good pointPurdue students don’t have any friends sending them anything on social media to require checking their phones for
Pregame: Illinois at Purdue, Saturday, January 24th, 2:00pm CT, FOX
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I personally don't take offense anymore when pundits say Mackey and Breslin and a few other places are better atmospheres than State Farm Center- Orange Krush isn't the same- way too many old people come to games and just sit the whole game- it feels like very little collective basketball IQ/feel from the crowd (inability to understand key moments when they should cheer aggressively). I'm grateful people are still mostly showing up- and I also understand many college facilities can't get anyone to come, but we have certainly lost a major home court advantage over the years.
For sure, it's the average difference of personal fouls, points, non-steal turnovers, and blocks at home vs away over 60 games, plus some kind of weight for elevation. I'm not sure what the coefficient is for each variable, but to use it in an example, West Virginia has the top HCA at 4.6. They have on average 5.6 less fouls at home, 12.7 more points, 1.6 less non-steal turnovers, and 1.6 more blocks. Plus their elevation is 1,000 (meters?) which is 60th in the nation.
it is an interesting one to try to quantify, find the variable explanation & logic here: https://kenpom.com/blog/how-to-measure-site-specific-home-court-advantage-part-two/
That which does not kill us makes us stronger
It definitely lacks a certain leadership quality.
I blame it on the how the tickets were sold this year. Season ticket holders were able to buy 10 tickets at a time instead of the four that we got the previous year. Many of those 10 tickets are being sold online and if they aren’t sold, the seats sit empty. There were 4 seats behind me and 4 seats in front of me last night that were empty. This is happens every game.
I agree that the suites are nice, but people are busy socializing instead of watching the game. The students should be down by the court, all the way around. Just one man’s opinion.
I agree that the suites are nice, but people are busy socializing instead of watching the game. The students should be down by the court, all the way around. Just one man’s opinion.
FWIW the 70s were pretty dead-assed in general in The Assembly Hall. I grew up sad I’d missed out on the glory days in Huff.
So, cyclical?
Maybe Whitman or someone needs to jump charge the Krush back to how they were in the 80s - 00s.
Not sure how that’s done.
A year ago about 2000 of us took over significant parts of Hec Ed in Seattle. At times drowning out UW fans. Who have problems significantly worse than ours even on a good day for them. 10,000 seats and they can’t fill their stadium, and they have both end zones reserved for corporates and big money alums. Biggest waste of courtside real estate in the B1G.
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The home of The Curtain of Distraction has bad home court crowd? How?
Or the Chef hat guy from 2005. I'm pretty sure he was at EVERY game, even the road ones
I didn't make the Zona game, but you could tell on TV that is was very loud. Did you go to the OSU game in 2022? That's the loudest game I've experienced since the 05 Wisconsin game. It was deafening when Brad got ejected and hyped the crowd up. And after CoHawk had that fastbreak dunk? Good times, even though it was a fake rallyThis is a very valid point for that sideline, and I am sympathetic to the idea that you just can't replicate how cool it was to have the Krush literally standing on the court. I suppose we could have done a setup like Duke where the TV camera does not look at the benches, and we could have tried to keep the Krush on the floor opposite the benches like they used to be. However, whatever we lost on the non-TV sideline, I would argue this is a pretty huge improvement on the opposite side. At least IMO, the setup on TV is vastly superior ... it used to drive me nuts to have the national audience see the giant unused space before A Section and then a bunch of unused gray seats.
Also, does anyone know how many Krush students are around the court now? I would honestly be shocked if it was fewer than before the renovation.
I'm sympathetic to the idea of looking back at the Glory Days with rose-tinted glasses, and there were certainly probably random games in that era where the Hall seemed dead. However, there are a lot of games available on YouTube from many years. I would argue there is pretty clear evidence that our home court atmosphere, specifically the Krush, has objectively declined. The only game in this great 2020-2026 stretch where I thought to myself, "Wow, this place is rocking like the mid-2000s!" was the 2021-22 home loss to #11 Arizona. Kind of hilariously, I figured out that was a Krush "alumni" game.
