we still got Red Suit guy in the Other section....Not filling up 1 tiny section behind the basket with students is mind boggling. They need to get away from their video games or whatever and show up. That section hadn’t been the same since our best student fan ever Bill B ( the sleeveless guy ) got banned when they figured out he was there for almost 20 years and was married with kids
Rick Pitino - Head Coach at St John’s University!!!
- Thread starter Section9
- Start date
Yeah Red Suit Guy is their best fan in that section
Billy is over 30 and taught for about 10 years at a local catholic hs.
GET HIM BACK!He’s about 10 years younger than Bill B Sleaveless guy then
I don't think that its unreasonable to expect 400-500 students from a university with over 20,000. That would make a huge difference in homecourt advantage.
His team came in second in the Trivia Contest last Friday.
There you go, gloating again.
He’s about one season away from a Chris Hansen to catch a predator episode then
I jokingly say that I’ve met him he’s a great guyIf you throw out the father son relationship K State would have been a better draw for MSG and the N Mex game could have played at CA.
Lasr season, we fielded a good, competitive team. Pitino worked overtime in promoting the program everywhere he went.
A good, competitive team is encouraging to a base of followers. It's not good enough to expand the fan base significantly. Students have zero point of reference in terms of being excited enough about the team to flock to games.
Think about it. Many teams with successful sports teams attract applicstions each year from kids because of their football or basketball success. I doubt (m)any kids come to st johns because of our men’s basketball team.
We've had glimpses of comprtitive teams playing good basketball over 25 years. Only Lavin's first team, and only for a brief run, woke the city up. The culmination was the Pitt game at the Garden. When DJ went down so did the season. The next season was a disaster and poof went any buzz.
So, if kids aren't coming to st johns for basketball, what makes anyone think they should come to watch merely good competitive basketball?
If we make a strong showing in the Bahamas,,if we knock off a few top tier BE teams and battle for the conference title, students should follow. In terms of alums, kids who graduated they year of our last NCAA run (and last ncaa win) are now 46 years old.
With all that NYC is still a sports city, a basketball city, albeit much more diverse than the city was in the year 2000. As the Mets found, the city didn't turn its full attention to the orange and blue till we slipped into the playoffs and played before packed houses vs. The Brewers, Phillies, and Dodgers.
Should fans and students come now? Yes. Will they? Not so fast. Last season the demand for BET tourney tix was so great that our ticket office was swamped.
Better for us to just pay attention to what's on the court and not what's in the stands. We will know way before the masses if this team is very good and very competitive.
A good, competitive team is encouraging to a base of followers. It's not good enough to expand the fan base significantly. Students have zero point of reference in terms of being excited enough about the team to flock to games.
Think about it. Many teams with successful sports teams attract applicstions each year from kids because of their football or basketball success. I doubt (m)any kids come to st johns because of our men’s basketball team.
We've had glimpses of comprtitive teams playing good basketball over 25 years. Only Lavin's first team, and only for a brief run, woke the city up. The culmination was the Pitt game at the Garden. When DJ went down so did the season. The next season was a disaster and poof went any buzz.
So, if kids aren't coming to st johns for basketball, what makes anyone think they should come to watch merely good competitive basketball?
If we make a strong showing in the Bahamas,,if we knock off a few top tier BE teams and battle for the conference title, students should follow. In terms of alums, kids who graduated they year of our last NCAA run (and last ncaa win) are now 46 years old.
With all that NYC is still a sports city, a basketball city, albeit much more diverse than the city was in the year 2000. As the Mets found, the city didn't turn its full attention to the orange and blue till we slipped into the playoffs and played before packed houses vs. The Brewers, Phillies, and Dodgers.
Should fans and students come now? Yes. Will they? Not so fast. Last season the demand for BET tourney tix was so great that our ticket office was swamped.
Better for us to just pay attention to what's on the court and not what's in the stands. We will know way before the masses if this team is very good and very competitive.
I just think there has to be something the Admin can do to incentivize attendance for students...... free_____? Voucher on the way Out after the game for Pizza/Wings/Burger... cmon... college kids love Free food/anything...
carmineabbatiello
Well-known member
Mullin put people in the stands as a player...and coach.
Student Attendance at games? Getting Alumni and Tobin Magazines regularly , it seems the Student population is much more diverse( good ) than in my day long ago when many SJU students were local and grads of the local Catholic High Schools
Students then, wete already coming from schools where BB was a big deal .So coming to SJ just took that to a different level
Competitively our teams were usually NCAA or NIT bound nearly every year until the Jarvis era
When the bottom dropped out , save for a couple of decent teams, Lavin, Mullin .
So many of our students today aren’t into College Sports as other generations were.
The primary impetus though remains Winning BB and until we establish that as a regular formula , Student interest may remain lukewarm .
