Chad Leistikow throws appropriate shade at Carver crowds

[FWIW4922463]

"Even with just 3,250 in the stands, this was the loudest home feel Iowa players have experienced all year." That's what Chad wrote in his Press-Citizen story of last night's Utah State game, and he was absolutely right.

Here's the link: https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/s...e-sanford-pentagon-fran-mccaffery/8952263002/

We've had recent threads devoted to the problem that is Carver and the people who show up to watch basketball there, and most people realize something needs to be done to bring the energy back to Iowa's home court. Many excellent ideas have been proposed, but the only real option for the rest of this season is for fans to show up and act like sports fans rather than an audience attending a funeral.

I said in another thread before last night's game in Sioux Falls that I thought it was fortunate that Iowa was coming off the break and playing in the Pentagon where the fans would provide energy all night long whereas a Carver crowd would have been on mute.

It's a shame that the rowdy Iowa crowds of days gone by are as infrequent as 70-degree days in an Iowa City December. But Barta needs to do something about it ASAP. And I said several years ago, were I Fran, I'd demand the students be seated around at least the bottom 20 rows of one side of Carver and that other changes be made to reestablish a home court atmosphere.

And as I said a few days ago, even one the nation's top 11 football players said he chose Iowa partly based on the amazing atmosphere in Kinnick during the PSU game this season. Iowa very well may be missing out on key recruits because nobody wants to play college basketball in a cone of silence. And the Hawkeye players deserve much better.

 

[SotaHawk87]

It was lit last night, I think the players thrives off that environment.

 

[Mohawkeye]

Certainly supports the theory that it’s the building and not the fans.

 

[Bank of Hawk]

Iowa beat writers are always scratching the Carver and Iowa bball fans suck, itch. Must get a lot of clicks cause it’s the same article multiple times a year it seems.

 

[red/green hawk]

Last time I was in Carver was early 90s. 30 years ago, I understand that, but it was always loud. I remember commentators always saying it was one of the loudest places in the country. Don't think it's the building.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Certainly supports the theory that it’s the building and not the fans.

No it doesn't.

 

[JEDN]

Yes it does.

 

[BurgHawk87]

We'll gladly take more games up here each year if that solves the crowd problem.

 

[Smigamorski]

It's the fans, Carver is rocking for all wrestling events.

 

[CarterHall]

Certainly supports the theory that it’s the building and not the fans.

I would disagree. I remember many times when we would host a NIT game and have raucous crowds. Not as much of the season ticket blue hair brigades. Bringing the students behind the opposing bench would help, but Barta went the other way, making it cozier for the donor class. And maybe don't take 42 year breaks in between winning the Big Ten and making a Final Four.

 

[Kinnick.At.Night]

People complaining about Carver not being loud have obviously never been to a big time wrestling meet. It's deafening. The building is fine. Our basketball support simply isn't there, and never really has been consistently for decades.

 

[HawkLogic]

Certainly supports the theory that it’s the building and not the fans.

I remember years ago the band sat in front of me and they had decided to make the experience more about themselves than the game, so they were all wearing big Hats and I couldn't see the court.
That dampened my Carver enthusiasm.


Remodel Carver to make it louder, I think Barta could go to the Engineering college for ideas, but Barta has more use for the Law School given the number of lawsuits against iowa sports under his watch.

 

[SDHawkDoc]

It was lit last night, I think the players thrives off that environment.

Last night, in Sioux Falls. I think it's likely that the crowd there was 90% or more different individuals than who is usually at games in CHA.
Add to that the same Carver arena was plenty loud and a decent home court advantage during the Davis years, with the same basic architecture.
AND, wrestling is rocking for big meets. Again, same basic structure.

All the evidence points to the fans in CHA for men's b-ball as the issue.

 

[retrodent]

What students??? There are more band and cheerleader than there are students attending

 

[jthawk]

I remember years ago the band sat in front of me and they had decided to make the experience more about themselves than the game, so they were all wearing big Hats and I couldn't see the court.
That dampened my Carver enthusiasm.


Remodel Carver to make it louder, I think Barta could go to the Engineering college for ideas, but Barta has more use for the Law School given the number of lawsuits against iowa sports under his watch.

Oh. A shot at Barta! How original!!!

 

[retrohawki]

Put a decent product out there and the fans will show. Truth be told, the only players from this years team that would be good enough to play in front of those rocking 90’s crowds are JBo, Kris and Keegan.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Put a decent product out there and the fans will show. Truth be told, the only players from this years team that would be good enough to play in front of those rocking 90’s crowds are JBo, Kris and Keegan.

