Marquette Women's Basketball: Coach Kieger Has Two Game Day Atmosphere Requests

I received my Marquette women's basketball season tickets in the mail yesterday (aside: did you know you get 1 men's basketball priority point for every consecutive year you have two women's tickets? It's true! It's the value of a $250 donation for as little as $80!), and the envelope contained the standard stuff:  the cards that the McGuire Center staff scans at entry, two wallet schedules, a note about last night's event at Saz's, and a letter from head coach Carolyn Kieger.

Most of the letter from Coach Kieger is standard rah-rah stuff.  Thanks for purchasing, heart and soul of the program, can't wait for the season to start, etc., etc.  But the fourth paragraph has two requests from Kieger for things she wants to have happen as part of the game day experience.  We'll deal with the second one first because it's simple and straightforward.  In Coach Kieger's words:

Another tradition I loved when I played and I'd like to bring back is after a player hits a three-pointer, the PA will announce "(Player's name) for..." and the arena will reply "THREE!"

Well, that's pretty simple.  Admittedly, I did not get a chance to see Kieger play while she was at Marquette, so I don't remember this occuring after made triples.  But it's a simple thing to do, it gets the crowd involved and more active, and it helps create a more stifling atmosphere for the visiting team.

The first request that Coach Kieger made is incredibly shrewd.

If you were at Madness this year, you may have seen this first one.  After starting lineups are announced, the students/band will chant "WE ARE!" with the rest of the arena responding "MARQUETTE!" three times.

As I mentioned, I haven't been the most dedicated fan of Marquette women's hoops, but I do go way, WAY back with the squad.  Introductions ultimately finish with the head coach, who, for the past 16 seasons, was Terri Mitchell.  That led to a clap-along and sing-song chant from the students (and those of us who know the deal) of "We love Terri Mitchell," to the standard issue conga line rhythm.  Obviously, that's gone by the wayside now, and it's quite adept of Coach Kieger to step in and intentionally introduce something different to avoid any kind of weird awkwardness in her first season replacing Coach Mitchell.

Marquette gets their season started with an exhibition against Lewis at the McGuire Center on Sunday afternoon at 2pm, with the official start of the season coming on November 15th against UW-Green Bay.