Shooter: Suddenly, there is renewed interest — and curiosity — in the Minn program

per Shooter:

Last season, the University of Minnesota men’s basketball team finished 8-23, 2-16 in the Big Ten. This season, the Gophers (9-1) already have surpassed their 2015-16 victory total.

Suddenly, there is renewed interest — and curiosity — in the Minnesota program. Fourth-year coach Richard Pitino, just 34 years old, has learned not to worry about outside perceptions but to just focus on coaching the best that he can.

“I really, really try not to worry about that, and maybe last year taught me because it was so difficult, that if I worried about it, I would be miserable,” Pitino said. “And I was pretty miserable last year, anyway.

“I think (last year) taught me to just try to lock in day by day. Everybody wants to talk about fans and this and that. And to me, if you take care of (coaching) stuff, everything else will take care of itself.”

Worrying, Pitino said, just wastes a lot of energy.

“When I worked at Florida under (coach) Billy Donovan — it’s a bit of a football school, obviously — there wasn’t a lot of great interest (in basketball), and they just won back-to-back (NCAA) titles. And he never, ever concerned himself with it. I always admired that about him. So I try really hard to do that.”

http://www.twincities.com/2016/12/10/charley-walters-cordarrelle-patterson-wants-to-remain-a-viking/

Go Gophers!!

I might not have any empirical data to support this, but isn't Gopher basketball pretty popular in the Twin Cities? I mean, the Barn is one of the best venues in the Big 10, let alone all of college basketball, thanks to, in part, the large crowds.

Why do we always act like it is a fight for the program to attract enthusiasm and support from the fans? If the team is competent, there will be interest.

Lakers612 said:

I might not have any empirical data to support this, but isn't Gopher basketball pretty popular in the Twin Cities? I mean, the Barn is one of the best venues in the Big 10, let alone all of college basketball, thanks to, in part, the large crowds.

Why do we always act like it is a fight for the program to attract enthusiasm and support from the fans? If the team is competent, there will be interest.

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People have short memories and think last year is the only factor that pertains to the current condition of the program.

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:

People have short memories and think last year is the only factor that pertains to the current condition of the program.

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I guess crowd attendance and buzz on campus is a yearly trope/narrative the beat writers can analyze to fill stories when there is a lull in non-conference play.

But it seems strange to harp on it, considering any intelligent fan would have anticipated the crappy season the Gophers were going to have last year. It was a consensus that the Gophers would have a rebuild year. Sure, no one thought they would win only 8 games, but no one really thought they were even going to be invited to the NIT.

Anyways, if the Gophers finish off non-conference play 12-1, the first Big 10 home game against Michigan St. is going to be rocking, even if the football bowl game is that same night.

I miss The Barn as much as anything about Minnesota. A great place that was filled with great teams and fans. Gopher Hockey was awesome too. Memorial Stadium too.

Lakers612 said:

I might not have any empirical data to support this, but isn't Gopher basketball pretty popular in the Twin Cities? I mean, the Barn is one of the best venues in the Big 10, let alone all of college basketball, thanks to, in part, the large crowds.

Why do we always act like it is a fight for the program to attract enthusiasm and support from the fans? If the team is competent, there will be interest.

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Season ticket base is alarmingly low right now which is different than past lulls in the program. Yes, the area is notoriously fair weather, but even in the past season tickets have stayed relatively stable even if the buyers stayed home a lot. I think it may be below 7,000 now which is scary. Walk up ticket sales could spike with some positive buzz, but that doesn't mean expensive season ticket sales will suddenly soar. It is going take sustained success and above expectation seasons to turn that around. Getting local recruits is the first step to increasing the buzz, but unless they win consistently, the program will continue in a downward spiral. It is not like it used to be in a lot of ways.

Holy Man said:

Season ticket base is alarmingly low right now which is different than past lulls in the program. Yes, the area is notoriously fair weather, but even in the past season tickets have stayed relatively stable even if the buyers stayed home a lot. I think it may be below 7,000 now which is scary. Walk up ticket sales could spike with some positive buzz, but that doesn't mean expensive season ticket sales will suddenly soar. It is going take sustained success and above expectation seasons to turn that around. Getting local recruits is the first step to increasing the buzz, but unless they win consistently, the program will continue in a downward spiral. It is not like it used to be in a lot of ways.

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I know this is thrown around a lot around here but I really don't know how much your average fan knows about what recruit is from where.. or cares.

Tim1406 said:

I know this is thrown around a lot around here but I really don't know how much your average fan knows about what recruit is from where.. or cares.

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I kept my season tickets and winning against some Big opponents will help fill the Barn. It is one of my favorite sports venues and when they r playing well it will draw interest. Go Gophers!

Tim1406 said:

I know this is thrown around a lot around here but I really don't know how much your average fan knows about what recruit is from where.. or cares.

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I am pretty sure most die hard basketball people don't care where the players come from as long as they are good. But it is obvious that the media's evaluation of the program includes emphasis on keeping local recruits home. See the borderline smear pieces on the program during the fall signing when we had an excellent but small class and all they reported was that local kids went elsewhere. Origins of the players make little difference to us who want to breathe basketball, but I think it does for the casuals chatting at morning coffee. Like it or not, it is getting the morning coffee crowd interested and buzzing about the program that will lift it up. Local recruits will do that. Winning will do that. Do both and the sky is the limit.

Sadly, as a 25 plus year ticket holder and a more than casual basketball fan, I make little difference to the program's success or failure. It's the people who will fill the 7000 empty seats that do.

Tim1406 said:

I know this is thrown around a lot around here but I really don't know how much your average fan knows about what recruit is from where.. or cares.

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Our average fan isn't coming to basketball games.

Winasota Gopher said:

Our average fan isn't coming to basketball games.

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Yep. This.

e.bigelow said:

Yep. This.

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Disagree I know more than a few people that go to games with there families and have no clue who the new recruits are or where they come from.

I'll be honest, I really like every Minnesota team but there are so many that it's tough to really invest yourself into all of them. That makes me somewhat of a bandwagon fan. I'll still want every team to do well, but if a team is doing well I'll definitely invest my team in them over an underachieving year (2015 Twins I was really into and 2016 I was done by April).

This team obviously isn't going to win the title or anything, but they appear to have a quality season ahead of them. They have my interest. The Wolves stinking probably helps.