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Originally posted by jasonpeoria911
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I think we as fans expect too much including myself, first half was sloppy with little offense , start of 2nd half was outstanding which shows what team is capable of when they set good screens and players make shots, even with 3 players out Geno could have let last nights main players win by over 25 had he not substituted so much, they won easily and everyone including 3 walk-ons played, no doubt team looked better then red-white, be interesting to see what rotations will be used on Sat. -
Here is a picture of the new Nike BU uniform-Originally posted by Fyrebyrd View Post
Here is last year's uniform-
The shorts look the same, but the jersey is new for 2012-2013.
We have heard this might be the last year for the Nike uniforms.Comment
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I was terribly disappointed at the student interest and attendance.
Man...when I was a student you have to fight just to get into the nosebleed seats under the rafters - just to see the games - now the students seem to not even know about these games??
Attendance in each of the last six on-campus exhibition games...has been on the general decline
honestly - I don't think I have ever seen so few students at a game even downtown at Carver Arena...
wasn't the whole idea of moving the games onto campus so MORE students can and will attend??
The dropoff in fans at the on-campus exhibition since the mid-2000's has been dramatic.
2005 - 1971 - 74-62 win over SIUE & then HC Marty Simmons
2006 - 2547 - Zach Andrews 26 pts/10 rebs, DRuff 14 asst in win over Winona State
2007 - 4150 - 110-84 win over St. Ambrose - final game at the Fieldhouse
2008 - none, arena under construction
2009 - none, arena under construction
2010 - 2514 - (loss to Quincy)
2011 - 1840 (Wisc-Parkside - recall that Donivine Stewart was 5-5, 12 pts, 6 asst, 4 rebs then never saw the floor again)
2012 - 1054 (Upper IA)Comment
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I agree tornado. Student attendance is absolutely pathetic... Embarrassing! I think students of today are just so " me" centric and into video games, reality shows, etc. that they take much less interest in most sports, not just basketball. It's a shame that they are so into themselves that they have no sense of team or school loyalty... Very disappointing!
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Gotta' think our decline in performance is directly correlated to decline in attendance. The luke-warm BU fan (which includes majority of students) just isn't "into it" after the results of the past 2 seasons - the last one particularly.Originally posted by tornado View Post
Start winning games and you'll likely see the fan base resurrect, more student involvement, etc. I'm pretty sure the administration and coaching staff wants more fans at games & interest around campus, but it's not easy to promote a team that lost 3 of every 4 games it played last year. I would think the program will work harder to get more fans to games after the long, arduous rebuilding from last year and probably this one.
For instance, if I were a conductor of an orchestra and my pupils frequently make many obvious mistakes, I wouldn't really push for people to come to see my performance until I sharpen things up a bit. Maybe that analogy doesn't work for basketball (???)Comment
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well -- I have been to plenty of ICC games where 10 times this number of students attend....so I think the general nature of today's college kids plays only a small part......
and although winning will help - this is your PREMIER, season-opening event on campus for basketball -- and I know I am not in charge but here are a few ideas...
-first - there has to be some ticket promotion for the students.....so that even at $1 per student ticket - that any student who arrives with a ticket and brings someone else - then they get free hot dogs or soda....and there are a few other things that would appeal to students and possibly draw a few.....
-the I don't mean to be cruel - but seriously - UPPER IOWA??
You gotta schedule someone that the students have heard of or have at least an inkling of interest in...maybe Illinois Wesleyan, Lewis, UIS....
Note that the story when we drew over 4000 for St. Ambrose said this...
"Bradley Director of Ticket Operations Rob Bogardus reports ticket sales for
the final game at the fieldhouse are well ahead of recent years and also
include a large contingent of St. Ambrose fans."
AND - when we last hosted Illinois Wesleyan - and it was NOT part of the season ticket package - we drew over 5200!!!
...and the 2500+ we drew for Winona & Quincy had something to do with both LOCAL kids who played on those teams, and the fact that they were a KNOWN commodity and highly ranked in D-II.
- pick a Friday night and every student can also use their game ticket for other events/concert/movie, etc...
- then treat the students really special -- courtside seats (the courtside seats on the east side of the arena were largely empty),
their own no-wait entrance, then hand out some kind of gimmick, noisemaker, banners, etc...plus awards for the students who are loudest, most body paint, etc...
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I think the promotions and gimmicks have ran their course the past five years. The basketball program is past the point of just trying to keep the fans around, they have to win them back. The product on the floor has to improve.
As was mentioned before, I'm not sure that you would want a full house when your team isn't at full strength. This was a dress rehersal.1996 & 2019Comment
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The students will come when the team wins. It really is that simple. This current group of students has been in school for what - 35 total wins over their 3 years here?Comment
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I came away most impressed with Egolf and Pickett. Pickett has an aggressiveness I haven't seen in a BU big in several years. He has decent post moves and once he becomes more comfortable I believe he will be one of our most important players. There was a palpable decline in the team's performance when he picked up his 2nd foul in the 1st half and had to sit.