The parts of your post I will agree with is that (A) Illini fans are certainly some of the best around in terms of our loyalty and passion for the program, and (B) SFC indeed can still get really loud and be very intimidating. However, I definitely think our consistency has slipped mightily.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
The uncomfortable answer is, it’s not just a basketball thing. Illinois fans, for whatever reason, just do not know how to let themselves go and throw everything they’ve got into a game. At least at SFC and GMS.
If I could put my finger on it, I would, but it’s like this weird hangover from the snakebitten 2010s when both programs were cratering and they primary way to show you cared was to be angry (understandably!) combined with [???] about the makeup of our typical home crowd?
The people that travel to road/neutral/bowl games don’t seem to have this problem.
This post is going to read as a dig, but it is honest confusion.
If I could put my finger on it, I would, but it’s like this weird hangover from the snakebitten 2010s when both programs were cratering and they primary way to show you cared was to be angry (understandably!) combined with [???] about the makeup of our typical home crowd?
The people that travel to road/neutral/bowl games don’t seem to have this problem.
This post is going to read as a dig, but it is honest confusion.
ptgrd23
- orange county CA
1. Too many people starting at cell phones even when at sporting events.
2. 15 years of lousy basketball and football teams. People had no reason to cheer. Thank you Bruce Weber, John Groce, Tim Beckman, Bill Cubitt and Lovie Smith.
3. Quit losing games at the AH. 2022 home Penn State, Indiana, 2023 Marquette, Maryland, Purdue, 2024 Tennessee, USC, Maryland, Michigan State,
2. 15 years of lousy basketball and football teams. People had no reason to cheer. Thank you Bruce Weber, John Groce, Tim Beckman, Bill Cubitt and Lovie Smith.
3. Quit losing games at the AH. 2022 home Penn State, Indiana, 2023 Marquette, Maryland, Purdue, 2024 Tennessee, USC, Maryland, Michigan State,
sacraig
- The desert
sacraig
- The desert
The fundraising angle is kind of cool just from the altruism aspect, but at some point, it became more about that and less about being a superfan. Even when I joined in 2005, there was no longer an Illini "quiz" component.
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It would never happen given the political climate at UI with the Trustees, faculty, interest groups, etc., but bringing back a certain Native American that symbolized the strength, courage, and fight of our football and basketball teams for decades would do more to inject a truly raucous atmosphere at SFC than any combination of other ideas could ever hope to engender. If you're picking up on what I'm laying down. Old alumni would be on their feet cheering wildly, and young students would embrace the change wholeheartedly for the most part as our heritage is imparted to them.
RabidDawgClassic
- Los Angeles, CA
Oh dear god! The 18-22 year old students in Krush don’t know anything about the Chief. Your request is that of a dinosaur refusing to accept its fate as fossil fuel.
mattcoldagelli
- Script Illinois Enthusiast
Kylan Boswell wore Chief shoes and he's 20 years old. I think the 18-22 year olds that make up the Orange Krush know about the Chief. Many people chant Chief during halftime after the music plays.
blackdog
- Champaign
Don't really want to open the can of worms more but polling consistently shows that students don't support the return of the Chief. Its a moot point anyway because the NCAA was the one that forced the change not the university.
Chad Fleck
- Eureka, IL
The only polls I could find supported the Chief overwhelmingly by the student body. I've yet to meet a fan of Illini athletics that's anti-Chief. Gameday Spirit (which Brian Barnhart proudly reads out as the official fanstore of the Fighting Illini) sells a ton of Chief gear. If the Illini were to reinstate the Chief (which I don't think they're interested in doing), now would be a great time. This is the weakest the NCAA has ever been and I suspect the current administration would be very supportive.
As a member of the fan base who could be considered on the younger side, the chief was a extremely memorable and foundational part of my fan hood growing up. One of the only things that gets me teary eyed besides seeing my wife walk down the aisle is watching the last dance.
Again, as a younger fan, I would absolutely support a return of the chief both emotionally and financially. I’m not Larry Gies but I’d make a pretty good donation in normal guy terms to any Illinois Native American organization to make that happen.
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