UNI @ Drake 2/18 8pm (FSN and ESPN3)

[musiccitybulldog]

UNI was out numbered where it counted..on the scoreboard.

[rlh04d]

Yep, outnumbered by the 800 Drake fans and 25 students.

UNI's last home game had 3,532 people at it.

You're seriously talking smack regarding attendance?

Remind me the last time UNI had a losing season...

I wouldn't talk smack regarding that, either, considering you're 13-14 at the moment. And your three remaining games are @ISUb, vs surging SIU, and vs #3 Illinois State. Not an easy end to the season at all.

[TheDrake]

I guess if every one of UNI's 4000 fans that attends the home games travelled to Des Moines you might be able to claim this is the McCleod Center South. Somehow that seems unlikely.

That is 4000 fans per game in the Golden Age of UNI Basketball. Just think what it would be like after a couple of losing seasons.

Remind me the last time UNI had a losing season...

The McLeod might start to look like the Knapp Center if that happens....

You know why it's call the Knapp Center right? Well...Take the K out of the name and you got it. The fans that go to the games average 87 and fall asleep watching shitty ass basketball year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year


Coming from the fan of a team who has the PIG night at the conference tourney named after it that's freaking rich.


UNI fans have outnumbered Drake fans every single game in DSM the last 8-10 years.

UNI owns the series record lead, has won 9 of the last 10 and 4 of the last 5 in DM.

Good game out of the Bulldogs for 35 minutes. Didn't see or hear much of UNI's vaunted fan base at "McLeod South".

[PantherSigEp]

Well I think we're now 0-2...0-3 maybe when I make these threads. Last time I make that mistake, basketball gods! credit to Drake for coming out ready to play. Just hard to watch the leagues #1 FT shooting and 3 pt team unable to do either. Lack of D didn't surprise me but watching the Drake hit shots whether contested or wide open and UNI unable to hit either was frustrating.

I'm not going to go Agrinut on you guys and claim that the "better" team lost because for the first 30 mins it was pretty clear that Drake was playing the best basketball, but it's disappointing that the Panthers decided to revert back to their old road form. Hit just 1% more of your shots and UNI somehow battles back and probably wins this game.

Also having been at this game I was really disappointed overall at the attendance from both sides. Both teams have had poor seasons based on early expectations, and it wasn't a weekend game like some of the other recent matchups in Des Moines, but about half the seats were empty 10 mins before tipoff and there was NOT a big push to fill them before tipoff. Almost no one was in the upper bleachers which have usually been where lots and lots of Panther fans have filled in for cheap seats in the past. Took he Bulldogs to be up by 17 before the crowd actually started to be loud and when UNI closed the gap to 1 possession and Drake was shooting FT's those UNI fans made the most noise the building had witnessed all night. I actually had a middle aged Drake woman yell at me because I stood up and yelled for Karl Madison to miss his FT (which he did). Sometimes I don't understand people who show up to sporting events.

Overall good game by the Dogs, pretty pathetic showing by UNI but they screwed themselves and yet they still have the inside track to the 3 seed if they can regroup and put in strong efforts to end the season.

[DUBulldog]

Well I think we're now 0-2...0-3 maybe when I make these threads. Last time I make that mistake, basketball gods! credit to Drake for coming out ready to play. Just hard to watch the leagues #1 FT shooting and 3 pt team unable to do either. Lack of D didn't surprise me but watching the Drake hit shots whether contested or wide open and UNI unable to hit either was frustrating.

I'm not going to go Agrinut on you guys and claim that the "better" team lost because for the first 30 mins it was pretty clear that Drake was playing the best basketball, but it's disappointing that the Panthers decided to revert back to their old road form. Hit just 1% more of your shots and UNI somehow battles back and probably wins this game.

Also having been at this game I was really disappointed overall at the attendance from both sides. Both teams have had poor seasons based on early expectations, and it wasn't a weekend game like some of the other recent matchups in Des Moines, but about half the seats were empty 10 mins before tipoff and there was NOT a big push to fill them before tipoff. Almost no one was in the upper bleachers which have usually been where lots and lots of Panther fans have filled in for cheap seats in the past. Took he Bulldogs to be up by 17 before the crowd actually started to be loud and when UNI closed the gap to 1 possession and Drake was shooting FT's those UNI fans made the most noise the building had witnessed all night. I actually had a middle aged Drake woman yell at me because I stood up and yelled for Karl Madison to miss his FT (which he did). Sometimes I don't understand people who show up to sporting events.

Overall good game by the Dogs, pretty pathetic showing by UNI but they screwed themselves and yet they still have the inside track to the 3 seed if they can regroup and put in strong efforts to end the season.

Bulldogs went into the "prevent offense" too early. Second game in a row where DU was up 15-20 with about 10 minutes to go and almost blew it....but, they won both. Credit to UNI for hanging in there....don't know how Mitchell missed that wide open layup that would've tied it.

Agree with you that it was a disappointing crowd for both teams....by far the fewest UNI fans I've seen at a game in Des Moines in the past 10 years. I wonder if the late start hurt attendance.

[davidfast]

What early expectations did Drake have??? I don't recall any pre-season.

[Drakey]

Drake's preseason expectations were a last place finish in the Valley and maybe 7-8 victories. I'm guessing the crowd was around 4500? Give the Bulldogs a couple years. I think Drake has a lot of inherent positives that over the past 20 years have been negated by horrible coaching (With the exception of Tom and Keno) Drake should and will be one of the top programs in the Valley in a few years.

[PantherSigEp]

What early expectations did Drake have??? I don't recall any pre-season.

Would you rather I had said pre-MVC expectations? I consider that to still be "early" in the season. I'm fairly certain that there were Drake fans declaring that Giacoletti had undone years of Mark Phelps "program-poison" in one weak non-conference go around. Clearly that wasn't completely true although I wouldn't disagree that things aren't better. The fact is that Drake had a strong start before a big dose of gravity brought them back to reality.

[DUBulldog]

What early expectations did Drake have??? I don't recall any pre-season.

Would you rather I had said pre-MVC expectations? I consider that to still be "early" in the season. I'm fairly certain that there were Drake fans declaring that Giacoletti had undone years of Mark Phelps "program-poison" in one weak non-conference go around. Clearly that wasn't completely true although I wouldn't disagree that things aren't better. The fact is that Drake had a strong start before a big dose of gravity brought them back to reality.

New coach, new system....early in the season, teams didn't have Drake scouted very well. Once conference season started, teams had Drake scouted much better. And, as the season went on, it became apparent that a weak non-conference schedule was even worse than it originally looked (i.e. several of Drake's non-con opponents fell far short of what was predicted for them....despite those predictions not being great to begin with).

I think most fans (including a lot of Drake fans) underestimated the effects of Gary Ricks' season ending foot injury. He was virtually a non-entity during MVC play last season, so MVC fans wouldn't know much about him. But, Ricks was averaging 12.5 points, 4 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 45% from 3-point range with a 3.5:1 assist to turnover ratio. Plus, he was the "glue guy". With Ricks, Drake probably has 2-3 more wins in conference.

But, every team has injuries, and you just have to deal with it.

[Ricardo del Rio]

UNI was out numbered where it counted..on the scoreboard.

The outnumbered number was 8-5.