Student Section

[CYdTracked]

We are not the "greatest fanbase" by any stretch of one's imagination, TriceHilton. Laughable.
Pertaining to this Hilton bb discussion, Hilton of today pales in comparison to Lawrence.
Those that disagree haven't been to Lawrence.
During the Orr and Fred eras we f-ing rocked the house...comparable to the phog.
Since? Not remotely close.

Watch the upcoming Lawrence based Kansas vs Arizona game.

Phog frenzy that'll dwarf Kansas vs us in Hilton this coming weekend.
Hope I'm wrong af

Got to experience Phog Allen Fieldhouse last year and I agree, that is probably the loudest college venue I have been in. Their fans are in it from start to finish and would be awesome of Hilton was like that every game.

Hilton is still one of the louder environments in the country. I may be biased but when I went to ISU when Larry was coaching the 99-00 and 00-01 seasons to me are still the most consistently loudest games I have attended at Hilton. The Fizer over Mihm poster dunk was probably the single loudest moment I've heard in Hilton.

I know a lot of us here are hard on the student section over the years, myself included. Some of it is deserved criticism but when they are on break their presence is definitely missed too. In recent years you can be certain that when Iowa and Kansas come to Hilton they will pack their sections to the top but otherwise during the week against a run of the mill team the upper deck is usually pretty sparse and there have even been some non-conference games where they struggled to fill the lower sections completely too. Not sure what the solution is but there have been games in recent seasons where the thin upper deck part of the student section is very noticeable and probably could have sold some of those seats to the public.

I've said this before, the 99-00 team is the gold standard for best team in ISU BB history IMO and this year's team is probably the best team we have had since then that has the potential to make a deep run in March if we can stay healthy and fresh. The games may be sold out but we should have no reason not have a completely packed Hilton for every remaining game at this point. Maybe this generation of students just don't have the excitement and commitment some of us remember having when we were students? I remember one night I had an exam the same time a MBB game was going on. I tried to get that exam finished as fast as I could then hopped on my bike and rode as fast as I could from campus to get to Hilton by halftime as I hated to miss a home game.

 

[AngryCyclone69]

The noise level and rowdiness doesn't concern me, I think that just has to do with how good we are. We have been favored by an average of 17 points per game in home conference games this year. That is ridiculously good, and for most seasons that was how much we were favored by in those non-conference cupcake games. So I get that people are just sort of showing up and watching, knowing we will win barring some catastrophe, just like those cupcake games of old. When the game is actually in doubt, the noise level is up.

What pisses me off is the hundreds of empty student seats. The student sections has not been full a single time this season for non-conference OR conference games, with the exception of the Iowa game. That is flat out embarrassing for a team ranked in the top 10 for most of the year, and in a building that is consistently ranked in the top 10 nationally these days.

 

[Chitowncy]

It could be worse

Thankfully we're nowhere near that. That's embarrassing.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

I think a lot of you are VASTLY overrating student attendance in other places.

For every Kansas, Purdue, Duke, etc, you've got 10 Iowas, Utahs, Colorados. etc.

The national averages are way closer to the latters than the formers.

This generation has proven over and over and over that they just don't have the same interest in sports and no matter how much us old dudes ***** and moan on the internet and think about when we were in school, it isn't going to change and, frankly, I don't blame them.

 

[ClonesFTW]

TV Timeouts also used to be 75 seconds. They're now between 2:45 and 4:00 depending on network.

This is actually a good point in regard to dampening the environment. Football is even worse.

 

[ClonesFTW]

Side note - Do we have any students on the board these days to chip in an opinion? 10-15 years ago we certainly did as "message boards" were more common prior to Twitter/Snapchat/etc. I'm not sure we have quite as many on here these days, I could be wrong.

 

[SHisubvu]

It was completely full for the break conference games this year and opponents for those were just okay. If students aren't going to fill their upper section those tickets should be available to families who want to purchase tickets at a reasonable rate. I personally think the students should only have the downstairs sections and the university should sell the upper section like they do on the other side.

 

[AngryCyclone69]

It's worth mentioning that the students who have showed up this year have been pretty good. It hasn't been very rowdy, but again, when the average spread for home games is 20+ points it's hard to be. If you are a student who has been making it to all of the conference games you are not the problem, and if you came out for the non-conference games too I salute you. It's just the students who bought student tickets but don't make the walk over to Hilton who are the problem.

 

[wenkeej]

I think a lot of you are VASTLY overrating student attendance in other places.

For every Kansas, Purdue, Duke, etc, you've got 10 Iowas, Utahs, Colorados. etc.

The national averages are way closer to the latters than the formers.

This generation has proven over and over and over that they just don't have the same interest in sports and no matter how much us old dudes ***** and moan on the internet and think about when we were in school, it isn't going to change and, frankly, I don't blame them.

I agree with your points but counter with this.

A lot of Cyclone fans want to think we are in the same tier as Kansas and Duke for home game environments, and while we can get close to those places at certain times and against certain opponents, we are not really close. And I wish we were....

 

[dafarmer]

Seating capacity for Cameron is 2/3.s of Hilton, not too hard to fill.

 

[rosshm16]

The timeouts things is a great point. I don't go to that many live sports events anymore but when I do, the TV timeouts when you're there live are really jarring and boring, sitting around for up to four minutes with no game going on. Total vibe killer.

Basketball specifically I think has too many timeouts. It doesn't happen often in reality, but in theory the last four minutes of the game could have up to 15 timeouts!