Lol.

They finished in the top 25 the past two seasons.

 

[retrohawki]

Lol.

They finished in the top 25 the past two seasons.

Garza Wieskamp CJ and Nunge might have had something to do with that.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Garza Wieskamp CJ and Nunge might have had something to do with that.

You think the Carver atmosphere is a 'this year' thing?

 

[retrohawki]

Pat Mc- power 5 bench player
Tony P- mid major starter
Flip- mid major starter
Ulis- mid major bench player
Connor- D3 Starter
Joe T- D3 starter
Sanfort- too early to tell
Ash- D3 bench player

jBo- starter anywhere
Keegan- starter anywhere
Kris- starter anywhere, but Iowa

 

[hawktrooper1]

Let's not mythologize the 90s as an epic decade of Hawkeyes basketball. They had a few good teams. Don't remember any of them being ranked No. 2 or having the nation's best player.

The difference between the 90s and today has nothing to do with the building or the players or the coaches.

It's the fact every game is televised, people can watch anything at any time, and few people want to drive 2 hours from Des Moines to see Iowa play Utah State.

The advantage Iowa State has is geographic location in relation to its largest population of alumni. It's easy to hop in the car and drive 30 minutes to Ames. It's not the building itself that makes Hilton Magic.

 

[Birky]

Yes it does.

Ever been to a wrestling meet in Carver?

 

[Birky]

Pat Mc- power 5 bench player
Tony P- mid major starter
Flip- mid major starter
Ulis- mid major bench player
Connor- D3 Starter
Joe T- D3 starter
Sanfort- too early to tell
Ash- D3 bench player

jBo- starter anywhere
Keegan- starter anywhere
Kris- starter anywhere, but Iowa

Stop, you’re currently unable to make a rational post.

 

[Birky]

Let's not mythologize the 90s as an epic decade of Hawkeyes basketball. They had a few good teams. Don't remember any of them being ranked No. 2 or having the nation's best player.

The difference between the 90s and today has nothing to do with the building or the players or the coaches.

It's the fact every game is televised, people can watch anything at any time, and few people want to drive 2 hours from Des Moines to see Iowa play Utah State.

The advantage Iowa State has is geographic location in relation to its largest population of alumni. It's easy to hop in the car and drive 30 minutes to Ames. It's not the building itself that makes Hilton Magic.

Every game was on TV then. In fact, more games were on TV. The change in start times of the games definitely has had a detrimental impact on attendance.

You’re correct about location for Ames. 90% of their fan base lives within 30 miles of Ames.

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

Let's not mythologize the 90s as an epic decade of Hawkeyes basketball. They had a few good teams. Don't remember any of them being ranked No. 2 or having the nation's best player.

The difference between the 90s and today has nothing to do with the building or the players or the coaches.

It's the fact every game is televised, people can watch anything at any time, and few people want to drive 2 hours from Des Moines to see Iowa play Utah State.

The advantage Iowa State has is geographic location in relation to its largest population of alumni. It's easy to hop in the car and drive 30 minutes to Ames. It's not the building itself that makes Hilton Magic.

I’ve been saying this for a while. Eastern Iowa just doesn’t support the Hawks.

I wish there was a way for Iowa to play most of its home games in Des Moines.

You know, where the people are.

 

[Birky]

I’ve been saying this for a while. Eastern Iowa just doesn’t support the Hawks.

I wish there was a way for Iowa to play most of its home games in Des Moines.

You know, where the people are.

What’s the population the Iowa City, CR, and QC metro areas? Plenty of humans, but Iowa fans cover the state. Not just existing within a 30 mile radius of campus, like Ames.

 

[nbanflfactory]

Put a decent product out there and the fans will show. Truth be told, the only players from this years team that would be good enough to play in front of those rocking 90’s crowds are JBo, Kris and Keegan.

Lmfao

 

[nbanflfactory]

You think the Carver atmosphere is a 'this year' thing?

Follow the convo...

 

[ROCKY MOUNTAIN HAWK]

What’s the population the Iowa City, CR, and QC metro areas? Plenty of humans, but Iowa fans cover the state. Not just existing within a 30 mile radius of campus, like Ames.

You have all of that population combined & then some living in 1 metro area.

Definitely easier to attend games if it’s right in your city.

Plus there’s a lot more $ in DM. Maybe cost is another reason keeping Eastern Iowans away.

