I counted that. Lol
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Being in the gym, that place was LOUD. Their fans were loud, speaker system was loud, acoustics did there thing… we actually abandoned up our seats (4th row behind miami bench) to go sit in the nosebleeds due to the noise and crowd enthusiasm. Granted, a hangover may have contributed to this decision, but still. It was an eye opener.
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Miami’s gameday experience is catered towards the Knolls crowd. In the last home game, a lady turned around and scolded me for yelling, “Review it!” after there was a score after the shot clock expired. She told me she was sensitive to loud noises, but was sitting in the ~10th row. Everyone complains about student attendance, but there’s not a single thing at Millett that’s accurately targeted toward students. It’s all designed to simulate a tennis match.
As far as the team goes. This was a good wake up call in January. This team is capable of winning out against the rest of the MAC. But the defense needs to get crisper. IMO, it looked like a lack of trust. Too many guys rotating to cover for someone that wasn’t their responsibility instead of trusting that their teammate will get there. Akron just look more comfortable in their system, which makes sense with their age. Steele’s teams tend to improve most in defense through the year, so hopefully that continues to hold true.
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Jive is being generous saying the game day experience is catered to ANYONE. There is no way the current “experience” could be any less bland or more disjointed, but that’s been true for years. If there was such a thing as a game day experience consultant, hiring he/she/them would be money well spent.
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People on this board tend to rip on the MAC Center and the JAR, but I’ve always enjoyed watching Miami play in those gyms. They both get really loud even with 3000 people. Millett probably needs 6000+ to get as loud as those places with half the crowd.
With the new arena, I don’t care about it being “nice” but of course it will be. The number 1 priority to me is how loud and intimidating it gets.
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Quoted for truth
There’s nothing that can be done to fix Millet. The place with built to serve too many purposes which makes it crappy at all of them.
Having an indoor track between the court and stands was idiotic. Having cavernous seating up into the upper levels with terrible lightning was stupid. Having a huge open end with nothing but a curtain on one end was dumb.
Thankfully, the recipe for a successful small, modern basketball arena is well known and established. Plenty of good examples have been built in the last decade. I’m fully confident if Miami builds a basketball specific facility it will be great.
Sure, the atmosphere won’t ever be UD or X or UC, but it can be a top of MAC experience.
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There’s a guy on TikTok who has a series where he tried walking onto as many college football fields as possible during the off days. When he visited us he complimented Yager quite a bit (later listed it as the 2nd best stadium in the MAC after Akron), but when he went into Millett he said something to the effect of “this looks like it was designed by someone who makes movie theaters because it doesn’t feel like a basketball arena”. When you’re catching strays from TikTok you know it’s dire.
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