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#176      
AirNeazy
Like I said before, it's pretty simple here.

The old farts are gonna stay quiet regardless thoughout the game, it is what it is but it means the students need to bring the energy which they haven't in several years running now.

Only the first row of Krush even jumping around or making noise. Everyone else literally quiet and with their arms crossed. There's pictures out there in social media of literal "Krush Captains" yesterday sitting down and keeping seats empty to 'save for others'. These are the kids designated by/are Krush leadership to keep the section hyped and loud all game long. We didn't make a single tournament during my four years in Krush but we for sure cheered louder than these embarrassing nerds.

To any current Krush folks who see this thread/the backlash online....figure it out...you guys are a embarrassment to our program. Josh Whitman needs to tell Krush leadership to man up and if they see students sitting on their phones, they're kicked out, full stop.
 
#177      
aaeismacgychel
Bigtex said:
No way Nebraska is 34. After our game announcers said Mast was 46-2 at home (i think but now 46-3) unless they really stunk before Mast was at Nebraska
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Rechecked and confirmed it's 34 home losses. Mast has been injured a lot and Nebraska has lost a lot of those games which might explain it. They've lost 8 regular season home games in the past year and a half alone. But yes, before Mast, they sucked.
 
#179      
awkwardpenguin
aaeismacgychel said:
I'm going to start out by saying I really appreciate the earnestness of your response. I feel this is the closest I've come to identify what is actually going on this year. And I feel you are probably the most uniquely qualified on here to give us your opinions on how to turn things around so do not take anything I'm saying as a slight.

What you're saying validates what everyone is saying. If a fanbase can't get into a game where an opponent does anything positive or when your team doesn't play an A+ game, routing an opponent by 50pts, or when a team is Top 10 in the country with national championship aspirations, or when it's a 1 possession game late and you desperately need a stop, then yeah, that's indeed the problem.

I mean logically, a team doesn't need a fanbase's support when they're playing well and blowing an opponent out. A team does need support in close games and key moments. So if fans don't have energy to do the latter, what's the point? And by the way, it's not like our fans were going crazy when we were blowing teams out at home either.

And listen, I'm not saying you're not a "real" fan. In fact I think you're very representative of the fans who are going to the games. But it does verify the narrative that the fans aren't going to the games to support the team or affect the game, it's solely to be entertained and see the team win. Like going to a concert and sitting there stoically and silently, politely clapping after each song and then standing up briefly cheering for an encore only if the musician gave what you deem to be a truly exceptional performance. It doesn't make you any less of a fan, but it does make for a much different experience than most of us have had.

I guess the question for you is do you believe that Illinois could do anything that isn't strictly on court performance that could get people out of their seats and energized over the course of a game? Because that I think is what we're all trying to ascertain, and quite frankly I think you might be one of the few people on here to be able to answer that. Is there anything that can be done?
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I see where you are coming from for sure. (and i would count myself a real fan lol- i was going to games in the Groce era) I think you can see that the fans do support the team in highs and lows, in that even though Wis went on an 8 point run to start OT, the crowd didn't fully disappear.

I also wonder how much more of this is due to human nature. My seats last night? nosebleeds. Some of the people around me were willing to stand up a lot after good plays, yell during free throws, etc. But while I will yell and make a fool of myself to some extent, I'm also trying to not completely offend the people around me (sorry for those who heard me shriek at all the goaltending calls)

I have also been at center court, and I have to admit, the "wiser" generation just doesn't get involved in the game enough. I know they bring the money, but they were barely cheering! I kept trying to bring energy, but its hard to do when others don't commit... Not saying I'm happy with it, or my response, but that's also how humans work.
 
#180      
21ChampaignSt
The guys talked about this on the Illini Inquirer podcast last night and basically reiterated all the things we've discussed.

Tausk said something interesting.. that until this year, he had never really been to other arenas. He always thought we had a solid atmosphere but going this year to Mackey and the Breslin made him realize we're just not in the same tier. It would be helpful for some of the Krush members to have that same eye opening experience. They might think they're doing a great job because they've never actually seen what great looks like.

Werner talked about what makes Mackey and Breslin so good is the amount of students and how at Breslin the students surround the court. Nothing we haven't talked about before. But he phrased it as, those schools are willing to give up the premium ticket revenue in order to have a great atmosphere.

In other words, Purdue and MSU pay to have a strong home court. And that just doesn't seem to be an investment / sacrifice we're willing to make.
 
#181      
2qtslow
21ChampaignSt said:
The guys talked about this on the Illini Inquirer podcast last night and basically reiterated all the things we've discussed.

