Category: college basketball 365

Appeal to Bluejays Fans

On By @gtmoblueIn college basketball 365
Appeal to Bluejays Fans – You can come home, again.


Courtesy Creighton Athletics


We are a fortunate group of people.  We have a great university and sports programs.  Creighton  has a passionate following in the community of universities.  Our fanbase is one of the top pillars of university support in several sports.  In this regard CU is the envy of many universities nationally.

Our online history is also good.  In the short 20 or so years of fanbased BBS’ and websites, we have been fortunate to have dedicated people found sites for our collective sports passions.  Many Creighton loyalists have built boards over the years for us: FreddyMac, Polyfro, Creighton Otter, and several others whose names I cannot remember.  In 2009, several independent boards coalesced into a joint venture, the White and Blue Review.  Also back then, the Bluejay Café (now known as BluejayBanter.com)- our major board, joined the Rivals.com group.  Both moves increased the CU profile nationally.  The main issue is that our boards continue to be small by comparison to other sites.  We need growth.

Other boards have come and gone since then, 10th St Blue, Bluejay Nation, Bluejays Basketball, Creighton Crazy, among others.  The Creighton.Scout.com (Bluejay Report) site has been inconsistent. 

To keep this short.  Our boards walk a thin line.  Providing services to the fanbase while fighting to grow and stay solvent.  Message boards with large memberships(10-20K) have higher baseline hit rates, even with low individual participation levels.  Small boards (1-2K) such as ours need high participation to offset a low baseline hit rate. If BJU/BJB/BJR can achieve/maintain active participation at high levels (30% to 50%, or more) of membership, their Admins/Mods can do a better job of policing problems and high site hit rates offer opportunities for new income.  Perhaps some of the talent from defunct sites would be willing to join/assist the Big 3 sites (WBR-BJU, BluejayBanter, Bluejay Report).  More importantly the fanbase needs to help by:

Joining our active sites (free-side or other)
Visiting regularly (site hits)
And by active participation on the boards (viewing is not enough)

Boards get infected by certain types of posters (sailors, pot stirrers, crabs in a barrel, haters, sunshine pumpers, negative nancys, hemingwayers, doom-n-gloomers) 
http://gtmos-bluenotes.blogspot.com.co/2015_09_01_archive.htmland in general by pervasive fanbase attitudes. Such things are countered by an active fanbase with diverse POVs and posts.  Boards need diversity and more than a 5-10% participation rate to remain healthy.  

If small boards such as our BJU/BJB/BJR can achieve/maintain active participation at high levels, their Admins/Mods can do a better job. The staffs will have more latitude in policing, enforcement, an excising severely problematic members (negative nancys, Stever20’s (pot stirrers), novelists (hemingways)and CU Final Fours/gtmo’s/WB77s (sunshine pumpers).  As an additional benefit, a high participatory membership will routinely check and counter wildcard members and trolls, and help to keep the board climate healthy from the doom-n-gloomers.

But the greatest single threat to any board/website is fanbase apathy.  When a board plummets into apathy…any wushock, stever20, dawgiestyle, our numerous anxious negative nancy’s, or other vermin rise to run roughshod, reek havoc, and have a fieldday.  Such boards implode and die.  Our fanbase is knowledgable, diverse, and opinionated – and ALL are needed to maintain and to improve our boards. There is no indication that 10th St or another defunct board can/will make a comeback.

Individually opting out only adds to the problem, not the solution.  Participation is the solution.  We currently have 3 good boards – high level participation can make them great boards.  High member participation rates are both critical and vital for our low membership Bluejay boards.  Someone can find the numbers/stats on websites health, but a lack of hits and lack of participation have been the death knell of numerous sites. 


Recent posts on the BJU and BJB lament the loss of many faithful Jays posters.  Whatever the reasons for past and present departees from our boards… I say to those who have left: “come back home”.  Technology is such that if a fan segment/individual is counter to your views – put them on ignore, but you must come back and participate.  Only you can help restore and/or better our sites by your participation.  Our sites are small and not nearly as bad as say the HLH site with numerous multisite “trolls” and rabble-rousers.  Our Admins and Moderators have to balance the needs of the site vs fan expectations and desires.  Your return home aids board needs in increased member participation as well as increases in overall numbers to be (remain) healthy.  You are required for the health and survival of Creighton Fanboards.

Loyal fan of the Jays…please join or return to our 3 main boards and actively participate.  You are part of the needed solution and we need you Now: to help our message boards grow, to be active, to bring your needed perspective and opinions, and to participate passionately.  

The Bluejays need you.  Come back home now.

College Hoops Season Creep – Major Conferences "Field of Dreams"

On By @gtmoblueIn college basketball 365

Since all that many of you know is the 64 team field of the NCAA’s and both early season and post season (conference) tournies, here’s some history for ya.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the records – do some fresh research.  And most importantly develop the knack for reading between the lines / hearing what is not said.
College hoops began to gain popularity in the mid sixties into the 70’s.  Independent schools and a few smaller conferences (MVC, Metro, etc) were integral in the NIT and NCAA tourneys.  Major conferences pressured the NCAA for more seats/bids as network TV (CBS, NBC) were upping the dollar ante in college basketball. Independents were garnering “too many bids” and the majors wanted more access and more bids (more money). 
Exp: in 1970 3 of the final 4 teams were independents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970_NCAA_Men%27s_Division_I_Basketball_Tournament 
In 1971 2 of the final 4 teams were independents.  Independents were firmly ensconced as fixtures in the tourneys.  The 5 major conferences colluded with the NCAA to tailor postseason college hoops for their benefit and profit.
1st step was to kill the independent schools.  Then give the majors more billets in the tourney. Followed by more season expansion (beginnings of post season conference tourneys in 1979) and more NCAA tourney expansion.  Over the last 45 years we have witnessed the lengthening of the college hoops season via more regular season games, inclusion of season lengthening post season conference tourneys, and the advent of early season tourneys too.

You think all this historic continued expansion, even the talk of a 96 or more team tournament, is for the “love of the game”? Think again.  We have replaced the historic (27-33 game) late November to mid-March season with a 40 game early November to mid-April season – all predicated on the majors maximizing their college basketball cash take. 

Marquette played a large role in the political nature of men’s basketball in the 1970’s:  In 1970 Al McGuire refused an NCAA bid as he felt his team was placed to low and at a disadvantage in the Midwest Regional.  Marquette accepted a bid in the NIT (and won it) that year.  Al’s battling nature, Marquette’s defiance, and their unconventional uniforms vs the college basketball powers and the growing NCAA were part of the overall war that was taking place.
Supplemental articles –

I did a few recent web searches on college basketball season creep (expansion of the season over the last 40-45 years…not much luck).  Overall college basketball increase in games played, length of season creep, post season conference tourneys, early season tourneys and NCAA Tourney expansion are all fingers of the power conferences “greed” hand.