NCAA Basketball: 10 teams that will be hurt most from fan-less games

Xavier Musketeers

Xavier fans labored through an incredibly disappointing season last year, but they might be in for a different type of letdown this winter if unable to physically attend their team’s home games. But normally with their fans intact, the Cintas Center always boasts with increased volume and energy while making winning exceedingly tough for opposing teams, gaining national recognition for such attributes.

Once netting each game’s first basket, Xavier fans toss-up shredded newspapers into the air, a tradition that immediately kickstarts the fans, who go onto stay ignited during the entire game. Aside from that, fans also repeatedly shout “who cares” during the name and number announcements for whichever team plays the unfortunate role of the visiting team.

Building up your own team while simultaneously tearing down its opponents remains the primary goal for any crowd, and these traditions before each game combined with their arena’s intimidating stature really helps Xavier stack up well against even the bigger, more popular collegiate basketball fanbases. Furthermore, Xavier oddly enough lacks a football team to root for as well, allowing their fans and students to pour all their energy into basketball and focus solely on it, leaving the team with a true fan-support surplus.

Taking all that away from Xavier really leaves their basketball program feeling undeniably barren and even more vulnerable than last year if you can imagine that.