WKU
1/18/2025 | 6 p.m.
WGNS (101.9 FM | 1450 AM | 100.5 FM)
1/18/2025 | 6 p.m.
WGNS (101.9 FM | 1450 AM | 100.5 FM)
BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (12-5, 3-1) vs WKU (11-6, 2-2), (ESPN+). 6PM, Saturday, January 18, 2025
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
Anybody else catch the post-game interview after the JAX St game? Porter finished up with a little salvo about the men's small crowd size, & wanting more of a crowd. Definitely sensed a little anger there.
I think this team definitely deserves better than a crowd average of 2,000-2,500, but that's pretty much former students & locals coming out from Rutherford County.
Hint to the team: maybe you should look at your own student body as well. Coaches & players, take a couple hours & visit fraternity row or the student union building as a group for example, & start building some rapport with your fellow students. The Blue Zoo was a great thing during Kermit's tenure. He worked like hell to get the students involved. Other than the band there's practically zero student involvement. Coaches & players You have a week before the Western game. Get out & start meeting & begging your fellow students now. If you do I guarantee you can get at least 500 if not more screaming students in the Murphy holding up their Blue Zoo sign again.
It's not too late, but you have to start hitting these spots now, & it won't take a lot of effort.
I think this team definitely deserves better than a crowd average of 2,000-2,500, but that's pretty much former students & locals coming out from Rutherford County.
Hint to the team: maybe you should look at your own student body as well. Coaches & players, take a couple hours & visit fraternity row or the student union building as a group for example, & start building some rapport with your fellow students. The Blue Zoo was a great thing during Kermit's tenure. He worked like hell to get the students involved. Other than the band there's practically zero student involvement. Coaches & players You have a week before the Western game. Get out & start meeting & begging your fellow students now. If you do I guarantee you can get at least 500 if not more screaming students in the Murphy holding up their Blue Zoo sign again.
It's not too late, but you have to start hitting these spots now, & it won't take a lot of effort.
MT is in pretty good shape early in the conference race.
2024-25 Conference USA Standings
| Team | CONF | GB | OVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Mexico State | 3-0 | - | 10-6 |
| Middle Tennessee | 3-1 | 0.5 | 12-5 |
| UTEP | 2-1 | 1 | 12-4 |
| Liberty | 2-2 | 1.5 | 14-3 |
| Louisiana Tech | 2-2 | 1.5 | 13-4 |
| Western Kentucky | 2-2 | 1.5 | 11-6 |
| Kennesaw State | 1-2 | 2 | 9-7 |
| Jacksonville State | 1-2 | 2 | 9-7 |
| Sam Houston | 1-3 | 2.5 | 8-9 |
| Florida International | 1-3 | 2.5 | 7-10 |
I might make the drive over next Saturday evening. Haven’t watched a good basketball game in person yet this year.
Last edited:
NET: MT #102 wku #138
KenPom MT #121 wku #128
RPI MT #44 wku#120 SOS (MT 56, wku 121)
Massey Composite MT #96 wku #119
KenPom MT #121 wku #128
RPI MT #44 wku#120 SOS (MT 56, wku 121)
Massey Composite MT #96 wku #119
Last edited:
This program has won 30-something percent of its D1 games in the previous six years coming into this season. He's lucky there are more than 15 people showing up to watch what's been an albatross of a program under this regime.
Athletes always have the right to expect fans to show up to support them.. in this ‘what have you done for me lately’ society the Blue Raiders are 37-9 at home the last 4 seasons against D1s.. so while the program may not be what some expect they’ve deserved better support from the home crowds of late.
12-5 this season they do deserve better for the WKU game. I feel like not many people on campus understand how well they are playing this season and they need to try and get people to come to the game. I personally love the jab at the fans because it is actually warranted this time.
I don't think these athletes have the "right" to expect people to spend their hard earn money to watch them. People like winners and a good value for their money. That has not been MT basketball the last few years, so I can understand why no one is coming to watch the team play. Especially, the way they were beat down by Murray State at home. That being said, they are doing well overall this season and I hope that continues. If so people will notice and hopefully crowds will increase. Unfortunately, you need to string several good seasons in a row together to have continuous good crowds here. McDevitt has not been able to string two good seasons together since he has been here, and that's why attendance has been bad during his tenure.
I've been going. I am on year 3 of season tickets and did miss several games during the holidays, but was there the other night. They play hard and deserve to have a good crowd, but with holidays and recent weather, i can see why numbers have been down lately. Hopefully attendance picks up for the remainder of the season.
Mason took the whole team to Huntsville to support the Ladies. Might be a good opportunity this weekend to show some support for the men….. for us old timers this game is really the only one that really matters!
What a very “TrueBlue” way to think… basketball games are pretty cheap to attend- especially for students..
He's right.
I lived on campus for 3yrs and was a 10min walk away my senior year. I didn't attend a single basketball game. Zero. Went to pretty much every football, but no basketball.
Except for March and a few games/stats here and there, it really isn't a sport I care about. As a student, I was never given a reason to care.