Then when he was back on the floor in the 2nd half, we took the lead from 3 to 20 in short order.
Egolf looked like a much improved player. His confidence in his shot was exciting to see. His stroke is nice. He used to have a funky follow-through but it seems to be corrected.
He COULD be our leading scorer if he can increase his intensity on the blocks, show better offensive consistency from game-to-game and stay out of foul trouble in order to stay on the floor for 25-30 mins/game. Defensively, he is still a liability, but is our best option.
It also should be mentioned that NW didn't have an exciting stat line, but he blocked 3 shots and caused 3 airballs just by putting his hands up.#DunkOnYouComment
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sorry - I think there's a whole lot more to this story....otherwise...Originally posted by JMM28 View Post
... can you explain this to me -
... in 2004 when BU was coming off THREE consecutive "horrible seasons" (if you take what Phil Theobald & the press tells us) - one under Mo & TWO under JL --
PLUS the entire Central IL population of fans, students, and potential fans had been pummeled with YEARS of tremendous pessimism, negative press, and anti-Jim Les sentiment - and even anti-Mo sentiment where PT railed against his style of play and did everything he could to run Mo out of town, and then .......
BU held their 2004 preseason, on-campus exhibition against Quincy and drew almost 4000 fans, amid tremendous enthusiasm at other events like the tailgate, the ITOO supper, etc........
This was then followed by their regular season opener down at Carver in 2004) drawing 9000 - which is way, way more (by 2000) than any non-conference game last year and even MORE than any game we had at home ALL SEASON except the ISU game last year!
If there was a time that several consecutive losing seasons would have done as you say it should do - then why such a tremendous difference just a few years ago when we went through the precise same thing?Comment
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Maybe I'm cheap but $20 price point is way overpriced for this type of product at this time of year. I believe it was $5 at the fieldhouse within the last 6-8 years.Compete. Defend. Rebound. Win.Comment
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I have to agree with Tornado. When we had a very poor streak a few years back, the interest was still far greater than it is now. Maybe the recent changes will payoff with even greater gains, but the interest level in the program right now is by far the lowest in the last 10 years, and it's not even really close. Unless you're saying we had a very successful 2002-2011, there is more to it than poor performance - I think it's that the fans have minimal attachment and familiarity to anyone surrounding the program, really Snell and DA are the only ones who even had any ties to the program over 3 years ago. And three years ago we had several whose ties went back 25-45 years.Originally posted by tornado View Post
Now, everyone has to start their ties somewhere, and that's not a bad thing, but to assume the lack of interest is directly related to poor on-the-court performance is pretty myopic. I do agree though, that the only way to get the interest back at this point is success. We threw out tradition, let's hope it bought us wins (or what was the point, right?).Comment
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I think you're right that there IS more to the story, and we need to do a better job of drawing the students back into the arena.Originally posted by tornado View Post
My take is that there was a difference in comparing the 2 periods of time - this last stetch involved a couple great seasons (in the eyes of the avg. BU fan) in 2006 (Sweet 16) & 2007 (NIT) and then a far greater collapse from then to where the program is now. Expectations were still high after 2007, and continued until after the year Les was fired. The last place finish in 2010 was unexpected on the verge of a new season and then injuries hampered us again! But it can be argued that fans expected a last-place team when Les first arrived on the Hilltop as a fresh new coach.
And then last year's major rebuilding and record-breaking lows came just 5 seasons after a Sweet 16 appearance, which made people think - Man, this program is a mess - what happened? You go from an extreme high to an extreme low and the reppercussions are almost inevitable. And though Geno was in his 1st year and people knew we'd struggle, not many thought we'd struggle to that degree. Fans kind of lost hope in BU hoops after a 4-5 year span of winning basketball; not to say that hope can't be restored, but it takes some evidence to get people to believe again.
I think that's where we're at right now, but I don't have as much insight as a lot of others closer to the program.Comment
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I have to agree amckillip. I talk to long time BU fans every day in my profession, and many say the same thing you are saying. It's harder for them to feel an attachment to a program they have supported for so many years when all their favorite people are gone, and many feel that some of them were not treated well when they were forced out.Originally posted by amckillip View Post
I am not saying this couldn't be overcome, but many fans don't really see anything being done to try to reach out to them. In fact, as we have discussed with the changes in the Red-White and other longstanding events, and moving games out of the ticket package and back on campus, some people think Bradley simply doesn't care about them anymore.
I know people who gave up long time season tickets this season and aren't coming back. Not one of them has received a call or any contact to find out why.Comment
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could we be seeing the exact effect of the "fallout" that was predicted (but denied/ignored by some) was going to happen and continue for years to come....?
on a more optimistic note - anyone feel after seeing the team last night that just maybe we ARE better than a 9-10th place team??
I kinda think we are.....and if anyone on the team can emerge as a consistent scorer, then we can possibly hit .500Comment
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