3 MVC games tonight (12/19)

[Da Coach]

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/scoreboard?d=2006-12-19&refresh=60&c=mvc

[Da Coach]

The MVC goes 3-0 for the night--

Loyola 73
Bradley 82

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200612190062

Lewis College 66
Illinois State-Normal 85

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200612190269

Kennesaw State 65
Wichita State 74

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/boxscore?gid=200612190648

[Da Coach]

The Wichita State game looks like it stayed fairly close the whole game, considering how bad Kennesaw State is!
The lost to a mediocre Kansas State team by 28, but trailed 55-19 at the half.
Wichita was 0-4 from 3-point range, but shot 63% from the field overall. Kennesaw State had 18 more shots than Wichita State. I suspect KSU must have outrebounded WSU by a bunch.

[BTID]

Maybe it was a lack of motivation on the part of the Shockers and Kansas State or a major improvement from Kennesaw State and Maryland-Eastern Shore. The Wildcats only beat the Hawks by 21 in Manhattan, whereas the Shockers whitewashed UMES on Saturday.

[squeaky]

Attendance at the ISU game tonight was 3,691 !

Are they holding the Winter Olympics this week in Normal? What the heck is happening there? Have their fans given up? Last I checked, they are 7-4, have a decent RPI with a chance to maintain that RPI now that the league play is about to begin, and they have some very good young players and a much more exciting team this year. 3691 is pathetic!

[MacabreMob]

Attendance at the ISU game tonight was 3,691 !

Well, just like Bradley has Illinois-slash-Bradley fans... I am sure they have Redbird-slash-Illinois fans.

If you were a Redbird-slash-Illinois fan, who would you rather watch tonight?

[tornado]

Saw some ISU highlights on the news, the entire upper bowl was empty,
and the lower bowl was 1/3 empty.
The 3600 figure is generous.

[DannyCooksey]

yep attendance is a major problem

The program has been down for too long. It will take 3-4 years of serious winning to get them back. At least that long. Very sad.

If there is an Illinois practice, most people in B-N will stay home to hear a report on it as opposed to seeing a game at RA. I'm sure there were less than that in attendance. I am a season ticket holder who couldn't make the game last night and I couldn't give away my tickets.

The other thing was that Lewis is hardly a decent opponent. That said, SIU comes to RA on the 29th. With students on break, I don't see more than 5,000 for that one either. Unless there are a ton of SIU fans making the trek. I will be there, but I don't expect or forsee a good crowd.

For whatever reason, no one seems to care anymore. The thing is, the football team was in the Top-20 for !-AA attendance this season and they NEVER used to care about football. Go figure.

Redbird fans are more interested in Illinois and with BU going to the Sweet 16 a year ago, that doesn't help either. be glad that BU fans are loyal

The only thing that will cure it is winning and most of the natives are very tough to convince that this is a winning team.

[tornado]

But even in the two "downest" years that BU fans can recall,
namely 2001-2002 (the year that was so disappointing that they fired Jim Molinari with 3 years left on his contract)
and 2002-2003 (a 12-18 season that was way below expectations and that had lots of turmoil and apathy),
Bradley still had consistently 9,000 butts in the seats.
We could start an entire thread as to why this is, and I realize there could be numerous opinions, but
every time I have expressed my opinion, the ISU fans shout you down and don't want to hear it.
But this was predicted.
ISU has for decades built a following not so much to support their own team but to be Bradley bashers.
Just go to the ISU Redbird Message Board and see all the Bradley bashing and "Buck-F*radley" kind of mentality.
The mentality there is that even a year that's 1-25 is a success if they just beat Bradley. This sentiment is doomed to fail, especially when BU has a good year and whallops ISU.
It is doomed to fail and the first step is to admit it and then get rid of it.
You guys at ISU need to get the anti-sentiment out of your minds and just start supporting your team. Build a BIG base of dedicated fans, treat your season ticket holders better, and make the place a little more friendly for folks to watch a game.

Get rid of the element that is there only for the purpose of razzing the opponent and chanting obscenities toward the other guys (especially Bradley).

Don't shoot the messanger, and don't attack me for saying all this, because you probably know it's true!

No reason that ISU couldn't build in just a couple years, the same kid of enthusiasm BU had even in its LOSING SEASONS!!
I'll even give you an e mail link to a guy who can guide your Athletic Director right through the simple steps to make your basketball program far more successful.
Just let me know........

[DannyCooksey]

You bring up a couple valid points. I agree with most of what you said.

as far as the email link, I'll leave the attendance crusade to our AD. He is 1.5 years on the job and he's done a TREMENDOUS job thus far in rebuilding the ISU relationship with the B-N community. He can get it done.

I disagree with the Bradley bashing also. That may have been the case years ago, but it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. there are a couple, but it's few and far between. There are as many Bradley-haters on the redbirdfan board as there are good Redbird posters on this board like myself, cpac, phantom and a couple others.

To me, winning is the only thing that'll cure the attendance issue. That and Illinois having a few bad seasons in a row. Unfortunately, 80% of B-N are Illinois fans. that will never change. Whereas Peoria is prob 90% BU fans, as it should be.

[MacabreMob]

... there are good Redbird posters on this board like myself, cpac, phantom and a couple others.

Whereas Peoria is prob 90% BU fans, as it should be.

'Good Rebird posters' - that's an oxymoron. (just kidding DC )

But Peoria 90% BU??? I don't think so.

[houstontxbrave]

Redbird arena has no parking, no beer and lately bad basketball. No one will walk miles to drink draft cokes and watch the product they have been putting on the floor the last several years.

Sell beer and open up the parking lots near the arena to everyone, I bet they would draw much better.

[MacabreMob]

Redbird arena has no parking, no beer and lately bad basketball. No one will walk miles to drink draft cokes and watch the product they have been putting on the floor the last several years.

Sell beer and open up the parking lots near the arena to everyone, I bet they would draw much better.

It is illegal to sell beer at on-campus arenas.

[houstontxbrave]

Redbird arena has no parking, no beer and lately bad basketball. No one will walk miles to drink draft cokes and watch the product they have been putting on the floor the last several years.

Sell beer and open up the parking lots near the arena to everyone, I bet they would draw much better.

It is illegal to sell beer at on-campus arenas.

They sell it at the University of Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion which is right in the middle of their campus.

I really as a BU fan dont care if one person shows up at any ISU games, and I realize beer is not normally a staple at on campus arenas but ISU needs to find something to bring out fans.

[MacabreMob]

Redbird arena has no parking, no beer and lately bad basketball. No one will walk miles to drink draft cokes and watch the product they have been putting on the floor the last several years.

Sell beer and open up the parking lots near the arena to everyone, I bet they would draw much better.

It is illegal to sell beer at on-campus arenas.

They sell it at the University of Houston's Hofheinz Pavilion which is right in the middle of their campus.

I really as a BU fan dont care if one person shows up at any ISU games, and I realize beer is not normally a staple at on campus arenas but ISU needs to find something to bring out fans.

I apologize for posting incorrect info.

Alcohol (and beer) is not allowed at NCAA championship events.

It is then left up to state, local, campus, and conference laws/rules.