Probably the same for students now and there are even fewer on campus now. And by reason, for me and from discussions with my two daughters in their 20s, it means continuous big time winning. ESPN and the like have killed mid-major sports. Unless a team is ranked or are in a spot like our women are now, most don't even know it exists. There is a reason the women lead the conference in attendance every year. That is what matters to students and the general public who aren't already fans of a certain sport.
And between apartments and online nowadays, fewer students are developing a love and respect for their school. It is just a place to go, then leave. It was my life every day, all day. That just isn't the case anymore. So yes, people need a reason to come.
This year so far is great. But with the past six years, you can't blame anyone who isn't paying attention or believing yet.
This below is what the Murphy Center looked like the final night before McDevitt took over. Constitently having to pull out the bleachers at the top. Building trust and support with the fan base comes in the form of consistent performance - not from two mercenary for hire seasons over seven years. Ling can come on here and talk about home record over the past few years, but the reality is a a lot of that has been propped up by non Division I games and one of the easiest schedules annually in the country. With all due respect, the fan base sees through that. They see a program that's coming off a near 300 NET season and had only ONE out of the prior six seasons where the program has finished better than fourth in the conference. It took time to rebuild our fan base. Only to see it decimated by bad play, bad strategy, and bad philosophy over the past seven years. This last statement is ultimatley why turnout continues to be low. That's the bottom line. And as I said early in the year there after the first couple of games, there is enough talent to win a lot of games this year if they can limit turnovers; however, even if the team wins this year there's a) not a lot of expectation for it to happen (thus little hype for the fanbase to buy into); and b) no future. Look at the roster. The program will be starting over again next year regardless of who the coach is. This is not how you build and sustain a program and it has a chilling effect on the fanbase in a way that is not all that dissimilar to what happened to football. As for Porter, I understand his position and I'm glad he's having a good season scoring. But like a lot of Nick's guards he's had more turnovers than assists every single year he's been here - even this year. He's made up for that here on the backside of his career becoming more of a scorer this year, so good for him. But we have a fanbase that has become skeptical for well-earned reasons.
Last edited:
I've given my money to the program and bought tickets for basketball and football. My issue is with you saying the athletes have a "right" to people's money and support. They don't. The job of the athletes and the coaches is to put a product on the court that makes people want to show up.
Last edited:
I just find it funny that some of you only turn out here to bash the situation because a player wants a little more fan support- that this team has merited.. if you want kids to stay at MTSU then they do expect to play in front of more than a handful of people is my only point.. yes we’re all aware of what MTSU was and isn’t at this time.. but 37-9 (which is the D1 record at home MT01 and doesn’t include the cupcakes) the last few years does deserve more.. that’s all.. you can carry on with your revisionist history all you want but kid has a point whether you like it or not..
I thought MTSU’s last home game was vs Vermont- but hey what do I know.. I’m sure it looked similar but don’t let facts get in the way of your photos..
I thought MTSU’s last home game was vs Vermont- but hey what do I know.. I’m sure it looked similar but don’t let facts get in the way of your photos..
Blue rai said it well- for most of you this is one of the games every year that matter most, no matter what year, which athletes are dressed, or how good or bad the teams are.. it’s not a bad ask by any players to have folks show up in blue at home
Can’t expect anything if the players if you don’t think they can expect anything of you.
Bad weather and students not being on campus has definitely hurt the attendance. That’s not just us, everyone deals with the same issues this time of the year.
I expect a solid crowd this Saturday. That being said, they’ve got an opportunity to have the fans buy in. They’ve only had that opportunity once this year and they got throttled by Murray St. They were 3-0 coming into a game with some hype and got blasted by 21 at home to a rival.
They’ve got another chance against THE RIVAL to make a splash. I would guess around 4k will be there. The fans will be there Saturday but if they want them to continue to show up this season they cannot lay an egg.
I expect a solid crowd this Saturday. That being said, they’ve got an opportunity to have the fans buy in. They’ve only had that opportunity once this year and they got throttled by Murray St. They were 3-0 coming into a game with some hype and got blasted by 21 at home to a rival.
They’ve got another chance against THE RIVAL to make a splash. I would guess around 4k will be there. The fans will be there Saturday but if they want them to continue to show up this season they cannot lay an egg.
I hope our guys blow out WKU. Hopefully, fans who turn out won’t be disappointed. Tickets are plentiful and cheap
Last edited:
Regardless of whether classes are in session, we have to do a better job of getting students into the stands. There is no excuse for having 50-100 max out of 20k+ (MOST of them very local) for a 12-5 team.
The Mayor is on board! Got this in an email today. 😉
I’ll be attending my first game in several years on Saturday!
Expect? No, they should not expect anything. They should have appreciation when there's a decent amount of people to show up for a fledgling program. And they should understand why the fan base don't when they don't. This participation trophy generation is infuriating.
