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Rupp is trash

The South Carolina environment is 100X better than rupp. Auburn. Miss St. Florida. A&M and on and on and on etc. etc. etc. You are apparently cool with that.

I’ve been to plenty of games, I don’t like going anymore because of the environment. You could hear a pin drop in that place last night for 95% of the game. We should have an environment where it forces the other team off their game because it’s so crazy in there. However, it’s quite the opposite and we only react to great plays. The 2 games I’ve been to this year there has been an old lady within arms reach only asking where Reed is and when is he gonna put reed in lol. They should not be in the lower bowl close to the court.
We need to play more sandstorm during timeouts.
 
I’d imagine it’ll be up this Saturday. There are a lot of issues with the UK bball program, the fans and Rupp are pretty low on that list right now.
It won’t be “up”. It’s never “up”. It gets loud for 10 seconds and then 95% of them CANNOT WAIT to sit back down. The sense that Rupp is great for big games is false as well. I’ve been to those games too. It just gets a little louder for those brief periods of time is the only difference.

I agree that a lot of it is because of Cal and the feeling he’s given us about the program as a whole, but I’d just like to see what a difference it would make if we had a rowdy crowd from start to finish for an ENITRE GAME just one time.
 
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It won’t be “up”. It’s never “up”. It gets loud for 10 seconds and then 95% of them CANNOT WAIT to sit back down. The sense that Rupp is great for big games is false as well. I’ve been to those games too. It just gets a little louder for those brief periods of time is the only difference.

I agree that a lot of it is because of Cal and the feeling he’s given us about the program as a whole, but I’d just like to see what a difference it would make if we had a rowdy crowd from start to finish for an ENITRE GAME just one time.
You won’t get it at Rupp. Rupp doesn’t prioritize students, without that you won’t get rowdy environments. It is what it is when it comes to that. You’ll have to really emphasize students being around the court, which will never happen there.
 
Bilas has the best of both worlds, deep down you know he doesn't like Kentucky, no Duke player does. Then Kentucky gives him mile high cones of the best ice cream. He only says that Rupp's the best when he is here and has an ice cream cone in his hand. In private he probably says, it's the best laid back atmosphere in college basketball.
 
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The crowd isn't the reason Rob missed a game clinching free throw. The crowd isn't the reason we didn't foul when up 3. The crow isn't the reason Reed left the hottest shooter in the game wide open during the game's biggest possession.
 
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The South Carolina environment is 100X better than rupp. Auburn. Miss St. Florida. A&M and on and on and on etc. etc. etc. You are apparently cool with that.

I’ve been to plenty of games, I don’t like going anymore because of the environment. You could hear a pin drop in that place last night for 95% of the game. We should have an environment where it forces the other team off their game because it’s so crazy in there. However, it’s quite the opposite and we only react to great plays. The 2 games I’ve been to this year there has been an old lady within arms reach only asking where Reed is and when is he gonna put reed in lol. They should not be in the lower bowl close to the court.
Go watch a USC vs. Miss St game and tell me how great the environment is?

Thier last home game was 11k fans there....on a Saturday. Shoot me up a Wednesday/Tuesday tip vs. Georgia and tell me how the environment is. Its' probably like a WNBA game.

I am not saying Rupp is great....giving the middle sections to the blue hairs with money...it will not be crazy good until that changes. But 24k is a still alot of people and creates an atmosphere when we're needing the fans.
 
The lower arena is full of the wine and cheese crowd. Their idea of making noise is a slight hand clap so as not to break a nail. Been that way for years, never gonna change….until we have a coach that creates the atmosphere. He half heartedly tried a couple of weeks ago but he doesn’t care. Playing ball at Rupp is like visiting the Cathedral in New York City. Us hilljacks are just happy to be there but we don’t wanna start any trouble by standing up and pissing off the blue hairs. Players coming in are awestruck by the amenities but not so much by the crowd. Same thing over at Carolina. Nobody over there gonna spill their champagne and caviar on those pretty sky blue sweaters. On campus, give the blue hairs their corporate boxes so they can frolic in silence but build something fan friendly and put the loudest behind the opposing teams bench. Is it that hard to do? Never happen til this Quaker AD is gone though. Sad
 
1. This argument is so old...the fans aren't the reason or even an appreciable percentage of the issue
2. But there are literally many people standing in teh pic
- Bottom left of pic a whole section
- People in top level
- I'll grant you the middle sesctoin is seated (and empty seats)
3. The program is lifeless under Cal is also part...not much to care about if the players and coaches are so out of it.
Haven't read anywhere yet that the fans lost to Florida last PM. Saw something about the bball team and Cal losing, but I guess I missed the important fan headline.
 
