UCF hoops catching on

[Knight_Light]

Crowd was small but pretty loud in person.  How does UCF get almost 9000 against an A-10 school like UMass and we can't get 4200 for a Big East team.

In recent years...the UCF Student Body has really taken to hoops...as its one giant PARTY going on almost all the time.

Here are some crowd shots from the opening game vs UMASS (game on Friday night helped):

Courtesy of UCFSports.com

Courtesy of UCFSports.com

Last night, UCF hosted a school called "Howard"...and a crowd of almost 5,300 were there on a Tuesday night...which is pretty darn good for UCF (almost 1,000 more than last year's average...which included sold-out game vs Memphis).

UCF still does just so-so in regards to season tix sales in the community (up from last year)...but its the STUDENTS that provide the atmosphere and probably 1/2 of the attendance at these games.

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FYI...here are some selected comments from a UMASS Hoop Board on some of their fans reaction to attending the UMASS/UCF game in Orlando:

1) Amazing atmosphere at the game. Amazing. Ill post more notes when I recover.

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2) Back from UCF and obviously a very disappointing outcome. First I will say the UCF campus is great, and that arena is a fantastic place for basketball. My ticket that I purchased at the last minute was actually a great view and I don't think they have a bad seat in the house. Attendance was announced at 8,700 plus and the students were waaaaay into it.

Folks around me were really nice and knowledgeable, they knew some of the UMass history. Crazy how after all these years of mediocre basketball we still create a buzz as "UMass". Even the students seemed to remember we were once a rising power although not sure how since they would have been little kids. But beating UMass seemed to carry some extra weight on the national scale still.

Play relentlessly like UCF!

I mentioned it but that crowd was incredible, they were a 6th man and the students were out in force. It was there biggest crowd ever, so there was some UMass buzz, and then the MJ buzz MJ was right above me the whole night actually , looks he could still suit it up and school most of them.

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3) UCF Arena/Fans: WOW, great arena, luxury suites not a bad seat in the house. Students into the game, huge band I think maybe they had the whole marching band at the game because it was homecoming. Nice halftime with a great show from the cheerleading and dance teams. Getting out of the parking garage took forever!!!!

[Bull Matrix]

I have been saying it that the BIG EAST should bring in UCF for the 9th football member. We need that to help the scheduling.

[Danm1983]

their new arena is a really nice place. i was there about a month ago for a big concert.

as much as this board loves to hate on UCF, they surely know how to party/rally around their school. even when i was a student there and they really sucked at all sports, they still had support from people. their on campus improvements help tons.

[ZeroBullChip]

Reminds me of the Sun Dome in the early nineties.

[USFan]

It's about time we see K_L around here. You could be "inactive" for the longest time, but no fool would ever doubt that you hawk this board 24/7.

The fact that you found that quote buried in the main board with all the football threads is beyond obsessive.

What happened? No one is paying attention on the national boards? BE boards?

Same old K_L…

Why not post pictures of your football stadium against Houston in front of “35,000†people? Why not post comments from Bianchi? You know, the one where he mentions that there are 53,000 students, yet there were maybe 20,000 there?

Shocking how winning changes things, huh? Is UCF football not catching on? Hmm.

You’ve had a winning basketball team for how long now? Win and they’ll come.

But, like I’ve mentioned multiple times in the past, your arena is top notch. That other stadium… not so much.

[LunchTimeBully]

We could use some renovations to the Sun Dome... Oh well it helped us get into the Big East which is much better than having a new arena. Also, our student section seems so small compared to theirs... we should open up the empty seats for students if nobody wants to buy those tickets.The 2nd level just doesn't feel like you are part of the game. 

USF hoops could be catching on with our new frontcourt (Gilchrist and Famous). Can't wait to destroy ucif on december 16th!

[Triple B]

We could use some renovations to the Sun Dome... Oh well it helped us get into the Big East which is much better than having a new arena. Also, our student section seems so small compared to theirs... we should open up the empty seats for students if nobody wants to buy those tickets.The 2nd level just doesn't feel like you are part of the game. 

USF hoops could be catching on with our new frontcourt (Gilchrist and Famous). Can't wait to destroy ucif on december 16th!

While it wouild be nice if the renovations did include closing the lower corners in for more crowd closer to the court, you get the number of students we had in our "glory years" and the place does just fine no matter where they're sitting ...

[LunchTimeBully]

Any idea why we don't get that many students like we used to? We just added 1,050 students to on campus housing.

[ZeroBullChip]

Any idea why we don't get that many students like we used to? We just added 1,050 students to on campus housing.

Football replaced basketball...  Basketball was the big sport to go to back when I was a freshman.

[Triple B]

Any idea why we don't get that many students like we used to? We just added 1,050 students to on campus housing.

Football replaced basketball...  Basketball was the big sport to go to back when I was a freshman.

That and lack of any quality home wins or qulaity post season appearances ...