The most important number from Saturday night’s win – 12,071.
There are a collection of #’s that stand out from Saturday night’s win against the Owls of Temple. Jermaine Sanders’ 16 pts, outscoring the Owls by 30 in the 2nd half, or 0 (yes, that is a zero – not a typo) turnovers by Troy Caupain.
The number that stands out the most, and means the most for the Bearcats’ long-term future is 12,071 – which topped the SMU game as the season high in attendance.
We all know the past few dances of conference re-alignment have left UC going with their backup-date, otherwise known as the AAC. The AAC is nice and has a great personality, but falls a bit short in a few other departments.
One rumor that continues to surface is the eventual possibility of a BIG12 invite. If ending up in the BIG12 is the prom date, then we are at the point where you start to write down your list of hopeful suitors in March. But for the sake of the discussion, let’s just say this is the most likely eventual landing place for the Bearcats.
Here are the attendance figures for the BIG12 on an active weekend day last Saturday (with UC included):
KAN @ IOWA ST. 14384
TEXAS @ WVU 13,204
OAK @ OKST 12,730
BAYLOR @ KSTATE 12,528
TEMPLE @ UC 12,071
TCU @ TECH 9,142
The numbers tell several stories. At first glance, you see UC lower than all games besides TCU/TTECH, which is a game between two glorified intramural programs. But another view has UC a mere 659 fans behind an in-state rivalry when both teams are in the top 25 on a Saturday afternoon, and 1,133 fans behind a game featuring two top 20 teams in a basketball rich program. Note that UC was playing a non-traditional rival and an East coast team, which would not draw regionally here in the Midwest.
We all know that football is the darling of the BIG 12, and any conference for that matter, but when considering the next best revenue-generating builder is mens basketball, UC is close to having a strong case for belonging in a power 5 conference.
So what is the point of all this – UC is not far off the pace of the Big 12 basketball attendance figures. Get out to the remainder of the home games Bearcat Nation! As a native of the Cincinnati area, you can actually make a difference for your team of choice (*ahem, Mike Brown). Please keep pushing that attendance figure higher, it matters more than you think.
By John Ryan McCarty