TicketsI attended a university-sponsored preseason house party for the women's team on Tuesday night, and I had the opportunity to mingle with several fans while I was there. Going to the event confirmed something I had long suspected: there ARE lots of fans in Cincinnati who are hungry for a successful women's basketball program.
Some thoughts from the night:
-Let me say it first: it's impossible to listen to head coach Jamelle Elliott speak about the program and not get fired up about the things she is saying. She carries an incredible energy about her, and it's contagious. I could tell the crowd was getting excited about the beginning of a new era for the team. If Elliott is any indication, the entire program is fired up for the new season.
-A lot of the excitement focused around looking toward the future: fans are eager to see how well Jamelle will be able to recruit. This will be interesting to track over the next season and beyond. Elliott carries a certain reputation about her, having won a national championship as a player at the University of Connecticut as well as five more as an assistant coach there, so she will be able to get some higher-caliber athletes to give Cincinnati a serious look. This has a national spin, of course, but Cincinnati is a city with a reputation for a lot of basketball talent at the high school level, as well. Longtime fan Don Smith put it rather eloquently: "It's an opportunity to not just draw attention to women's sports in Cincinnati, but also the caliber of the woman athlete in Cincinnati," he said. "It isn't a question of does Cincinnati have talent. It's a question of whether they're willing to come here and go up against the best."
-Forgive me if the term has already been coined, but I'm going to call this the "Kerry Coombs Effect:" Coach Coombs had a reputation for winning coming out of Colerain High School, and he was able to attract some great football talent to come play for UC. Elliott certainly has a winning reputation to a much higher level even than Coombs had. Looking beyond the lines, the women's basketball team is in an eerily similar position to how the football program looked five years ago. At that time, a fan could show up to a football game and be guaranteed a front-row seat for the action. That would be unheard of these days. Similarly, the women's basketball team hasn't performed well on the court, so not many fans come out to the games. Elliott is looking to bring the same energy to the court that Kelly brought to the gridiron. "She comes from a winning team with a winning mentality," said another longtime fan, Penny Hedrick. "I think that's been lost a little bit over the years." Again, the fans are hungry for a team they can really cheer for.
-Elliott is certainly willing to take some risks: her practices are going to be open to the public. I think this shows her commitment to not only connect with the university community, but also to the Cincinnati community. After all, it's going to take a lot of support to build a fan base, and open practices (at least for the time being) are going to help build that trust.
-Bearcat: the party hosts had our fierce mascot relegated to server status for the event. I picked up some delicious BBQ meatballs off the platter he was carrying around. Thanks, Bearcat!
Check out my UC women's hoops Twitter page at http://twitter.com/uc_womens_hoops