Y - The Michigan Daily - WOmen 'Basdetball'99 - Monday, November 15, 1999

Meet the olverines


BIES
Height: 6-3
Class: freshman
Position: C
Hometown:
Lakeview

GooDLow
Height: 6-2
Class: sophomore
Position: F
Hometown:
Detroit
INGRAM

JARA
Height: 5-7
Class: sophomore
Position: G
Hometown:
Quito, Ecuador

MILLER
Height: 6-2
Class: junior
Position: C/F
Hometown:
Grand Haven

ROBINSON
Height: 5-9
Class: freshman
Position: G
Hometown:
Detroit

THORIUS
Height: 5'11"
Class: junior
Position: G
i Hometown:
Horsholm, Denmark

i<y:

DYKHOUSE


?r

Height: 6'2"
Class: junior
Position: F
Hometown:
Grand Rapids

Height: 5-7
Class: sophomore
Position: G
Hometown:
Lansing

KIPPING
Height: 6-1
Class: sophomore
Position: F
Hometown:
Quincy, Ill.

OESTERLE

THOMAS

Height: 6-0
Class: sophomore
Position: G/F
Hometown:
Mason

Height: 5-10
Class: senior
Position: F
Hometown:
Flint

WALKSR
' Height: 6-0
Class: senior
Position: F.
Hometown:
Grand Rapids
ASSISTANT COACH

HEAD

CO ACH

ASSISTANT

COACH

ASSISTANT COACH
YULNDWIMBISH-

GuEVARA

.3v - . FyI S E

';ETTE HARRIS

Hometown:
Saginaw
College:
Saginaw Valley
State (1982)

Hometown:
Los Alos Hills,
Calif.
College:
Michigan State
(1991)

GAY
Hometown:
Victoria, Texas
College:
Texas (1988)

Hometown:
Detroit
College:
Detroit-Mercy
(1982)

Best gimmick of all? A winning team w4

Despite cheap tickets, giveaways, Guevara finds

winning is

By Raphael Goodstein
Daily Sports Writer
Most women's basketball teams
want to know what can be done to
bring more fans to games. Numerous
ideas have been tried: free T-shirts,
fancy halftime shows and television
marketing, to name a few. But these
gimmicks have done little to improve
attendance.
What can be done to change this?
If you ask Michigan coach Sue
Guevara, it's simple - win.
"There's one thing that brings peo-
ple to the stands," Guevara said. "It
dbesn't matter what you throw out, it
doesn't matter what you give away, it
doesn't matter if you give away free
tickets. The only thing that puts peo-
ple- in the stands is winning, and
thii'§ the bottom line."
There is support to back Guevara's
theory. Tennessee, which has won
tbree of the last four national titles
and'six in the last 12 years, averaged

16,565 fans per game last year, 768
more per game than the men's team
drew.
The Big Ten is renowned for suc-
cessfully attracting fans. Last year's
national champion, Purdue, averaged
9,681 fans per game. Ohio State,
Wisconsin, Illinois and Penn State
were all among the nation's top-12
attendance draws.
Many theories have been suggest-
ed for why men entice fans more
than women, the most common being
that the men are more athletic.
"The women's game is still fairly
new on the national stage," CBS and
ESPN analyst Quinn Buckner said.
"Because of the national prominence
of the WNBA and the international
teams and USA basketball, people
are starting to take notice of them.
Young girls see Big Ten basketball
and think 'I want to be a part of that.'
"It may take a few more years, but
as long as you have quality players

playing with effort, which you
always have in college basketball,
that's the kind of thing that will tran-
spire, but it will take some time."
In recent years, women's basket-
ball has gained popularity. Twenty
years ago, thousands of fans did not
flock to arenas the way they do now.
But these fans can only be found in
pockets nationwide.
"In the Big Ten, when you go into
another team's arena, you play in
front of six, seven or 10,000 fans,
there's no other conference that can
say that," Illinois coach Theresa
Grentz said. "The television package
has been outstanding for us.
Women's basketball is still in pock-
ets, and that's the 10-year old answer,
but with the Web and television,
more and more people are starting to
watch us."
Though women's basketball will
probably never be as popular nation-
ally as football and men's basketball,

still the best policy
a cult-following has started to watch
the game. And as the game gains
popularity, other fans are seeing
some of the advantages of women's
basketball. Fans are more knowl-
edgeable, the tickets are cheap (often
free), and some enjoy watching their
school competing with others.
This is why LSA juniors Eric
Young and Matt Hummel go to
women's basketball games.
"I love Michigan," a face-painted
Hummel said. "I just have a lot of
spirit, and I want to come to every
sporting event I can."
Though when Hummel was asked
what could be done to draw more of
his friends to games, he drew a
blank.
"I really don't know," Hummel
said.
One thing that Young knew was
that he liked the product he was
watching, for free.
"I think they're great," Young said.

____________________________________________________________________________________ I

ALEX WOLK/Daily
if the Michigan women's basketball team wants to fill the stands, they have to
adhere to the example of Connecticut and Tennessee and do one thing: win.

The University of Michigan
Department of Dermatology
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If you are male, between 18 and 35 years of age,
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For more information, please call:
(734) 936-4070
...University of Michigan
---%= Medical Center
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.UM, A ..- ..,ooaants uuusni

i

RECRUITS
Michigan signed three
recruits for the 2000-2001
season on Wednesday, the
first day of the early
November signing period:
Jennifer Smith
Pos.: C
Height: 6-3
Hometown: DeWitt
Christie Schumacher
Pos.: G
Height: 5-9
Hometown: Milford
Michaela Leary
Pos.: PG
Height: 5-8
Hometown: Nashua, N.H.
Read the Daily all
year for the bess
coverage of
Michigan women's

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