notre Dame at their usual home, the USC Sports Arena, the Women of Troy are averaging just over 500 a game. . . .
USC fans are not alone in their ambivalence to women's basketball. The crowds the Jackrabbits have played in front of this year, their first at the Division I level, have been sparse at best.
An average of 812 fans have watched the Jackrabbit women this year at Division I games. A season-high 1,411 showed up to the game in Northern Illinois, while the low mark was 368 at Texas State. . . .
More than 2,300 blue-and-yellow crazies followed SDSU to their two Elite Eight trips in St. Joseph, Mo., leading the astonished local press to refer to them as the "Jackrabbit Nation," alluding to rabid fans of such teams as the Oakland Raiders or Nebraska Cornhuskers. . . .
That doesn't even take into account the 2003 NCAA Division II North Central Region final game at Frost Arena against the University of South Dakota, a game that drew an astonishing 4,237 bipartisan fans for one women's game.
"We really appreciate our fan support, and I think that's a big part of why we've been successful," Johnston said. "We don't lose many games in Frost, and I think that (fan support) helps."
Kwasiniewski said the number of SDSU fans without ties to the program popping up at those road games has been surprising, with some even planning their Thanksgiving vacations to travel with the women to the Virgin Islands.
"That was impressive. It was half parents and half boosters," he said. "Obviously, it's the Virgin Islands. The attraction is there, as opposed to going to a tournament in Bemidji. But they were playing against Rutgers and Kentucky."
Schlagel, a down-to-earth farm girl from Raymond, relishes her small-town heritage. In the warmth of a Los Angeles winter and lights, she couldn't help missing her team's followers back in South Dakota.
"(USC) might be a big-named college, and they might have the Matt Leinart and the people on the women's team," she said, "but I think that the hometown community and all our fan support is really one of a kind."
Go Jacks! ;D
http://www.argusleader.com/sports/Thursdayfeature.shtml
Empty gyms something new for Jacks
Chris Solari
csolari@argusleader.com
published: 12/16/2004
Women finding atmosphere at Division I different from that of Frost Arena
Editors' note: This is another in a series chronicling South Dakota State's move to Division I from a variety of viewpoints.
LOS ANGELES - "I think the one thing our players have enjoyed (this year) is seeing other places, the facilities, the campus, the venues, the towns," Coach Aaron Johnston said. "But they have clearly been surprised by some of the atmospheres that we've played in."
Johnston's Jackrabbits return home Saturday for a doubleheader with the SDSU men, facing Wisconsin-Eau Claire at 2 p.m. It likely will be one of the last times the men and women will play back-to-back games in Frost Arena, and the SDSU women could be the ones who will lose some fans in the future with that split. . . .
With the school's move to Division I, doubleheaders like Saturday's - in which the early women's game piggybacks the men's crowd - will come to an end because that just isn't how D-I operates. An unspoken concern remains that when the women fly solo, Frost Arena will lose its hostile qualities with fewer fans.
Athletic Director Fred Oien doesn't feel that's the case at all. He said his department will use traditional marketing methods to advertise the team, but that their three straight Elite Eight appearances in Division II and the 2003 national title show fans that the quality and local flavor surpasses any hype.
"We think our women's basketball team has earned their own crowd," he said. "If you've got the right kind of athletes, the support will be there."
If tradition was a turnstile, then USC's women's games would be up there with UCLA men's and Laker basketball games in the winter in terms of hard-to-find tickets around L.A. Instead, the two-time NCAA title winning team is mired in obscurity in the dense Southern California market. . . .
"It was pretty barren," Johnston said afterward. "It wasn't the best arena we've ever played in. I think our players are constantly reminded that we're pretty lucky at South Dakota State, with the facility and fan support."
Plus, when it's a sunny 85 degrees year-round and the ocean is within walking distance, women's hoops just isn't a top option in a pro sports town and on a football-mad campus. In fact, the biggest cheer of the Saturday's game came when it was announced that USC quarterback Matt Leinart had won Heisman Trophy.
Minus the 3,085 fans that showed up for a game against nationally-ranked Notre Dame at their usual home, the USC Sports Arena, the Women of Troy are averaging just over 500 a game. . . .
USC fans are not alone in their ambivalence to women's basketball. The crowds the Jackrabbits have played in front of this year, their first at the Division I level, have been sparse at best.
An average of 812 fans have watched the Jackrabbit women this year at Division I games. A season-high 1,411 showed up to the game in Northern Illinois, while the low mark was 368 at Texas State. . . .
More than 2,300 blue-and-yellow crazies followed SDSU to their two Elite Eight trips in St. Joseph, Mo., leading the astonished local press to refer to them as the "Jackrabbit Nation," alluding to rabid fans of such teams as the Oakland Raiders or Nebraska Cornhuskers. . . .
That doesn't even take into account the 2003 NCAA Division II North Central Region final game at Frost Arena against the University of South Dakota, a game that drew an astonishing 4,237 bipartisan fans for one women's game.
"We really appreciate our fan support, and I think that's a big part of why we've been successful," Johnston said. "We don't lose many games in Frost, and I think that (fan support) helps."
Kwasiniewski said the number of SDSU fans without ties to the program popping up at those road games has been surprising, with some even planning their Thanksgiving vacations to travel with the women to the Virgin Islands.
"That was impressive. It was half parents and half boosters," he said. "Obviously, it's the Virgin Islands. The attraction is there, as opposed to going to a tournament in Bemidji. But they were playing against Rutgers and Kentucky."
Schlagel, a down-to-earth farm girl from Raymond, relishes her small-town heritage. In the warmth of a Los Angeles winter and lights, she couldn't help missing her team's followers back in South Dakota.
"(USC) might be a big-named college, and they might have the Matt Leinart and the people on the women's team," she said, "but I think that the hometown community and all our fan support is really one of a kind."
Go Jacks! ;D