Discussion: Coincidence?

The Possum Trot is held in on a map in Lenexa, KS. Two days later, Nate Barnhart, from Lenexa, KS, plays the most he's ever played for Wyoming (and score some points, block a shot and had a steal). And Wyoming wins.

Nate has never missed a free throw in his college career and in fact he has never made a free throw attempt that touched anything but net. Currently, he leads the nation in free throw percentage (may be a shared lead.) Of course, when you're that tall, you can kind of just lean in from the free throw line and drop the ball into the bucket--it becomes an extremely high percentage shot.

It was good to see that Foster was a starter for the first time in a long time.

Reynolds had a second career night in an as many weeks. Texas A&M Commerce had no answer for him, while at the same time doubling up on Maldo almost every time he touched the ball and started moving in.

I'd like to go back and listen to the coach's entire comments when he was interviewed post-game, but he did not hold back, and was unhappy about the "energy" in the AA last night. No doubt it was a pretty thin crowd and not the loudest either, but then it wasn't so different than I might have guessed, given the team's record, a missing Ike, and that it was a Tuesday night non-conference game against a team most people would have never have heard of before.

3953 attendance on the official box score. So down about 500 from recent games.

From a show the previous (Monday) night, Linder said Ike was down in Denver that day for treatment (for his injury.) Ike wasn't at the game last night, so it's not unreasonable to think he was still in Denver; surely he would have been at the game if he were in Laramie, unless he was sick. It makes me wonder again what exactly the injury is. If it were something rather ordinary, you would think all the usual treatments available here would be all that was needed. Linder also did leave any impression that they expected Ike to be able to play anytime soon. He didn't say anything about being back in time for conference play, or early January. It's not clear that he will be back anytime this season, in fact.

Also, of interest was that Ethan Anderson was not on the bench, not even in street clothes, and there was no word about what was up with that.

A problem with the Double A is you need a lot of people to make it feel full. 4000 fans in a 6000 capacity arena would seem lively.

Maybe Linder is trying to inspire fans to come on Saturday.

Basically what they--and any sports team--are selling is entertainment. And if customers aren't buying what you're selling, the question that probably ought to be asked is what can be done to improve what it is you are selling and make it more attractive and drive up demand. Or, I suppose you could take the stance that there's nothing wrong with the product and call out the customers for being disloyal.

It's fun to imagine a McDonalds for example, or some similar company, looking at a period where sales have been soft, and deciding to do a marketing campaign where they call out their customers for being disloyal.

Well, we'll see. Presumably the folks who run these athletic departments know what they're doing, to including how they market their money sports. Will a game against La. Tech be that more appealing than the game against Grand Canyon? I wouldn't guess so. It's an evening game versus last Saturday's afternoon game; that might make some difference, but whether it's a plus or a minus, I don't know. My guess is attendance will be something under 5000, but it would be great to be wrong and see the place packed.