Where does the SU student section rank in the ACC?

[Col. Bleep]

Our student section is not as bad as what it seems, because of the reason posted above. That being said, the chants they do are weak. You can say the same thing about the fanbase as a whole. Other than "LGO" we have nothing. It would be really cool to get something cool and unique, because LGO is not unique.

We had it.
SU failed to capitalize.
It was a gift from John Wallace in '96.

Imagine this:
One side of fans (A): "Cuse in the house."
Other side (B): "Oh my god, oh my god."
Side A: "Cuse in the house."
Everyone: "Oh my god!"

It would be epic.
The Dome would rock.
It would be known all over the college hoops world.

A great opportunity wasted.

 

[OttoMets]

People forget why the students were moved from the side court bleachers to behind the basket. Except for a couple big games, the sections were 1/2 empty or more. Now it's too late. Forget the money, you can't take 2-3k people with good seats and tell them they are moving to worse seats.

The next opportunity to do something different with the students is when we move into a new facility.

Right. Think about last Wednesday: we've got the #1 team in the country on a 25-game winning streak and there are still empty 100-level student seats at tip-off.

SU's not going to move the students to more prominent seats when they fill their own sections so rarely. Nor should they.

It's a microcosm of the fan base as a whole - there's a group of diehards and a whole lot of people who will turn up for the big event games.

TrickySU, sounds like you work hard at this; a lot of us appreciate that. Love the car alarm. Participation was kind of spotty on Wednesday, but that doesn't mean it's not a great idea. Keep 'em coming.

 

[jec1521]

Attendance wise we have to be #1 in the ACC and I have to imagine we're near the top in the country. We have 5,200 seats in the student section. It's not filled every game obviously, but the nature of the Carrier Dome allows us to have more students than any other school. Again I'm not positive as I don't have exact student attendance numbers for all schools, but I'm sure we're near the top.

Game rituals are tough. Obviously there's the "Let's Go Orange" chant. We do the "Go Orange" chant during timeouts sometimes where the lower section says "Go" and the upper section says "Orange." I want to try and get the "Go Orange" chant to happen while we're on offense just so we can have something else to say besides "Let's Go Orange." And we're always open to new ideas if anyone has anything. We came up with the car alarm this year which is something no other school does. Also, we thought about doing a vertical wave from bottom to top and then back to the bottom.

As far as enthusiasm, I think there's not many schools in the country better than us when there's big games. Tough to get a lot of enthusiasm when playing the bottom feeders in the conference although this team has caused a few too many panic attacks towards the end of games this year.

Are you part of Otto's Army? If so, I have a couple of suggestions:

1) First things first, the students need more coordination. I know that is a broad brush to stroke, but it is true.

2) I would start simple. Have the few main guys in front of the section scream "Who's House?" and then the whole section screams back "Cuse House" Simple and effective. Most already know this chant, but more coordination would make it 1000x better and more impressive.

3) I haven't been to a home game this year, I don't live in the area. So I dont know what the car alarm is. Enlighten me.

4) No waves of any kind, ever.

 

[Trueblue25]

Our student section is weak sauce. It pisses me off so much as a kid who would have killed to gone to SU.

 

[Marsh01]

I think our student section is great when the students actually show up to games.

 

[Trueblue25]

I think our student section is great when the students actually show up to games.

Agreed.

Honestly 5,200 is a lot for a student section..

...buttttt

Syracuse is a top 5 team annually, it has a great basketball history. The student section should be filled every conference game.

 

[TrickySU]

Are you part of Otto's Army? If so, I have a couple of suggestions:

1) First things first, the students need more coordination. I know that is a broad brush to stroke, but it is true.

2) I would start simple. Have the few main guys in front of the section scream "Who's House?" and then the whole section screams back "Cuse House" Simple and effective. Most already know this chant, but more coordination would make it 1000x better and more impressive.

3) I haven't been to a home game this year, I don't live in the area. So I dont know what the car alarm is. Enlighten me.

4) No waves of any kind, ever.

I am part of Otto's Army. I'm a freshman on the Otto's Army Executive Board. Although I'm a freshman I grew up in North Syracuse so I've been going to games since I was 3 years old.

1) I completely agree. We had a pep rally before the Duke game so everyone could learn all of the chants, but it is tough to get it coordinated during games. We have a white board in the front that works well for most of the lower level, but it's tough to see for a lot of students. We're trying to come up with a better form of communication.

2) We do the Who's House? 'Cuse House chant. The problem is only the blue seats and some of the bleachers participate. Part of this is people not knowing when we're going to do it. The other part is that people choose not to participate.

3) The car alarm is something we do during the second free throw for opposing teams. We make car alarm sounds with certain hand movements to distract the shooter. I think it looks pretty cool. It's not as loud as screaming, but it's something different that teams aren't used to, so the hope is that it throws them off.

4) Agreed

 

[Moontan]

Ask anyone that went to the Final Four last season. All 3 other fanbases had great chants and traditions. We were kind of just, bleh.

It was embarrassing, actually.

