They play in a 9K seat arena for basketball. They have like 2K seats for students. They've played neutral site games in the past against pretty good teams in the Greensboro Coliseum as well as Charlotte without selling out. I don't think you understand how a small alumni base actually affects things. Think how Miami struggled selling out the Orange Bowl even when they were the premier team in college football.

There were more students at the Duke/VT game than any of their basketball games.