We may whine that our attendance is not as good as it should be, but there are those who have it much worse. Washington State is a Pac-12 member. That means they are in one of the "power" (money) conferences with the big TV contracts. You can watch them on satellite or cable all the time. Yet their home attendance averages only 2785 per game. (Imagine 2785 in Bud Walton arena, for instance.)
It must be granted that Washington State has some unique problems. It is located in Pullman, a city of just over 30,000 in the southeastern part of the state, out in the desert far from the bright lights of the coast and facing considerable weather issues in winter. Furthermore, in recent years they have had to combat the success of fellow east-sider Gonzaga for the attention of the fans in that part of the state.
Washington State actually has one national championship way back in 1917. Outside of that they have made it out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament only three times, most recently in 2008. In fact, they have been to the Tournament only six times.
Washington State actually played in the championship game of the Tournament in 1941 and had a brief period of success during the tenures of Dick (father) and Tony (son) Bennett in 2004-2009. (Tony is now at Virginia, currently ranked #2 in the nation.) Outside of that, things have been pretty bleak in Pullman. To his credit, however, Ernie Kent is currently doing a good job of getting them to be marginally competitive in big time basketball.
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