Hilton Magic

[cyclonenum1]

IMO, Hilton always seemed a little empty until the conference season began. It was like the basketball season didn't start until January. I remember going to games and being the only one in my row, and I'd be ten rows up.

You must have not been there in the mid 80s...if there were ever any empty seats during breaks during the non-conference schedule it was only in the very upper reaches of the corners of the balcony...they arena circle, parquet, and lower balcony were never empty.

 

[cyclonenum1]

I miss seasons like 1999-2000 where we were 18-0 at home. And 2000-2001 where we were 15-0 at home. Then the start of the 01-02 season we won the first three, and won the last 5 of the end of 99. that was a great 38 game home winning streak.

Everyone misses winning.

However, the reality is that during these two great seasons we did not have average attendance over 13,000. In 99-00 average attendance was 10,543 (pathetic for having an Elite 8 team) and in 00-01 average attendance was 12,360 (pathetic for a team coming off an Elite 8 appearance).

For some perspective, from 84-85 through 90-91 the lowest average attendance at Hilton was 13,259 and in both 85-86 and 87-88 we had average attendance in excess of the stated capacity of Hilton.

 

[cyclonenum1]

What is "Hilton Magic"

It is where an average ISU team can beat KU..........after losing by 50 in Lawrence!
It is where the floor shook when Okie States best free throw shooter choked with the game on the line.
It is where you cannot hear yourself think!
It was when the students sat behind the opposing teams bench and screamed "sit down Tubbs"!
It use to be where the FANS willed not so good teams to great wins! NOT where the team willed the fans to cheer!

And herein lies the problem.

DITTO! DITTO! DITTO!

May I add:

It is where you clap so much and so hard your hands are nearly bleeding by the end of the game.

It is where you yell so long and so loud that you can barely speak for the next two days.

Someone earlier said Cyclone Alley may be the problem. As I think about this...that may be correct. I don't doubt that the students are probably the loudest and most active fans still today. However, we used to be spread all over Hilton as students (your seat rotated so you went balcony, arena circle, parquet, balcony, etc.). That may have enticed the non student sections of the crowd to be more active in the past. I know when I was a student if the person behind me wanted to see the game they were going to have to stand and if I didn't hear enough noise from behind me I would look back to encourage more cheering. Today with Cyclone Alley the students are basically quarantined from the rest of the crowd and the blue-hairs can sit comfortably and just watch the game.

 

[cyclonenum1]

Amen. We can will these guys to victories folks, but we can't sit around and wait for something great to happen that makes us get off our feet.

I was telling a friend of mine after the game tonight that my dream for Hilton would be for it to be 80% full for all non-conference games and 100% full for every conference game, and I am not sure it will ever get there. And I want the place to be rocking with everyone on their feet for the entire game, and I am pretty confident this will never happen. You get all those media timeouts to sit down and rest, it is way better than having to stand on your feet for football games when you can sometimes end up standing for 30+ minutes straight during a quarter.

The place has never rocked as loud as I think it can, the only time I heard it anywhere close during my tenure was for Kansas last season (just my 2 and a half years in Ames).

By the way, for those of you who left early, thanks, I was able to get home in record time.

Point one highlighted was accomplished in the 80s. Point two happened when we played a top tier team like KU or OU at Hilton back in the 80s.

 

[CTAClone]

You must have not been there in the mid 80s...if there were ever any empty seats during breaks during the non-conference schedule it was only in the very upper reaches of the corners of the balcony...they arena circle, parquet, and lower balcony were never empty.

You are correct sir. I started attending games in the late 80's. First game I remember going to was when Victor Alexander was playing.

Can we just take out the seats?

 

[CyBobby]

Hilton Magic is a thing of the past. Now, we simply invite teams to our court for a layup victory. We barely compete with marginal teams nowdays.

Yeah old hiltonmagic left with LE and WM and its not coming back anytime soon unless mac recruits some players who can run his system....Has G-Mac ever beaten a mo valley team since arriving at ames? Not being smart A$$ED I just can remember Mac ever beating a mo valley team....

 

[tube1]

Yeah old hiltonmagic left with LE and WM and its not coming back anytime soon unless mac recruits some players who can run his system....Has G-Mac ever beaten a mo valley team since arriving at ames? Not being smart A$$ED I just can remember Mac ever beating a mo valley team....

I believe G-Mac is 0-5 against the Mo Valley

Lost to Bradley twice, UNI twice, and Creighton last year (maybe).

 

[wonkadog]

You forgot Drake (too lazy to look it up).

 

[BryceC]

Sub Drake in for Creighton, we didn't play creighton last year. 0-5.

 

[tube1]

Sub Drake in for Creighton, we didn't play creighton last year. 0-5.

Bulldogs. Of course Good catch.

 

[ajk4st8]

Like I said last week..... Hilton Magic is dead and should not be ever referred to as Hilton Magic...

with that said... its still a great place to watch a game. Its just not the same.

 

[ajk4st8]

"Someone earlier said Cyclone Alley may be the problem. As I think about this...that may be correct. I don't doubt that the students are probably the loudest and most active fans still today. However, we used to be spread all over Hilton as students (your seat rotated so you went balcony, arena circle, parquet, balcony, etc.). That may have enticed the non student sections of the crowd to be more active in the past. I know when I was a student if the person behind me wanted to see the game they were going to have to stand and if I didn't hear enough noise from behind me I would look back to encourage more cheering. "


Soo true. The whole concept of cheering to win has gone to winning to cheer.