Taken from the CR Gazette this morning.
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Iowa State women outdraw Iowa men
John Wooden, the legendary former coach at UCLA, says he’d rather watch a good women’s basketball game these days than a men’s game because the women play the game the way it was meant to be played and are fundamentally sound.
Wooden is not alone in his feelings.
This might be a sign of the apocalypse (or maybe not), but there’s a prime example of what Wooden’s talking about right here in Iowa.
Consider this startling fact: The Iowa State women’s basketball
team is more popular than the University of Iowa
men’s basketball team right now. Yes, that’s right. The ISU women are more popular than the Iowa men, based on their home attendance marks. The Cyclones are averaging 10,078 fans at Hilton Coliseum, and the Hawkeyes are averaging 9,119 at CarverHawkeye Arena.
Remember, that’s the Cyclone women we’re talking about, not the Cyclone men.
The ISU men’s team is averaging 14,243 at Hilton.
A little of this is apples and oranges, of course. It costs a lot less to attend an Iowa State women’s game than it does an Iowa men’s game, but it’s a startling development nonetheless.
The Hawkeyes are suffering from the residual negative effects of the Steve Alford regime, coupled with low expectations for this year’s club.
The Cyclones, meanwhile, are benefiting from Coach Bill Fennelly’s years of good work in Ames and clever promotional work by his university. Iowa basketball games used to be the social event of the week. Now the arena is halfempty, most fans can’t get the games on TV because of the fiasco with the Big Ten Network, and those 8 p.m. starts are driving people away.
We could bring the Iowa women’s basketball program into the conversation, but that’s even more embarrassing for the Hawkeyes. Coach Lisa Bluder’s team is averaging 2,622 fans at home and drew only 2,963 for the Big Ten/ACC game against Georgia Tech two weeks ago despite selling tickets for $1.
The Iowa State women are drawing more fans than four men’s bask etball teams in the Big Ten — Michigan, Iowa, Penn State and Northwestern.
It’s hard for a lot of fans to get excited about Big Ten basketball. The league got clobbered in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge again, and Big Ten teams have a dismal 4-13 record against Top 25 opponents.
Some of the Big Ten’s nonconference losses have been head-scratchers for a proud league. Iowa lost to Louisiana- Monroe. Michigan lost to Harvard, now led by deposed U-M coach Tommy Amaker. Northwestern lost to Brown. Penn State lost to Rider. Ohio State beat Coppin State but scored only 47 points.
Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said it’s too early to label this a ‘‘down’’ year for the Big Ten.
‘‘I think even in a down year, you’ve got a great conference here. Without question,’’ he said. ‘‘And I don’t know that it is a down year. We’ll probably evaluate that at the end.’’
• Contact the writer: (319) 368-8697 or [email protected]
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Iowa State women outdraw Iowa men
John Wooden, the legendary former coach at UCLA, says he’d rather watch a good women’s basketball game these days than a men’s game because the women play the game the way it was meant to be played and are fundamentally sound.
Wooden is not alone in his feelings.
This might be a sign of the apocalypse (or maybe not), but there’s a prime example of what Wooden’s talking about right here in Iowa.
Consider this startling fact: The Iowa State women’s basketball
team is more popular than the University of Iowa
men’s basketball team right now. Yes, that’s right. The ISU women are more popular than the Iowa men, based on their home attendance marks. The Cyclones are averaging 10,078 fans at Hilton Coliseum, and the Hawkeyes are averaging 9,119 at CarverHawkeye Arena.
Remember, that’s the Cyclone women we’re talking about, not the Cyclone men.
The ISU men’s team is averaging 14,243 at Hilton.
A little of this is apples and oranges, of course. It costs a lot less to attend an Iowa State women’s game than it does an Iowa men’s game, but it’s a startling development nonetheless.
The Hawkeyes are suffering from the residual negative effects of the Steve Alford regime, coupled with low expectations for this year’s club.
The Cyclones, meanwhile, are benefiting from Coach Bill Fennelly’s years of good work in Ames and clever promotional work by his university. Iowa basketball games used to be the social event of the week. Now the arena is halfempty, most fans can’t get the games on TV because of the fiasco with the Big Ten Network, and those 8 p.m. starts are driving people away.
We could bring the Iowa women’s basketball program into the conversation, but that’s even more embarrassing for the Hawkeyes. Coach Lisa Bluder’s team is averaging 2,622 fans at home and drew only 2,963 for the Big Ten/ACC game against Georgia Tech two weeks ago despite selling tickets for $1.
The Iowa State women are drawing more fans than four men’s bask etball teams in the Big Ten — Michigan, Iowa, Penn State and Northwestern.
It’s hard for a lot of fans to get excited about Big Ten basketball. The league got clobbered in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge again, and Big Ten teams have a dismal 4-13 record against Top 25 opponents.
Some of the Big Ten’s nonconference losses have been head-scratchers for a proud league. Iowa lost to Louisiana- Monroe. Michigan lost to Harvard, now led by deposed U-M coach Tommy Amaker. Northwestern lost to Brown. Penn State lost to Rider. Ohio State beat Coppin State but scored only 47 points.
Iowa Coach Todd Lickliter said it’s too early to label this a ‘‘down’’ year for the Big Ten.
‘‘I think even in a down year, you’ve got a great conference here. Without question,’’ he said. ‘‘And I don’t know that it is a down year. We’ll probably evaluate that at the end.’’
• Contact the writer: (319) 368-8697 or [email protected]
