Last year, I was astonished to learn that no media members travel to cover Penn State Nittany Lions college basketball. I mean they’re a Big Ten team right? They had the Crispins! And they upset North Carolina to reach the Elite 8 in 2001.
Then I started watching more PSU games on television (I have a Talor Battle man-crush- that’s my excuse) and noticed the lower bowl of the Bryce Jordan Center is 60-70% empty for most games, and they don’t even bother opening the upper bowl. So I understood.
Then I noticed their fans, how few of there are, act extremely BUSH LEAGUE in the way they frequently storm the court following victories over very mediocre teams. Well, hopefully they’ll grow up and learn how to “act like they’ve been there before,” now that their ranks are swelling in numbers.
By Paul M. Banks
According to a release from the University:
“The recent outpouring of student support for the Nittany Lion basketball team and the huge student walk-up of more than 2,600 for last Saturday’s victory over No. 15 Wisconsin has prompted us to reevaluate how we can move students into the BJC and their seats faster,” Penn State Associate Athletic Director Greg Myford said. “We are aware that due to the large numbers of students coming to the gates so close to game time, that many experienced long waits to buy their ticket. We want to minimize those delays as part of making sure that our fans have the best experience possible – start to finish — when they come to support our team.”
Penn State drew a season high crowd of 14,292, the largest in two years, to the Jordan Center for the Nittany Lions 56-52 upset of the Badgers, Penn State’s third-straight home victory over a ranked opponent. More than 4,000 of those in attendance purchased their tickets on game day at the arena making it difficult to process the number of requests in a timely manner. The vast majority of those requests were for $5 student tickets, as the Nittany Nation turned out in force to help push the Lions closer to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 10 years.
In an effort to streamline the purchase of student tickets and the entry of students into the arena, Penn State will add six additional points of sale outside of the Jordan Center gates and increase staffing of ushers swiping tickets at Jordan Center entry points.”
So there you go- three wins at home over ranked teams, and a SOS of RPI that puts them squarely in bubble conversation, and the fans are starting to show up.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net , a Midwest webzine. He’s also a regular contributor to the Tribune’s Chicago Now network, Walter Football.com, Yardbarker Network, and Fox Sports.com
You can follow him on Twitter @thesportsbank
He also does a regular guest spot each week for Chicagoland Sports Radio.com and Cleveland.com