It's time to support Utah Utes basketball

Jim Boylen doesn't even want to talk about it any more. When a reporter brought it up at a recent press conference, he said, "I was afraid someone was going to ask that."

The topic is home attendance. The Utah coach is frustrated about it. He feels he's done all that he can do to bring fans to the Huntsman Center.

He was asked to bring defense back to the Utes and he did. He was asked to put the "Runnin"' back in the Runnin' Utes and he did. He was asked to bring in better opponents and he did with Michigan, Oklahoma, LSU, California and Oregon on the schedule the past two years. He was expected to win championships and he did with a regular-season as well as a tournament championship in just his second year.

He's gone out and spoken to community groups. He's met with various student organizations. He's taken the mike at football games and at the end of basketball games to encourage fans to come to his games.

Yet Ute fans continue to stay away in droves. For every Ute home game there are vast swaths of empty red seats. Attendance numbers are the lowest they've been since the Huntsman Center opened 40 years ago at just 8,694 per game.

The Utes will likely surpass that number with some big conference games coming up against San Diego State, New Mexico, UNLV and BYU. Still it's going to be awfully hard to match the attendance of Boylen's first two years, which were both barely under 10,000.

And the sad truth is, the actual attendance has been more like 6,000 to 7,000 as Utah, like most other schools, counts sold tickets

So why aren't the fans coming out?

I've heard some say they'd come out if the Utes won more (the Utes have lost four home games already this year). I don't believe it nor do I agree with the philosophy.

Two of Utah's best seasons over the past decade came in 2004-05 when they went to the Sweet 16 with Andrew Bogut and last year's 24-10 team. In both years, average attendance declined from the season before.

And why should fans only come out when their team is winning? Doesn't a true fan support his team rain or shine, win or lose? To me, the only criteria a true fan should have is that their team gives its best effort and has a chance to win most nights, which Utah has certainly done the last three years.

Other excuses for lack of fans include too many televised games, inconvenient parking and a switch of interest to the successful Utah football team.