VOL. 130 | NO. 25 | Friday, February 6, 2015

It has become a nightly ritual at University of Memphis home games. When a member of the stats crew walks down press row holding a sheet of paper displaying the “announced attendance,” members of the Fourth Estate roll their eyes and shake their heads.

“This is just sad,” has become the familiar refrain that soon follows. Those words were spoken again on Wednesday night, Feb. 4, as the Tigers were pounding a helpless Jacksonville State team 74-48. The more relevant statistic? The number of empty seats.

The announced attendance at FedExForum was 13,385. If it was a book, you’d find it in fiction.

An informal poll along press row put the actual attendance at anywhere from 6,500 to 9,000. Now obviously it’s ridiculous to think the Tigers can fill 18,000-plus seats for Jacksonville State on a Wednesday night.

That said, the announced attendance basically reflects seats purchased. That means, if you assume there were, say, 8,000 people at the JSU game, more than 5,000 paid-for-seats went unused.

Harold Byrd, president of Bank of Bartlett and by his own description as “true blue” as any Tiger fan, was in his usual front-row seat wearing a U of M Ambassadors Club jacket. He scanned the cavernous reaches of the arena and said this was nothing new – not unique to this venue or to sixth-year coach Josh Pastner.

“Gene Bartow and Dana Kirk, at the Mid-South Coliseum, had crowds of 5,000, 6,000, when we were playing Union University or somebody that wasn’t very good,” Byrd said. “Josh’s first five years were nothing less than extraordinary.”

Byrd is an unabashed Pastner supporter, you probably already knew that. By record, 144-52, Pastner has a .735 winning percentage at Memphis. And the Tigers have made four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

They also haven’t gone as far in those tournaments as fans wanted – or expected. Never further than the Round of 32, in fact.

Colby Bowen, 29, a season-ticket holder who says “I’ve been going to games since I was old enough to walk,” was in his customary lower-bowl seat Wednesday night. He had plenty of friends with tickets that stayed away.

“Tired,” he said, offering their most frequent excuse.

He then turned to his right and gestured toward the mostly empty student section behind the basket nearest the Memphis bench.

“To me, that’s what’s disheartening,” Bowen said. More disheartening: The tickets are free.

And even more disheartening: Shaq Goodwin, a junior forward, no longer expects the student section seats to be filled.

“My freshman year, students disappeared during a certain time in the season or when we lost,” Goodwin said. “So to me it’s just like playing at home. Some days they’re gonna be there and some days they’re not.”

This, too, is not anything new.

“That was an issue when I was (an assistant) with coach (John) Calipari,” Pastner said. “He used to complain about that, about the students not always showing out. And that’s not a shot at the students. I get it. It’s an off-campus- arena, it’s night, you’re in school, or if it’s cold and rainy, do you feel like driving down? Do they want to pay for parking?

“I want the students involved,” Pastner said, “but I know it’s not always easy . We’ve got great student support. They love their team big-time.”

After beating JSU, the Tigers are 14-8. They carry a 6-3 record in the American Athletic Conference into Saturday’s noon game here vs. Temple. The path to a fifth straight NCAA Tournament is as narrow as a Tiger stripe.

“Memphis basketball has a history of being a winning program,” sophomore forward Austin Nichols said. “This year we might not be getting as much success as (fans) thought we would, and I think they’re taking it a little hard.”

Hope took a hit before the season officially started when Division 2 Christian Brothers beat the Tigers. Fans have harped on that, on the fact that seven of the eight losses have been by double-digits, on the home loss to Tulane, on the fact Pastner hasn’t take the team to a Sweet 16.

Are Tiger fans unrealistic?

“I don’t think fans anywhere have a grasp of reality,” CBU coach Mike Nienaber said.

What is reality, however, is the vast number of unused seats at games. That, coupled with a mostly absent student section, has to be worrisome for the administration. Certainly it is for Colby Bowen, who is not related to U of M athletics director Tom Bowen but sounds like he could be.

“My No. 1 concern is the next generation,” Bowen said.

The most immediate reasons for hope: highly touted recruits and brothers Dedric and K.J. Lawson.

“I’ve watched the Lawson kids, and with what we have coming back we’re poised to have a really good year next year,” Byrd said. “Is there pressure on Josh? Well, yeah, there always is. We’ll be back (to usual form) next year.”

And if the program isn’t back to usual form next year?

“We’ll be back the following year,” Byrd said, true-blue as ever.