TomahawkCruise

Sadly, you kind of have to do that if you sense a great coach and want to keep him happy. Dr Hill, however, was badly mistaken on what he thought was an elite coach.

I won’t go into the arena thing again

😂

Yeah, the fact he retired after sucking Utah’s paychecks dry (which is something the vast majority of fired coaches do NOT do) is probably telling. I was very surprised when I saw he’d retired. I fully expected him to move onto another college program after having a somewhat successful run at Utah. He was apparently happy to be retired and let…[Read more]

No doubt. I think if we could have made some more free throws that would’ve been good for 2 or 3 more wins.

No, I don’t think Harlan is doing jack shit to help MBB. He’s part of the problem, in my opinion.

We’d definitely be in if we won out.

Our paths to the ncaa tournament:

– Win the XII tourney
– Win out regular season
– Go 4-1 to finish regular season and 1 game in KC
– Go 3-2 (including Arizona) to finish regular season and 1 game in KC

I think any of those gets us in.

I thought Larry should’ve gotten at least one more season when he was fired after 2020-21 and I was one of the minority voices with that opinion among Utah fans. Many fans had lost patience with him and wanted to move on, and didn’t seem to realize we might get a coach who was even worse.

Looking back, I still think Larry should have had one more…[Read more]

You are not alone friend.

I’m there with you.

I’ll take the basketball national title. That’s an easy call.

Out of an elite football or elite basketball program, I’ll again take basketball.

Yeah for some reason attendance at the JMHC is never good when we’re in the NIT. It drops significantly from the regular season average. I’ve never been able to figure that out.

During the 2023-24 regular season, the JMHC had between 7,000 and 9,000 for every game (sometimes a little more). But then when the NIT came around, attendance collapsed…[Read more]

Thank you, and I appreciate your thoughts and points on this subject as well.

Yeah I really don’t have a good idea of what Utah’s donor situation looks like. I imagine there are some deep pocketed supporters like the Huntsmans and Sorensens and Eccleses, but I’m not sure how many are looking to shell out for athletic purposes like NIL. Obviously…[Read more]

I think that’s a solid example.

To dig into the data a little more, here are Utah’s home attendance figures since Smith was hired in 2021:

Season/Total Attendance/Avg Attendance/Conf Rank
21-22: 118,351 / 7,397 (4th in P12)
22-23: 114,047 / 6,709 (6th in P12)
23:24: 140,431 / 8,777 (2nd in P12)
24-25: 117,145 / 7,810 (8th in XII)

Here are the…[Read more]

You could be right about whether 8,000 people will show up if the team continues to be like it’s been, but I myself doubt it. Even with how mediocre we’ve been over the last few years, we still have consistently turned out between 5,000 and 8,000 fans for every home game. I think we could count on that to continue at the very least, if we had a…[Read more]

Exactly, and I think that would work well for us. At 7,500 to 8,500, most games would be at or close to a sellout. And I think the fans have shown they can show up in those numbers consistently no matter how good or bad the team is. Yes, in good years that may seem like it’s not enough capacity, but personally I’d rather have a consistently full…[Read more]

I’m glad there seem to be rumors out there about getting a new arena. The Plaza idea sounds good and Baylor really has built a great looking venue.

The only thing I’d take issue with is the capacity. I think 11,000 is probably more than we need and in down years it’s gonna give us the same bad optics of looking half empty. I would say capacity…[Read more]

Yes you are certainly right that private donors play a big role in building facilities on campus, and I’m certain a new arena would be no exception. I just think it wouldn’t all have to be footed privately.

Yeah I just think BYU is in a different situation than we are. Their teams are only occasionally good, but they always have fan support. I…[Read more]

You bring up a very good point that I hadn’t mentioned specifically. A new arena would most definitely attract fans that otherwise would not attend. Yes, that novelty would only have a finite shelf life before the new attendees stop coming, but that wouldn’t be for a few years and over those few years the program will be (hopefully) building…[Read more]

I agree. It won’t reel in top recruits all by itself, but it would help Utah’s overall appeal. I know when they built all the new basketball facilities a few years ago that really began to make an impression on visiting recruits. I think a new arena would do the same.

Better seating, smaller capacity, improved everything (acoustics, wifi, revenue…[Read more]

Interesting. Where did you hear about all that?

You make some good points, sir.

I am in the minority of Utah fans who love our basketball program more than our football program, and I just want the Runnin Utes to be relevant again. I hate watching the greatness of March Madness every year and not seeing Utah in it. I think a new arena would help inject new life into the program (mostly from a…[Read more]