Attendance problems at Duke

[NKR1978]

I don't hate Duke. I don't cheer for them (except against Butler), but I've gotten over my hate in the last several years as I've heard some of the genuine positive things K has said about JB and the Syracuse program. Having said that, their "Crazies!!!" are pathetic if their average student attendance has fallen to about 650 per game when their student section seats 1200. They have the best program in college basketball over the last 25 years and the best coach in the history of the game, and that's all they can gather?

The sheer size of our student section is something to be proud of for a private university.

http://deadspin.com/5878886/the-great-duke-attendance-scam

 

[cusetown1]

That's really bad. I don't even think they watch the game when they go. They just like to make weird noises and jump around.

 

[Cuseman78]

I can honestly say I've never got the whole Cameron thing. Its 500 kids jumping up and down and the 8000 other townies sitting on their hands. Give me Allen Fieldhouse any day of the week.

I am surprised that the student section is THAT small though. Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't we had student sections of over 3500 for big games? Thats crazy.

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Duke has always played a trick on the TV viewer to make it look like they play in a more intimidating arena.

1) They place the TV camera high up so that only the student section is viewable. You only see one side of the arena consisting of about 10 rows.

2) They placed the TV on the opposite side of the court from typical view. Usually you see the scorer's table and team benches. At Cameron, the benches on are on the other side (out of view) of the typical TV picture. This focuses everything on the student section again.

3) They place the microphones in or near the student section, making it sound louder than it actually is on TV.


Just to clarify things, I don't disparage Duke for playing these tricks with the camera. I've often advocated that Syracuse should do the same thing, especially with football games. I believe the camera angle at the Dome is way too flat.

 

[Scooch]

While its always fun to pile on Duke, this isn't a problem isolated to Durham, or even college hoops. Attendance is a continuing problem for every sport. Lots of factors: high cost in hard economic times, better experience at home, constantly increasing competing entertainment options, etc.

It ain't 1987, 1997 or even 2007 anymore.

 

[NKR1978]

I can honestly say I've never got the whole Cameron thing. Its 500 kids jumping up and down and the 8000 other townies sitting on their hands. Give me Allen Fieldhouse any day of the week.

I am surprised that the student section is THAT small though. Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't we had student sections of over 3500 for big games? Thats crazy.

Playing in a football stadium helps.

 

[NKR1978]

While its always fun to pile on Duke, this isn't a problem isolated to Durham, or even college hoops. Attendance is a continuing problem for every sport. Lots of factors: high cost in hard economic times, better experience at home, constantly increasing competing entertainment options, etc.

It ain't 1987, 1997 or even 2007 anymore.

Absolutely, but I'm just genuinely surprised that Duke only averages 650 students for its games. I feel the same way watching UConn games at Gampel with empty seats.

And our crowds look to be about 2000-3000 fewer than the announced attendance, more so than other years.

 

[Marsh01]

Their stadium is a dump and a farce.

 

[PoppyHart]

Why don't they let grad students but seats?

 

[OrlandoCuse]

Why don't they let grad students but seats?

I wouldn't think the demand from grad students at Duke would be very high. Probably spend most of their time doing research and TA'ing undergrad classes.

Grad school students at elite colleges are an odd bunch, imo. They care much more about their prospective PhD's and whatever field they are studying, than they ever would about sports.

 

[BlackKnight76]

I am surprised that the student section is THAT small though. Correct me if I'm wrong but haven't we had student sections of over 3500 for big games? Thats crazy.

Yep. The 34616 game had almost 5k IIRC. And people crap on our student section when we have 8x as many kids as the most heralded one in the country, and do a much better job of
filling it, it would seem.




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[Flacusian]

The figures you state in your post are shockingly surprising. I would never have guessed that. The way it's presented you'd think that students are crawling across a quarter mile of broken glass on their hands and knees just to line up for a spot in an overnight campout line to get a lottery number for a chance at scoring a ticket.