justsaying
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Post by justsaying on Sept 2, 2016 9:25:19 GMT -5
Then the season tickets holders can and should vote with their feet and not attend the games if they think watching the Hoyas take on teams that are somehow "below" their fandom. Relationships with coaches, relationships between schools, political reasons, guaranteed payments, and many other reasons influence game scheduling. It is not a simple process. As many other posters have pointed out, it is important to have games that the Hoyas can and will likely win, even if they have an off game. That also gives the coaches to allow different players to get major time, experiment with other lineups, etc. Those games are critical in many respects. The coaching staff can and should assume that FANS should want to come out to as many games as possible. As a kid, I loved going to all Hoya games- Syracuse or St. Leo's. The same is true today. I wish I could be there to see them take on Arkansas State, or anyone else on their schedule. I would have been proud and happy to support the Hoyas versus You Con or Dook in 2004. I have happily attended NIT games. If the Hoyas are playing, and I can make it and afford in financially and otherwise, I am happy to be there. I really do not have any patience for fans who feel put off by the the schedule. If you do not like it, do not buy the tickets. The program will move forward with or without you. Sadly fans have been voting with their feet. georgetownvoice.com/2016/03/03/81393/ Even if you don’t want the casual fans and believe that the program “will march on without them.” Fewer dollars and people will lead to a worse product in terms of funding, recruiting, and arena atmosphere. Get this out of the way first "Winning". Secondly when I as a fan got to search the universe just to find updates or information of what's going on with individual team members, coaches, happenings, ..etc it makes it hard for not only fans but the casual person to get pumped up. In this day and time when everyone is cycling tweets, pictures, blogs, player updates, player comments, .. etc then our no news is just that no news less interest, I know there are some that would say well that's the way it has always been with the program. Well information today is handled differently today than in the past. Let's talk about the past just a minute. When Big J was in place with his style, his open willingness to take on (ball & non-ball)issues, his players in your face play mentality, and all the other things that were in place at that time peaked national interest in a like/dislike fashion and he nor the athletic did not have to do much self promoting. The media practically lived outside his office, hung around the games just because they just had to know more about the things surrounding the programs, Let take one of the media outlets that some of you are familiar "Bleacher Report" and going to the GU link. Very few updates, very few news items, one item of interest maybe there 10 days before anything new comes through. Now take an one of the other high interest teams, their links may contain information, then more then likely they will have a more drop down button for more tweets, updates, or sport liners, .. etc. If you keep it in the dungeon long enough people start to forget. Thus make an effort to be main stream, we have a good product, let the world know.
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Sept 2, 2016 9:32:52 GMT -5
There is NOTHING wrong with this schedule, and any assertion that it is easy is absurd. There are excellent reasons both related and unrelated to basketball to schedule all of these games. Kudos to the staff for a superb schedule. Now go out and win!!! What are these reasons "unrelated to basketball"? Does Georgetown have an annual obligation to play members of the UNC system that are not located in Chapel Hill? It's another tough home schedule to market to season ticket holders. I don't think the staff gives that as much concern as we do, however. This is not a tough home schedule to market to season ticket holders at all! You have to be kidding me. We play Maryland, Uconn, the Defending national champions, and another preseason top 10 team in Xavier at home this year. In addition to the quality BE programs that will visit the phone booth. Those 4 games alone are well worth the season tickets. No team in the history of basketball has interesting games every single game of the year. You're complaining just to complain.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Sept 2, 2016 10:40:34 GMT -5
We're among friends here but the small-c casual fan is not attracted to either a) bring their family to Verizon Center against nondescript competition and/or b) watch these games on Fox Sports. The numbers for Georgetown viewership of these games last year was astounding low. You may not have any patience for fans that do not support the schedule but they are certainly out there. The numbers don't lie--the core ticket base is off by a third and that's probably reflective of a loss in the overall fan base as a whole--the numbers on this site reflect it, too. How does Georgetown bring them back? Winning is a great disinfectant but this is a .500 program right now. Absent that, you book games to draw walk-up interest and the staff chose, for whatever well intentioned reasons, not to do this. Charging $100 for 200 level seats vs. Maryland doesn't solve that problem, either. Then, after Maui, you've got the two local cupcakes. Sure, they stink, but if you play really bad teams, at least they're local ones. So, no problem there for me either. Then you've got a decent mid-major at home as part of the BB&T. I know they're not sexy, just like Monmouth wasn't, but they shouldn't be terrible. Could we substitute ODU for Elon? Sure. But who cares? The last one is UNC-G. That's a game against a cupcake that we don't have to pay a guarantee for since it's a return game. UNC-Greensboro is not a return game and is likely a guarantee game. You may be confusing this with UNC-Charlotte. FWIW, Georgetown can find time for the Fighting Christians of Elon in the BB&T but not George Washington, who is playing in the same building two hours later vs. Florida State. And GW doesn't need a guarantee. I do not believe that scheduling games to entice walk-up ticket sales should be a consideration for the folks making the schedule. We will have to agree to disagree on that. Further, we will have to agree to disagree if you are arguing that there is any other formula other than winning for bringing back interest, which means viewership and attendance by "casual fans." Either the Hoyas will field good teams or they will not. If they fail to do that, they should expect that only hardcore fans like many of us here will continue to follow the team. If they win, hopefully more people will become true Hoya fans. In any event, the schedule should be about promoting that winning- everything else will or will not fall into place based on that.
