Old stuff-Bradley vs Notre Dame in Chicago Stadium

[capecod]

I read the other day that an old Notre Dame basketball star named Larry Sheffield had died. That brought back some old memories.

I saw Sheffield play 3 times for ND against Bradley in Chicago Stadium in the early 60s. Actually I saw 4 straight BU-ND games in Chicago(but Sheffield only played in the last 3). Sheffield was the leading scorer for the Irish in at least 2 of those game

I was in grade school (St Bernards) in those years & my BU alum dad annually took me up to Chicago for the games......Bradley won all 4 games that I witnessed.

In fact, Bradley played Notre Dame 10 times in Chicago between 1957-1968.
Bradley won 9 times.

1957-58 81-70 BU won
1959-60 68-65 BU won
1960-61 84-81 BU won OT
1961-62 93-87 BU Chet Walker 33 pts (I attended)
1962-63 72-66 BU Mack Herndon 30 pts (I attended)
1963-64 82-72 BU Joe Strawder 30 pts (I attended) Sheffield leading scorer for ND
1964-65 74-72 BU (I attended)..Sheffield scored 26 for ND
1965-66 55-44 BU 2OT
1966-67 94-89 BU
1967-68 62-64 ND won

Bradley's Frosh team then played ND in a home & home series in 1969-70 & 1970-71.....BU's Frosh won both of those games

Notre Dame & Bradley haven't played since

[wizard1]

Bradley - Notre Dame

Notre Dame stopped scheduling Bradley because they couldn't beat BU....They ran away.....Doesn't say much for Notre Dames Institutional Athletic Courage. I believe the last game played was in Roberson FH when ND had a "Hot Shot" and highly ranked team and BU had the Mike Harrel, Seymour Reed, Doug Shank, Tim Robinson team and we beat them like a red headed step child. They never played us again!
Wizard

[tornado]

Great story

I watched Bradley play in Chicago Stadium a few times but the game I recall best was vs. Jacksonville at Chicago Stadium (the date was 2/13/71) -
BU played great and had a chance, but lost 87-79. Jacksonville was 22-4 that year and ranked in the Top 10 almost the whole season.
Bradley was pretty good but not great - our best players were Al Smith (back from a couple years in the Army), Sam Simmons & Gene Gathers.


Jacksonville had two good 7-footers, Artis Gilmore & Pembroke Burroughs as well as a couple good guards - and had played all the way in 1970 to the Championship game in the NCAA Tournament before losing to UCLA.
Gilmore led the NCAA in rebounding and still has the highest career average ever - 22.7 rpg (23.2 in 1971)

[Chico]

Notre Dame stopped scheduling Bradley because they couldn't beat BU....They ran away.....Doesn't say much for Notre Dames Institutional Athletic Courage. I believe the last game played was in Roberson FH when ND had a "Hot Shot" and highly ranked team and BU had the Mike Harrel, Seymour Reed, Doug Shank, Tim Robinson team and we beat them like a red headed step child. They never played us again!
Wizard

The post before yours from Capecod has ND winning the last Varsity game between the 2 schools.

[64NIT]

I remember some of these games. The one that sticks out in my mind was the 1965-66 game. I still remember the halftime score was 36-36 and each team held the ball in the second half (no shot clock then), each scoring only eight points so the score at the end of regulation was tied at 44. There was only one OT instead of two, as a previous post indicates, in which BU surprised ND with fast break after fast break and outscored ND 11-0 (11 points in five minutes vs. eight points in 20 minutes) to win 55-44.

While I remember scores of some of BU's games, I don't think I remember the halftime score of any other BU game and I've been following since 1963-64.

Since this series ended, BU and ND have gone in different directions.

[capecod]

Notre Dame replaced Bradley with Illinois

The post before yours from Capecod has ND winning the last Varsity game between the 2 schools.

Notre Dame actually replaced Bradley with Illinois for their annual Chicago Stadium game in the late 60s....the Irish actually played both teams (Ill. & Bradley) at Chicago for a couple seasons in the mid 60s & then settled on Illinois for their Chicago Stadium appearance into the 70s.

This ND-Ill. game at Chicago lasted into the Digger Phelps era, when 'East Coast bias' Phelps eliminated the Illini & the likes of longtime rival Michigan St from the ND BB schedule & played more East Coast colleges.

Digger set up a schedule that included marqee games on the weekend for TV exposure(UCLA, Ind., Marq., Va(with Ralph Sampson), USF (with Cartwright) etc. & then cream puffs mid week to pad their record-like William & Mary....William on Tuesday, Mary on Thursday