 

[FrankBurns00]

Let's not mythologize the 90s as an epic decade of Hawkeyes basketball. They had a few good teams. Don't remember any of them being ranked No. 2 or having the nation's best player.

The difference between the 90s and today has nothing to do with the building or the players or the coaches.

It's the fact every game is televised, people can watch anything at any time, and few people want to drive 2 hours from Des Moines to see Iowa play Utah State.

The advantage Iowa State has is geographic location in relation to its largest population of alumni. It's easy to hop in the car and drive 30 minutes to Ames. It's not the building itself that makes Hilton Magic.

I've always thought that U of Iowa needed to do a better job of locking down Cedar Rapids. Between Iowa City, Coralville and Cedar Rapids there are over 250,000 people. Somehow they need to tap into that market better.

 

[iabcuda]

The day it stopped being loud in Carver was the day the Daily Iowan published, in surprising detail, Pierre Pierce’s attempted sodomizing of a female player. Coeds stopped attending. Male students quit soon after. Downtown Iowa city had beer & women. Carver not so much. Without any student support, the crowds went downhill.

 

[83Hawk]

1. The students are not going to be given prime courtside seats.
2. Carver is not going to undergo a major remodel when it comes to seating.
3. A new arena will not be built.
4. Games will not be moved to Des Moines. (Seriously? They say there are no dumb ideas, but…..)

The so-called blue hairs that everybody likes to bag on are the ones who faithfully go to the games (even during the Lick years), and are paying a lot of the freight when it comes to basketball donations. They aren’t the ones sitting at home complaining about the Carver atmosphere (most of the complainers go to very few games themselves).

Am I saying Carver is perfect? No. The crowd could be louder, and more students could attend. A better product on the court would help.

 

[dexhwk]

Move the student section with free admission.

 

[Hawkstrat]

The day it stopped being loud in Carver was the day the Daily Iowan published, in surprising detail, Pierre Pierce’s attempted sodomizing of a female player. Coeds stopped attending. Male students quit soon after. Downtown Iowa city had beer & women. Carver not so much. Without any student support, the crowds went downhill.

Had Alford handled it correctly, it might have been a different story.

 

[iahawks10]

You have all of that population combined & then some living in 1 metro area.

Definitely easier to attend games if it’s right in your city.

Plus there’s a lot more $ in DM. Maybe cost is another reason keeping Eastern Iowans away.

I can attest as a QCA native, that football is a lot easier to commit to in going to games. Personally, I love season tickets for football, but I would trade them for Bball tickets in a second.

Between the winter weather, odd start times and on different days, and the number of games, basketball is a lot harder to commit to for season tickets. 90%(+) of football games start in a four hour window.

Also the number of cars I see driving home after football games with IL plates and an Iowa decal is a lot. I didn’t realize how many fans we have on the IL side, but I see a ton of these cars every week after football games.

 

[Ronman]

Obviously the crowds, and thus the crowd noise, gets a major uplift once the B1G schedule starts. A lot of the problem, as I see it, is the cupcake preseason home schedule, which I somewhat understand, but does nothing in the way of drawing out the crowds and even the season ticket holders. The other problem seems to me is the B1G schedule itself. It's hard to draw crowds when you have 8:00 starts in the winter and rarely play Saturday afternoon games, which seemed to be rare the past couple of years. Even last night's game, an 8:00 start, if it were played in Carver, would have probably been played to a half empty arena.

 

[Bank of Hawk]

For me I’m not traveling 3 hours there and 3 hours back for a bball game. Football game sure, that’s an experience.

But as previous poster said, the non conference games are crap opponents, which is fine but don’t expect a large crowd for SE Texas Sisters of the Poor.

The only tickets my eastern Iowa business owning relatives offer up for free to first takers are the non-conference, can’t even give those away most of the time.

 

[bowlhawk]

Start playing early season games at Xtream arena. It would rival the Pentagon.

 

[LinusPF]

Stop insulting the fans with Longwood, UMKC, North Carolina Central, Alabama St., Western Michigan, Alabama St., SE Louisiana and Western Illinois. Guaranteed 30pt wins before tipoff.

 

[iahawks10]

Start playing early season games at Xtream arena. It would rival the Pentagon.

This was already suggested. Xtreme Arena holds 4,500-5,500 fans (?).

Iowa sold 11,700 to Portland State and 10,000 to West Michigan, etc. I doubt Iowa is in a hurry to give up this revenue whether or not the fans show up.