My Challenge to MTSU

In recent years student attendance has been up tremendously at Football games.  As a matter of fact, every game this year has had a nearly full student section.  Sadly the same cannot be said for basketball.  To be frank, the basketball attendance last year was embarrassing.  There was one sellout, which was against UT, and and a good quarter of the crowd was wearing orange. The biggest crowd of the year besides UT was a double header for Mardi Gras night and more people were there to dress up like hammered fools (some weren't "dressing up" for the hammered part) than to support their team.  In our biggest game against our biggest rival against Western Kentucky we had 20 people in the student section. This year, let's change that.

We have a Men's team budding with potential, one with one of the best players in the conference in Desmond Yates.  "Boogie" was the pre-season player of the year last year but was slowed by nagging injuries and was stuck playing out of position all year because of an injury to Theryn Hudson.  This year Theryn is back and Boogie is healthy.  By the end of the year King Boogie I could not only be that, the homecoming king, but also MTSU's all-time leading scorer.  On top of Boogie, Theryn, Calvin O'Neil, and a few other returning players (including Montario Haddock who I think will have a breakout year) are some new editions that I'm incredibly high on.  Last year was a struggle at Point Guard after Nigel Johnson got hurt.  Nigel graduated and the man taking his place is one of the most exciting players in the Sun Belt.  James Washington is quick, fast, can shoot, and is highly intelligent.  Coach Davis plans to use his speed to the max, running constantly making for an exciting brand of basketball.  Someone who should benefit from this is fellow JuCo transfer Rod Emanuel.  Rod is a slick scorer with a sweet shot who should be the starting two-guard to open the year.

On the Women's side, we have one of the best players in the country in Alysha Clark.  If you haven't seen her play, what the hell are you waiting for?  She can do quite literally everything.  She can score inside and outside, she rebounds, and is a tremendous athlete.  She also is a versatile defender and a tremendous leader.  Speaking of tremendous leaders, Chelsia Lymon is an ideal point guard.  Lymon was the 08-09 Sun Belt Defensive player of the year and in the second half of the scrimmage Monday was a highlight real at the offensive end.  Jackie Pickel and Anne Marie Lanning are back and have greatly improved their games as all-around players.  Brandi Brown is also back and her shot is in mid-season form.  Emily Queen and Dana Garret should also contribute off the bench as they did last year and you can also expect Tina Stewart to see significant playing time.  All of these girls are tremendous players and even better people off the court.  They play a beautiful brand of basketball and execute it to perfection.

So here's my challenge: let's have at least a 50% full student section at every game.  I realize that basketball games aren't always as convenient to go to as football games, but filling up half of a section in a school with 24,000 undergrads isn't too much to ask.  We can do this people.  Coach Insell and Coach Davis are putting a good product on the floor.  Come watch. I was talking to Coach Insell recently and said how much fun I had going to practice and covering his program, he immediately interrupted me and said "No, no.  It's not my program.  It's our program."