 

[thisISnextyear]

It's worth mentioning that the students who have showed up this year have been pretty good. It hasn't been very rowdy, but again, when the average spread for home games is 20+ points it's hard to be. If you are a student who has been making it to all of the conference games you are not the problem, and if you came out for the non-conference games too I salute you. It's just the students who bought student tickets but don't make the walk over to Hilton who are the problem.

The words below are directly from cyclones.com but it feels more like the priorities are more focused on being the first in line versus "creating an electric atmosphere that gives Iowa State a true home court advantage" no matter the opponent or score.

LEAD THE CHARGE. CREATE THE CHAOS. BE THE MAGIC.​

What is Cyclone Alley?​

Cyclone Alley is the official student section of Iowa State Men’s and Women’s Basketball—home to the loudest, proudest, and most passionate fans in college hoops. From the opening tip to the final buzzer, Cyclone Alley leads Hilton Coliseum in creating an electric atmosphere that gives Iowa State a true home court advantage.

 

[CYDJ]

+

Seating capacity for Cameron is 2/3.s of Hilton, not too hard to fill.

It is interesting. They have 1/2 the population of Iowa within an easy 30 minute drive from them with three universities roughly equivalent to ISU, Kansas and Iowa all in the same MSA. Easier to get to, but also split among 3 major bball draws. (OK, 2 major bball draws and NC St.)

 

[Pizzapitter]

Got to experience Phog Allen Fieldhouse last year and I agree, that is probably the loudest college venue I have been in. Their fans are in it from start to finish and would be awesome of Hilton was like that every game.

Hilton is still one of the louder environments in the country. I may be biased but when I went to ISU when Larry was coaching the 99-00 and 00-01 seasons to me are still the most consistently loudest games I have attended at Hilton. The Fizer over Mihm poster dunk was probably the single loudest moment I've heard in Hilton.

I know a lot of us here are hard on the student section over the years, myself included. Some of it is deserved criticism but when they are on break their presence is definitely missed too. In recent years you can be certain that when Iowa and Kansas come to Hilton they will pack their sections to the top but otherwise during the week against a run of the mill team the upper deck is usually pretty sparse and there have even been some non-conference games where they struggled to fill the lower sections completely too. Not sure what the solution is but there have been games in recent seasons where the thin upper deck part of the student section is very noticeable and probably could have sold some of those seats to the public.

I've said this before, the 99-00 team is the gold standard for best team in ISU BB history IMO and this year's team is probably the best team we have had since then that has the potential to make a deep run in March if we can stay healthy and fresh. The games may be sold out but we should have no reason not have a completely packed Hilton for every remaining game at this point. Maybe this generation of students just don't have the excitement and commitment some of us remember having when we were students? I remember one night I had an exam the same time a MBB game was going on. I tried to get that exam finished as fast as I could then hopped on my bike and rode as fast as I could from campus to get to Hilton by halftime as I hated to miss a home game.

You prioritized an exam over a home game?
Wow...
I didn't get a degree due largely to sex, drugs, rock n roll and Hilton. namely the latter.
True story.

 

[Erik4Cy]

I think a lot of you are VASTLY overrating student attendance in other places.

For every Kansas, Purdue, Duke, etc, you've got 10 Iowas, Utahs, Colorados. etc.

The national averages are way closer to the latters than the formers.

This generation has proven over and over and over that they just don't have the same interest in sports and no matter how much us old dudes ***** and moan on the internet and think about when we were in school, it isn't going to change and, frankly, I don't blame them.

This is a very level-headed take.

Hilton Coliseum at it's tamest is still a Top 25 home court advantage. When it's really rocking? Top 10, probably even Top 5.

I've been to some random mid level P4 team home games, top mid majors, and even some random 200-300 NET level small schools... none of them compare.

For anyone with ESPN+ (I'm a CBB junkie) who isn't a junkie just start throwing on some other random college games regardless of school size or conference...you will see some embarrassing home court crowds ALL over the country night in, night out.

 

[ajspatio19]

Side note - Do we have any students on the board these days to chip in an opinion? 10-15 years ago we certainly did as "message boards" were more common prior to Twitter/Snapchat/etc. I'm not sure we have quite as many on here these days, I could be wrong.

I'm sure there's some but probably not many. I graduated in '19 and didn't know what Cyclone Fanatic was until after I was out of school. Maybe that opens a discussion into CF's marketing efforts toward students

 

[trajanJ]

This is a very level-headed take.

Hilton Coliseum at it's tamest is still a Top 25 home court advantage. When it's really rocking? Top 10, probably even Top 5.

I've been to some random mid level P4 team home games, top mid majors, and even some random 200-300 NET level small schools... none of them compare.

For anyone with ESPN+ (I'm a CBB junkie) who isn't a junkie just start throwing on some other random college games regardless of school size or conference...you will see some embarrassing home court crowds ALL over the country night in, night out.

It's a top 10 on everyones list. Not sure I've ever seen Hilton not on someone's list.

 

[KCyclone2010]

The students seem tame compared to Allen Fieldhouse. They are jumping and yelling from start to finish, no matter who the opponent is. Our students only do that a few games a year.

 

[ClonesFTW]

It's a top 10 on everyones list. Not sure I've ever seen Hilton not on someone's list.

I'd say we are right in the top 5-8 for home court environments in the country.

 

[cytor]

The students seem tame compared to Allen Fieldhouse. They are jumping and yelling from start to finish, no matter who the opponent is. Our students only do that a few games a year.

I noticed the students at KU seem to have more prime seats than ISU students. It doesn't excuse the ISU students from bringing it... but I can see why the KU students might be more stoked when they are sitting closer to the floor and not behind the hoops