 

[Cheriehoop]

It was fun to watch the Maryland kids do this. I was amazed that they could co-ordinate that many kids. The visual was cool because the students are stretched out and they obviously have many more students than SU. In talking to the Maryland fans around us though - the display we saw was an exception - I guess support has been waning except for the big games and the SU game was really hyped up. The non-student fans weren't involved at all. The guy next to me said that Maryland student support used to be like what we were seeing now -back in the day - but not so much anymore. He said he hoped that joining the Big 10 would revive enthusiasm.

Regardless it would be great to see SU students coordinate stuff like that. Would be nice to see them use music to coordinate. SU students seem to want to do their own thing and buck following any leader. The poor Otto's Army leaders seem to have trouble on their own chant "Whose house" when the rows closest to the court turn towards the upper rows and chant back and forth - part of them just ignore it. They try though and have improved quite a bit from 6 years ago or so. Would be nice if with that cheer that the entire lower section chants back and forth with a full student 300 student section. That cheerleader led chant "Let's Go S-U" or "Go Orange" when they point to different sections from the court is so slow and contrived it sounds like a funeral dirge. They did that at Maryland too and it didn't work with their crowd either dying quickly. By the way I'm not being critical - love Otto's Army core students and their effort (I sit right next to them) but wish all the students were as loyal, faithful and excited to support their team.

 

[ImperialOrange]

I am part of Otto's Army. I'm a freshman on the Otto's Army Executive Board. Although I'm a freshman I grew up in North Syracuse so I've been going to games since I was 3 years old.

1) I completely agree. We had a pep rally before the Duke game so everyone could learn all of the chants, but it is tough to get it coordinated during games. We have a white board in the front that works well for most of the lower level, but it's tough to see for a lot of students. We're trying to come up with a better form of communication.

2) We do the Who's House? 'Cuse House chant. The problem is only the blue seats and some of the bleachers participate. Part of this is people not knowing when we're going to do it. The other part is that people choose not to participate.

3) The car alarm is something we do during the second free throw for opposing teams. We make car alarm sounds with certain hand movements to distract the shooter. I think it looks pretty cool. It's not as loud as screaming, but it's something different that teams aren't used to, so the hope is that it throws them off.

4) Agreed

Since youre a freshman you have time to create a legacy. Pick songs people know and change the words and you've got a chant. One of the things I love about European football is the crowd involvement. Youd be the first american basketball crowd to do this and its entertaining to be involved with. For example sake it'll be easiest for me to steal liverpool chants.

"We all live in a yellow submarine" can be turned into "we all dream of a team of cj fairs", la bamba can be turned into the boeheim, liiiiiiverpoool can be turned I to syyyyyracuuuuuuse, etc. If you have any interest in trying this there are plenty on the board that could help. We could even retrofit the song about wayne rooney shagging grandma's for when Petino joins the league next year!

 

[two3zone]

The fact they're only behind one basket is stupid as well. Move the basket weaving old ladies, move the shmoes who are there with a ditzy blond trying to impress her with Cuse tickets, move the idiots that get there a little bit before half time and leave with a minute to go, move the drunks that come to the game to drink that don't even know who two starters are on the team.

I've sat everywhere in the some, on the court, the bleachers at half court, 100s, 200s, and 300s and in all reality 311, 310 and that area are the best fans and the loudest in the place.

I applaud the students for trying, but I see more in the library walking to my car going home than I do at the dome. I'm honestly a part of the crowd that would actually prefer a 15-20k capacity court.

 

[ImperialOrange]

You should also chant their first name everytime an opposing coach is on the court during play. Dixon = jaaaaaaamieeeeeee, Petino = riiiiickyyyyyy, etc and everytime they go after a ref should get "t him up up up, t him up up up". We should really try and help the refs because they struggle.

 

[ImperialOrange]

And when a ref makes a terrible call against us chant "Mvp! Mvp!" While everyone points at the ref that made the call. You could make sarcasm our calling card.

 

[jec1521]

I am part of Otto's Army. I'm a freshman on the Otto's Army Executive Board. Although I'm a freshman I grew up in North Syracuse so I've been going to games since I was 3 years old.

2) We do the Who's House? 'Cuse House chant. The problem is only the blue seats and some of the bleachers participate. Part of this is people not knowing when we're going to do it. The other part is that people choose not to participate.

Exactly. A lot more coordination is involved. We don't need anything crazy or special, just a few very loud and well coordinated chants will suffice. Youtube Utah State's chants and rituals. They do it very well. The Winning Team, Losing Team one is awesome, and so is the "I believe that we will win" chant.

Good luck.

 

[Moontan]

A new venue, such as the recent dome proposal will have seats closer to the court. Allocate the lower 15-20 rows behind each basket and along one sideline to the students. Combine that with 30,000 other people and SU would have a double-whammy of a home court advantage.

