Impact of Spring & Winter Break On Bball Games
My boss and I were talking today, and he brought up a concern about our next two biggest home games with MSU and Indiana. They both occur during spring break for the students at Michigan. He was concerned that Crisler would lose some home-court advantage if too many students were absent. Out of curiosity, I checked the record for Michigan under Beilien when students are away (both winter and spring breaks) and here's what I found. Thanks to LSAClassof2000 for average attendance numbers for 2010, 2011, and 2012 as well as attendance at the spring break home games.
Beilien's Home Record During Spring Break:
| Year | Opponent/Ranking | Result | Attendance |
Avg. Attendance |
| 2012 | Purdue/NR | L 61-75 | 12,721 | 11,326 |
| 2011 | Michigan State/NR | W 70-63 | 13,751 | 10.951 |
| 2010 | Minnesota/NR | W 83-55 | 10,561 | 11,603 |
| 2009 | Purdue/#16 | W 87-78 | 13,751 | 10,034 |
| 2008 | Illinois/NR | W 49-43 | 11,017 | 9,968 |
| 2008 | Northwestern/NR | L 62-60 | 7,927 | 9,968 |
Beilien's Home Record During Winter Break:
| Year | Opponent/Ranking | Result | Attendance |
Avg. |
| 2012 | Eastern Michigan/NR | W 93-54 | 12,693 | 11,326 |
| 2012 | Central Michigan/NR | W 88-73 | 12,693 | 11,326 |
| 2012 | Iowa/NR | W 95-67 | 12,693 | 11,326 |
| 2011 | Bradley/NR | W 77-66 | 11,298 | 10,951 |
| 2011 | Penn State/NR | W 71-53 | 12,751 | 10,951 |
| 2011 | Minnesota/NR | W 61-56 | 12,721 | 10,951 |
| 2010 | Bryant/NR | W 87-71 | 8,758 | 11,603 |
| 2010 | Purdue/#11 | L 80-57 | 13,751 | 11,603 |
| 2010 | Penn State | W 76-69 | 11,771 | 11,603 |
| 2009 | Ohio State/#15 | W 73-64 | 13,751 | 10,568 |
| 2008 | Oakland/NR | W 89-76 | 10,113 | 10,034 |
| 2008 | Florida Gulf Coast/NR | W 76-59 | 8,279 | 10,034 |
| 2008 | North Carolina Central/NR | W 77-57 | 10,390 | 10,034 |
| 2008 | Wisconsin/NR | L 73-61 | 11,046 | 10,034 |
| 2008 | Illinois/NR | W 74-64 | 12,912 | 10,034 |
| 2007 | UCLA/#8 | L 69-54 | 13,069 | 9,968 |
| 2007 | Wisconsin/.#24 | L 70-54 | 8,855 | 9,968 |
Notables
- 4-2 at home during spring break, 13-4 at home during winter break
- 4-1 during spring break, 13-2 during winter break with the 2007-08 season removed (because OMG we were bad, not comprable to Beilien's other years)
- 17-4 (0.764 win pct) over break (07-08 removed)
- 2-1 against ranked opponents (07-08 removed)
- We don't generally play talented teams over breaks
- Big Ten schedulers were unforgiving to Michigan (in hindsight, of course)
- 18 out of 23 games, Crisler has had an attendance greater than the season average during a student break
- Crisler Center can definitely fill up when the students are away
Indiana concerns are somewhat mitigated by the fact that the tickets were included in the student season ticket pack (not the case with the MSU game, though students could still buy them for $10 a pop) and March 10th is the last day of spring break, so students should be back and presumably won't have as much homework or studying for exams. Not to mention it is a possible #1 vs #2 scenario, should Michigan win the preceding games.
Michigan State, however, visits us on Sunday the 3rd. I'm curious as to peoples' opinions about the atmosphere, etc. for this game. Can we compete with what our boys faced at the Breslin?
February 25th, 2013 at 5:31 PM ^
I added some attendance figures to continue what LSUClassof2000 started. Crisler exceeded season average attendance 18 out of 23 games played over student breaks.
February 25th, 2013 at 5:55 PM ^
Keep in mind, though, that the season average is always weighed down by those couple of December games each year, against teams with RPIs in the 300s, that no one buys individual tickets for. We always seem to have a couple of games with attendance of like 8,500 and then the rest are 11-13K.
February 25th, 2013 at 8:09 PM ^
I don't think 3k under your average for 2 out of 18 home games will throw off your average significantly. It could impact perhaps two or three of the games listed, some were close to the average.
February 25th, 2013 at 6:13 PM ^
Going in to the weekend after the first MSU game (Feb 16-17), here was a breakdown of seven likely tournament teams in the conference and all their games with each other. If this is written in a way that does not make sense, let me know.
Indiana: 4 home, 2 road
MSU: 4 home, 3 road
Ohio State: 3 home, 3 road
Wisconsin: 4 home, 4 road
Minnesota: 4 home, 4 road
Illinois: 5 home, 3 road
Michigan: 1 home, 6 road
I'm not claiming conspiracy here; I think that was a bad oversight by someone in the conference coordinating the schedules. But how the hell does Brandon not point this out or have someone do an analysis on it and protest? It's terribly unfair to the players and coaches.
February 25th, 2013 at 6:28 PM ^
But you're cherry-picking by choosing that arbitrary date. We've since played Illinois at home and we're going to play MSU and Indiana at home soon. Meanwhile, we have no road games remaining against contenders.
You're basically complaining that our schedule was front-loaded, whereas teams like MSU and IU have a back-loaded schedule.
February 25th, 2013 at 6:53 PM ^
I'm not cherry-picking. I think there is relevance to the lack of balance. MSU and IU are not really back-loaded - no one's schedule has a crazy disparity at any point except ours.
We have a young team. Confidence needs to be nutured. You do that by following a tough road game with the potential for a cathartic home win. To cluster all these games together was not wise.
February 25th, 2013 at 7:12 PM ^
How is it not cherry-picking when you chose a cutoff date immediately before we started a very favorable stretch of the schedule?
Every contender has gone through or is going through a rough stretch in the schedule. Ours was a little earlier than everyone else's, yes, but now it's evening out. Incidentally, we only play 10 total games against the other contenders, while MSU plays 12. We're not the only team with a gripe.
The Big Ten has to find a way to give 12 teams an 18-game schedule. There are going to be imbalances in the schedule. As for whether our schedule was "wise," what does that matter? The Big Ten isn't supposed to favor anyone. It's not going to take pity on a team just because some guys graduated or transferred the year before.
February 25th, 2013 at 9:46 PM ^
Confirming everything people have said so far about tickets to these games, had to buy Sparty seperately but IU was included. Also confirming that these seats can not be sold online due to barcode restrictions. This is forcing people to sell them to fellow students who missed the deadline to order them due to the fact that the actual ticket needs to change hands.
Two years ago we played State at home over break and Crisler was absolutely rocking. I'm hoping the fact that this is an even bigger year for us and the increase in overall student interest will make it even better this year. My roommate and I were talking yesterday about how anytime we are playing sparty, no matter the sport, the crowd is more electric. It is simply a natural law of the universe.