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Well, this is an age old debate, Corporate Kentucky has always ruled the lower arena, but that's where most of the donors come from. When you watch other teams play, they have rabid fans almost touching you on the floor, which makes for an incredibly tough place to play. When Rupp is rocking, it's one of the best, to many times though the blue hairs are just there and watching with not much activity as far as really getting in to the game. You lose some of the advantage playing in an off-campus arena, especially if the crowd is mostly older people. The eruption zone is good, but it needs to be all around the lower arena to get the desired effect.

Corporate <insert market here> controls every NBA arena, and those people participate in games. They get around, drink some beer, and it's a party atmosphere.

Our problem is old fuddy duddies who are worried that Dorothy in Winchester might be uncomfortable if they cheer.

And that's not to say fans lost the game. Like, when team isn't good, you don't want to cheer.

BUT 1:30 LEFT IN GAME WITH GAME ON THE LINE AND THE OLD FUDDY DUDDIES ARE KNITTING. ALL OF THEM

thank you.
 
Bilas has the best of both worlds, deep down you know he doesn't like Kentucky, no Duke player does. Then Kentucky gives him mile high cones of the best ice cream. He only says that Rupp's the best when he is here and has an ice cream cone in his hand. In private he probably says, it's the best laid back atmosphere in college basketball.

I don't know about that. I think Bilas has more love for UK than you'd expect. His niece went to UK
 
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You won’t get it at Rupp. Rupp doesn’t prioritize students, without that you won’t get rowdy environments. It is what it is when it comes to that. You’ll have to really emphasize students being around the court, which will never happen there.

ALSO,

Students. You all suck. In the past 20 years, students have organized. You had the Blue Hearts group back in the Tubby days. Back in the 2010's, you had a group organizing student chants.

Today. they are on Instagram or socials. Where is the leadership from that group. Gen Z!!!

ok im done ranting now for real
 
Can’t believe anyone tries to defend it. Could only be season ticket holders who are embarrassed and won’t admit that it sucks. Here it is at tip last night..


I totally agree. And I'm actually a big fan of what Baylor did with their brand new facility. It's only 7,000 seats, which is too low for me - but it's going to create a great college environment
 
95% of college basketball would love to have that crowd show up on a Wednesday night for an unranked team
 
Some of the older former players have said that Alligator Alley and Stokely Athletic center were two of the loudest and hardest places to play. I love Rupp, but I also think Kentucky lost some of the home court advantage they had when they moved out of Memorial Coliseum. Every time Kentucky threatens to leave Rupp, they sweeten the deal by giving more parking and concession revenue making it hard to leave. I do think an on campus arena would take care of the less than lively crowd at Rupp sometimes. But I also like the downtown atmosphere to, but you can't have it both ways.
 
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Obviously you were not at the game because the crowd was actually pretty wild and loud last night. Most of the lower level were on their feet for a lot of the game.

Maybe PONY UP and go to the game and make noise??
I was there too and noticed exactly the same thing you did. Lower arena was standing for large parts of the game and it was very loud in the arena. Love these complainers who aren't at the game and just make up stuff to feed their agenda. Yes, there were some late arrivals to show some empty seats at start but it filled up quickly and was a great crowd for the whole game. Same old complain without warrant. BTW, yes, I was standing and yelling during the game and, you know what, we still lost because we don't play defense, not because of the crowd.
 
Two things will still be in Rupp after a nuclear war. Cockroaches and the blue hairs. Wooderson said it best. I get older, the blue hairs stay the same age.
 
I’d imagine it’ll be up this Saturday. There are a lot of issues with the UK bball program, the fans and Rupp are pretty low on that list right now.
Saturday will be different. This was only Florida. That's like trying to get excited about a colonoscopy.
 
I don't know what the solution is, but other stadiums rock much louder. Arkansas puts Rupp to shame, same with Phog Allen
That's because most gyms are a fraction of the size of Rupp...you could probably fit four or more cameron indoors in Rupp stacked on top of each other...
 
The fanbase is deflated. The football has been pulled away from us one too many times. If they were like me, they were just wondering/waiting to see how the team would piss the game

Sucky product on the floor is hard to get up for.. I used to fear no team.. Now I fear some D2 teams and all D1 teams..
Why is the place (pretty much) always full to begin with?
 
The Rupp crowd told on itself the last home game. It was how Rupp should always be. If anyone thinks last night was that you are being willfully ignorant.
 
Lower arena couldn't care less if UK is on a 30 game win streak or 30 game losing streak to be honest.. They're just there to occupy space.. Send lower arena to upper and vice versa,, see how much better it'd be..
Create bourbon sipping boxes sponsored by Buffalo Trace all the way around in a new arena and you'll open up a shit ton of space down low.
 
