One year ago this week, the Terrapins men’s basketball team put forth its most impressive performance of a disappointing season. It rallied to defeat Florida State at Comcast Center with an inspired performance, putting itself squarely in the hunt for a postseason berth. But what people will remember about that night, coming on the heels of a losing effort against Duke, was that for one of the first times since Comcast Center opened in 2002, the student section was visibly not full for an ACC game during the semester. People were shocked to see only about 75 percent of the available student seats were taken.
Fast forward a year. On Tuesday, the Terps defeated Miami in one of their most complete performances of the year. The students who were there were treated to a gritty and inspired victory over a more talented team, coached by a college basketball legend. However, it appeared to me that students only occupied about 1,000 of the 4,000 available seats. The entire “wall” was almost empty.
Comcast Center has long been one of the most intimidating places to play in the entire country. But not this year. It’s not even close. The culture at this university has shifted in the last several years from a “basketball school” where students show up in force to every home game to a school whose students think the season only has one game that matters (the Duke game).
I’ve heard a number of excuses for why students aren’t showing up anymore. One of the most common is “the team isn’t that good this year.” Guess what? The team is 13-3 at home this year. I repeat: 13-3. Another one is, “I have too much work.” Well, students at this university did work between 2002 and 2010 and somehow they still managed to fill Comcast for most games. Taking three hours out of your day twice a week to go to a basketball game is not going to make or break your semester, trust me. It’s also not going to make or break your ability to party either; the games are done in plenty of time to get to Route 1.
The truth is, I don’t think any of those reasons are why the student body has become apathetic about basketball. Attendance is down across the ACC for reasons nobody can really explain. College basketball is one of the most incredible, rewarding experiences you can be a part of at the university. Give it a shot. You don’t know how lucky you are to go to a school with a historic ACC basketball program.
In college basketball, home-court advantage is incredibly important. The home team has won 60 percent of all ACC games this year, and that percentage is higher at schools with devoted student sections. Your participation helps the team. Duke players this year said Comcast was the hardest place for them to play because of the students. It used to be every team said that, but now the students only come for Duke. I encourage you all to visit www.betterterps.com, a website that acknowledges the issue of declining attendance and has set out to educate students on the rich history of the basketball program.
The Terrapins’ final home game is March 4 against Virginia. Go scream and jump for two hours. It’s a nice study break, and you’ll feel better. See what you’ve been missing all year. Support Sean Mosley and Berend Weijs on senior night. Mark Turgeon is more loveable than Randy “Rangoon” Edsall anyway.
Casey Anis is a 2011 graduate of the university. He can be reached at casey.anis@gmail.com.