The video of the French multi-purpose dome shows just how this would work. Imagine the current Dome setup, but with the basketball floor sunken down about 15-20 feet (the football surface on that side is moved to the other side of the stadium). Along the walls of the sunken space, 20 rows of seats are pulled out. Put students on 3 sides, as indicated above. CTO, Neil Gold and other big donors can occupy the 20 rows on the other sideline (behind the benches). Everybody else stays where they are. You have the best of the small arena intimidation combined with the mass crowd intimidation.

Add some decent chants and you have the Loud House on steroids.

 

[Moontan]

Some more can be seen here.
It has some awful computer generated closed captioning.

I really like Taylor's freak out at the 10th point. SU fans could do this at the 44- (and 22- ?) point marks.

 

[Alsacs]

When I went to the USA vs Mexico match in September the crowd chanted "We are going to Brazil, We are going to Brazil, WE ARE GOING WE ARE GOING TO Brazil." Something cool would be We want Dallas, We want Dallas.

 

[bballbeadle]

[We came up with the car alarm this year which is something no other school does.
Love the car alarm!

Also, we thought about doing a vertical wave from bottom to top and then back to the bottom.

Vertical wave???!! As Jon Stewart might say, "GO ONNNN." I usually have a great imagination but I'm trying to picture what that would look like.

 

[anomander]

I have been hard on our student sections for both football and basketball. Football is still an embarrassment, but basketball has been better attendance wise. Other then showing up though it still is pretty lame. If the whole section would act like the first 2 rows of kids in the blue seats we'd be ok. As far as chants go we are so far behind other schools. It doesn't even have to be the students. Everyone could have taken a lesson from the Clemson football fans that came up. They had several chants they did throughout the game. It was pretty damn cool and made me jealous. Plus as a couple people have mentioned the fans at the Final 4 showed us just how good some fanbases are in terms of choreography

I do like the hex we have started during opponents free throws. nice work on that one

 

[anomander]

Some more can be seen here.
It has some awful computer generated closed captioning.

I really like Taylor's freak out at the 10th point. SU fans could do this at the 44- (and 22- ?) point marks.

that was pretty cool. shows just how coreographed some schools are.

don't know how the Rock-Chalk-Jayhawk isn't #1 though. That's an all time classic

 

[Jeepers]

The ones like UCLA's above are super cheesy imo. It's like a Walmart motivational chant. No thanks. If I were a student and some guy is out leading a chant like a drill sergeant, I would not be participating.

KU's is the best, no question.

We need better chants, but seems the student section is tons better than when I was in school ('96). Seems the problem is just getting everyone (students/locals) on the same page.

 

[OttosBestFriend]

We had it.
SU failed to capitalize.
It was a gift from John Wallace in '96.

Imagine this:
One side of fans (A): "Cuse in the house."
Other side (B): "Oh my god, oh my god."
Side A: "Cuse in the house."
Everyone: "Oh my god!"

It would be epic.
The Dome would rock.
It would be known all over the college hoops world.

A great opportunity wasted.

We also could have done "Shut it Down!" While on defense... Another missed opportunity.

And how hard would it be to organize a split Dome with one half shouting, "We are!" And the other half replying, "S-U!"

Seems about as easy a chant as there is to get going. I remember going to St. John's games in the Garden 25 years ago and doing a similar, "We are! St. John's!" chant as a kid.

Seriously, can someone get an ear of someone in Otto's Army and start doing "Shut it Down" chants while on defense? It would sound amazing in person and on TV. People all over America would talk about it if we got 30,000+ chanting "Shut It Down!" in unison.

Three syllables, original and imposing... Someone get on this one ASAP.

 

[Col. Bleep]

We also could have done "Shut it Down!" While on defense... Another missed opportunity.

And how hard would it be to organize a split Dome with one half shouting, "We are!" And the other half replying, "S-U!"

Seems about as easy a chant as there is to get going. I remember going to St. John's games in the Garden 25 years ago and doing a similar, "We are! St. John's!" chant as a kid.

Seriously, can someone get an ear of someone in Otto's Army and start doing "Shut it Down" chants while on defense? It would sound amazing in person and on TV. People all over America would talk about it if we got 30,000+ chanting "Shut It Down!" in unison.

Three syllables, original and imposing... Someone get on this one ASAP.

"Shut it down!" is a good one, too.

 

[MadNY3]

This Monday the Maryland students put on this display

http://inthecapital.streetwise.co/2014/02/25/umd-flash-mob-at-syracuse-game-video/

We all know about Duke & Pitt

Where do our students rank among the rest as far as attendance, game rituals and enthusiasm?

Bipolar answer.

The UMD students for basketball are pretty damn good. That stuff is cool.

Our students...solid. Very solid.

Looking at the totality of it, I will never forget Kansas fans being damn scared of Syracuse fans inside the stadium because we cheer like passionate, loud muthaf****s that cause hotels to run out of beers (true story). A lot of those schools have (over)ritualized chants; we have hard cores that bleed and scream Orange.

 

[Czar]

One chant that I've always felt Syracuse should co-opt from USA soccer supporters/Wu-Tang

Cheer Leader: "We bring the noise, we bring the ruckus."
Crowd: "Syracuse ain't nothing to F**k with!"