westcoastgopher11
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Gopher basketball is on the verge of breaking out and making a powerful push into the new royalty of college basketball. We missed the Wooden bus so we aren't going to be a UCLA, Kansas, UNC, Duke status but I think we can be consistently competitive and challenge for the B1G title if not regularly then every other year.
The key to positive national perception is three fold:
1. Facilities, Facilities, Facilities. I know its a dead horse but we need to have facilities (including practice facility) that suit a top-25 team if we want to stay there. Basketball has small numbers of players per team (duh) so although it may not seem like the investment makes sense on a per-player basis it pays off in the length of use and return.
1a. We need to renovate Williams. Period. I've been to games for as long as I can remember, and while I have an appreciation for the character of the Barn, I have also seen a number of newer and newly renovated facilities and have been blown away. The arena is NOT built for sound, and to its credit it can get rowdy in there, but its not known nor will be for noise. Also obstructed view seats and small concourses are a killer for an otherwise beautiful facility. We should raise the base of the seating bowl to bring everything closer to the ceiling, and redo all seating to eliminate bad seats and improve sight lines.
2. The Coach: There are a lot of Tubby haters out there but I for one have been satisfied with the performance of the team over his tenure. He has had a streak of bad luck, coupled with some questionable decisions but at the end of the day we are winning something like +60% of our games. There are steps towards national prominence and we are on the right track in this category. If we could recruit better shooters I'd be fine with Tubby's system for a while. That's not to say that we can't/shouldn't hire someone better down the road (I'm looking at you Flip) who can perhaps take us to primetime, but as of now for where the program is the coach is the right choice in my opinion.
3. The Culture: Basketball, more than a lot of sports is about making an intimidating atmosphere, as its one of the sports where you can get the closest to the action. As an athletic department they need to make a commitment to strong branding and embrace a new era of Gopher sports. We need to spend with the big boys if we want to beat them, and having/creating loyal fanatical fans during undergrad years can plant the seed for life that gets those donation checks written. I have a decent amount of my friends who attended Gonzaga, and had no real care or interest in basketball beforehand, boy you should see them now. Its all Zags this, Zags that, they travel well because they have made the team their cause. They will turn out if its Eastern Washington or UCLA, its all the same to them, its Gonzaga basketball. Would it be so hard for Gold Country or the Athletic Department to push the gold color as the "default" for fans? Make a used apparel trade in for discounts on the new gear. How hard would it be to find a corporate sponsor to make 14k gold tshirts and have one on every seat in Williams? How scary would it be for Williams, Mariucci, TCF Bank etc, to have unified golden glad fans? We need to commit to one gold and one maroon color, (the new ones it looks like are hopefully gonna stick) and then get everyone on the same page. Don't wear dinky off-color golds and maroons and suddenly this fan base looks downright scary.
The key to positive national perception is three fold:
1. Facilities, Facilities, Facilities. I know its a dead horse but we need to have facilities (including practice facility) that suit a top-25 team if we want to stay there. Basketball has small numbers of players per team (duh) so although it may not seem like the investment makes sense on a per-player basis it pays off in the length of use and return.
1a. We need to renovate Williams. Period. I've been to games for as long as I can remember, and while I have an appreciation for the character of the Barn, I have also seen a number of newer and newly renovated facilities and have been blown away. The arena is NOT built for sound, and to its credit it can get rowdy in there, but its not known nor will be for noise. Also obstructed view seats and small concourses are a killer for an otherwise beautiful facility. We should raise the base of the seating bowl to bring everything closer to the ceiling, and redo all seating to eliminate bad seats and improve sight lines.
2. The Coach: There are a lot of Tubby haters out there but I for one have been satisfied with the performance of the team over his tenure. He has had a streak of bad luck, coupled with some questionable decisions but at the end of the day we are winning something like +60% of our games. There are steps towards national prominence and we are on the right track in this category. If we could recruit better shooters I'd be fine with Tubby's system for a while. That's not to say that we can't/shouldn't hire someone better down the road (I'm looking at you Flip) who can perhaps take us to primetime, but as of now for where the program is the coach is the right choice in my opinion.
3. The Culture: Basketball, more than a lot of sports is about making an intimidating atmosphere, as its one of the sports where you can get the closest to the action. As an athletic department they need to make a commitment to strong branding and embrace a new era of Gopher sports. We need to spend with the big boys if we want to beat them, and having/creating loyal fanatical fans during undergrad years can plant the seed for life that gets those donation checks written. I have a decent amount of my friends who attended Gonzaga, and had no real care or interest in basketball beforehand, boy you should see them now. Its all Zags this, Zags that, they travel well because they have made the team their cause. They will turn out if its Eastern Washington or UCLA, its all the same to them, its Gonzaga basketball. Would it be so hard for Gold Country or the Athletic Department to push the gold color as the "default" for fans? Make a used apparel trade in for discounts on the new gear. How hard would it be to find a corporate sponsor to make 14k gold tshirts and have one on every seat in Williams? How scary would it be for Williams, Mariucci, TCF Bank etc, to have unified golden glad fans? We need to commit to one gold and one maroon color, (the new ones it looks like are hopefully gonna stick) and then get everyone on the same page. Don't wear dinky off-color golds and maroons and suddenly this fan base looks downright scary.