I wasn't going to take your bait, but I guess I can't resist squashing lunacy of acting like what's happened is some grand accomplishment that should drive higher attendance. Yeah the past is the past but we went from beating top 25 teams to difficulty being able to beat anyone in the top third of basketball even at home. You can pimp some stat about home record, but there's more to that story than just those numbers. You know as well as I do that McDevitt has annually put together some of the easier schedules in the country - and it's not like the league has been a juggernaut these past few years either. So, let's dig that up a little more.
1. One home game win in four years against a Top 100 NET program. And it was flippin Lipscomb. And it comes in year 7.
2. Best non-conf wins at home were Winthrop at NET 147 in '22 and Lipscomb this year. That'll surely get the mid-state clamoring to get into Murphy Center.
3. The program had one really strong win at home during this time in conference and that was the upset of FAU in '23.
4. Otherwise, he's 2-3 in conference with teams around or in the top 100, which when combined with really weak non-conference schedules shows just how easy the schedule has been. Further, 16 of those wins came over 200/300+ opponents.
5. All total including home, away, and neutral over the last four years (which of course just happens to include McDevitt's only two good seasons here and why you went with four), MT is 21-32 against 150 NET opponents which tells a more complete version of the story and reality of where the program is rather than cherry picking a number because it looks good. The problem is it looks good because the wins pretty much have come against cupcakes with just a handful of exceptions. The fan base is not fooled by the smoke and mirrors.
Last edited:
That’s a fair take. I don’t buy into the home record either (but it is better than losing those games). My point is that if we’re winning games fans show up even if we were getting beat at home. It’s hard for fans to buy in when the enthusiasm is destroyed each time the team has a chance. The 21-22 season when they were winning had some solid crowds. WKU at home that year had 6,192 in attendance. They have a chance to have good crowds the rest of the season if they take care of business Saturday.
How do you punish your team for failing? Answer, by not supporting them. I find the whole go to games or not go to games decision a direct correlation for whether or not do I want to punish this team for prior teams failures. For that matter do I want to punish CNM this year for all of his prior team failures. I get the ladder better than the former.
We have a lot of new men on this year's roster. Personally I don't think it's fair to punish 9 new players on the 2024-25 team for all the failed MT teams between 2019-2023.
If this squad's record stood at 5-12 I would feel the same. But these guy's are 12-5, & have fought their tails off for victories over schools such as UAB, Lipscomb, USF, & Ohio. Let's not forget they fought the #1 team in the nation to a 1 possession game with four or five minutes left. I still contend if not for Counter going down with 6 minutes left we would have had a chance for a historic victory at the end.
Odds are we could be back to the poor play of 2019 or 2023 next year. But this team's proved to be better than those prior squads up to now. To me punishing this year's team for prior failures comes across as a harsh decision on our part. Let's see how the next few games play out before stoning these guys.
The old adage has always been innocent until proven guilty, not guilt by association. I think we should give these young men a shot until they prove us wrong. Besides, If Saturday's game turns out to be a flop we have once again the remainder of the year to punish them by not showing up. But until then I think this groups worked enough to get a little appreciation. It won't hurt us too much this one time to put 5,000 in the stands on a Saturday afternoon.
We have a lot of new men on this year's roster. Personally I don't think it's fair to punish 9 new players on the 2024-25 team for all the failed MT teams between 2019-2023.
If this squad's record stood at 5-12 I would feel the same. But these guy's are 12-5, & have fought their tails off for victories over schools such as UAB, Lipscomb, USF, & Ohio. Let's not forget they fought the #1 team in the nation to a 1 possession game with four or five minutes left. I still contend if not for Counter going down with 6 minutes left we would have had a chance for a historic victory at the end.
Odds are we could be back to the poor play of 2019 or 2023 next year. But this team's proved to be better than those prior squads up to now. To me punishing this year's team for prior failures comes across as a harsh decision on our part. Let's see how the next few games play out before stoning these guys.
The old adage has always been innocent until proven guilty, not guilt by association. I think we should give these young men a shot until they prove us wrong. Besides, If Saturday's game turns out to be a flop we have once again the remainder of the year to punish them by not showing up. But until then I think this groups worked enough to get a little appreciation. It won't hurt us too much this one time to put 5,000 in the stands on a Saturday afternoon.
The students are a huge driver. Remember, the dorms kick out students during the break. Returning Friday is big. I would have people on campus Friday at the dorms convincing students to come to the game as there won’t be anything else going on. I see no reason you can’t go +1500 with students on Saturday if you do it right. PS- stop by fraternity row as well!
You’re a dinosaur if you think 18-22 yo athletes think like you or I once did.. whether you like it or not kids these days want to feel appreciated for what they do- not for what previous teams did.. you talked about checking out in your fandom many times and it’s clear you’re simply a hater to the bone.. if you think kids are not entitled these days you’re extinct and clueless.. this team doesn’t care about the past- nor should they as it won’t help them win games now
Most anticipated game, for me at least. No score prediction but environment is definitely fun when MT and WKU come to play.
If for anything, come for the environment alone.
If for anything, come for the environment alone.
Similar threads
BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee(10-5, 1-1) vs Kennesaw State(9-5, 1-0), (ESPN+). 6:30PM, Thursday, January 9, 2025
