Improving Orange Krush

[NnannasBananas11]

I am going to be a sophomore this fall, and even though I am not a leadership member in Orange Krush, I am always trying to think of ways to make it better (more intimidating, louder, more creative). During my first year in Krush, many fans seemed quiet and uninterested, and that looked bad on the rest of us who were cheering our heads off. Also, not many fans showed up except for games like Gonzaga and Michigan State.

What are your opinions of Krush in recent years? What would you do to improve it? Thanks and Go Illini!

[illiniobserver22]

Originally Posted by NnannasBananas11

I am going to be a sophomore this fall, and even though I am not a leadership member in Orange Krush, I am always trying to think of ways to make it better (more intimidating, louder, more creative). During my first year in Krush, many fans seemed quiet and uninterested, and that looked bad on the rest of us who were cheering our heads off. Also, not many fans showed up except for games like Gonzaga and Michigan State.

What are your opinions of Krush in recent years? What would you do to improve it? Thanks and Go Illini!

As a recent Krush member, here's what I've got.

- Make it easier for people to join. Want to keep getting donations for the best seats? Great. Charity rules. But if Krush draws 1,000 people or whatever when it's a huge pain to join, imagine how much larger it could be with the ability to join for free. Then they could fill their sections, and hopefully some of the rest of the student sections in C.

- Be more interesting. The Krush chants have been used so many times that they are not interesting to watch anymore. I know exactly what they are going to say and do next. Do new cheers, practice new stuff. That was maybe my biggest disappointment with Krush, we learned a handful of stuff at the kickoff meeting and then never anything new or opponent specific through the year.

- Be the best at what you do. This kind of goes with the previous one, but watch the roller coaster on youtube from the '05 era. It was awesome. Not nearly as good anymore. Whatever chants or dances are done need to be done in unison, and well. Get everyone on board and practice a few times until it looks great. Those kinds of movements translate to TV much better and make the Krush not look so sloppy.

- Cheer through the whole game. Shouldn't be nearly as many dead spots as there were this last year. I went to the Wisconsin game and I was literally whispering to my friends because it felt like we were in a library. That's terrible. I feel like Krush will try to be loud and if the rest of the crowd doesn't follow they give up. Don't give up. Be loud regardless of what the old folks around you do. They will get it eventually.

[illiniobserver22]

Also, get together all the Krush in the Chicagoland area sometime over winter break and go to a Simeon game (or whatever other school if Parker and Nunn are both off the board). Show up in all orange and cheer hard for Simeon. Do a few cheers. Be loud and impress them.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

As a recent Krush member, here's what I've got.

- Make it easier for people to join.

- Be more interesting.

- Be the best at what you do.

- Cheer through the whole game.

All great points. I completely agree.

-I would love to figure out a way we could make it easier to join. I know many more people would join if there wasn't such a hefty donation requirement, but at the same time, many people would be furious if we scrapped the donations. Maybe instead of donations, we could just organize fundraisers? Finding a middle ground would be great because it's hard to keep up the great reputation we built if the kids sitting closest to the floor get that opportunity because of their wealth and connections and not their loyalty to and passion for Illini basketball.

-I am doing my best to come up with new and interesting cheers. It is hard, so I would welcome any ideas. The Krush Chairs did come up with plenty of cheers last year, like player-specific ones, that just never made it to gameday for some reason. Krush really needs a solid group to start cheers in order to motivate all the lazy fans that just show up to socialize. I really don't want to be that student section that just knows, "AIR BALL" and "Here we go Illini, here we go." That is way too predictable and not very motivational. The biggest motivator last year may have been when they gave us balloons because it did actually get more kids involved.

-That does come from practice, and we didn't really practice much last year. The Krush Chairs did try, and I give them a lot of credit, but whenever we tried the rollercoaster and other free throw cheers that should be synchronized, we looked pretty terrible. That's something I would love to improve on because I used to look up youtube videos like that just for ideas.

-I know I do. It's just hard to motivate everyone, but I'm trying to find a way. These days, it seems like the majority of kids my age are fair-weather fans. If the other team pulls out to a 9 point lead, some just start to pack up, and it makes me sick.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

Also, get together all the Krush in the Chicagoland area sometime over winter break and go to a Simeon game (or whatever other school if Parker and Nunn are both off the board). Show up in all orange and cheer hard for Simeon. Do a few cheers. Be loud and impress them.

