Itoo Hall report

[Da Coach]

Report from the Itoo Hall event-
By a little after 6:00, every seat in the Itoo Hall was filled, and the food-serving, which was not supposed to start until 6:30, was begun early in order to try to get some fans to get up and mingle and free up seats for those who were still arriving and those without seats. Clearly the start of the basketball season is starting off well with tremendous fan support.

[Da Coach]

Full house-

https://twitter.com/ScoutSportsDesk/status/644656133953748992

https://twitter.com/BradleySIDLive/status/644652232344997888

Tweets from the coaches-

https://twitter.com/CoachKarius/status/644670227523964928

https://twitter.com/DrewAdams08/status/644667944006479872

[tornado]

a few things

a truly great night - exciting, lots of great fans, enthusiasm...

200 people were waiting in line at 6pm when the doors opened...

Official count was 465 meals served but there were over 500 people there as some came just to mingle and see the team and did not eat.

One player was there only 'til 7pm then left for a late class (Alex Foster).
One got there late due to a class (Joel Okafor arrived at about 7pm).
and One missed the entire event due to classes (Scottie James).
It would appear that Jackson Kane is no longer on the team, as his name was not on the roster and no mention was made of him even tho they talked about the other players who were absent.
(I had heard he had a job and would simply have had no opportunity to make practices).

All I can say is that 500 people were 110% impressed with the players & coaches who mingled and sat among the fans - and obviously really enjoyed the entire event.

I'll post more later but gotta go --

[basketball nut]

A lot of fun and a lot of enthusiasm. This staff can do a great job about making one feel excited about the direction of this whole program. I was even impressed w/ coach Brooks as he was even showing some excitement. I really believe he has taken on the culture that CR & BW brought in.
Am I saying we are going to win a lot of games, only time will tell but I think we might have some fun the next few years as this program comes back to respectability.
We really enjoyed how Coach W had the players be responsible and introduce each other. You can tell this team has some camaraderie among the players. It was also very interesting that BW didn't let the two players w/ classes miss the class just to be there.
We now have a coach that is making the players responsible for their actions.

[Big Mike]

Wow.....very fun time tonight....cannot wait fo season to get started!
Kudos to PFCMSH.....driving all the way from Rockford tonight....

[tornado]

a couple more things...

a couple of the Athletic Department staff each told me the environment is totally different...
Instead of coming to work each day wondering if today is the day you'll get attacked or canned or just accused of being disloyal or of having made the wrong move or spoken the wrong word...
- every day is now enjoyable - enthusiastic - contagious energy -- everyone's clearly part of a great team -- nobody walking on eggshells wondering if the axe is gonna fall. Dr. Reynolds' attitude is amazing - he's got everyone giving 110%.

That even extends to the players - the guys still here from last year are re-energized - coming in early - getting extra work on the court & in the weight room...incredibly anxious to get out there and play for Coach Wardle.


Then I talked with probably a couple dozen more people who all had the same thing to say...
That they were inches from giving up their season tickets, or just forgetting their passion for Bradley basketball and giving up....

But now they feel like it's Sweet Sixteen again...tremendous energy & enthusiasm....
But it makes ya wonder - as bad as the Bradley fan base had been devastated, as many of the games we had with record low attendance, what would it have looked like in 2015-16 had we NOT made these changes....

It was so nice to see a team of quality men that want to give 100% and a team of administrators & Athletic Cept. personnel that were so responsive to the fans and who now want to be what we have known all along Bradley basketball can be...and get back to the top in the MVC.

Coach Wardle and a couple of the assistants said they'd never seen anything like it....
a September spaghetti dinner in an oddly named banquet hall on the edge of town....
Had they done this at GB they'd have had a few dozen...here we get over 500...
The coaches (& AD) were pleased with the turnout. They are very hopeful this hints at some solid improvement in the
attendance over last year's historic low numbers.

[Da Coach]

Tweet by Coach Wardle-

https://twitter.com/BUBrianWardle/status/644687986626547712

[tornado]

PJS report

nobody at the Itoo had ever seen it like this before...

"They were lined up all the way through the parking lot to the grass when we
opened the doors,??? said Itoo Hall manager Semann Trad about the hundreds of
red-clad BU fans waiting in line. ???I??™ve been here 11 years and we??™ve never had
that happen before.???

"It outdoes its hype,??? said new BU men??™s coach Brian Wardle. ???A lot of
people have told me wonderful things about this event. For Chris Reynolds to
bring it back, we couldn??™t be more excited about that. Just getting to know
our fans in a very personal setting is very unique. I think both our fans and
all of us got a lot out of it.???

"Indeed, the players, coaches and fans seemed to enjoy mixing with each other during dinner."

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150917/SPORTS/150919340/12701/SPORTS?rssfeed=true&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Da Coach]

YouTube video of some of the player introductions by Dwayne Lautier-Ogunleye and Peter Hanley-

[tornado]

BU Scout also has nice, positive report on the Itoo Hall event

http://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/spaghetti-supper-makes-triumphant-return/

"Spaghetti Supper Makes Triumphant Return"
“When I came back to Peoria and to Bradley University, I was told it was a
tradition that we should restart again,” (Athletic Director Dr. Chris) Reynolds
said. “For me, it was something that was easy to do and was something that
the people in this community wanted.”

and one more thing nobody mentioned that made a lot of the fans happy...
the beer and pop were completely free (most had bought tickets so the beer was supposed to be part of the package,
but some walked in just to hear the program) - notice all the pitchers sitting on the tables!

[molar50]

I talked to a man seated next to me that was a former long time season ticket holder (over 30 years) of 7 seats. He did not renew his 7 seats last year due to a lack of interest. He was excited to be at the ITOO Hall last night and stated that he would buy seats and support the program. A lot of good will was generated last night with the presence of Chris Reynolds, the coaches, the players, and all the administrative and support personnel visiting and talking to the fans.

[tornado]

... A lot of good will was generated last night with the presence of Chris Reynolds, the coaches, the players, and all the administrative and support personnel visiting and talking to the fans.

indeed a lot!

[pfcmsh]

Thank You Big Mike

Wow.....very fun time tonight....cannot wait fo season to get started!
Kudos to PFCMSH.....driving all the way from Rockford tonight....

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the kudos. I appreciate you taking me under your wing and explaning a lot of things to me and for pointing out people that were there. Nice to meet tornado, Elaine and Mike. I had a great time at the spaghetti supper. The energy is really contagious!

I love the forum and how well it keeps me informed.

I'll be down for some games!!

[tornado]

nice video report by Dave Snell of the "SMASHING SUCCESS" - Itoo Supper

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210352560

[Canton BU fan]

It's great to see there are fans getting excited about Bradley again. Let's hope we can all be patient during this rebuilding.