Tausk said something interesting.. that until this year, he had never really been to other arenas. He always thought we had a solid atmosphere but going this year to Mackey and the Breslin made him realize we're just not in the same tier. It would be helpful for some of the Krush members to have that same eye opening experience. They might think they're doing a great job because they've never actually seen what great looks like.

Werner talked about what makes Mackey and Breslin so good is the amount of students and how at Breslin the students surround the court. Nothing we haven't talked about before. But he phrased it as, those schools are willing to give up the premium ticket revenue in order to have a great atmosphere.

In other words, Purdue and MSU pay to have a strong home court. And that just doesn't seem to be an investment / sacrifice we're willing to make.
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Purdue and MSU put their students first. It seems that Illinois puts fundraising (whether by rich donors, or as a qualification to sit with the Krush) ahead of students. I think schools should be for students.
 
#182      
mattcoldagelli
21ChampaignSt said:
The guys talked about this on the Illini Inquirer podcast last night and basically reiterated all the things we've discussed.

Tausk said something interesting.. that until this year, he had never really been to other arenas. He always thought we had a solid atmosphere but going this year to Mackey and the Breslin made him realize we're just not in the same tier. It would be helpful for some of the Krush members to have that same eye opening experience. They might think they're doing a great job because they've never actually seen what great looks like.
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Honestly, they don't even need to go to those other arenas. Just watch the broadcast of the Arizona-Kansas game from this week.

And we are so, so far away from "amount of space/location of the seats" being the variable that matters here. We could have the court entirely ringed by students - if they stand there confused about how a basketball game works, it won't make any difference.
 
#183      
Chase321
21ChampaignSt said:
The guys talked about this on the Illini Inquirer podcast last night and basically reiterated all the things we've discussed.

Tausk said something interesting.. that until this year, he had never really been to other arenas. He always thought we had a solid atmosphere but going this year to Mackey and the Breslin made him realize we're just not in the same tier. It would be helpful for some of the Krush members to have that same eye opening experience. They might think they're doing a great job because they've never actually seen what great looks like.

Werner talked about what makes Mackey and Breslin so good is the amount of students and how at Breslin the students surround the court. Nothing we haven't talked about before. But he phrased it as, those schools are willing to give up the premium ticket revenue in order to have a great atmosphere.

In other words, Purdue and MSU pay to have a strong home court. And that just doesn't seem to be an investment / sacrifice we're willing to make.
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I think the university needs to factor in the value of a strong home court advantage to the overall long-term success of the program and how that generates money. Looking at this year’s ticket revenue is only a small part of the business case. It’s short term thinking.
 
#184      
Chase321
mattcoldagelli said:
Honestly, they don't even need to go to those other arenas. Just watch the broadcast of the Arizona-Kansas game from this week.

And we are so, so far away from "amount of space/location of the seats" being the variable that matters here. We could have the court entirely ringed by students - if they stand there confused about how a basketball game works, it won't make any difference.
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Don’t discount the value of quantity. The more student the more impact they can have if they get loud. This motivates noise. Quantity can lead to quality in this case. A large student section where you don’t have to be in Krush to take part and more tickets available makes going to the game more of a thing to do on campus instead of just something a tiny slice of the campus cares about.

When I went to games as a student I didn’t want to be sitting with the olds. I wanted a big section students to sit with.

This isn’t rocket science. Figure it out Josh.
 
#185      
Ramrod2010
I wasn't gonna add this because I made a comment in the game thread about it, but this was as the announcer is exclaiming, "Are you not entertained?!"

1000002419.gif


/and the crowd goes mild

That moment would have blown the damn roof off in the not so distant past.
 
#186      
Illiniguy13
mattcoldagelli said:
Honestly, they don't even need to go to those other arenas. Just watch the broadcast of the Arizona-Kansas game from this week.

And we are so, so far away from "amount of space/location of the seats" being the variable that matters here. We could have the court entirely ringed by students - if they stand there confused about how a basketball game works, it won't make any difference.
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Yup. It feels like this era of Krush is largely made up of students simply looking for an extracurricular activity. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I can’t help think that many of them aren’t truly invested in Illini hoops or don’t fully understand the game.
 
#188      
21ChampaignSt
mattcoldagelli said:
Honestly, they don't even need to go to those other arenas. Just watch the broadcast of the Arizona-Kansas game from this week.

And we are so, so far away from "amount of space/location of the seats" being the variable that matters here. We could have the court entirely ringed by students - if they stand there confused about how a basketball game works, it won't make any difference.
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I get the point but disagree that that is a trivial variable. Maybe not the #1 factor but it is a factor.

And for as much as we all harp on the Krush to be better, they are usually the only ones in the building making any noise at all. I mean, if not for them it would sound like a men's league game inside a carpeted church gymnasium.

I think a lot of the non student fans literally look forward to our opponent scoring their first basket just so they can sit down. I'm not even joking.

