Where are the Fans? National Media Call Out Sun Devil Faithful
The Sun Devil basketball team includes two first-round NBA picks and is ranked in the Top 20. So why are fans staying away from Wells Fargo Arena? Is it the recession, fan apathy or is this team just too boring?
After staying in the Top 25 the whole season, ASU is starting to get attention from Bristol, Conn., and all the way to that sleepy town 90 miles southeast of Tempe. The media isn’t used to ASU basketball being any good, and they’re discovering that we have an attendance problem here in the Valley.
ESPN.com’s Pat Forde compared a traditional power on the decline (Indiana) to a traditional doormat (ASU) on the rise. “At Indiana , the winning percentage is .273 this season, but the gym is full to 79.8 percent capacity (average attendance is 13,933). The fans are overachieving.
“At Arizona State , the winning percentage is .783, but 14,198-seat Wells Fargo Arena has been only 58.2 percent full. The fans are missing out on a good show from coach Herb Sendek, James Harden & Co. This is what’s known as the difference between a basketball school and a non-basketball school.”
Forde is exactly right. Fans are missing out, but it’s not too late. ASU has five of its last seven games at home.
One writer in Tucson has a similar view, but it’s more than a little tinged with sour grapes. Quoth Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star: “I admire what Herb Sendek has done in his three years at Arizona State . He has won more games than his predecessor and isn’t that nice?
“…because I could find no suitable entertainment for a few hours last night, I labored through Fox Sports Net Arizona’s dreadful broadcast of the ASU-Oregon State game, which, before my mind fogged over and I fell into a coma, I thought the Sun Devils won 28-27.”
Think Hansen misses Lute Olson a little bit? OK, that’s beside the point.
So the outsiders now realize that ASU has a boring style, and plays in a less-than-packed arena.
Our response: So what?
This team is focused, well-coached and has a true senior leader in Jeff Pendergraph. Harden is one of the Top 10 players in the country, and even though the games are low-scoring, they are generally close and stressful in a fun way (UA game excluded — that was just ugly).
So yes, it’s frustrating that more fans don’t come out to Wells Fargo Arena, but you can’t blame them either. ASU is rarely any good. Putting all that aside, we have a good feeling that Wells Fargo will be rocking the next few weeks. This is a team that deserves to be appreciated in person. Just listen to Coach Sendek.
“We always expect there to be a great crowd at Wells Fargo and for our fans to give our guys a lift. That’s what college basketball is all about and the great thing about playing at home.”
What’s Your Take, Sun Devils? Does this team deserve a packed house, or is the history of losing and boring style too much to overcome? Let us know if you’ll be in the house tonight, and give us your predictions for tonight’s big game.
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This team does deserve a big crowd for everygame. But, ASU is more of a football school, so not that many people are interested in basketball, and fans of any AZ sport are fairweather, and only come out for big games like tonights.
It’s going to take time. It’s going to take a few years of winning at BB in order for more people to buy into the program and come fill the seats.
Other than the die-hard fan, people won’t commit to inconsistancy. Losing to the Washington schools at home was not good.
This is the same as football – we need to create two consecutive years of solid winning seasons, and the fans will come.
As someone who is now a Sun Devil fan but grew up in Tucson watching University of Arizona Basketball from Fred Snowden through Lute I have to agree that it is sad that the Sun Devils are not getting a better turnout for their games especially with the program that Coach Sendek is building.
I am however extremely impressed with the growth and support of the Student Section aka The Inferno!
While die-hard Sun Devil fans may not like it, this period of ASU Basketball reminds me very much of the beginning of the Lute Olson era in Tucson with James Harden substituting for Sean Elliott; Derek Glasser filling the role of Steve Kerr; and Jeff Pendergraph as Pete Williams plus a great bunch of guys like Ty Abbott, Jerren Schipp, Ric Kuksiks, Eric Boateng and Jamelle McMillan (who I’m so impressed with in his post-game media interviews).
The problem seems to be that as always that the Sun Devils are overshadowed by the professional franchises in this town. Clearly the Arizona Cardinals sucked up all the media attention during their amazing Super Bowl run and now the All-Star Weekend and struggles of the Phoenix Suns are stealing attention from the Devils.
While it is always a struggle, the team will gain a great deal of attention when they do make the NCAA Tournament this year and a good run will help them to build support for the future.
That being said, I unfortunately will not be at Wells Fargo this evening as I have to work until 9:00 pm, but I will be checking the score on my breaks and turning on my radio immediately upon leaving work to listen to (hopefully) the end of another Sun Devil victory.
Go Devils!
P.S. I should point out that there was a long-running feud between Greg Hansen and Lute Olson, so it is definitely not Lute he was referencing but rather the style of play in the ASU-OSU game.
@Brad Very interesting comparison to the early UA days.
Two thumbs up for getting some national exposure on espn2 in High Definition!….. but really I’d take anything but FSNAZ coverage.
ASU plays a boring style – true – and plays in a 1/2 empty arena – true – and you say “so what?”
Huh? It is because of both of the above that ASU gets a James Harden caliber recruit once in a generation. And it is because of the lack of attendance that ASU has to cut men’s sports to balance the budget.
Other than that, I guess so what sums it up.
I think the student section and the fans responded last night to a national audience on ESPN. What a game!!
Here is my take………I have to choose right now between going to my kids games, ASU basketball both men and women……..baseball and softball. I can’t be at all of them. It is going to take time to get a larger crowd at the mens basketball games……but it is starting to happen. Comparing the crowds at a national power basketball school like Indiana and ASU is not fair………Indiana is a powerhouse that also has no other teams worth watching to steal the crowd. ASU has 3 nationally ranked teams to choose from right now in 3 different sports, plus a rising women’s basketball team, which should be ranked after this weekend.
It sure beats watching the Suns………
GO DEVILS!!
First of all, GREAT win last night- would you still have written this article if you knew Wells Fargo would be packed last night, with a Massive student section striped in maroon and gold?! How awesome- I’m so proud to be a Sun Devil today! Way to represent ASU on a national stage!
On another note, I think it’s nonsense that ASU is overshadowed by professional teams in the Valley. Even if hardly any Phoenix residents came to the games, there are still 50,000 students on Tempe Campus alone, plus thousands of others at East, West and Downtown Campuses. From my experience, unless you’re from AZ, students don’t really focus on the Cardinals, Suns and Dbacks. And if they do, games usually don’t interfere with Men’s Hoops games anyway.
What is true is that it will take time for the basketball program to grow and become THE place to be for students on Thursday and Saturday nights. Unfortunately, it certainly wasn’t during my years at ASU (graduated in ’05). There’s a certain historic apathy about ASU basketball, but I would say we made some serious progress last night. Keep it up, Devils! Beat USC this weekend!!!!!!