Editor's Note: This analysis is the fifth in a three-day, five-part series that will look at men's basketball attendance at Ohio, in the Mid-American Conference and at the national level.
The announced attendance for last night's Ohio-Eastern Michigan men's basketball game was 3,471, a respectable mid-week crowd for a Mid-American Conference contest.
What was less than impressive, though, was the O-Zone.
Capacity for the student section -traditionally one of the best in the MAC -is 416, but barely half those seats were filled during the Bobcats' 68-65 win last night. Part of the glaring problem can be chalked up to ever-increasing student apathy, but more of the blame can, and should, be attributed to the Ohio Athletics Department, which has been more stringent this season about entrance to the raucous green bleachers.
During seasons past, students could enter the O-Zone at any point during the game whether or not they were section members. Should they not have a membership card and T-shirt this season, however, guards have turned them away and left them to sit in the seats behind the O-Zone. Even former Ohio standout and current Orlando Magic forward Brandon Hunter was stopped last week when he tried to enter.
Improvements have already been made to increase the number of students in the O-Zone -including a mid-season reduction in the ticket price from $15 to $7 -but more changes can be made for next season, beginning with the cost of admission.
Before the O-Zone's formal creation and marketing before the 2001-02 season, there was no cost to enter the familiar green bleachers that sit almost on top of the court and Bobcats' opponents. During the team's early-and mid-'90s glory years, fans filled the section on a first-come, first-served basis. Late-arriving fans were relegated to the next level of seating.
That same policy should be reinstituted.
There is no sense in collecting a nominal fee from Ohio's most rabid fans for prime seating while leaving the rest of the students to sit in seats available free of charge. General admission-style seating similar to the system used at Connecticut's Gampel Pavilion might encourage students to show up early and depart after the final buzzer, something that hasn't been entirely evident this season.
The athletics department did catch a tremendous break when men's basketball coach Tim O'Shea offered last night to buy a quarter's worth of textbooks for one student from the O-Zone if the section is full for Wednesday's game against Buffalo. The game will be key to Ohio's chances of hosting a first-round game in the MAC Tournament; the Bobcats trail Buffalo by just one-half game for third place in the MAC East Division.
Individuals within the athletics department have expressed interest in such a promotion but haven't been able to clear the financial aspect with the university's administration. If free textbooks don't fill up 416 seats, nothing will.
The O-Zone also needs better organization from its leaders. A lone two-sided handout listing information about opponents is normally distributed to members before each game, but there is little to no follow-up on the jeers that should ensue. If the group assigned one or two veteran O-Zoners to lead each section in a unified chant, the O-Zone would have an even larger effect on the games than it already enjoys. There is more to each game, after all, than students chanting bulls--- and winning team
losing team.
Finally, the O-Zone needs to embrace all of Ohio's teams. A makeshift football O-Zone has struggled during recent seasons but is sure to grow this fall because of the hiring of new football coach Frank Solich. And a number of O-Zoners started attending volleyball matches, but not even back-to-back MAC championships have been enough for the Bobcats to lead the conference in volleyball attendance.
Student cheering sections are tiny, at best, for women's basketball games and wrestling matches and nonexistent for most other Bobcats sports. An increased interest in all Ohio teams -not just football and men's basketball, the traditional breadwinners -will be needed for Ohio to move up among the conference's elite athletics programs.
If those steps are taken, there is no doubt that Ohio's students can again be acknowledged as the best fans in the MAC. 17
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Matt LaWell
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The O-Zone cheers on the Bobcats during tip-off of last night's game against the Eagles of Eastern Michigan.
