Three months before the Sun Belt Conference playoffs will begin, and before any conference games have been played, the University of Denver men’s basketball team will engage its most important contest of the season tonight.
The Pioneers, who are 1-5 and staring at their first losing season since coach Terry Carroll’s first team finished 8-20 in 2001-02, desperately need to impress the fans who will be lured to tonight’s “Pack the House” event against Colorado State (3-2).
The marketing ploys and ticket giveaways won’t serve their purpose unless DU entertains the special-event crowd that usually quadruples normal attendance.
“But we need to come out and put out our best 40 minutes by everybody (tonight),” Carroll said.
Pack the House has been an important “Come Check Us Out” event since 2002, and the Pioneers have gone 3-1, beating North Texas, Wyoming twice, but losing to Stanford in the 2004 game that featured Dick Vitale as special guest.
“Pack the House by design is supposed to be a showcase of college basketball,” said Dave Madsen, DU’s director of sports marketing. “As a university, we feel obligated and we’re committed to grow the sport within the community.
“As an annual event, it’s going to combine the best of what college basketball is about. Strong rivalries, great game-day experience – just the pure excitement of a college basketball game.”
Last year’s 69-64 victory over Wyoming had an announced crowd of 7,186, the first and only sellout for basketball at Magness Arena. Madsen said he expects another capacity crowd tonight.
This year, however, no celebrity will be signing autographs and mingling with fans, and the Pioneers might continue to play unattractive hoops. They lost Saturday by 43 points to Stanford and by 10 Monday against Southern Utah. DU’s victory was a six-point win over Northern Colorado.
DU is shooting just 39 percent from the floor and has committed 115 turnovers – 27 more than its opponents.
“Even if it wasn’t ‘Pack the House,’ it’s important to our kids, our university and the state of Colorado, because it’s a in-state rivalry game,” Carroll said. “It’s a transition year for us. We’re rebuilding. Retooling. And our fans really don’t know yet what’s in store. Our future is bright. We have one of the best recruiting classes coming in, and we’re really excited about that.”
Mike Chambers can be reached at 303-954-1357 or mchambers@denverpost.com.
