Schneider is smallish, but there isn't a bad seat in the house. With the low roof, it can get pretty loud in there. Does it look big time? No. But its not a bad place to watch a game at all. Frankly, if Leaman gets them winning, that could be a pretty fun program. 3000 seats is about right to create demand, and there are more people in metro Providence than the entire state of Maine (most of which's population is nowhere near Orono). PC may be a "small Catholic school" but they still average 7k+ for hoops, and Maine isn't even the "large(st) state school" in the state of Maine by much (USM is within about 1,000 students).
You always advocate for bigger and better conferences (letting in UND), and dropping the "weak" programs from HEA (Lowell, for example), but I think you are delusional. Maine is a lot closer institutionally and resource wise to the UMLs and PCs than the BCs and BUs of the world. That's not even a personnel thing (coaching, players, etc.). That's a finances and infrastructure issue. As much as people ***** and moan that Maine is turning into LSSU, the easiest way for Maine to become LSSU is to get rid of the teams Maine has an actual institutional advantage over. Setting aside athletics, the campus in Orono is falling apart. There's a reason the percentage of in state students keeps going up and up- things are decrepit and price is really the only selling point right now. While UNH and UMA and the privates are all building new dorms and academic buildings, everything on Maine's campus other than the rec center and an engineering building or two is in embarrassing condition. UMaine isn't an easy sell to anyone- hockey players, other athletes, non-athletes, etc. You remove the other programs with selling point issues, and Maine is stuck trying to sell itself over schools with a lot more going for them.