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Sept 2, 2016 13:11:43 GMT -5
FWIW, Georgetown can find time for the Fighting Christians of Elon in the BB&T but not George Washington, who is playing in the same building two hours later vs. Florida State. And GW doesn't need a guarantee. When did Elon change its nickname? I thought they were the Phoenix.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 2, 2016 13:38:06 GMT -5
When did Elon change its nickname? I thought they were the Phoenix. The move to the ever-generic "Phoenix" was in 2000. "Fighting Christians" wasn't helping admissions, I guess.
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njhoya78
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Post by njhoya78 on Sept 2, 2016 14:06:49 GMT -5
When did Elon change its nickname? I thought they were the Phoenix. The move to the ever-generic "Phoenix" was in 2000. "Fighting Christians" wasn't helping admissions, I guess. Probably held back potential Hillel members, like me.
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Post by hoyalove4ever on Sept 2, 2016 15:07:28 GMT -5
Elon is a good school with a solid basketball program. Totally appropriate to be on the GU schedule. I just wish Hoyas would do a home-and-home so I could catch the game down here!
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FLHoya
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Post by FLHoya on Sept 2, 2016 19:19:58 GMT -5
Can anyone comment on why GU has reverted to any school that will accept a guarantee check for these games? No room for GW, Old Dominion, or other quality regional opponents-- instead, welcome traditional powers like Arkansas State. Compare this to the 2006-07 schedule with only one sunken log on the list. Average attendance at the Verizon non-conference games that season: 7,450 It's another tough home schedule to market to season ticket holders. I don't think the staff gives that as much concern as we do, however. Average attendance at the Verizon non-conference games last season: 7,987 Moral of the story: thanks Syracuse! That's a semi-serious point: I can only speak for one season ticket holder, but the non-conference games that matter if you're marketing to me are the quality opponents and the traditional rivals. Maryland and UCONN are by far the biggest one-two punch of non-conference home opponents in a decade. If you surveyed Hoya season ticket holders on which opponents they'd like to see us play at home, both would EASILY make the Top 10, if not higher. Regional rivals? Ehhhhhhhh. Switching out USC-Upstate for American, or Elon for George Mason--that's not convincing anybody to buy season tickets. GW's the only other local opponent that would generate a little buzz, and let's be honest, it's been 11 seasons since girls in Foggy Bottom were painting their faces in a mirror. I'm all for quality regional opponents, though let's not pretend JTIII can just wave his hand and every CAA and A-10 coach will get hot and bothered and forget home-and-homes and guarantee checks exist. Or, you know, what everyone else said about the Hoyas being better. We do go to Verizon to watch both teams, after all.
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Post by hoyasaxa2003 on Sept 3, 2016 12:12:57 GMT -5
Or, you know, what everyone else said about the Hoyas being better. We do go to Verizon to watch both teams, after all. Winning really is the only thing that will boost ticket interest. Is it really a surprise that season ticket sales went up after 2007, and have fallen since we have done worse since? It's the same as traffic on this site. Yes, people like us (pretty much everybody posting in this thread) are here no matter what, and in the summer, and when the rest of the world isn't thinking about basketball at all. But, the fair weather fans and people who simply don't care as much about us need us to win before they'll spend time coming to our games. I can confidently say that if we made a Final Four in 2017 that our season tickets, attendance, and traffic on this board would increase a fair amount.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Sept 6, 2016 18:35:58 GMT -5
IMO, we have a great OOC schedule overall, with two Top 25 home games. We're going to face other Top 15 competition in Maui and another Top 25 game at Syracuse. Two home games against higher RPI teams are part of two early season tournaments (Ark. St. & Elon), so they were both out of the staff's control (plus, it's the return of a game at McD!). USC-Upstate is a good warm-up game before Maryland and with less risk than Radford. For those season ticket holders complaining about cupcake OOC games, Duke plays Marist, Grand Canyon, W&M, Appa. St, Maine, Tenn. St. and Elon in Durham. We have a better set of OOC home games. I like our chances vs. Maryland early because they will take time to adjust to their roster changes. Oregon will be tough to beat. We can take UConn at Verizon in January, but Syracuse will be tough at the Carrier Dome. This year’s trap game for me is LaSalle. Hopefully, playing in front of Zo focuses the players. My eyes through Blue&Gray glasses are seeing 11-2 for the OOC. (Same as last year so beware! ) IMO, the only problem with the schedule is the Syracuse away game. It’s in the middle of Finals, when it’s public knowledge that Syracuse basketball players don’t have to worry about that. Why was last year’s home game on the 5th and this year it has to be on the 17th? The staff needs to protect the players from having to travel in the middle of Finals. Any future home&away series should not include an away game during Finals.
