Whenever the Idaho women’s basketball team hits the court of Cowan Spectrum, they’re greeted by silence. It’s because there’s usually more people sitting at the press table than there are in the stands, which is sad and unfair. The women deserve the support of the student body and community, especially with how they’re performing this year.The men’s basketball team has been struggling all year long, but still gets decent fan support for their home games. This year the women’s team has been rolling, but still plays in front of empty bleachers. The average attendance to a women’s basketball this season is just above 300 fans a game. This is unacceptable. Both teams deserve support, especially a winning team.
This team has hung with every WAC team this season. The three conference games the Vandals have lost this season have all come by less than 10 points. There’s no team Idaho can’t play with this year, and they’ve been getting more and more dangerous as the season has progressed.
The Vandals enter this week third place in the conference, well within striking range of first with half of the conference schedule still to go. Idaho is one of the best rebounding teams in the conference and leads the conference in blocks. This is a team fans should get to know now because they’re going to be good for years to come.
The Vandals have just two seniors on roster this season. A large portion of the team is freshman and sophomores. It’s a team full of young talent that will surely make this a formidable program for years.
Not only is this team winning, but they’re exciting to watch. They’re fast and they can shoot. The Vandals lead the conference in 3-pointers made with 8.5 a game and have broken the program record for 3-pointers in a game twice this season already.
There’s no reason not to come out and show this team some support, but it’s part of an unfortunate trend, both in Vandal sports and in women’s sports. Fan support has been an issue for Idaho for years, even for the teams that are doing well. Something needs to change in the culture at the University of Idaho. Granted, a lot of Idaho teams have struggled over the years, but why not support the ones that are doing well?
Many may not want to come out and watch women’s basketball. It’s gotten a bad reputation in some circles for being dull, but that’s not the case with this team. They’ve brought the few fans that have been in attendance to their feet many times this season. They deserve better.
It’s time to show up and support these teams. They’re exciting, they’re winning and they’re Vandals.
Kevin Bingaman can be reached at [email protected]