The crowd should have been more supportive, but I must say Reliant, in that configuration, is a place where crowd noise goes to die. Add to that Reliant's Junior High Jerry sound system (blaring one minute, mute the next, multiple instances of feedback blaring while play was on, and band miking over the PA system that allowed for cheerleader squeaks after every basket) that left me wishing there wasn't a sound system at all. Still, Memphis' fans remind me a lot of LSU fans and that in and of itself should be enough to transfigure the Texas crowd Sunday!
I was at the game, the texas crowd was beyond pathetic...i tried at least a dozen times to get the crowd in it and i was down low about 10 rows back...the crowd decided to get in it for some reason in the 2nd half when stanford was down 1 with the ball. high notes: the team played great and the memphis dance squad had some serious talent. interesting note: texas fans held about 78% of arena, memphis held about 18%, other teams shared about 4%. memphis fans were far more loud.
The staff at the arena passed out 9" tv sets so the fans there could actually see the game. It was taking too long for the view of the field of play. Even at the speed of light at that distance it was still taking about one and a half minutes for the image to reach the eyeballs. Listening over the radio on Blackberry's didn't help as two or three plays passed by before the actual images reached the viewers. The tv sets helped, or so I'm told.
I agree that the crowd was beyond lame, but I've come to expect that. It didn't help that there is no student section. My question; did the cheerleaders eve show up? I mean I heard the MSU cheerleaders doing chants during the whole game that they were being pummeled in. I don't remember our cheerleaders once. I mean, Let's go Longhorns isn't that hard to chant, but it helps if the cheerleaders start everyone out. Team - A+ Fans & Cheerleaders - D (F if not for coming alive during the run)
Wayyyyyy up in 609 we were a loud and hardy bunch. In fact it seemed most of the Texas crowd was standing throughout the game when I looked down from my perch. Frankly, I think the crowd was the thing that spurred Texas on that run. When Stanford got close the crowd not only cheered for a moment on offense but started cheering during every defensive possesion during that last 10 minutes.
Yes, at 52-51, jusy when it mattered, we could hear on TV that the crowd had got involved. Just at the right time. The defensive intensity did pick up drastically then, and it was quite visible. R.J.
I guess I have to defer to people who were there, but I thought it was fairly loud. RB said in the post-game that he couldn't hear his assistants trying to talk to him six feet away.
I think some of you may have some unrealistic expectations of what the noise is gonna be like in that building. It sounded pretty loud down the stretch. Considering how spread out everyone was, it's no surprise it took them a while to get into the game. The best way to get the crowd into it is to lead by example - our fans are followers, and if people around them are loud they usually will get loud. (Not talking about the old guys who show up to sit on their hands regardless.)
I thought the crowd was fine. Was it overwhelming? No. Were the Memphis fans probably into the game a little bit more? I think so. Would a blind nonpartisan fan have been able to tell which team had more fans? Yes. When the Texas fans got loud, it was pretty easy to tell who had the most fans there. As far as the cheerleader complaints, for whatever reason, the microphone was picking up the Michigan State cheers more than any other team, including Texas, Memphis, and Stanford. The Longhorn cheerleaders did fine, and just like they did in Little Rock, they were continuously doing cheers. Big props to them as far as I'm concerned. My guess is that there will be even more Texas fans for the Sunday game. Memphis is going to be a heck of a challenge. If Texas can make it a game, I fully expect the Longhorn fans in attendance to make their presence felt. I'm looking forward to it.
the answer is simple. the tickets Texas was allotted with went to blue hairs. your loud and rowdy fans are likely in bars or section 500 something. sound doesn't travel down that well. hi
I thought the crowd was alright, but the announcers even said "It feels like the crowd isn't even here tonight." But they attributed that to the configuration of the arena/stadium.
i was in 633 and there were alot of people standing nearer the front,but many took a while to get into the game.. I agree, fans follow the leader, if alot of us are always standing, they will follow. Justin Mason did say in an interview the place got real loud in the end. Let's have it be that way THE WHOLE TIME SUNDAY! HOOK EM!
I am guessing it must have been louder on the court, because it sounded so quiet on the club level . . .with the exception of 4 or 5 moments. For anyone else that was there . . Did our band and cheerleaders just get their butts kicked or what? Stanford's band was up and playing the whole time . .. If you looked at their band and ours - you'd swear we were losing by 20 points. It looked like our band just differred to Stanford's after every timeout. Our cheerleaders just stood there and danced while Stanford's band played. I am not sure I saw them do much except during grandioso. I really think our cheerleaders and band could have helped us take more advantage of our crowd advantage.
I disagree with the band and cheerleader comments. Our band played every bit as much, if not more, than Stanford's. I don't know if you could tell where you were, but they had microphones in front of the bands and were running the bands through the PA system. I personally thought it was unnecessary and annoying for the bands to be played through the PA; especially since each of the bands were played at a different volume level. As for the Texas cheerleaders; I was in section 105 and the cheerleaders came up the aisles at least twice to encourage fans to cheer! I thought our cheerleaders, dancers, and band all did a better job than Stanford's. The only thing I thought Stanford's band had over ours was the dancing maniac drum major chick; I wouldn't have been surprised at all if her arm had come off by the end of the game the way she kept jerking that staff baton around. That tree they have as a mascot is just pitiful; the worst mascot in sports, IMHO!