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Sept 8, 2016 14:31:47 GMT -5
IMO, we have a great OOC schedule overall, with two Top 25 home games. We're going to face other Top 15 competition in Maui and another Top 25 game at Syracuse. Two home games against higher RPI teams are part of two early season tournaments (Ark. St. & Elon), so they were both out of the staff's control (plus, it's the return of a game at McD!). USC-Upstate is a good warm-up game before Maryland and with less risk than Radford. For those season ticket holders complaining about cupcake OOC games, Duke plays Marist, Grand Canyon, W&M, Appa. St, Maine, Tenn. St. and Elon in Durham. We have a better set of OOC home games. I like our chances vs. Maryland early because they will take time to adjust to their roster changes. Oregon will be tough to beat. We can take UConn at Verizon in January, but Syracuse will be tough at the Carrier Dome. This year’s trap game for me is LaSalle. Hopefully, playing in front of Zo focuses the players. My eyes through Blue&Gray glasses are seeing 11-2 for the OOC. (Same as last year so beware! ) IMO, the only problem with the schedule is the Syracuse away game. It’s in the middle of Finals, when it’s public knowledge that Syracuse basketball players don’t have to worry about that. Why was last year’s home game on the 5th and this year it has to be on the 17th? The staff needs to protect the players from having to travel in the middle of Finals. Any future home&away series should not include an away game during Finals. Edit re: Oregon game pending whether Brooks plays or not. If not, we win going away.
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Sept 11, 2016 22:08:25 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 11, 2016 22:57:40 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 12, 2016 2:29:25 GMT -5
Toughest non-league schedule: Georgetown Expected to contend in the Big East last season thanks to the presence of star guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and a talented supporting cast, Georgetown instead crumbled in February and March en route to a disappointing 15-18 record. Now the Hoyas will look to rebound in spite of a non-conference slate that is undeniably the Big East’s toughest. Three marquee rivalry games highlight Georgetown’s schedule: a Nov. 15 rematch of last year’s narrow loss to Maryland, a Dec. 17 visit to hated Syracuse and a Jan. 14 home game against long-time Big East foe UConn. Each of those teams are Top 25 caliber and each are expected to be NCAA tournament participants next spring. Georgetown also will be part of the Maui Invitational, easily this year’s strongest holiday tournament. The Hoyas will open with potential preseason top-five Oregon and will face either Big Ten contender Wisconsin or Tennessee on day two. Looming on the other side of the bracket are North Carolina, UConn and Oklahoma State. Those six games alone will certainly test a Georgetown team that should have more depth than last year’s version but lost Smith-Rivera to graduation. The Hoyas will count on Robert Morris transfer Rodney Pryor to provide instant offense, sophomores Marcus Derrickson and Jessie Govan to solidify the frontcourt and guard L.J. Peak and forward Isaac Copeland to more consistently tap into their potential. ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/non-conference-scheduling-studs-and-duds-the-big-east-170454021.html
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LCPolo18
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Post by LCPolo18 on Sept 12, 2016 15:52:22 GMT -5
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 11:11:46 GMT -5
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Post by trillesthoya on Sept 13, 2016 11:31:14 GMT -5
I see no reason why we can't go 23-8 or better.
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Post by RockawayHoya on Sept 13, 2016 11:56:00 GMT -5
PRO: A lot to like about the weekend home games. Can't ask for much better than Xavier, Butler, UConn, SHU, Marquette, Nova.
CON: Weekday start times at 6:30pm is going to hurt a crowd that already arrives late to begin with. I understand the need for it with the NCAA's insistence on calling a zillion fouls per game to stretch a regulation game well beyond 2 hours, but it's still not ideal.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2016 12:08:09 GMT -5
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prhoya
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Post by prhoya on Sept 13, 2016 13:33:39 GMT -5
I see no reason why we can't go 23-8 or better. That's what I said last year, but I like how you're thinking...
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