Men’s basketball saw its attendance increase by nearly 25 percent in a season in which the Huskies’ record remained nearly stagnant.

The Huskies went 14-16 (.467) this season after going 15-17 (.469) in 2013-14. Unlike their winning percentage, attendance jumped up significantly from 1,012 to 1,251 fans per game — still low for a Division I team — this season for an increase of 23.6 percent.

While it’s difficult to separate exactly how many of those additional attendees were students, there’s been a visible increase in student attendance this season. There is in fact a real, living, breathing student section at basketball games — even if it looks slightly pathetic in person and even worse on ESPN3.

Part of that increase may have to do with the giveaways of water bottles, T-shirts and battle hand gloves (and who could forget the one-person trip to Hawaii?).

While gimmicks will draw in a few handfuls of students, the simplest way to increase student attendance at basketball games and create a basketball culture among the students is winning.

Living up to football

For as big a sport basketball has become in Chicago — especially with the talent the city’s high schools are shipping out — NIU is still first and foremost a football school. The reason: The Huskies win. They win regularly. Most importantly, they’re winning now.

There was a time in the late 90s when a football win was an aberration. From 1996-98 the football team won three games. Combined.

The change since then needs no explanation as the Huskies have made it to five-straight MAC Championship games under three head coaches and have won three of the past four MAC Championships.

Men’s basketball is just getting out of its late-90s-football funk and needs to keep the winning coming to establish a basketball culture with its current and prospective students. The Huskies won five games each of head coach Mark Montgomery’s first two seasons before winning 15 games in 2013-14 and 14 games this season.

Past dreams and nightmares

While seasoned fans may remember the Huskies making the NCAA Tournament in 1981-82, 1990-91 and 1995-96, current students haven’t seen teams sniff that level. A good number of students couldn’t even walk the last time NIU went dancing.

The Huskies have only managed two winning seasons in the last 19 campaigns since they last made the NCAA Tournament. Who could blame students if they didn’t know there was a basketball team?

Some of the students may have even mentally blocked out the basketball team for a while after its utter futility on Jan. 26, 2013, when the Huskies scored a mere four points in the first half of a game against the Eastern Michigan Eagles. Other students may have learned there was actually a basketball team on campus through the national embarrassment.

Constructing a culture

The times have not been great to men’s basketball as of late. But, the tide seems to have started to turn the last two years.

Whether Montgomery is the man who should be reviving a near-dead basketball program remains to be seen. In the all-crucial third year for a head coach he turned a five-win team into a 15-win team that made it to the second round of the MAC Tournament. The Huskies were in a similar boat record-wise this season. It’ll be interesting to see what kind of leaps they can make in the coming seasons with a roster more populated by players Montgomery has recruited out of high school and developed over four years — not just those he inherited when he took over or those who transferred in for one year.

Under Montgomery the Huskies have had their share of upsets the past two seasons — including a win against Central Michigan this season in which redshirt senior Pete Rakocevic literally brought down the backboard. But, they need to win on a consistent basis and become a team other teams are looking to pull an upset on. That’s when you know you’ve become a great team. Making the NCAA Tournament wouldn’t hurt, either.

Football is a great team in the MAC and has its head being hunted every game because every team in the conference tries to make the most of its chance to dethrone NIU. Football doesn’t win because students simply show up at the games — although cold weather and midweek games do drive some students away. The students show up and immerse themselves in the culture of the football team and make football part of their lives because the team wins.

Simple enough.