More students and less of that ^ would absolutely make it noticeably louder.

Source: I'm at most of the games.
 
#189      
awkwardpenguin
Ramrod2010 said:
I wasn't gonna add this because I made a comment in the game thread about it, but this was as the announcer is exclaiming, "Are you not entertained?!"

View attachment 47449

/and the crowd goes mild

That moment would have blown the damn roof off in the not so distant past.
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But I would also point to context.... We just gave up a 10 point lead to a unranked team, with 2 starters out... Would you be going crazy?
 
#191      
TampaToo
21ChampaignSt said:
I get the point but disagree that that is a trivial variable. Maybe not the #1 factor but it is a factor.

And for as much as we all harp on the Krush to be better, they are usually the only ones in the building making any noise at all. I mean, if not for them it would sound like a men's league game inside a carpeted church gymnasium.

I think a lot of the non student fans literally look forward to our opponent scoring their first basket just so they can sit down. I'm not even joking.

More students and less of that ^ would absolutely make it noticeably louder.

Source: I'm at most of the games.
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Well apparently you need to do more to get your fellow Illini fans more active. 😁
 
#192      
blackdog
Chase321 said:
I think the university needs to factor in the value of a strong home court advantage to the overall long-term success of the program and how that generates money. Looking at this year’s ticket revenue is only a small part of the business case. It’s short term thinking.
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I will say to add I was so discouraged about the experience that I had thoughts about giving up my season tickets which is absolutely crazy to even consider. Compare that with how I felt after we lost in overtime to Purdue when Kofi was here. I left that game frustrated we lost but man that was such a FUN experience with everyone going crazy the whole time.

I dont want to go to a game to sit and watch, I can do that from home for free.
 
#193      
Ramrod2010
awkwardpenguin said:
But I would also point to context.... We just gave up a 10 point lead to a unranked team, with 2 starters out... Would you be going crazy?
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Absolutely.

A scenario where the team I root for is Top 10 in the nation, going back and forth with a conference opponent, and our star player just nailed a gorgeous three for a three point lead with less than two minutes left in the game. Am I going crazy?

You better believe I'm yelling and jumping the entire time that Wisconsin is on offense, from the moment that ball goes through the hoop until we get it back.

Maybe sitting in person for a 38-33 rock fight against Penn State (a game where we went 30% from two, 19% from three, and didn't attempt a FT) puts my view of our fans attending games in perspective. Both football and basketball are B Tier or better right now and we are getting D Tier engagement from those sitting in the seats.

Bit of a tangent, but this got me thinking, I truly believe that there is a lost era of Illinois fan. The 2010s (decline of basketball and continued abysmal state of football) may have ruined an entire generation of fans that don't know how to participate in a game in a a "fanatic" way.

As has been mentioned, got to Mackey, Cameron, or Breslin for basketball. I referenced football in an earlier post...go to Autzen or Neyland (especially at night) for football. It'll quickly change how you - royal you, not you specifically - view our fans and how we exist during games.
 
#195      
spillini
Iloveorangekoolaid said:
This is exactly right. I rewatched a replay of our first game vs Nebraska and you see a few Krush members jumping up and down but most of them are standing there with their arms crossed. This is a consistent thing that happens the past few years. Put the phones away, chug a beer during timeouts and get loud.
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Yep. The acoustics might not be optimal (lol @ my "optical" typo here) but you don't need the sound on to tell the difference between Illini home games and other teams. There may be a broader trend of less engagement, but even if that's true, we are definitely an outlier to the negative. It would be really interesting to run some classification algorithms on game videos to pinpoint where it faded the most. Covid seems very logical but I'm very curious if there are other inflection points like price changes. Is it part of the price to pay for NIL $$ (wealthier, less engaged attendees attracted to the higher talent level we can afford)? Is it the type of students we have given how competitive the academics are now?
 
#196      
Big Jack
Ramrod2010 said:
I wasn't gonna add this because I made a comment in the game thread about it, but this was as the announcer is exclaiming, "Are you not entertained?!"

View attachment 47449

/and the crowd goes mild

That moment would have blown the damn roof off in the not so distant past.
Click to expand...
This is exactly what I have been talking about. The Krush is now like a sorority of little rich kids whose parents wrote checks to the Krush so their child could add this status to their LinkedIn account and resume. Bla bla.. They are not fans like those of the past who were rabid about cheering for the Illini
 
#198      
Zweebs
My simpleton take. The atmosphere is literally just a function of how many students you have and how close you can get them to the court. Look at Duke, or look at how easily Nebraska surpassed us.

No amount of student hype is going to dig us out of this hole. It's the design. You need more of them, you need them to stand closer together, and you need to bring them to the court.
 
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