Posted by Gwmayhem  2/03/2023 12:52 pm | #1 |
As the program we follow takes a hopeful turn for the better, I can't help but think back to Herve's board and how many different posters there were in its heyday. Even when taking into account the likelihood of a single individual posting under multiple names, my sense is that there may have been twice as many actual humans posting than there are today. Am not interested in rehashing the ugliness of the past, and am willing to accept my own role, among those of a number of others, for engaging in personal feuds which served to drive away some once-loyal posters.
I would think that most here would agree that this board is at its best when there are more rather than less individuals posting. Reactions to a game used to easily last 2-3 days as opposed to today when the thread generally fizzles out by sometime the day after a game. More individuals means more viewpoints which lead to the healthy sort of debates that should take place on a message board. It should also lead to more information about the program being generated here, something I suspect we all crave.
If some of you are in touch with GW fans who no longer post here, or who post far less frequently than they once did, I would urge you to get in touch with these folks. Let them know that the sometimes silly, sometimes mean-spirited tone of this site has gone away for the most part. May not make a difference to these individuals, or it just might.
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Posted by BC 2/03/2023 2:01 pm | #2 |
better teams - bigger fanbase, I don't think it's complicated. Sure, lost some folks who don't know this site exists, lost some some due to all the vileness of the old board, lost some of the split personalities. But mostly I believe it's because the team has not done well for quite some time and fans like to win.
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Posted by Joel Joseph 2/03/2023 2:55 pm | #3 |
Mayhem, I think we are far enough away from the "stink" of 2016 that some old fans will return and some new ones will come aboard.
CC will continue to improve the program and get his systems in place. If successful, he will eventually leave for greener pastures (which is a good problem to have).
We can then be competitive for a good qualified young coach, not one picked by default (Mojo).
However, as for this board, we have about 1/10th of the posters we had in 2016, not 1/2.
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Posted by GW18 2/03/2023 6:58 pm | #4 |
I wouldn’t call myself the most active poster on this site (or the old one) but I am Someone who checks the site daily. The ML/PN saga is what I think has turned a lot of people away. That created such high levels of toxicity where it often was uncomfortable to read through. So many threads that were started with good intention were ruined by those two names being mentioned. Ultimately I believe a good number of people gave up on the site because of that.
On top of that, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams have been absolute dogshit for the last few years. These are the two teams that draw people to the site. The struggles the Mens team has gone through since the NIT championship have been well documented on here and won’t dive to deep into it. But the reality is the better the team is, the more people will be involved here. Improvement on the court leads to better recruits, and seeing us in competition with big name schools for players will bring lots of interest to the site. GWRising has been excellent at providing us inside info on recruiting (which I am and hopefully others here are incredibly grateful for) but the day where we regularly see GW being mentioned on Twitter for major recruiting battles will really spark interest in the site as well. Obviously Brayon left but the excitement of us being in competition with top programs for a top 150 recruit was truly awesome and when he committed, it felt like a major accomplishment as a program. Coach Caputo will get us there. I have no doubt. While I eventually see him leaving to replace Coach L at miami, his impact has already been and will be tremendous. Win on the court and be in the major recruiting battles and people will return.
On the women’s side, we were blessed to have JJ for three seasons that gave us a false sense of our place in WCBB. We’ve had success since she left for the WNBA but not anywhere remotely as close to those teams and Rizzotti is a major reason for that. I was fairly involved with the team during part of her tenure and to say she was difficult to work with is an understatement. I do believe coach McCombs will bring this team back to postseason play sooner rather later. This will help bring some back to the site.
Ultimately, we are a smaller program in what is now a mid major conference. Unless a Gonzaga-like dominance occurs, there is a cap of what this program can be. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have a captive audience that regularly has strong threads on this site. The further in time we get from ML/PN and the hopeful future success of our two flagship programs will only help!
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Posted by Steve Urkel 2/03/2023 8:18 pm | #5 |
GW18 wrote:
On the women’s side, we were blessed to have JJ for three seasons that gave us a false sense of our place in WCBB. We’ve had success since she left for the WNBA but not anywhere remotely as close to those teams and Rizzotti is a major reason for that. I was fairly involved with the team during part of her tenure and to say she was difficult to work with is an understatement. I do believe coach McCombs will bring this team back to postseason play sooner rather later. This will help bring some back to the site.
