re: Will wade show.. basketball traditions

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I commend Wade for trying to build the program. But all the marketing, promotions, new "traditions" won't mean shite if the team isn't winning.

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I commend Wade for getting out in front of this now, in anticipation of building a winner.

Wade knew the entire program needed a "culture change" when he got here. It is easier for him to incorporate with his players because he can control what they do.

The fans are a different story. He can't physically go to 14000 people's houses and drag them to the game. I think Wade is seeing that the "culture change" is harder to affect with the fans. There is a very big generation of fans who have seen basketball as an afterthought on the way to baseball season.

I have been around long enough to have seen the good (Dale's great run), the bad (the end of Dale's run), the bad again (the beginning of Brady-Ball amidst draconian sanctions), the good again (the Brady Sweet 16/Final 4, then Johnson's 1st year), then the bad for the 7 or so years since. People will cheer on a winner, but we haven't had a consistent winner in ages.

What people forget is that in the 80's, there was almost NEVER a crowd of less than 10,000 in the PMAC. Most SEC games were sold out or almost so...and non-conference games drew 10-11K. This was all done with no promotion, no gimmicks, no give-aways, or any sort of marketing crap. The people showed up because LSU basketball was fun, and new people will come back IF LSU keeps winning.