I was and am embarrassed by the crowd last night. I was in section 3 behind the stanford band on the floor and i was the only one yelling and standing the whole game. the memphis fans were 1/6 the size and as loud as we were. i was around a bunch of $$ alumni and they sit on their asses all day. we must get the msg out to be loud. memphis band was loud too. we had about a total combined 4 minutes of being loud. in a 40 minute game. we all wanted home court in Houston bracket but it is not home court at all. yeah there were decent # of fans there. 32K total fans i guess about 25K UT fans but that is it. Houston is the largest alumni center for the largest school in the country and this is what we get. Anyone know where i can get body paint. i am going to go nuts again. i felt like a cameron crazy jumping up alone yesterday. YChang and Bevo-Stevo, THANK YOU! COME ON HORNFANS! GET SOME TIX AND GET YOUR ASSES THERE AND BE LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Two comments. 1. The stadium wasn't even full til halfway through the first half. I left work at 4 and didn't get to the stadium til 10 min. til tipoff. Those who got off work at 5 got to the game late. 2. LONG timeouts. To start the game the crowd got into it... we were up 10-4 and then Stanford called a timeout. five minutes later game resumes and Stanford makes a shot. 10-6 and a tv timeout is called. five minutes later play resumes and crowd is no longer a factor.
The Memphis fans were not even a half as loud as the Texas fans, that is just insane. They were into the game more, I'll give you that, but it is just nuts to say they were as loud as Texas fans when they did yell
I was there and basically I don't know how or when to cheer. What do I say when they have the ball, what do I say when we have the ball? I don't know. It was almost uncool to cheer except when we scored. I was loud calling Lopez---Caveman. We don't know what to cheer!!!!But whatever we did ...worked!!!!
Interestingly enough, the best TEXAS...FIGHT chant of the evening was cut off by our own band and cheerleaders.
johnny rage, good point. long tv timeouts are a bad excuse for crowd being comatose. Memphis fans were as long often, and louder much more often throughout the game. if you dont think so , time to see an ENT. ProHorn, our fans should not be sitting 36 minutes and clapping occasionally and then complain when people say we have weak fans. b.c it is true. Watch UNC game in charlotte, and their fans are much better. Please go to an LSU football game and ull see 85 y/o grandmas yelling. Barnes was far from his assistants. There are occasional posts that concern Barns looking at other job b/c we are not a BBall school. I am not saying he is. It is sad that we cannot be louder on a weeknd game in a city that is the largest alumni base in america. There were a lot of fans hoping/praying for the Houston regional 2 weeks ago. i dont know why. i dont think we will have much of a home court advantage sunday. talking to memphis fans after, they are saying more tiger fans will be coming down sunday. tix obviously wont be hard to get. our fans need to be louder and more throughout the game or its not worth getting a see close to home.
Sense of entitlement. Honestly, for all the ragging the FEC gets, that place can get brutally loud when its rocking, and the reason its not most of the time is because Texas fans, collectively, are not good at cheering for basketball. I had an interesting and quite civil conversation with a woman after the game who was about 8 rows behind me. During the game her area had been yelling at me to sit down. I decided that rather than turn my trip to the ******* sweet 16 (probably for me a once in a lifetime deal) into a spat-off with fellow Texas fans, to spend most of the game sitting with one foot on my chair for a bit of extra leverage. I'm a tall dude (6'5") but because of they way the court was raised, if I did not artificially raise myself somewhat my view would be obstructed by the people sitting in front of me. So right, the conversation. The woman from 8 rows back pulled me aside after the game and explained that she had MS and couldn't stand, and also her husband had dropped $___ on the seats and I had ruined about half the game for her because when I stood up, everyone stood up. Now obviously this is a sort of situation that requires some tact, and I didn't go deep into explaining the effect of home court advantage on Las Vegas spreads or anything, but just informed her that after the first 5 minutes of the game, I only stood when someone in front of me was standing (which was true), and that since she was second from the aisle, given her condition, maybe whoever was sitting on the end would be able to trade her seats. That said, MS sucks, and while I don't think her complaint was legitimatized by her condition (she did after all still make the decision to come to a basketball game, where, you know, people stand up sometimes), I consider my whole experience a microcosmic example of why Texas (even if we win a couple national championships) will never have the sort of crazy home court advantage environment that people on this board dream of. I go to most games at the FEC and can not tell you how many times I have been shouted at to sit down. Its usually not by ladies with MS either; its usually fat *** dudes in their 40s or 50s, who are already leaning back so far in their chairs, you wonder if they know how ******* slovenly they look. But this whole arrangement is a choice our athletic department, and probably higher ups than that have made, that if we can fill the stadium with rich folk, we might as well, cause hell, they're the ones with the money anyways, and if they want to sit, let em sit. And since the students almost never even fill up their section, where is the pressure that this system should be changed? Honestly, I feel like this whole not-getting-rowdy deal is the dark side of what we mean when we say "We're Texas," but if it finances world class training facilities that get badass recruits to play for us, then I guess I'll just watch them sitting down (some of the time). Dolla dolla bills, yall.
