Slow night at the box office
OSU and OU played two reasonably-important basketball games Wednesday night. OU hosted Iowa State for its NCAA Tournament life; OSU hosted Baylor maybe for its coach’s life. Here’s how interested the fans were.
The combined attendance of 14,433 barely would have filled Gallagher-Iba Arena. OSU drew 8,608, some 5,000 shy of capacity, which all in all, considering the Cowboys’ downward spiral, is not a horrible crowd. OU drew 5,825, some 6,000 shy of capacity, which all in all, considering Blake Griffin is on the squad, is an awful crowd.
The OSU victory was great news for Sean Sutton, but more huge blocks of empty seats can’t be good news for the beleaguered coach, whose fate could rest as much with the fans as anyone else. The OU turnstile count is not new, although the no-shows seem to be rising in Soonerville. No way that can make Jeff Capel happy; this is a guy who grew up on Tobacco Road amid all the passion for college hoops. You know the apathy showed toward his still-interesting basketball team has got to be eating at him.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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It’s a crying shame that more OU fans don’t support the BB team, I know that all of us Sooners, only love a winner, but these guys need our support and we need to show the country, especially ESPN that we love our basketball also. I’ve been watching this team all year and yes, it is frustrating to see them play so well one night and look like “s— ” the next time out.. Hopefully Capel got his message across after the CU game and the pathetic lack of enthusiasm that unfolded in Colorado. Let’s get behind them and force them to play at their best each game by showing them that we do care how they play and if they win or lose!!