Today, for the first time in 16 years, the Eastern Michigan men's basketball team participated in a postseason tournament game beating Norfolk State 58-54 at home in the first round of the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The win marked the Eagles first postseason victory in 18 years, and gave the team its 22nd victory, marking the best total since the 1995=1996 season.
So how many people were there to witness it? According to the official numbers, 373.
I mean, think about it. The team has it's best season in 16 years, and where is everyone?
— Al Willman (@AlWillmanEcho) March 19, 2014
Less than 400 people showed up to witness a home postseason tournament game. Something that hasn't happened at the Convocation Center (for the men's team) since well before the average student was in middle school, let alone rooming the EMU campus.
The Eagles, which routinely rank among the bottom tier teams in the nation in attendance, averaged 901 fans per home game when factoring in tonight. 901 for a team that just won it's 22nd game. The Eagles are dead last in the MAC, and out of 350 plus Division I programs are probably in the bottom 20 in the nation. Well, EMU senior forward Glenn Bryant, who may have just played his last game every in the Convocation Center, has had enough.
Bryant took to Twitter after Tuesday night's win to share his frustrations with the lack of support from the fans:
We FORSURE got the top 5 worst support in the NCAA, it's almost 30,000 students go to this school smh, y'all at ALL the parties tho
— FLIGHT2⃣3⃣ (@GlennSanity23) March 19, 2014
It is what it is tho S/O the loyal ones at every game or atleast SOME games
— FLIGHT2⃣3⃣ (@GlennSanity23) March 19, 2014
Crazy thing is it's HELLA ppl that stay on campus
— FLIGHT2⃣3⃣ (@GlennSanity23) March 19, 2014
Let it be a party in UGreen tho