That is a great idea! I've actually never heard of something like that before, but I would love to try and make that happen. We need to take advantage of being their state school in some way, and as fans, that may be the best way. I will most definitely try to do that.

[Illinoy]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

Also, get together all the Krush in the Chicagoland area sometime over winter break and go to a Simeon game (or whatever other school if Parker and Nunn are both off the board). Show up in all orange and cheer hard for Simeon. Do a few cheers. Be loud and impress them.

I think thats a great idea in general and not just for Simeon games. A buzz can be developed about the fan base at Illinois, and it would be very attractive to young athletes today that don't really grow up with an allegiance to any particular school. This is probably one of the best ways to use our students' home location as an advantage to recruiting Chicago.

Also, as someone who was at U of I for some glory years (2002-2006) I can tell you that the Krush did research on the opposition's very personal lives. If you or a family member had an arrest record, you would hear about it at Assembly Hall. If you got dumped by a girlfriend, you would hear about it at assembly hall. If you had a weird phobia, you would hear about it at Assembly Hall.

[WesterveltVictoryCigar]

Ban cellphones and/or texting during games.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by Illinoy

This is probably one of the best ways to use our students' home location as an advantage to recruiting Chicago.

I can tell you that the Krush did research on the opposition's very personal lives.

Both are great ideas. I know that if I was a high school kid, I would love to see a huge group of college kids coming to cheer for me because they want me at their university.

And I can tell you that Krush still does try to dig up dirt on opposing teams, but it seems like it has become very tame. Maybe it is harder to find the stuff you mentioned, but most of the "dirt" we had on opposing players were pictures of them in Halloween costumes or their stats from high school. The most "ruthless" thing I remember Krush doing this year was chanting, " 5 foot 1!" at LewJack:laugh:

[IlliniRunIn07]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

Also, get together all the Krush in the Chicagoland area sometime over winter break and go to a Simeon game (or whatever other school if Parker and Nunn are both off the board). Show up in all orange and cheer hard for Simeon. Do a few cheers. Be loud and impress them.

You know, I've never thought about that. That has the potential to be a great idea, assuming Krush makes a good showing.

[illiniobserver22]

Originally Posted by IlliniRunIn07

You know, I've never thought about that. That has the potential to be a great idea, assuming Krush makes a good showing.

Even 40-50 Krush at a high school game could be pretty loud.

[IlliniRunIn07]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

Even 40-50 Krush at a high school game could be pretty loud.

Do it over Xmas break or something when half the kids in Krush are back in the Chicago area anyway. Or at the Pontiac tournament the week after Christmas. I really really like the idea though.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

Even 40-50 Krush at a high school game could be pretty loud.

Absolutely. I went on the Nebraska road trip this year (tough game), but I think we had around 100 kids. With the adrenaline from revealing ourselves to the Nebraska crowd and asserting ourselves as a true B1G student section, we drowned out the Nebraska crowd easily, even during the team's meltdown in the second half. Imagine that in a high school gym with chants of, "WE WANT KENDRICK."

[illiniobserver22]

Originally Posted by NnannasBananas11

Absolutely. I went on the Nebraska road trip this year (tough game), but I think we had around 100 kids. With the adrenaline from revealing ourselves to the Nebraska crowd and asserting ourselves as a true B1G student section, we drowned out the Nebraska crowd easily, even during the team's meltdown in the second half. Imagine that in a high school gym with chants of, "WE WANT KENDRICK."

I would be careful about the recruit specific chants, that's probably a recruiting violation. And beyond that, you don't want to offend anyone by not chanting their name. I would recommend just cheering for the school as hard as possible, and ramping it up when a recruit scores or makes a good play.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

I would be careful about the recruit specific chants, that's probably a recruiting violation. And beyond that, you don't want to offend anyone by not chanting their name. I would recommend just cheering for the school as hard as possible, and ramping it up when a recruit scores or makes a good play.

My mistake. That is a great idea. Instead of a group trying to sway one recruit, we could just be helping bridge the gap between Chicagoland and Champaign.

[Illinoy]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

I would be careful about the recruit specific chants, that's probably a recruiting violation. And beyond that, you don't want to offend anyone by not chanting their name. I would recommend just cheering for the school as hard as possible, and ramping it up when a recruit scores or makes a good play.

I'm not sure how much control the NCAA has over "independent people" showing up to a high school game and cheering.

