Attendance figures

DawnoftheDawg runs down last year's attendance figures, and neither they nor I are surprised by what they show.

I do, however, think their ranking of the reasons for the low numbers is a tad off.  I suggest you click over and read the whole thing, but here's a summary of their list of reasons attendance was lower than it could have been:

1. Georgia is a football school in a football state.
2. Georgia basketball didn't do enough to connect with students.
3. The team got off to a poor start.
4. The home non-conference opponents were not appealing.

 Let me reorder to my preference and add my own two cents:

1. The team got off to a poor start.  After the first 5 games, who thought this team was going to be worth watching?  It's a fact that many of the fans coming to Georgia games are driving an hour or more to get there, and it's a fact that not many people want to drive an hour or more to watch bad basketball.  The poor start, along with an uninspired loss to Georgia Tech killed any chance at early season momentum.  I'm a pretty big fan, I went all the way to Charleston to watch the team, and while driving home wasn't even sure I wanted to go to any more games.
2. Georgia basketball didn't do enough to connect with students.  This has been a recurring issue during the Mark Fox era.  The head coach is also head of the marketing department, and Fox has fallen flat there.  Remember the positive press he received when he tweeted out that he'd be paying for students to attend the Vermont game?  Remember the excitement when students were admitted free?  We need more of that.  I've said here before I think students should be admitted free to all non-conference games.  You need 5% of the student population on board.  That's doable.
3. The home non-conference opponents were not appealing.  It was a bad home slate, and that's not all Mark Fox's fault.  Florida and Kentucky are guaranteed sellouts, and neither came to Athens last year. The bump from those two games alone likely would have put Georgia at about 75th in the nation in attendance.  Of course, the non-conference scheduling was ugly too.  All of the above will be rectified this year, and the attendance numbers will benefit because of it.
4. Georgia is a football school in a football state.  I continue to roll my eyes at this one.  Is basketball second fiddle to football?  Yes.  But you're not trying to fill a 90,000 seat arena.  Folks everywhere - and Athens is no different - have proven they'll turn out for a winner.  It will always be difficult to sell out on a Wednesday night.  But people will make the drive to see a winner.

 And that's the key, of course.  As I've said before, and as DawnoftheDawg says to end the article:

Just win, baby.

h/t DawnoftheDawg