Recordpub.com - KSU already trailing Akron -- in fan support

Kent State and Akron may be tied atop the Mid-American Conference East Division standings, but the Golden Flashes have already lost to the Zips in their long battle to capture the attention of northeast Ohio basketball fans.

The uneducated fan who has visited both Kent State's M.A.C. Center and Akron's James A. Rhodes Arena this season would have a hard time believing that KSU is the reigning MAC champion and is on the verge of extending a streak of 20-win seasons and postseason appearances to nine straight years.

Only 10 other teams in the entire nation have won 20 or more games every year since 1998: Arizona, Connecticut, Creighton, Duke, Florida, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Syracuse.

That's pretty good company. And what has this winning tradition brought the Flashes?

The answer: An apathetic fan base that can't even fill half of its 6,327-seat arena on a regular basis.

Attendance during the 2006-07 season has dropped to 3,087 per night. That's an average of just 48.8-percent capacity, and that's pitiful.

Against Buffalo on Wednesday night, the M.A.C. Center's upper deck was no more than a quarter full, and fans in the student sections had all the room they wanted to spread out and use open seats to rest their Cokes and hot dogs. Only 3,017 fans came to see the KSU team that had won eight of its previous nine games and was on the verge of catching Akron for a share of first place in the East.

Meanwhile, attendance at Akron's JAR continues to grow. Since Akron students returned from winter break, the Zips' 5,500-seat arena has been filled to 77-percent capacity with an average of 4,263 fans per game. KSU has drawn an average of just 3,411 in that same stretch.

The Zips may very well be the best team in the MAC this season. With a veteran roster filled with home-grown stars like Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis of St. Vincent-St. Mary, they should be the favorite to win the conference tournament in March. Akron coach Keith Dambrot must be stunned to find that he already has a stronger fan base than the Flashes -- just one year after leading the Zips to their first 20-win season in 17 years.

As talented and experienced as Akron is, the Flashes have found a way to stay neck-and-neck with the Zips during a rebuilding year that has coach Jim Christian granting big minutes to true freshmen and sophomores. The fair-weather fans who stayed away from the M.A.C. Center this season assuming a letdown following the graduation of DeAndre Haynes, Jay Youngblood, Kevin Warzynski and Nate Gerwig should have had their interest piqued by the hustle and potential displayed by this new generation of Golden Flashes months ago.

That didn't happen.

Attendance at sporting events has always been a problem at KSU. Fickle students and residents of the communities surrounding Kent come out to the M.A.C. Center or Dix Stadium en masse only when there is the promise of a big event. A nationally televised game usually does the trick.

This is the first year in the Jim Christian era that the M.A.C. Center did not play host to a game televised on ESPN or ESPN2. That may be one reason for a significant dip in attendance since last season.

There is a small group of fanatical KSU students who find a way to every home game. Two years ago, they wore chains around their necks as a show of unity with their team. This year, they often wear necklaces with giant "Qs" or T-shirts featuring the name "Gates" and the No. 25 to support fan favorites like Hammin Quaintance and Armon Gates.

These are the same fans who refused to leave the stands at Dix Stadium during November's snow-sleet-lightning delay that made a game with Eastern Michigan resemble stories from the Old Testament. Of course, they kept their shirts off in freezing temperatures as they waited for the game to resume.

Sadly, those fans aren't multiplying. Their numbers seem to be reduced every year.

What will it take to finally get students and the general public to embrace a winning KSU program and then remain in the fold?

The teams are doing their part. Christian's program continues to win. Doug Martin has KSU football headed in the right direction. Even the school's athletic department has dramatically improved its attempts to market the programs in recent years, doing everything from including student organizations in the promotion of games, to hiring an outside marketing firm, to even giving away an iPod to a lucky student at every home game this season.

Are too few students willing to pass up a night out at the local bars or maybe miss an episode of "Lost" to support their team?

Are too many area parents willing to fork over big bucks to watch underachieving pros in Cleveland instead of taking their kids to learn how to play true team basketball while watching hard-working college players?

At least KSU has finally reached the point in the basketball season when it knows that fans will be coming out of the woodwork to get into the M.A.C. Center and witness the one big event of the year: The March 4 game against Akron. That showdown, which could decide the league title, is the only game remaining on the home schedule.

You can bet that Akron's visit will draw the first crowd of more than 5,000 fans this season. Last year, attendance at KSU's final three home games (vs. Butler, Miami and Ohio) all came in over 5,000.

You can also bet that Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland will be jam-packed with guests wearing gold KSU T-shirts March 10 if the Flashes find their way to another MAC Championship Game. Every one of those "fans" will storm the court just like last year if KSU defends its title, and they will all claim that they were behind the Flashes all along.

The 3,016 true fans who took the time to get to the M.A.C. Center on Wednesday night will have every right to roll their eyes and demand, "Where were you the last few months?"