I appreciate the schedule with good games,
@Fighter of the Nightman ,but all college basketball in November and December (and January, February, and March
) are worth watching.
I was sick last year for a week during Thanksgiving. College basketball kept me from being completely miserable.
Don't disagree with you there - lots of great games outside of the Big Ten, too! By this time of the average year, Illini Football has sufficiently broken me, and I am SO pumped for college hoops, haha.
As another aside since I know the topic of our annual United Center game is often discussed here, this is a list of some of the neutral site games teams are playing in markets that are essential to their fan base and/or important periphery markets that they are trying to get more exposure in:
Purdue hosting #12 Arizona in Indianapolis, IN
Indiana hosting Harvard in Indianapolis, IN
Ohio State hosting West Virginia in Cleveland, OH
Michigan State hosting #20 Baylor in Detroit, MI
Rutgers hosting Mississippi State in Newark, NJ
Iowa hosting Florida A&M in Des Moines, IA
Nebraska hosting Oregon State in Sioux Falls, SD
Auburn hosting Indiana in Atlanta, GA
Penn State playing Georgia Tech in New York, NY
Arizona State also hosts Northwestern in Phoenix, AZ, with the return game coming next year at the United Center.
I would like to take this moment to remind everyone that until the absolute depths of the John Groce years, our crowds at the United Center regularly reached or surpassed the current CAPACITY at State Farm Center, especially when we played a good opponent and/or had a semi-decent team. For simplicity's sake, all crowds over 15k - the amount that would constitute a "very full" State Farm Center - are in orange.
1999-00: 20,143 vs. #17 Duke (ILL #16)
1999-00: 16,714 vs. #8 Kansas (ILL #20)
2000-01: 21,885 vs. #7 Arizona (ILL #5)
2001-02: 18,671 vs. Arkansas (ILL #5)
2002-03: 13,361 vs. Temple (ILL #15)
2002-03: 15,429 vs. Northwestern (ILL #20)
2003-04: 15,398 vs. Arkansas (ILL #11)
2003-04: 15,415 vs. UIC (ILL #20)
2004-05: 21,224 vs. Oregon (ILL #1)
2005-06: 19,833 vs. Xavier (ILL #12)
2006-07: 16,424 vs. UIC (ILL NR)
2007-08: 19,573 vs. #24 Arizona (ILL NR)
2008-09: 12,139 vs. Georgia (ILL NR)
2009-10: 20,917 vs. Gonzaga (ILL NR)
2010-11: 13,117 vs. UIC (ILL #12)
2011-12: 15,144 vs. UNLV (ILL #19)
2012-13: 18,136 vs. Auburn (ILL #12)
2013-14: 13,017 vs. UIC (ILL NR)
2014-15: 13,759 vs. Oregon (ILL NR)
2015-16: 5,151 vs. UIC (ILL NR)
2016-17: N/A vs. BYU (ILL NR)
2017-18: 5,695 vs. New Mexico State (ILL NR)
2018-19: 5,285 vs. #19 Ohio State (ILL NR)
Prior to the STEEP decline during the absolute futility of the Groce years, we were drawing 15k+ every single time we played at the UC if it was not against the UICs and Temples of the world ... and sometimes even drawing 16k+ for those games! Get a decent opponent, and we very clearly outdrew our crowds in Champaign. Have our program really rolling with consistently good teams, and we were pushing 20k!
I get why the DIA got spooked with those last four crowds being awful ... but that was also the lowest our program had been in literally four decades or more. I always thought that was a "Let's shelve this idea UNTIL we can fill the place again" move ... not leaving the UC for good. I'll die on the hill that it is good to play a neutral site game in important markets/recruiting grounds for engaging casual fans and media exposure but ALSO simply because it gives our players multiple built-in NCAA Tournament-like atmospheres every year. I understand the arguments that season ticket holders should get to see games in Champaign, and I respect opposing the UC game on those grounds ... but opposing it from the perspective that we will not get good attendance should be retired. With where our program is right now, we would draw a big crowd again.
#BringBacktheUCGame