In fairness; Rizzotti’s team also won A10 championships (1 reg season, 1 tournament) - and lost in first round of NCAA tournament. So same level of success as those JJ teams, minus the reg season record.
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Posted by Poog 2/03/2023 8:45 pm | #6 |
I don’t think JJ gave us a false sense of where we stood in the women’s college basketball world. Under McKeown and Tsipis, we were a dominant force in the A10. Under Bozeman and Rizzotti, we were, kindly put, not. The resources and lure of the big programs in WBB make it difficult for lesser Power 5 schools to compete at the upper levels, let alone the mid-majors of which we are one. Coach McCombs has come in and turned around the direction of the team with the most banners in the Smith Center rafters. At least in women’s basketball, there’s no reason GW shouldn’t be a perennial contender for the top spots in the conference. We saw welcome improvement in year 1, even more in this year 2, and every reason to expect that in the coming years McCombs will continue this progression in establishing her program at GW.
On the men’s side, Coach Caputo has lifted the veil of pessimism that is inherent in following GW men’s basketball exacerbated by the disruptions following the NIT championship. But the fan base still remains bitterly divided over the recent past and that often spills into every thread. Plenty of false and misinformation as well as personal agendas going around on all sides. Gonna take more than a winning team to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. But Coach Caputo sure looks like he has the blueprint and commitment to do so. And maybe then there will be a concomitant increase in posters.
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Posted by Poog 2/03/2023 8:57 pm | #7 |
On the women’s side, we were blessed to have JJ for three seasons that gave us a false sense of our place in WCBB. We’ve had success since she left for the WNBA but not anywhere remotely as close to those teams and Rizzotti is a major reason for that. I was fairly involved with the team during part of her tenure and to say she was difficult to work with is an understatement. I do believe coach McCombs will bring this team back to postseason play sooner rather later. This will help bring some back to the site.
In fairness; Rizzotti’s team also won A10 championships (1 reg season, 1 tournament) - and lost in first round of NCAA tournament. So same level of success as those JJ teams, minus the reg season record.
Not buying the “in fairness” argument. 1st year we were co-champions in the regular season with Tsipis’ players and in year 2 we finished an unheard of 5th place in conference play and then luckily won the tourney. After that, Mikeala Shiffrin would have had trouble staying upright given the speed and direction of the program. Not to mention fan interest and involvement sunk to all-time lows.
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Posted by Ralphie 2/04/2023 3:29 am | #8 |
Curious to have above posters further elucidate re Rizzotti being difficult to work with..........
Posted by Long Suffering Fan  Online!2/04/2023 10:31 am | #9 |
I kinda agree, Mayhem. however my bigger concern is that the lack of participation on this site is evidence of the massive erosion of the fan base. I use to view attendance of less than 2000 as the low water mark, now it is rare that we even hit 2000, and when we do, we get all excited about the good crowd. We have had several crowds of under 1000. (I recognize that attendance at college basketball games in general is in decline, along with being able to watch all home games on television, as well as Covid, but still season ticket holders that I have seen at the games for years or even decades are no longer showing up. And as I have said before, in a metropolitan area of 5 million and a massive alumni base, we should be filling the joint up on a regular basis. Even Herve, who ran the old board, doesn't participate here and I have not seen him at a game in years. (What ever happened to regular participant Longing For Oscar, whom is referenced in the title of this thread? Today is a very cold but otherwise dry Saturday afternoon, and it is homecoming to boot. What better way to spend today than at the game, yet I would be surprised if the Smitty is more than 50% full. With the successes of this season, optimism for the future and better marketing of the program, hopefully this will change. More meaningful games should mean more people As for the old board, I think we are all grateful that it is dead and buried and that most of the posters that made that board an embarassing disaster seem to have moved on. Although I haven't said it in a long time, I remain extremely greatful for Barry for this wonderful successor board.