[illiniobserver22]

Originally Posted by Illinoy

I'm not sure how much control the NCAA has over "independent people" showing up to a high school game and cheering.

None, but I believe Illinois would have to self-report a minor violation if a group of students went to a recruit's high school and directly solicited them to come to Illinois, especially since it would probably get some publicity. And we don't want to be the cause of any violations.

[doho19]

Originally Posted by illiniobserver22

None, but I believe Illinois would have to self-report a minor violation if a group of students went to a recruit's high school and directly solicited them to come to Illinois, especially since it would probably get some publicity. And we don't want to be the cause of any violations.

That is probably right... I wouldn't specifically zero out a player.

A member of Krush or in this case and organized group of them could be seen as "friends of the program" just like all of us who donate to IFUND who get a brochure each year on what we can and cannot do/have contact with/etc...

[illinifan4249]

As a member of Krush the thing that disappoints me the most is the lack of kids showing up early for the games and being excited about being in the Orange Krush. I feel like there is a sort of entitlement amongst many kids in Krush that they don't have to cheer there brains out every game and that they can just sit on the sidelines and and look at there phones all game. Also most of our cheers are pretty weak... basically there just needs to be more of an effort from the members of Krush and I don't really know how you can get the kids to really try hard to cheer but most of Krush needs to step up there game for this next year.

[doubledillinifan]

Cheer loud and hard at ALL games not just the big ones. You get a reputation of being a menace to opposing teams and making the Assembly Hall a tough place to play by making it miserable for every team that walks onto that court, not just MSU, OSU, etc.

You've essentially been 'grandfathered in' as a menacing force during games from the 2002-2006 seasons. Since then the Krush hasn't been anywhere near as intimidating and the Assembly Hall isn't feared by opposing teams.

[JIllini79]

I'm a current Krush member right now, gonna be a Senior next year, here's my take. The problem right now, is that not all of Krush is on the floor. This will be fixed in the coming renovation at Assembly Hall but I think that is a major problem. Also, the cheers are boring and uncreative. I'd like to see more cheering the entire game but dead spots happen a lot. IMO, the Krush leaders do a rather poor job of keeping the crowd into it. I'd like to see them add a couple more to keep Krush involved. Even they get put in dead spots quite a bit. The poor play of the Illini last year didn't help either.

[NnannasBananas11]

Originally Posted by illinifan4249

As a member of Krush

Originally Posted by JIllini79

I'm a current Krush member right now, gonna be a Senior next year

We should be the ones running for Krush captains in the fall. We could make some big changes.

[illinifan31]

First off, we need more balloons. Classic. Secondly, I too agree that the cheers are boring now, and the assembly hall renovations will help boost orange krush. I tend to cheer loudly and get mad at people who just talk the whole time, my friend yelled at someone a few times. It's pretty disheartening though when you are cheering your butt off and 98% of the stadium is dead quiet and then the other team scores their 20th point in a row. It's not always easy keeping it 100% when your team is struggling, I mean we were all fans too. That's my only defense for krush, but it's still not a valid excuse. A valid excuse would be the DIA's tight grip on Orange Krush and what we can and can't do, but that's just minor. I have more fun with the individual yelling I do that nobody in the stands can hear. Maybe I'll be a Krush captain but I'm extraordinarily busy. I could be just as influential as a senior member.

[NnannasBananas11]

First off, we need more balloons. Classic.

Maybe I'll be a Krush captain but I'm extraordinarily busy. I could be just as influential as a senior member.

Agreed. I think the loudest Krush was at AH this year may have been the Purdue game when we first got balloons. The MSU game was loud of course, but thats because the fair weather fans finally joined in because we were playing a top 10 team.

I am definitely going to run for Krush captain this year. I was disappointed to not get Krush Chair. I want to be as involved with this as possible.

[Warriors1994]

Get the giant pictures to hold up when opposing teams shooting free throws. Or get something like a 3 for everyone to hold up when we hit one... just try to get something like the sign or a cheer that the Orange Crush is known for

[illinifan31]

Originally Posted by Warriors1994

Get the giant pictures to hold up when opposing teams shooting free throws. Or get something like a 3 for everyone to hold up when we hit one... just try to get something like the sign or a cheer that the Orange Crush is known for

We got little Popsicle stick poster things with Bruce's face on them with the other side having a 3. They didn't really catch on, I don't know why. Signs are against the rules at Assembly Hall so I doubt the DIA would allow us to do that.