You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him watch the game.

It is a fitting analogy when you consider Burton Coliseum is filled to the rafters for the rodeo but when it comes to McNeese basketball it looks more like an empty barn.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the problem was more of the same Saturday as the Cowboys welcomed their second mid-major foe that won a conference championship last spring.

But just like against Louisiana-Lafayette two weeks earlier, the empty seats in the old arena more than surpassed those taken up by paying customers.

While some might say the afternoon contest with Toledo was too close to Christmas, there was one fan who dressed like Santa who seemed to find time to attend.

What those who didn’t show up missed was a pretty good college basketball team. Toledo won the game 83-69.

While a good portion of the area isn’t willing to drive a short distance to Burton, there was one person who made the two-hour trek from Houston to watch what turned out to be a pretty entertaining game.

Andrew Hard loves college basketball and has a life-long bucket list to get to every arena that is home to a Division I team.

At 28, Hard calls his profession the law, but his passion is the college game. His tour of arenas took him to Burton Saturday, where he and a friend watched and took in the atmosphere.

Even though there weren’t a lot of fans, Hard said each arena is special.

“It’s hard to know exactly which of the best ones are until you actually get into them and watch the game,” Hard said. “I want to see the big ones, like Duke, UCLA and North Carolina, but the little ones can also be fun.”

He pointed to a game last year at Houston Baptist, which plays its home games in Sharp Gym.

“It was like a middle school,” Hard said. “There were only 150 people or so at the game which made it unique in its own way.”

He even found good things inside Burton, where only 391 were on hand.

“Each game is special,” he said. “Each game means something to the players and it means something to the fans who do show up.”

As for why he picked this game as his Burton experience, Hard said it was about the matchups.

“Toledo is a good team from a different part of the country so that made it different,” he said.

Before the season starts, Hard maps out his plan, trying to get to as many games as he can. Some of them are part of longer road trips, others like yesterday just a short drive.

“I want to make it so I can get to as many games and experience as many different fan bases and atmospheres as possible.”

Hard said he was impressed with both Toledo and the Cowboys, who start three local products and have put on a good showing this season.

However, he admits fans make the difference.

Hard said the best game he has seen is a one-point buzzer-beater victory by Illinois over then-ranked No. 1 Indiana.

“It was so exciting,” he said. “That is what you hope for. You don’t always get it.”

Hard also admits he won’t get to the 300-plus schools until he is older, but he believes time is on his side.

As for whether he will ever come back for a game at Lake Charles when the Cowboys move to their new on­-campus home in a few years, he left that door open.

“It wasn’t a bad ride over so we will see who they are playing,” Hard said.

Must be all in the perspective.(Rick Hickman/American Press)

Rick Hickman