ISP and UNCG

I promised I'd give this topic it's own blog entry and here it is. First, here are some of the articles.

UNCG Athletics
ISP

Here is the main quote from both articles ...

"With the partnership, ISP will work with the Department of Athletics’ staff
to market a variety of corporate sponsorship opportunities involving Spartan
Athletics, including live play-by-play game radio broadcasts and call-in shows,
various athletic department publications, signage in on-campus facilities,
corporate hospitality events and the official website of the department,
www.uncgspartans.com. "

I have not been a huge fan of the way that UNCG has marketed its basketball program. I love that UNCG has realized that they need help and partnered with ISP. ISP is the same company that partnered with UCLA and then proceeded to call out USC in the LA Times. That's the kind of "moxie" that I hope they bring to UNCG. There's a reason why this company has athletics departments teaming up with them in huge numbers. Hopefully, being located in the triad will give them a unique perspective on this market and how to attack our problems.


I think it's ridiculous that I live 30 miles away from campus and can't hear a Spartan basketball game on the radio. Meanwhile, I can easily find an App State or High Point game. ISP is going to have to use it's connections to fix this problem. There needs to be a UNCG flagship station with a strong signal, or maybe more than one station carrying the games. Part of the reason for this problem is market demand. Radio stations make decisions based on their bottom line. Whatever station Spartan games end up on, it's up to us fans to tune in, send appreciative emails and do business with its sponsors. I think that last one is true for all aspects of UNCG athletics not just radio broadcasts. Fans need to show their patronage to companies that financially support athletics.


Moving into the Greensboro Coliseum means that there will now be a lot of extra seats to fill. Putting the meager 1,300 people that UNCG is currently drawing into the ~7,600 seats will look just plain dumb. The draw has got to be bigger. UNCG has to reach out to more of the alumni living in the triad or within driving distance. If you were to take a census of the crowd at Fleming Gym for a basketball game, I think you'd find that a large majority are students. This is to be expected. But I think the second largest group would be alumni/fans over the age of 40. It's important to get the group of alumni that fall in between those 2 groups involved and interested in what's going on with the university (and it's basketball program). Those people might not buy season tickets, but may come to 3 or 4 games. Those people might start talking about UNCG basketball in their offices or with their friends. Those people might skip watching an ACC game on ESPN to catch a Spartans game on FSN. This is going to be a several year process, and I think that UNCG is missing a huge opportunity with that group of potential fans. I can't say that I've got any brilliant ideas on how to get them involved. I'll leave that to the people that get paid to make that happen.


I'm not sure if ISP can make any changes to the problems listed. I have no idea what they have in mind for UNCG. I'd like to think that they see some of the same things. However, I feel better having them involved in our basketball program.

The Charleston Sweep of UNCG

UNCG 62 - College of Charleston 77

News & Record
Charleston Post & Courier
UNCG
College of Charleston

The Spartans played their best half of basketball on Saturday. They followed it up with one of their worst. The Spartans took a 40-36 lead into the locker room. However, CofC owned the second half (41-22).

Since I didn't really do much of a recap after the Citadel game, this is going to just be more of some of my major thoughts of both games. I'm not going to bother discussing major negatives b/c I think we're moving towards "moral victory" territory.

- Damian Eargle was ineligible for the Citadel game, and UNCG was outrebounded 37-30. He was back for the CofC game and UNCG outrebounded the Cougars 35-31. These two thing could be completely unrelated. I doubt it, though.
- Elhanan Bone is really starting to look more comfortable and his stats are showing it (8 pts & 6 rebs - Citadel, 12 pts & 5 rebs - CofC). If Bone can average 10 & 7 guy the rest of this year, the Spartans will be competitive in a lot of games.
- Even with the disappointing early season play, the crowds at Fleming Gym have been nice. Not "sell-out" nice, but enough to generate a fun atmosphere. The crowds will have to get larger an more vocal next year, though.
- Daniel Oliver has been a good spark off of the bench. In both games, he's brought a sense of urgency on the court with him. He's also looked to take a few more shots and made some of them.
- UNCG shot free throws well in these two games. 12-14 against CofC and 7-9 against the Citadel.
- UNCG played very good free throw defense. The Citadel made just 7-13 and CofC missed all of their 11 attempts.
*** I am not going negative here. While this was might come off as an underhanded shot at UNCG, it's not. I'm actually cracking on CofC. That's an unbelievable stat (0-11). If the Cougars plan on really competing with Davidson, they better get the problem corrected in a hurry.

