Northeastern Hoops Fandom
Northeastern Hoops Fandom
Why become a Northeastern basketball fan?
Good question! I’ve rewritten this section a few times, as I’ve found it difficult to put into words why it is that I find being a Huskies fan worth your while. Here’s a few factors to consider:
- Supporting Your School Team and Join the Community
If you’re here, odds are you’ve already got some association with Northeastern- student, grad, professor, employee, parent, prospective one of those, etc. Becoming an NU sports fan helps connect with the Northeastern community. While NU isn’t exactly a school known for its school spirit or massive sports community, there are still a bunch of dedicated people you can connect with through Northeastern basketball and other NU sports. If you’re a graduate, NU hoops fandom can be a way to stay connected to your college community just a bit from wherever life has taken you since your years on campus. Plus, with Northeastern’s increasing popularity around the world and a brand new basketball/hockey arena on the way, what’s to say we can’t work on that “lack of school spirit” reputation a bit? And of course, if you’re in Boston, there’s nothing cooler than running into members of a team you’re a fan of around campus, the city, or perhaps as your classmate in 9 AM Microeconomics. - The Spirit of the Underdog
Northeastern is a mid-major basketball school, which is to say it is a division 1 school that often faces the very best schools in the nation, but they are not in one of the “power conferences” that include the college basketball schools that are household names (Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, UConn, etc). At times, being a mid-major fan can feel like the deck is stacked against you. You’re constantly under threat of losing players and coaches to power conference schools, who have more resources to work with to build winning teams that your school could ever dream of.
But that just makes the triumphs all the sweeter. Nobody remembers when Kentucky goes to the Final Four. But they sure do remember when UMBC beat Virginia. Or St. Peter’s made the Elite 8. Or when Loyola Chicago made the Final Four. Or when…. you get the idea. Every March Madness is dominated by the underdog mid-major stories. But mid-majors don’t stop existing the other 11 months of the year. They’re fighting all year, every year, against long odds to create winning teams. Winning could be one of those coveted March Madness cinderella runs, a conference championship, a national TV upset, beating a major rival, or just about anything else. And when those win happen for Northeastern, as they have in the past and will again in the future, the jubilation rises to a new level knowing that you were there for the journey. Every seemingly insignificant decision, game, and player; every high and low- you’ll know just how they came together to build something great. - The Story Arc
As I alluded to above, I believe that one reason college sports endure as such popular things to watch (and especially March Madness) despite pro sports being made up of better players is their capacity for storytelling that pro sports simply cannot muster. Whether it’s a David vs. Goliath tale of a mid major vs. a powerhouse, a player playing cooking the school that wouldn’t give them an offer, a team defeating a player who transferred away from them, two arch-rivals who have a 150 game history that goes back to before the NBA was founded (NU vs. BU!), or one of dozens of other tales, the NCAA produces narratives that nothing else in the world really can. If you enjoy the story behind your favorite teams matchups, NBA “Twitter beef”, the GOAT debate, and the like, I think you’ll find that mid-major college basketball (and Northeastern history) is hiding tales that are right up your ally. - In-Person Viewership Experience
Even if you don’t plan to become a die-hard fan, where else can you sit courtside (or close to it) for a reasonable price (or free as a student!) for high-level basketball? It’s a crazy experience to watch great players (and especially athletic feats like dunks) from a vantage point that isn’t available to most who watch exclusively big colleges or professional basketball. Plus, it’s just a fun activity to do, whether you’re a student or just someone local to Boston, that only takes about two hours. Go to a game sometime just for this, you won’t regret it.
You’ve sold me, how do I learn about and keep up with the teams?
Awesome, glad to have you on board. Here’s the basics you need to know:
- Ways to use this site to help you get your bearings:
Take a look at the “Start Here” page under Huskies History on this site. It has some basic info and timelines to give you an idea of what the teams are usually like and where they’ve been.Under construction!- Give the MBB and WBB roster rundowns on this website a read to get introduced to the current players and coaches.
