student section

Ha ha...

Really though, the goal would be offer a gathering place for fans that could, ideally, turn into a regular feature for Fri/Sat night games. The more community building we can do among Pilot fans and the more incentives we can offer for people to come to the Chiles Center for a game, the better.

Stonehouse wrote:

Keep an eye out for details... it's all very theoretical at this point. But I think it's got potential.

We've got a game in two days....Wednesday night test drive???

Are you going to be reppin' some Purple Pride at Chiles on Wednesday? We can definitely make something happen...

DaTruRochin wrote:

onetouchfutbol wrote: Is it possible to have a mixed group...of current students as well as alumni? That kind of promotes responsible drinking and not too much heckling in the stands either...

Well clearly PilotNut and I just got taken off "the list"

I also might have eliminated myself. Hahahaha...

I'm bummed that the 2/3 matchup against Gonzaga falls on a Thursday. I wish that one was a weekend game so I could road trip down for it...

DaTruRochin wrote:Well clearly PilotNut and I just got taken off "the list"

I guess we will just have to stick to The Perch and our own comments...

http://deadspin.com/5750996/large-man-dressed-as-little-teapot-successfully-distracts-free-throw-shooter

And I thought the Telletubbies were bizarre.... The accompanying song is pretty damn good though...

It's great to see the Teletubbies working the shooter...

I think the Teletubbies could crank it up just another little notch and be more effective... if they could just move around a little more and just draw a little more attention to themselves, it would be even better... the timing is pretty good for being in the shooter's line of site at the right time, but just a little more arm waving, jumping, leg kicking, etc, might just do it!

I look forward to packed house and boisterous student body tonight! The crowd for the SMC game was great; even the old folks were getting into it!

Go Pilots!

Unfortunately Teletubbies don't make noise, duh. Maybe they could bring in a bulldog and berate it in front of the shooters....

I got it, we bring in THESE guys:

PilotNut wrote:even the old folks were getting into it!

If Gonzaga's adult fans can make noise, so can ours!! We need to drown out GU fans tonight and they may require an effort from everyone in the house.

DaTruRochin wrote:I got it, we bring in THESE guys

Great find. Works especially well with your signature quote right under the video--

Butler is a great example of building a program their way over a long time. We will be Portland. Getting it done in a way that fits us." - Eric Reveno

I wonder what air fare for 200 of those guys is.....

DaTruRochin wrote:http://deadspin.com/5750996/large-man-dressed-as-little-teapot-successfully-distracts-free-throw-shooter

And I thought the Telletubbies were bizarre.... The accompanying song is pretty damn good though...

Those are some long, cold winters in Utah, aren't they!

Regarding the students and the Gonzaga game - I was told by a co-worker who's a recent GU alum (class of 2010) that she was very impressed with the student section, comparing their energy to "how the Kennel Club used to be." In her words, the current Kennel Club has gotten "lazy."

I will say that I've noticed that in the last 10 years, the GU crowds have gotten smaller and quieter and the Portland crowds have gotten bigger and louder. I like that.

Hopefully the student turnout for SMC and GU continues next week! I know sustaining that energy is the real challenge...

I was happy with our turnout for SMC and GU.

I think the next step is to become a smart student section by mixing up cheers, knowing when certain cheers are appropriate and knowing how to "will the team to win."

Right now: Pilots score -> Students get loud

Next step: Students get loud when Pilots aren't scoring -> Pilots score -> Students get louder

At least that's the way I see it...

Well even more importantly is taking "Pilots just scored" energy and immediately focusing it on helping with defense. I noticed there was a definite lag in the time from OMG we just scored to any sort of organized defensive cheer. That quick transition is key, and with proper leadership, definitely an attainable thing to do. A home crowd has the biggest effect on a game when it is able to rattle the opposing offense, and there is definitely work to be done in that department. (Especially in the 2nd half and the opposing team is shooting on the student section side.)

DaTruRochin wrote:Well even more importantly is taking "Pilots just scored" energy and immediately focusing it on helping with defense. I noticed there was a definite lag in the time from OMG we just scored to any sort of organized defensive cheer. That quick transition is key, and with proper leadership, definitely an attainable thing to do. A home crowd has the biggest effect on a game when it is able to rattle the opposing offense, and there is definitely work to be done in that department. (Especially in the 2nd half and the opposing team is shooting on the student section side.)

I agree, but it's much more difficult these days, I know from experience that getting my college age daughter off of her cell phone (to do an organized cheer) anywhere is virtually impossible...It's sad really kids these days the "me" generation that have a hard time realizing their missing life go by in front of their face while their busy texting their friends udder nonsense...

Crickets....

DaTruRochin wrote:Crickets....

Tell me about it. I tried to get people to move down so we didn't look quite as terrible on ESPNU. And even though I'm sick, I did my best to make some noise and get others to as well. I was embarrassed though, overall.

There seemed to be enough people....they just weren't doing anything...even when we scored. I think I heard one weak Defense chant tonight.

Crickets for sure. The old folks side was much louder.

We should make a special old folks who want to yell section next year for all the Toys R Us kids who don't want to grow up. Maybe the students can learn by example.

To be fair, the other side might have been louder, but not by much, because I could not really hear the other side outside of ref interaction and the shared celebration like after Nicholas' made shot and the tying baskets.

Tonight's section featured seniors who prefer heckling refs or certain players than chants.

Thanks Drummer for backing up the efforts we tried, even if I really could not project. Thanks also to SP11 for his work in the first half.

Even though the St. Mary's game went so well, the majority of students are still reactionary, rather than proactive, like SP11 said earlier on this page. SP11 and I can start something when we think it needs to happen, but maybe the first few rows will catch on. Even with Gonzaga and St. Mary's, only a few rows are active at any given time. One difficulty is the lack of megaphones due to their nature as artificial noisemakers, which are not allowed inside or are considered privileges at Merlo.

Hopefully enough students can attend for Senior Evening or can get their parents involved to salvage the week!

I was watching the game at home on television, and honestly I could hear the cheerleaders over the student section, that is just pathetic. And you can tell the difference between the general noise/applause of the whole arena and the coordinated efforts of a student section. When I did hear the students it was a half assed attempt 20 seconds into the possession, which really does zero good what so ever.

I honestly doubt much can be done for the rest of this year, and I know people have tried, but there is clearly a lot of work to be done with student leadership coordinating the greater student body. It takes more than just 2 individuals, there just seems to be a systemic problem.

There's only so much you can do from a leadership perspective. They're up there leading, or trying to start, cheers.

In terms of butts in the seats, we're ahead of where we were a decade ago. In terms of atmosphere created by the students, we're probably behind. This is all during one of if not the greatest three year stretch of basketball in the university's history. How sorely disappointing. I blame rising admission standards [only half-kidding].

Altogether, a poor effort for "national" television. Do we need another young alum function to show them the ropes?

Now let's go out and whip SCU and let them hear about it. /rant

VillaGorilla wrote:In terms of butts in the seats, we're ahead of where we were a decade ago. In terms of atmosphere created by the students, we're probably behind. This is all during one of if not the greatest three year stretch of basketball in the university's history. How sorely disappointing. I blame rising admission standards [only half-kidding].

Admission to the school or the arena? Because I'm pretty sure they're still admitting drunken students to the arena based on what I saw at the last young alum function and Duke has a pretty good student section with high admissions standards so I'm not really thinking either of those is a barrier.