Nobody went to Yankees games in the early 90s. The Mets struggle to fill the stadium now. St. John's has been stulruggling for a long time and they have been inconsistent this season. These last few games St. John's has been a disappointment so far this season...what exactly are fans supposed to get excited about? The school demographics have change where you have more international students who do not care about basketball. St. John's needs to win and this alone will create a fan base. It is hard to develop a relationship with this teams because this is the third time in three years that this team has changed. Wasn't there 4k at the game on Friday? I am not saying this season is lost or coach should be fired but when you put up a stinker like Friday you can't blame the general fan base saying here we go again...
So the school and our kids only deserve support if we are winners?
The key has been and always will be the casual fan. Most of the people who post on this board are the diehards. We've been through Felipe Lopez and Zendon Hamilton. Seen the late '90s with Ron Artest, Erick Barkley, Lavar Postell, and Bootsy Thornton. Got all excited with the #1 recruiting class only to watch Miles go to the NBA, Cook become a punch line, Shaw become a pothead, and Cuffe become an average college player. A little bit of life was injected into the program with Marcus Hatten coming to town. And outside of 2010, which was an exciting year for all us fans, that's about it. St. John's fans haven't had a lot to cheer about since.
I agree with you that this team needs better fan support. But you also have to understand that people aren't going to waste time and money on a losing product. Now, this team is young and it will get better. There's no doubt in my mind about that. Way too much talent currently suiting up for this team not to be one of the top 25 teams in the country next year. However, if you want to get support from the casual fan, you can't afford to lose to San Francisco and UNC Asheville. It just can't happen. Casual fans aren't going to drop $30 to go see that team that can't beat UNC ... Asheville.
I remember going to the games where it was Barkley versus El-Amin and countless other rivalries where it was tough to find an empty seat in MSG. But you got to put a product on the floor to draw the casual fan. Otherwise, you're essentially a Wagner or LIU.