The “STUD” section was what got my high school team one game away from the IHSA state playoffs.

The “STUD” section was a place where any Shamrock could come and feel like he was a part of something.

The “STUD” section was the place where creative cheers would start during warmups and wouldn’t end until they left the gym.

What is the “STUD” section?

The “STUD” section was and still is the students from St. Patrick High School who follow the basketball team wherever their schedule may take them.

When a referee would make a bad call, the cheer of “Nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts, we got screwed,” would echo throughout the gym.

The “STUD” section was on their feet the whole game no matter what kind of game it was. St. Pat’s could have been down by 30, but the “STUD” section would still be on their feet shouting loud and proud.

Okay, enough about the old high school glory days.

I didn’t feel any such atmosphere at Tuesday night’s men’s basketball game against the University of Illinois-Chicago Flames.

Before Tuesday’s game, I talked to Eastern’s starting center Jesse Mackinson and he said he was looking forward to running out onto his home court in front of his home fans. Mackinson even mentioned the Blue Crew.

The Blue Crew is the student section at Lantz Arena who are usually the loudest fans in the place.

Mackinson said, the home fans could help give the Panthers the extra adrenaline to help them play at the next level.

“(Tuesday night) we didn’t give the fans much to cheer about,” Mackinson said.

Despite being down only five points at halftime to UIC (who is ranked third by ESPN.com and fourth by Collegeinsider.com among mid-majors), the fans did not seem to be in the game at all.

Every time a Flames player dribbled the ball as part of his free throw routine, the Blue Crew could be heard counting each dribble out loud in attempt to rattle the shooter. It may have worked as the the Flames went just 13 of 24 (54 percent) from the charity stripe.

Imagine if the blue crew counted every dribble before a UIC player shot a three pointer. If they did, maybe UIC would have shot worse than 50 percent from the arch. That was not the case however as UIC went eight for 16 from three.

Maybe college students are just too mature to scream their lungs out for a basketball team. That’s high school stuff. Right?

If the Duke Blue Devils lost its first three games, I bet the Cameron Crazies would want to do something special to get its team a win.

However I recognize Eastern is no Duke University by a long shot.

Tuesday night the Panthers hung with one of the more athletic teams on their schedule for the first half of play.

However, if they had a sixth man out there supporting them, they may have been able to hold on for longer. Who knows, they might have even won it.

The Panthers are a young team and may not believe in themselves yet. If they have a strong, loud, visible, sixth man that believes in them, maybe believe they can win. As a wise man once said, believing is achieving.