Mar 9, 2012 3 min read

For an area that claims to love basketball, Fayette County didn’t show it at the USCAA National Championship Tournament.

Thirty-four teams from across the country came to Penn State Fayette, The Eberly Campus and played 29 games through Thursday. More were scheduled Friday and Saturday, with national champions to be crowned in three divisions Saturday evening.

Instead of showing up to watch good college basketball, most of Fayette County stayed away.

Maybe you fine folks of Fayette County had more important things to do, maybe you decided to stay home and watch the big boys from Pitt and West Virginia end their seasons in the Big East Tournament from the comfort of your couch.

Or maybe basketball isn’t as big in these parts as we allow ourselves to believe.

Eberly Campus Athletic Director Vince Capozzi had done all of the advance planning and preparations to put on a first-class show that may entice the USCAA honchos to bring the event back here for another two-year stint.

But if the USCAA bases its decision on fannies in seats, they would be well within their rights to look elsewhere to stage its national championship tournament.

It was disappointing to see all of the empty seats in the Main Arena while top-notch men’s and women’s basketball games were unfolding.

When the local teams played, there was a modest boost in attendance, but it was only a modest increase. Plenty of good seats remained available.

Capozzi must have been wondering what else he could do to lure the locals to the event. The Fayette women’s team had just claimed its first PSUAC championship and Capozzi made sure the championship banner was hung proudly for all to see. The men’s team won a game in the national event.

If Capozzi was frustrated, he hid it well.

Instead of expressing disappointment, he would only allow that he was “surprised” by the lack of attendance. What else could he say?

As he has all along, Capozzi took the high road. Instead of blasting those who didn’t attend, he praised and thanked those who did.

Basketball is the showcase sport at Penn State Fayette. The teams have gotten better in the last few years and Capozzi, along with the rest of the campus community, felt their ability to compete against the best teams in the country was a very positive step for the program.

They are right to assume that, even if nobody showed up to witness it.

If the USCAA picks a new place to stage its national basketball championships, it will not be because the local campus did anything wrong. It will be because Fayette County, a supposed hotbed of basketball fans, chose to ignore it while it was right here under your noses.

There would be no one else to blame.

There’s still hope, though. Three championship games will be contested Saturday afternoon and evening. The women’s championship tips off at 4 p.m., the men’s Division II championship follows at 6:30 p.m. and the men’s Division I title game is set to begin at 9 p.m.

If you want this event to keep coming to Fayette County, do something about. Show up.