Last edited by Long Suffering Fan (2/04/2023 10:34 am)
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Posted by BGF 2/04/2023 11:06 am | #10 |
LSF, thanks. We certainly have had our fits and starts on this board, but I mostly like where we are now. A few thoughts:
1) There is no doubt in my mind that the potential for our growth on this board is definitely tied to the growth of our team's success. We live in a bandwagon society and once good things happen, we'll see more posters, visitors, and enthusiasm.
2) It should be noted that we likely have a lot of traffic by non-posters. If I were not the admin on the board, I'd likely be a non-poster by this time. It's not that I don't have opinions nor that I am not what I consider a loyal fan, but the majority of the opinions come from a small portion of our audience. I'm happy to be a proverbial "lurker," enjoying the perspectives of those who frankly know more than I do. I originally came to Herve's board not to be heard, but rather to learn...to be kept aware of what was going on. There's nothing wrong with that.
3. Ultimately for me, I am a fan who wants to be in the know about GW's present and especially GW's future. I want opinions and facts about where we're going (I think you all know I don't care a bit about reliving past "challenges" of our program). I'm incredibly happy that we have DMV Piranha to give the best previews of any team anywhere on any platform...anywhere! I'm a huge fan and always pay attention when Free Quebec posts, as my views have always been similar to his posts. I love the fact that there are posters I perceive as "insiders," like GWMayhem, to share what they can.
Why do I need to post often (at all?) if I learn from people whose opinions I respect?
Which leads to something I do want to see change. I am strongly considering switching to a different platform IF I CAN FIND ONE I LIKE. I believe there is a lot of enthusiasm by those on the board (and our non-registered visitors). There is one very important function missing, though...that of "liking" a post. You can like a thread, but not a post. I believe that is a crucial element to creating a socially supportive online community. I think we'd see that we have a lot more people using this board if we had that functionality.
Thanks to all for keeping this forum as vibrant as it has been and I'm sure we all agree that we hope there are better days ahead for GW Hoops!
B.
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Posted by Long Suffering Fan Online! 2/04/2023 11:48 am | #11 |
Thank you Barry. I can personally vouch for at least 2 lregular lurkers who do not post. The one other thing I would love to see is a "chat" option during the game, as we tend to use the game day thread in that capacity.
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Posted by Tennessee Colonial 2/04/2023 11:57 am | #12 |
Thanks Barry. This site is a lifeline for many of us who live quite a distance away and get very little news about GW sports otherwise. Herve did us a great service for keeping distant alumni connected to GW. The Washington Post sure didn't. As for attendance, we really thought that having an on site arena would make a big difference in having students attend games. (Taking a bus to Ft. Myers was considered a handicap.) But from observation it seems that an on campus facility didn't make much difference. I think it's just the makeup of people going to GW in the first place. Using sports as a Unifying factor. That's why this name change thing bothers me. I really believe all these people calling for a name change Never went to a GW sporting event. And Never will. People calling for the use of "Hippo" is just insane for a women's sports team. Here's a suggestion, only people who care about GW sports should vote. Other's, who don't give a dam about our sports teams, should not.
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Posted by BC 2/04/2023 4:25 pm | #13 |
I'm probably in the minority, but please don't switch to a smart phone only platform. Other than that, I like the idea of likes and perhaps even dislikes, and a game time chat per LSF would be nice. Don't work yourself to death over it, I'd hate to see you go the way of our dearly beloved Herve.
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Posted by moneybox 2/04/2023 4:33 pm | #14 |
After today's performance, we need to worry more about fans than posters. A beat down of gargantuan proportions!
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Posted by WisconsinColonial2021 2/04/2023 6:56 pm | #15 |
I’m very grateful for this board, as someone else who roots from afar and values the info and insights I can’t get anywhere else. Thank you for doing this!
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Posted by GW Alum Abroad 2/04/2023 7:25 pm | #16 |
The site is great. I lurk more than I had posted before, in part because when using mobile devices (like when I travel as I have been doing the last couple of months) I am unable to login to post and in larger part because I see no point in participating in discussions of former University employees and wild praise/criticism of the team based on the most recent result. The board is more of a lifeline for me than most can imagine (no one at the water cooler here even talks about basketball, much less our little obscure college program), so be nice to Barry at all times.