- Take a listen to recent episodes of the Northeastern Basketball Central podcast to hear more details and where the teams are at in the yearlong season/offseason cycle
- Social media accounts to follow
- Where to watch/listen to games
- Each game on the official MBB and WBB schedules notes where it can be watched and/or listened to.
- Almost all in-conference games (aka most of the games for the season) are on FloHoops, a paid subscription service. You can get a student discount by signing up with your Northeastern email. Nobody likes Flo, but it’s what we’ve got.
- As an alternative, you can listen to all home games and select road games for free on WRBB 104.9 FM radio from NU campus, or at wrbbsports.com/listen-live/ from anywhere in the world.
- How to attend games
- If you are NOT a student, tickets can be purchased here.
- If you are a student, you can attend all home games for FREE! Check the section below for how.
I’m a student, what options do I have to get involved with NU basketball on campus?
Hope you enjoy your time rooting on the Huntington Hounds as a student, it’s really fun. Aside from the things listed in the section above, here’s some options for taking your involvement to the next level:
- Attending Games: Obviously, we have to start here. ALL students can attend ALL home NU men’s and women’s basketball games free-of-change with their Husky card. You can technically reserve general admission tickets here by clicking Student Access, but that is unnecessary for basketball (unless one of the teams manages to schedule a Power 5 opponent at home), just show up with your physical Husky card- mobile ID won’t work.
- For men’s games, enter Matthews Arena through the student entrance on the side of Matthews facing Gainsborough Street (entrance is at the head of the blue arrow on this map) This is Matthews’ final season before it is demolished after 115 years, so don’t miss your chance to experience it!
- For women’s games, enter the Cabot Center using the glass doors that face Huntington Avenue (on the left side of Cabot if were to stand on Huntington and face the building- at the head of the red arrow on this map).
- You can show up at game start time and still get a fantastic seat! To ensure you get the best possible experience (a true courtside seat at Matthews and front row at Cabot), you may want to show up 10-15 minutes before, but any more than that is overkill.
- Joining the N-Zone: The N-Zone is Northeastern Basketball’s fan section. N-Zone members sit courtside with signs, chants, and more to try to help increase the Huskies home court advantage. If you’re interested, you can start by following their Twitter and Instagram, then fill out their New Member Questionnaire here. Presumably, you’ll be sent a link to their club Slack group chat after filling that out, but if not, send them a DM on Instagram.
- Covering The Teams with WRBB Sports: If you want to be a part of the most dedicated community of NU sports fans on campus, you can’t beat joining the Huskies sports coverage team at WRBB Sports, Northeastern’s preeminent student sports media outlet. WRBB has options for you to be involved with NU sports in a number of ways, from written game stories, to live radio broadcasts, to podcasts and radio shows, to photography, to graphic design. You can be involved with just a little on the side, or literally everything- it’s up to you. No experience necessary to join (take it from me- I had none when I joined)!
- Even if you don’t want to be a journalist, give WRBB a shot if you’re passionate about NU hoops and want to experience the teams in a unique way that you might never get the chance to again after college (again, take it from me: I spent four years at WRBB as a computer science major, now I write code for a living, not newspaper articles). If this sounds up your ally and you’re an NU student, inquire about joining WRBB here; they’ll be happy to have you.
- Other things of note:
- The Doghouse is Northeastern Hockey’s fan section and it’s the most active community of NU sports fans. There’s plenty of passionate Huskies sports fans in there, so I’m sure you’ll find at least a few fellow hoops enthusiasts amongst their ranks.
- The Northeastern Athletics department has co-op opportunities of various sorts sometimes, including in video/media production and in the sports information office. And of course the basketball teams themselves sometimes have student manager and “practice player” opportunities as well. Frankly I know very little about these opportunities, but they merit mention on a “ways to be involved” list, since you can’t get much more involved than working for the NU Athletics program.
