JRK wrote:
While not the lowest rated MBB program, rating nothing to brag about for sure....
I have no problem with JUCO players if they have the academics....best are pretty well picked over by "FBS" programs but it only takes a couple to make a notable impact..
We had maybe the ultimate alumni/player in Pennell....Coach Boone needs a chance if his health allows....pretty sure he can talk the talk with recruits....after watching about 30 state playoffs games this season, there is lots of low D1 talent in Arkansas.....there is some mid to high D1 but those are heavily recruited by bigger names programs...I'' bet Coach Boone and his staff have their list of Arkansas players they would really like to have be Bears...whether we will ever again be able to keep players given the transfer portal is a huge issue....be prepared for a revolving doors of players....just like Arkansas now does....
Concessions...ugh....Rogers High School is way better. and it is nothing special ...same for football....apparently we are stuck with the UCA dining hall vendor....I must say that the game I was able to get to this past season the hot dog was good and the service excellent...I doubt many people anywhere come to mid major basketball games for the food....
Not sure any of the service academies are going to do home and home of MBB...all long costly trips both ways....as to others where travel makes sense, who might be enticed for what they would see as a D1 road win...Tulsa, La Tech, ULM, UTM, one of our old SLC friends, A-State, Lindenwood, SEMO, Mo State, Rice.....any of these make you get to a game you would otherwise skip? Which 3 would we ask AD to try to set up? Note the best two home games attendance this season was UALR (1900) and ASU (2400)..
We play Hendrix and CBC (when we play them) as courtesy games to be good local citizens....nothing wrong with that but they need to be the first games to help get ready for D1 opener.....have no idea what the story is with playing D2 Champion Christian out of Hot Springs other than they are close...I am OK with exhibition games vs non-D1 but not for games that count...we want to win 20 D1 games....
Rogers High School may have the newest basketball arena in the state....was the site for Class 6A state this season...very nice facility...seats about 2500... reportedly cost $16 million and that excludes land which was already owned and adjacent to the existing school...also uses same parking lots as the school and football....
A major upgrade of FC may be more likely....unlike high schools we do not have property taxes to raise monies.....I'll bet a good sports architecture firm could come up with a practical set of improvements.....
Now for the million dollar issue...how do you get people in central arkansas to attend? First, how to do you get students to attend? There seems to be a small core who are always there but the Greek community is not obvious as a group....
Second, how do you get the UCA alums in the area to attend? Again, there is a core that are almost always there...note that UALR avg about 2500-2600 with a couple >3000...seems like the MBB fans in the central ark area got to UALR games than UCA...we avg about 1800 with a couple in mid 2000s....this seems to say there is a small MBB market among the general public....so maybe a reasonable expectation is to get to 2500+.....some of the attendance issue is the competitiveness of the team....some is a lack of MBB fans in the general area....when I lived in St Lou true BB fans went to SLU games just to see college basketball in person not because of any connection to SLU...weak attendance by UCA alums (in all sports) is a long standing issue at UCA .. we have had a few 10,000+ at football games in years we were making playoffs but get 6500 when it gets overcast and might rain....this is at heart a marketing issue...and not just of athletics....I was on the Foundation board for a couple of terms and there was always frustration when surveys and visits showed alums were very fond of UCA and very proud it is their alma mater...then they make donations to other universities who we compete for the same students...Foundation is MUCH better today after years of hard work...
All good questions.....
Champion Christian isn't even D2. They are like somewhere in the world of a NAIA being in the NCCAA. Honestly, I would drop them just because it doesn't make sense. It would be better to play UAFS or Ark Tech.
I only think UCA can go up. As Conway get's bigger, Ive got to think more locals are going to want to go to the games. UCA has to watch that ticket pricing though.