College of Charleston (6-1) @ UNCG (1-4)

When: Saturday, Dec 6 3 pm
Where: Fleming Gym (2,320)
TV: SportSouth

College of Charleston Athletics
College of Charleston Forum

Spartan Notes:
- UNCG fell to the Citadel Thursday night, 57-50. Landon Clement scored 15 and Ben Stywall pulled down 10 boards. UNCG managed to shoot an unbelievable 17.2% from 3 point range (5-29). The Bulldogs also out rebounded UNCG by 7 (37-30). UNCG turned the ball over just 8 times.
- Mikko Koivisto (14.0) and Landon Clement (10.8) are scoring in double figures. Koivisto is leading UNCG in assists (3.0), and Ben Stywall is averaging 8.4 rebounds.
- UNCG has used 5 different starting lineups in 5 games.
- Last year, UNCG won 88-71 in Charleston. The Spartans prevailed 75-67 in the return game at Fleming Gym.

Cougar Notes:
- CofC won at Elon on Thursday night, 77-69. Andrew Goudelock scored 19 points for the Cougars.
- CofC already has wins against South Carolina and TCU. Their lone loss came to Temple in the semi-finals of the Charleston Classic. The Cougars are 3-1 at home, 3-0 on the road and they've won five 5 straight games.
- Goudelock (18.0 pts) leads 5 players scoring in double figures. He also is their assist leader (3.4). Jermaine Johnson is the Cougars leading rebounder (8.6).
- On the season, CofC is shooting 49.3% from the field, 41% from 3 points range and 66.2% from the free throw line. 6 CofC players have positive assist-to-turnover ratios.

My Thoughts:
With everything going on yesterday, I haven't had much time to research the Cougars. However, when you look at their stats you can see that this is one of the best teams in the SoCon. UNCG will need to take care of the ball again today. As bad as the Spartans were on Thursday night, they were a couple of 3's away from stealing a win. UNCG will need to shoot a higher percentage. Damian Eargle will have to get out of Coach Dement's doghouse and back to being productive on the court.

Hopefully, the Spartans can have a good showing on TV and gain some confidence moving forward.

Happy Blue & Gold Day

I started writing this blog for a couple of reason. Some of those I have already talked about in a previous post. One that I didn't point out was that I really thought that big things were going to happen at my alma mater and I really wanted to keep up with them.

After last night's tough loss, (and what is turning into a tough season) Spartan fans need something to feel good about. Today came some news that UNCG fans, students and alumni can get excited about. I posted a quick blurb about the possibility of a UNCG move to the Greensboro Coliseum yesterday. During a noon press conference, all of this was confirmed.


Article Links:
- News & Record (yesterday)
- News & Record (today)
- University Homepage
- Athletics Homepage
- News & Observer (Raleigh)

You can watch the press conference on demand on Spartan all-access. Here's what I took away from watching.

- Linda Brady gets it. I have no idea where this woman came from, but I'm glad she's here. She understands that athletic success plays a huge role on the image of the university itself and the pride that the alumni take in the school. This woman has a big vision for UNCG and I like it. Hearing her speak just fires me up. Please go give some halftime speeches.
- Fred Barakat is going to deliver us a #1 in strength of schedule. He made it quite clear that we're going to have 4-5 ACC games on our schedule (home and away) and games against A10, CAA and CUSA teams.
- The coliseum is going to try very hard to make this a home court for the Spartans. I really like the idea of cutting the seating down to ~7,300. Also, I like that the floor will have UNCG's logos and locker rooms.

My concerns are over some of the ticketing and pricing issues. I really hope that the UNCG administration understands not to bite the hand that's already feeding it. I think everyone is aware that prices will change, but it can't be that dramatic. The parking prices will have to be reasonable also. Right now, I can park on campus for free and go to the game $10. UNCG can't change that to $15 tickets and $5 parking and expect all of the fans that follow them now to just move down the street with them too.

Right now, UNCG's season tickets were priced in some of the oddest ways possible. I could buy a walk-up ticket to every game and pay the same price that I would if I'd have bought season tickets a month ago. There's no reward for buying all games early. Plus, you could (and I did) buy a SoCon ticket package for $75. That's easily the best deal they offered this year. I hope they offer a reward to UNCG fans that buy season tickets next year. Give a 25% break in the full price and offer some kind of season parking pass for a reasonable price. That means that when 5,000 NC State fans buy their tickets the day of the game, they won't be sitting court side and will pay more than your loyal Spartan fans. Plus, selling these season tickets assures UNCG of nice crowds when we're not playing ACC schools.

I like the idea of selling beer at the games. It will get casual fans from the Greensboro community interested in attending games. Case in point, my wife has said repeatedly that she'd love to go to basketball games with me as long as she could drink. Now this really says more about my behavior at games than anything else, but you get the point.

