According to Jeff Goodman.....

[DawgatAuburn]

I would not blame you if you stopped reading after seeing the name Jeff Goodman.

But if you must know, ol' Jeff has declared The Hump the easiest place to play in the SEC.

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...11123/secs-venues-ranked-according-difficulty

You might also remember how critical ol' Jeff was of us when we fired Rick Ray, who as it turns out was a large part of the reason why it has not been hard to win in the Hump in the last four years. Our AD al$o $hare$ $ome of the blame in thi$, $eating our $tudent$ in $ection$ where they have le$$ of an impact. I wonder why the $tudent$ were moved?

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Someone should find the quote of Joakim Noah talking about the Hump

 

[tatedog]

Vanderbilt and Arkansas are the true home court advantages. The rest of them are pretty much functions of how good the teams are. I can assure Mr. Goodman that if Missouri played in Rupp Arena it would be far less daunting.

 

[Drebin]

I file this under the category of "no ****, sherlock." Of course The Hump hasn't been an especially tough place to play over the last five years or so. It was once one of the most difficult places to play in the SEC, and it will be aGAIN when Howland gets the ship righted.

 

[57stratdawg]

Letd be honest, Stricklin has killed the Hump. It's not that loud nod with the student section split, the pregame is awful, etc.

If we put together a top 25 team under Howland, it'll help, but I don't think we'll ever get back to the late 90s or early 2000s atmosphere.

 

[Drebin]

Yeah, I think that will get fixed. It has to. It's just not up on the priority list because we've sucked for a few years now.

 

[GOOD_DAWG2.0]

Yeah the Hump was so loud during Stans' last loss to UMASS in the NIT**

It's not strick that killed the hump. Losing has killed the hump.

 

[GOOD_DAWG2.0]

Also, Jeff Goodman is a clown.

 

[aTotal360]

The pregame intro is really, really bad. The timing of bully on the drums is clown shoes. Looks like something your HS A/V club would put together.

 

[Heinz57]

The Correct History & Timeline for Seating Changes @ Hump ...............

1) Greg Byrne was the AD who split the student seating.
2) The student section is no longer split. It was moved back together in the North end of the Hump around 3 years ago
3) The only difference in the Hump seating today vs. during "Stans big years" is that the students are now totally behind the north goal. Prior to splitting the student section, the students had from mid-court to one section behind the north goal. This included the lower and upper sections. This also included the students having the gray floor seats from mid-court to the baseline.

All that said, the biggest issues with the Hump's spirit are: 1) Winning or lack thereof (when we were winning, season tickets sold out - had nothing to do with seat location, etc.) 2) Bulldog Club members gobbling up prime seats and not attending games.


If you gave the students ALL of the floor level seats and the lower level, attendance would still be based WINNING.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

Thanks Scott.

I didn't say they were split. And while 57 did, I think the greater point still stands. The reseating of the students has contributed to the atmosphere of the Hump being terrible in comparison to what it used to be. A large, large part of that is also the quality of the product in the last few years. However, if we want to give Howland every chance to succeed, then a choice has to be made. Is the additional revenue we are collecting from having less enthusiastic fans sitting in those seats worth it, if it comes at the expense of a couple of points per game and possibly a win or two per season.

 

[HD6]

If you had been at the women's game against Michigan State, you wouldn't be saying this. The only thing lacking is winning. It's plenty loud in there regardless of where the students sit.

 

[AlCoDog]

He was hilarious on Roseanne.

 

[KurtRambis4]

This^^

Losing is what's killed the hump. Nobody wanted to go see that **** Stans' last year and Ray's tenure.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

If you had been at the women's game against Michigan State, you wouldn't be saying this. The only thing lacking is winning. It's plenty loud in there regardless of where the students sit.

Terrible Acoustics!**

 

[dickiedawg]

The hump will be reseated prior to next season, you can count on that.
Now, whether Students will get the sections of gray seats back that they had, I don't know. I doubt it. I think people are vastly overestimating the impact of scooting the students over a couple of sections.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

It's simply because we suck (well, until recently). DWS was an easy place to play football during the 2002-2006 years, where "career days" were defined for many opposing SEC players.

 

[DawgatAuburn]

My contention is that it's possible to set up your home court in such a way that winning happens more frequently. If you've already got a good team, then it doesn't matter as much, like with Rupp Arena or the Dean Smith Center.

 

[engie]

I think we missed a golden opportunity to lower the court a few feet and install a (lowered) student section at court level that doesn't interfere visually with seats behind them. Allowing there to still be courtside premium seats directly behind students in the lower level.

IMO the bigger issue with the reseating was the shuffling out of lower $$ locals that never missed a game for big money guys from out of town vs the student section issue.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

He's right!

It used to be extremely difficult to play -- much less win -- at "The Hump," but that hasn't been the case the past four or five years.

....Which is true. We have sucked *** the last several years.

see no problem with this evaluation. This will soon change though.

 

[aTotal360]

I have to agree. It's an easy place to play when you suck.

 

[philduckworth]

Losing is what's killed the hump. Nobody wanted to go see that **** Stans' last year and Ray's tenure.

Damn guys. Why can't it be both. It's the losing and the seating. Seems pretty obvious to anyone with common sense. A lot of you probably never went to the hump in the early and mid 90's. The students drove the atmosphere.

 

[HD6]

I sat front row where the rich folks sit now for the Final Four season. I am telling you it's just the winning. The Hump was unbelievably loud for that women's game with 7500 people there.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I've been going

to the hump since the mid 90s.

 

[philduckworth]

I sat front row where the rich folks sit now for the Final Four season. I am telling you it's just the winning. The Hump was unbelievably loud for that women's game with 7500 people there.

Dude, that was one game.

 

[HD6]

How many other meaningful basketball games have been played in the last 5 years for you to compare it to?

It was like that for the Ole Miss women's game the last two years, the South Carolina women's game last season, the NIT women's game against UCF. What do all of those things have in common? The game was meaningful.

 

[KurtRambis4]

Which was

probably bigger than any other game played in the last 4 years.

I'm telling you, winning and being ranked will start to draw the 9500+ crowds, again.

Nobody is (fact) going to come see a team that can barely break double digit wins, regardless of where the students are sitting.

 

[Wizard.sixpack]

If you had been at the women's game against Michigan State, you wouldn't be saying this. The only thing lacking is winning. It's plenty loud in there regardless of where the students sit.

My thoughts exactly. That game was very loud! So was South Carolina game. When Howland starts winning, we will see a major difference at men's games.

 

[msudawg12]

hard to argue that.

the Hump is EMPTY now.

That being said, if we get good again, it will fill up and be a blast again