Has basketball traffic picked up with the success of the past couple years?

Since Buzz arrived, yes, but I don't have the time right now to run the numbers on pre-NCAA season vs. NCAA season.

Does TSL feel any impetus to try to change the viewpoint, i.e. run more basketball content to try to get the fan base more involved/interested in it? Or is it kind of what it is at this point? I'm sure Buzz being more tolerant of local media would help.

It is what it is, and only prolonged excellence will change things at this point. It's worth noting that the crowd that showed up in Cassell for Buzz's introductory PC years ago was about the same size as the crowd that showed up for the NCAA Tournament announcement last spring.

Buzz *could* be more friendly to local media, yes, but I'm not sure how much that would help. He's his own guy, an a little unusual. He's VERY focused on his team.

Hopefully a few more NCAA bids will further increase the basketball attention, and keep Buzz around for a while.

The next step to increasing focus on the program is a Sweet 16. I think at this point that an NCAA bid is the bar that has been set, and getting more and more NCAA bids is going to give the fan base a "been there, done that" feel -- even though that's not true, haha -- and won't do much to increase excitement. Sounds like an odd thing to say, and it shouldn't be true, but IIWII.

My reference point for all this is watching the site traffic on the Sabre when UVA won their first regular season ACC regular-season championship and ACC tournament championship back in 2013-14. They had been showing signs of life under Tony Bennett, wining consistently and returning to the NCAA (2011-12) and NIT (2012-13). But traffic on the Sabre didn't really blow up until UVA went into February of 2014 in first place in the ACC. Then, it EXPLODED.

These days, it takes real excellence to really get a fan base fired up, unfortunately. Buzz is doing a GREAT job here, but although it has increased interest, it hasn't REALLY fired up the fan base. Yet. Too bad.