Also I hope the administration and coliseum officials get the students involved by putting them in the first 2-3 rows all the way around the court, or let them have the risers right behind the baskets. That's how you get a home court advantage. Also, have the full band there for all of the games.

UNCG also hired ISP to do their sports marketing. I'll have to devote an entire upcoming post to this move because it might be the best news of the day.

Happy Blue & Gold Day !!!

Not the best way to start

UNCG 50 - The Citadel 57

There's a ton going on with the Spartan basketball team today, and I'm really swamped at work. So, I'm really just going to link to some game stories. I'll put up a more detailed review after the second half of the "Low Country Double Header".

I'll also be back with a full recap on all of the days events ...

UNCG
News & Record
Charleston Post & Courier
The Citadel

Be sure to bring some bubble wrap to the game tonight

According to this News & Record article, the UNCG men's basketball team will now be calling the Greensboro Coliseum home starting in the 2009-2010 season.

Also, UNCG has hired Fred Barakat to serve as a scheduling consultant. One would assume that his job will be to get well known teams to play the Spartans in Greensboro.

There is a news conference scheduled for noon on Friday. I'll wait until after then to post most of my thoughts. I will say that I'm impressed with the new chancellor and her vision. Hopefully it will be executed very well.

The Citadel (4-3) @ UNCG (1-3)

When: Thursday, Dec. 4 7 pm
Where: Fleming Gym (2,320)
TV: None/ All-Access

Citadel Athletics
Citadel Forum

Spartan Notes:
- Last time out, UNCG lost to NC State 79-52 at the RBC Center in Raleigh. Kendall Toney scored 16 points and pulled down 8 boards. Freshman Damian Eargle chipped in 10 points. UNCG trailed by just 11 at the half. However, a 16-4 Wolfpack spurt after the break squashed any thoughts of a Spartan upset.
- 9 UNCG scholarship players (out of 10) have seen action in all 4 games this season. Eight of those players are averaging double figures in minutes played.
- UNCG has used a different starting lineup for all 4 games.
- Only one player is averaging double figures in points. Mikko Koivisto leads the team in points (15.8) and assists (3.3). Ben Stywall leads UNCG in rebounding (8.0).
- As a team, UNCG is shooting 39.7% from the field, 32% from 3 point range and 58.2% from teh free throw line.
- The Spartans defeated the Bulldogs twice last season. UNCG won 84-54 at Fleming Gym. Kyle Hines led UNCG with 22 and Austin Dahn led the Bulldogs with 19. UNCG won 74-63 in the return game in Charleston. This time Ben Stywall led UNCG in scoring (21 pts), but Austin Dahn again led the Bulldogs (17 pts).

Bulldog Notes:
- The Citadel are coming off a 55-41 win over Grambling State in Cancun, Mexico. Cameron Wells had a double-double (10 pts and 14 rebs). The Bulldogs went 12-26 from 3 point range (46.2%).
- UNCG and The Citadel have played one common opponent so far this year, Central Arkansas. UNCG lost to the Bears 73-60 in Conway. The Citadel lost 58-53 in Cancun, Mexico.
-The Bulldogs are led in points (16.9) and rebounds (6.6) by Cameron Wells. Zach Urbanus is their leading assist man (2.6).
- For the season, the Bulldogs are shooting 43.5% from the field, 32.3% from 3 point range and 72.7% from the free throw line.
- The Citadel has beat Grace Bible, Cincinnati Christian, Charleston Southern and Grambling State. The Bulldogs lost to VCU, Iowa and Central Arkansas. The Citadel is 0-1 on the road, 2-1 at home and 2-1 in neutral site games.

My Thoughts:
News Flash --- UNCG isn't going to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. The Spartans will have to make some noise in the SoCon in order to play somewhere in the postseason.

Ok, here it is. This is a home game against a team that was picked to finish basically last by the coaches and media. But here's the tricky part ... they're not quite as bad as predicted. Unlike UNCG, they have won a game against a D1 program. They have played 7 games already and they have shown signs of playing well. Last year, this team started 5 freshmen. Thus, these guys have played together quite a bit. However, this will be only their second true road game.

UNCG is going to have to do several things in order to be successful. They are going to have to play off the crowd energy. They are going to have to protect the basketball. They are going to have to step up and make free throws. They are going to have to play smart, hard-nosed defense without getting into foul trouble.

It's time to start seeing some real improvement out of this team. The games are coming weeks apart right now. Hopefully, this means the guys are getting plenty of time to watch film and then work on things they are seeing. With the conference opener here now, it's time for things to start coming together. We can't start behind the 8-ball ... with a home loss.

Go Spartans !!!