On Tuesday, Denver men’s basketball announced the move from Magness Arena to Hamilton Gym for the balance of the season. Hamilton Gym has a capacity of 2,000 fans – well above the current crowds for men’s basketball of 800-1,200 spectators. This venue decision applies to the remaining three games and has not been decided as a long-term option for the future of men’s hoops.
According to three sources, this move was requested by the team and coaches who have gone 3-0 this season when playing at Hamilton Gym. One source close to the team said that Hamilton Gym provided a better playing environment, “Just look at the Omaha game (91-76 win) – it was a very good vibe (to play in Hamilton)”. A ticket office spokesman confirmed that the team and players had pushed for the change for a while citing Hamilton as a more suitable size as well a familiar practice venue for the team. They went on to state, ” (Hamilton) will provide a change of scenery for everyone.”
Cost considerations, the conversion of Magness Arena to basketball from hockey and/or gymnastics, were not cited as a reason for the change. Current season ticket holders will be entitled to seat-back general admission seating at Hamilton Gym, according to the ticket office spokesman.
Women’s hoops currently play all their games in Hamilton Gym.
Announcement below:
“Venue Update: The three remaining Men’s Basketball home games will be played in Hamilton Gym. Please help us create a true home court advantage.
Friendly reminder, chairback seats are reserved for season ticket holders.
Game Dates and Times:
Denver vs. Purdue Fort Wayne 2/8 @ 3:30pm Hamilton Gym
Denver vs. Oral Roberts 2/20 @ 7pm Hamilton Gym
Denver vs. Western Illinois 2/29 @ 1pm Hamilton Gym”
It’s time to let Coach Billups go. Much respect for him as a player and person, but all evidence points to the fact that he’s not up to the job. A move to the gym is a mess … I remember when the team decided to stop playing some games in the gym so as to project the “big time D1” commitment to future recruits. That message is apparently dead, we aren’t big time D1. Time to move on from this experiment. I know everyone tried hard. This just didn’t work.
I don’t like it.
The 3-0 record is possible because two of those wins were against D-II teams.
If DU starts losing in Hamilton, the optics will get way worse.
Good recruits want to play in arenas, not glorified high school gyms.
I just want to see good hoops and improvement. I don’t care where they play – I just want to see progress. An empty Magness Arena is hardly a great recruiting tool either.
I did not pay $2000 to sit in the bleachers…this is such a terrible move by a program in tumult. Heads need to roll, and this starts with the AD. I will be starting a class action lawsuit against DU. Total “bait and switch”. This just downgraded our program to NAIA.
This program is hittting rock bottom. I remember the Terry Carroll era when he was mysteriously absent, they moved the games to Hamilton.
Current AD did not start this, but now up to him to fix it. I have had tickets starting with Joe Scott’s first year, Always excited about the start of the season, never missed a game. This year I have only seen couple of games and we lost all of those. This program needs to decide if it wants to play at the D1 level. We need a coach that can play fundamental basketball with two star recruits. Games at Magness, band, cheerleaders and the potential to knock off good teams and win the summit league. We are not going to get there without a change in direction.
Well if that’s not a kick to the nuts, I don’t know what is? Are they inviting South high school over for an exhibition?!
Wrong time to bring this up but neither venue is good for hoops. DU needs a 3500 seat venue for gymnastics and hoops. Magness is too big and Hamilton is too small. Of course, they need to turn this thing around first….
No justification for spending another dime on hoops, certainly not a new venue. Hell they should just admit its a lost proposition and pay the coach $50K a year – thats what the current situation warrants. Then use the money for other areas. This is a bit sarcastic, but I seriously don’t see paying competitive coaching salary with no evidence ever that hoops will generate interest (and revenue) to warrant the investment.
Gymnastics is outgrowing Hamilton but with some more aggressive marketing could utilize Magness well
Sad. And embarrassing. In an odd way, though, it’s almost fitting. It’s been a miserable season, the program is one of the worst in the country and completely irrelevant at this point in the Denver sports landscape, and there is no fan interest. If these guys can scratch out a couple of Ws playing in Hamilton, then more power to them.
Stay classy and stay in class guys. Get the education your scholarship promised. This program isn’t furthering you basketball career.
Crowds of 4,000-6,000 fans were very commonplace for DU men’s hoops in the 2011-2013 era when the Pioneers were winning 20+ games per year. Some of those crowds were “assisted” by ticket giveaways like the Rising Stars program, but if you win, people will come.
While a 4,000-seat basketball/gymnastics/volleyball arena would be a nice addition, the money would need to come from donors. The argument for it is that most winning hoops schools have hoops-specific arenas that aren’t split with other sports, but there st least seven schools that don’t seem to have a problem splitting hoops and hockey in the same barn- Wisconsin, Boston College, Northeastern, Ohio State, UMass-Amherst, Nebraska-Omaha as well as Denver.
I can’t help but wonder if Rodney has considered/is considering stepping down after this season. I know it’s not in most coach’s DNA to walk away with time still remaining on a contract, but I can’t help but wonder, based on how this season has gone, the debacle last season, and the extent to which there might be help coming next season in terms of recruits. I can only assume there isn’t a strong group of recruits coming in. I’m sure no one is more disappointed and frustrated than Rodney with how things have gone and the current state of the program. Maybe he cuts the cord and assuming he does want to continue coaching, gets a fresh start somewhere else as an assistant.
Yikes. Nothing more to say that hasn’t been said already.
I don’t think Rodney will quit. He’s a fierce competitor who believes, as most coaches do, that attention to details and buying into his process will produce wins. The big problem he has this year that he doesn’t have enough of the horses he needs to convert the mostly very high effort level he’s getting from his players into actual wins, since most of his horses are still mostly very young, inexperienced and mistake-prone.
He’s also made some mistakes that many young coaches make – perhaps over-reliance on his first team of older assistant coaches (now all gone), recruiting mistakes by overestimating the quality and commitment levels of some recruits, and miscalculating the impact of incoming transfers on team chemistry last season. Presumably, he’s learning from those.
He’s now without three upperclassmen this year due to early transfers out, and while it can be argued if any of them would have been difference makers this season, the team is still very young as a result.
To me, the underproduction/lack of developmental jumps of t he current sophomore class from their freshman seasons (outside of the fabulous Jase Townsend, whose improvement has been immense) is glaring. Kurnaz, Gatlin, Nzekwesi and Lanzi have not improved as much as hoped (or expected) and that’s the biggest reason why DU is close in games, but unable to win them.
Rod has also had to adjust his running systems a bit due to lost turnovers. Finally, I think part of his problems have been exacerbated by a little bit of naiveté on his end that sometimes makes itself apparent in his post-game interviews.
In year four, these problems are entirely his issues now.
Can he fix them?
I hope so.