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Basketball Practice Facility

People have to also remember, Miami is a small school in a big market.

The school isn’t really a representation of the city at large, most Miami fans aren’t necessarily a direct representation of the Miami demographic if that makes sense.

Plus, we don’t have the long-standing tradition of being a Basketball school like our counterparts in the ACC. Miami is known historically as a Football school, that’s the main attraction & it’s really only contingent upon how we’re performing during the season.
 
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hotshot said:
Agree on Turgeon. Led to Maryland having some Miami-size crowds this season. I went to the Iowa game and there couldn't have been more than 4000 people (generous estimate) in your 18,000 seat arena.

I still miss the old Cole Field House (which, of course, hosted many NCAA hoops events including the Texas Western win over Kentucky in the 1966 Final). When Cole was built in the 50s, that was THE premier on-campus facility in the US, and remained so for years.
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My graduation commencement ceremony was in Cole Field house 32 years ago...it was early summer, already hot in the DMV area and that building was a cauldron...our commencement speaker was former US Ambassador to South Africa during the end of apartheid and like a typical Ambassador had alot to say...people were literally melting while he was talking...old place but kinda cool and somewhat historical.
 
MedleyCane said:
My graduation commencement ceremony was in Cole Field house 32 years ago...it was early summer, already hot in the DMV area and that building was a cauldron...our commencement speaker was former US Ambassador to South Africa during the end of apartheid and like a typical Ambassador had alot to say...people were literally melting while he was talking...old place but kinda cool and somewhat historical.
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Very historical. Hosted several Final Fours as well as Regional Finals. It was a given, due to its capacity, that it was THE prominent NCAA Tourney venue from the 1955 through the 70s. Other arenas simply were not big enough to compete. Back then, few arenas were air conditioned. Cole, at least, was excavated so the entry doors were at ground level and the seats/court below ground. That helped on an occasional hot day during hoops season.

Also hosted DeMatha HS stunning win over Lew Alcindor's (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) Power Memorial squad from NYC. Power was supposedly unbeatable and had a long winning streak going back years, but DeMatha prevailed. Place was sold out of all 13,500 seats/Standing Room for that high school game. Sort of marked high school basketball's "coming out party." Prior to that game, few paid it any attention.
 
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Canedude08 said:
That is true, still doesn't change the fact that college sports does best in smaller markets where there isn't much in regards to competition for the entertainment dollar.
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Urban, rural, large market, small market ... I still think that filling a 7900 seat arena for attractive ACC basketball matchups -- in an area with 2.7 million people -- shouldn't be THAT difficult. Going on almost 40 years now, though, I guess I'm proven wrong.
 
hotshot said:
Urban, rural, large market, small market ... I still think that filling a 7900 seat arena for attractive ACC basketball matchups -- in an area with 2.7 million people -- shouldn't be THAT difficult. Going on almost 40 years now, though, I guess I'm proven wrong.
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Look around the country, it's tough for St John's, Georgetown, USC, to fill their arenas and they are in urban environments too. If the product isn't compelling, people aren't showing up.
 
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Canedude08 said:
Look around the country, it's tough for St John's, Georgetown, USC, to fill their arenas and they are in urban environments too. If the product isn't compelling, people aren't showing up.
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You are completely right but you also need one or two local kids to help draw the local fans.
Absolutely, a good team who makes the NCAA tournament on a yearly basis will draw fans but fans also want to see some guys they recognize not always a bunch of guys they need to get to know.
You have to have a balance to your roster.
 
Da_Lucky_One said:
You are completely right but you also need one or two local kids to help draw the local fans.
Absolutely, a good team who makes the NCAA tournament on a yearly basis will draw fans but fans also want to see some guys they recognize not always a bunch of guys they need to get to know.
You have to have a balance to your roster.
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You highly overrate the star appeal of Florida HS basketball. Even when Miami has landed local legends, people weren't coming out to see them. L has to build the best roster he possibly can and hope he can win at a high enough level, with an exciting enough product that people will care. Meier has recruited locally for YEARS, you'd think that would lead to people giving a **** about her team, hasn't done a **** thing. If you aren't hyper elite, and playing other hyper elite teams, this fanbase doesn't care. Miami athletics succeeds DESPITE the fanbase, and that's tough to do on a regular basis.
 
Canedude08 said:
You highly overrate the star appeal of Florida HS basketball. Even when Miami has landed local legends, people weren't coming out to see them. L has to build the best roster he possibly can and hope he can win at a high enough level, with an exciting enough product that people will care. Meier has recruited locally for YEARS, you'd think that would lead to people giving a **** about her team, hasn't done a **** thing. If you aren't hyper elite, and playing other hyper elite teams, this fanbase doesn't care. Miami athletics succeeds DESPITE the fanbase, and that's tough to do on a regular basis.
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I've been to many of Katie's games over the years. I can assure you a lot of friends and families of local players attend most of the home games. I could only imagine how bad the attendance for those games would be without the friends & family crowd at the games. Bottom line is Larranaga needs to stop being so **** hard headed and do a better job of recruiting Florida. We've seen far too many Florida kids over the last few years turn into NBA prospects. Far too many who go over seas to play pro ball. Far too many who go elsewhere because Miami didn't decide to start recruiting them until their senior years of HS. I can't see how having some South Florida guys on the roster could hurt generating local support. Do agree with you that building the best roster possible is very important. All I'm saying is if you're going to take a project prospect or take a chance on a kid, why not do it with a good local and/or in-state prospect? I don't have the time to do the research but I wonder how many successful P5 programs playing in hotbed states (California, Texas, New York, Florida, etc.) have a roster with 0 in-state players?
 
King of Allapattah said:
I've been to many of Katie's games over the years. I can assure you a lot of friends and families of local players attend most of the home games. I could only imagine how bad the attendance for those games would be without the friends & family crowd at the games. Bottom line is Larranaga needs to stop being so **** hard headed and do a better job of recruiting Florida. We've seen far too many Florida kids over the last few years turn into NBA prospects. Far too many who go over seas to play pro ball. Far too many who go elsewhere because Miami didn't decide to start recruiting them until their senior years of HS. I can't see how having some South Florida guys on the roster could hurt generating local support. Do agree with you that building the best roster possible is very important. All I'm saying is if you're going to take a project prospect or take a chance on a kid, why not do it with a good local and/or in-state prospect? I don't have the time to do the research but I wonder how many successful P5 programs playing in hotbed states (California, Texas, New York, Florida, etc.) have a roster with 0 in-state players?
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He's signed 4 kids who graduated from a high school in the state for Florida since he took over in 2011. One was Beverly who transferred after starting in Michigan and another was Tonye who moved to Florida less than a year before he committed. The other two were Dewan and Amp. Recruiting the state won't ever be a thing for L.
 
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