Season ticket holder for the last 3 years. Nobody gets an usher to tell people to sit down. Never seen it happen and I doubt an usher would do it.

Also, there aren’t that many blue hairs. I am in section 29 and have tons of pictures to back that up.

Now, attendance might be down due to big screen tv’s, the cost, etc. I get that. As far as crowd noise- it will not change due to the small student section on one end. Another problem is apathy. The players, for the most part, don’t even want to be here. So much turnaround ever year. Throw in Cal’s recent history in the NCAA tournament, home loses to unranked opponents, and you get what we have. The crowd will be great Saturday. It’s a big game and I’ll be there yelling.
 
people on here were also complaining about the game flow due to timeouts

think about the Georgia game. No one was saying how bad Rupp was then were they?
Yeah but it’s not often you get an SEC blue blood hoops program like Georgia that comes to town. [roll]
 
- The core UK fanbase is just an older one. It's a rather polite, old school, small town fanbase in a relatively quiet state. Sometimes it feels like Peyton Manning trained UK fans to stay silent during games much like he did with Colts fans when his offense was on the field in Indy. Many of our fans feel like they've come from Mayberry.

- UK is no longer the cool school. The basketball world should be reminded weekly just how many current NBA players went to UK since Cal's been here. That UK to NBA swag is sort of gone even though our guys kill it yearly in the league.

- Want a reason why I want to see the SEC expanded even more? Get UNC in the SEC since Cal won't schedule home and homes with elite programs. The SEC has improved tremendously but no one gets excited for Florida without Donovan or A&M or Georgia or Missouri, etc. In football, the SEC is an exciting, thrilling conference. In basketball, it's just a bit of a bore.

- Allow alcohol, a permanent DJ, and yes, modern music. Whatever gets play on TikTok, play it because that means that's what young people are listening to currently. We can't live off Journey forever.

- Issues with the Rupp crowd didn't begin with Cal, but his decision to do neutral site games doesn't help. Rupp usually gets the shaft as we play name teams in other cities. There was nothing like that December schedule run of IU, then UNC, then UofL. Those programs have changed since then, but I remember being hyped that entire month. Now it's sleepy weeks of Diarrhea St. NW, a neutral site game, and an always dysfunctional Louisville team.
 
been that way all my 49 years and shows no signs of ever changing. sad and pathetic.
No, it hasn't.
Rupp used to be an intimidating place for visiting teams to try and get a win. Look at the crowds during Pitino, OTS and the early Calipari years. It was a fantastic environment.
The problem now is that we have a program led by a snake oil salesman, players that are only on campus for 4-6 months and opposing coaches that have confidence that they can out-scheme UK.
 
Yeah, they had their nerve putting-up much of the money to build and make Rupp great almost 50 years ago. They should be punished.
Not saying get rid of them, just saying that old people not standing and cheering loudly is a problem.
 
Yeah, they had their nerve putting-up much of the money to build and make Rupp great almost 50 years ago. They should be punished.
Their money is irrelevant now. Tv money is where it's at. Kentucky should bail on Rupp and go back to Memorial. Single game tickets.
 
Have you ever tried to stand up at Rupp? People will call ushers over to have you sit down if you're up more than 5 seconds.
I had to tell the idiot usher to get out of my way as his old ass stood right in the aisle staring at his damned phone. I was standing up, too. I was of course nice about it, but there he was, old retired 70+ something usher on his iPhone standing right there in our way during a heated part of the game.
 
Their money is irrelevant now. Tv money is where it's at. Kentucky should bail on Rupp and go back to Memorial. Single game tickets.
TV money for now. but for how long. ESPN financials don't make sense , most streaming companies don't make money

Donors and ticket buyers will never be irrelevant and treating them as such would be a huge mistake
 
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Their money is irrelevant now. Tv money is where it's at. Kentucky should bail on Rupp and go back to Memorial. Single game tickets.
I doubt anyone's money could ever be considered irrelevant. The University always has a need for these folks, whether they stand or not.
 
Well, this is an age old debate, Corporate Kentucky has always ruled the lower arena, but that's where most of the donors come from. When you watch other teams play, they have rabid fans almost touching you on the floor, which makes for an incredibly tough place to play. When Rupp is rocking, it's one of the best, to many times though the blue hairs are just there and watching with not much activity as far as really getting in to the game. You lose some of the advantage playing in an off-campus arena, especially if the crowd is mostly older people. The eruption zone is good, but it needs to be all around the lower arena to get the desired effect.
You should see the lower level at Indiana. Folding pads and prostate donuts. Some are even asleep and then shuffle out with 5 to go.
 
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