Then too, I’m assuming still that most Undergrads are Commuting Students as we all were back in the day . And , unless they live relatively close to Campus , how many are going to stick around for BB , if they live in long commute areas ?
Just a theory .
Students then, wete already coming from schools where BB was a big deal .So coming to SJ just took that to a different level
Competitively our teams were usually NCAA or NIT bound nearly every year until the Jarvis era
When the bottom dropped out , save for a couple of decent teams, Lavin, Mullin .
So many of our students today aren’t into College Sports as other generations were.
The primary impetus though remains Winning BB and until we establish that as a regular formula , Student interest may remain lukewarm .
Then too, I’m assuming still that most Undergrads are Commuting Students as we all were back in the day . And , unless they live relatively close to Campus , how many are going to stick around for BB , if they live in long commute areas ?
Just a theory .
Hit on all good points here. Listening to CRP on Boomer & Gio, he knows it. He said we have blue collar kids who often work a part time job and go to school. It is not what he is used to at KY and Louisville. It is a world of difference. Get used to it Rick, it ain't gonna change.
KY and Louisville, let's face it, they are the only show in town, not here.
People say NYC is a sports town, but spending time in Eagles, Phills country we are not as obsessed with NY sports as that place is. GEAR everywhere on everyone, all year round, men, women and children. Rabid fans. Not so much in NYC.
We are much more diverse and have so much more going on, lots more immigrants (esp Queens County), and outsiders who move here for jobs and money from who knows where.
We'll be fine, when we win consistently and the non-alum BB junkie and college BB fan jumps on our bandwagon like they did for Joe L and Lou C and over the years from time to time.
St. John's has about 25% of students living in the dorms, plus I'm assuming its still the case that a decent amount of upperclassmen live in nearby apartments. I understand commuters not wanting to stick around for a game against Wagner.
But on a Wednesday night and your school's ranked, it is inexcusable that the school has not figured out how to make a basketball game more fun/enticing to go to versus whatever options students living in the dorms have that evening.
But on a Wednesday night and your school's ranked, it is inexcusable that the school has not figured out how to make a basketball game more fun/enticing to go to versus whatever options students living in the dorms have that evening.
Alumni Hall
Well-known member
A couple of three things:
1. Dorms are hooked up with cable so many students can relax, have dinner and watch the games in their rooms or lounge areas with friends. And down a drink or two in the dorms instead of waiting to walk through a security checkpoint outside!
2. I agree with SlyFoxx1968 that campus student demographics have changed. Attendance it seems is way down across the board at our on campus athletic events including soccer which used to be almost a sellout. students used to pack the Belson end zones and I don't see that anymore.
3. I wonder how much does our present mens team interact with the regular student population? Former players like Phil Greene, Jamal Branch, Dom Pointer and D'Angelo Harrison always hung out in Marrilac with students and always attended the other SJU team events as did Lavin and his staff. That group of players also socialized post game with students in whatever local bars were around back then. Also does all this NIL money turn off the mostly middle/lower class working student, especially when the amounts of NIL $ being tossed around on social media. I know it certainly does not hurt student attendance at the Power 4 football schools as they are packed every game. And from what I've seen on TV, student attendance at Marquette, X, Creighton and Butler is still very good.
4. We attended the UT Chattanooga basketball double header last night and they had way more student in attendance than what SJU had the other night. No free food, no give a ways, just students both commuter and dorm kids enjoying an evening out.
1. Dorms are hooked up with cable so many students can relax, have dinner and watch the games in their rooms or lounge areas with friends. And down a drink or two in the dorms instead of waiting to walk through a security checkpoint outside!
2. I agree with SlyFoxx1968 that campus student demographics have changed. Attendance it seems is way down across the board at our on campus athletic events including soccer which used to be almost a sellout. students used to pack the Belson end zones and I don't see that anymore.
3. I wonder how much does our present mens team interact with the regular student population? Former players like Phil Greene, Jamal Branch, Dom Pointer and D'Angelo Harrison always hung out in Marrilac with students and always attended the other SJU team events as did Lavin and his staff. That group of players also socialized post game with students in whatever local bars were around back then. Also does all this NIL money turn off the mostly middle/lower class working student, especially when the amounts of NIL $ being tossed around on social media. I know it certainly does not hurt student attendance at the Power 4 football schools as they are packed every game. And from what I've seen on TV, student attendance at Marquette, X, Creighton and Butler is still very good.
4. We attended the UT Chattanooga basketball double header last night and they had way more student in attendance than what SJU had the other night. No free food, no give a ways, just students both commuter and dorm kids enjoying an evening out.
Last edited:
"St. John's University (NY) has a total undergraduate enrollment of 15,699 (fall 2023)... At this school, 25% of the students live in college-owned, -operated or -affiliated housing"
So... we would need 12% of the On Campus pop to attend to get 500 students there.... there has to be something that can be rolled out... trust Mr. Kull has to be cookin something up.... at least for the KState game....