Great atmosphere of the past see

[Tomahawk]

Going off topic in relationship to the play of the current Bradley team. Who here on this board can remember the home court advantage Bradley enjoyed at Robertson Field House. That place was just such a hostile place for visiting teams. The noise was just deafening. Fast forward to the Civic Center and I can remember during certain times of the game streams of bath tissue would fly from the stands. It was a sea of white. Just hoping that we can get somewhat close to that atmosphere again. Maybe it is just wishful thinking. Do not know what it will take to get a little bit of that enthusiasm back. To me college basketball is by far more exciting than pro ball. Anybody out there that can share their favorite memories of past times regarding BU basketball.

[LongTimeFan]

Anyone sitting on the south side bleachers can remember wondering how they ever stayed up when they started swaying with the fans stamping of feet.

[Da Coach]

The Fieldhouse was awesome. Every game was awesome.
Carver Arena has had times when there was an awesome atmosphere. Games against Illinois, Michigan State, Wichita State, Tulsa, and Illinois State, were incredible, especially when the conference championship was still in play. But even common games with no championship significance were terrific.
But that was when there were sellouts and 10,000-11,000+ crowds.
The final game of the regular season last year against Drake replicated some of those great crowds of the past (10,458 attendance), and I believe it helped Bradley play a great game, intimidated Drake, and helped BU capture the MVC title. The home court crowd can be a significant advantage for the home team.
But unfortunately, those kinds of games will probably be few and far between now that ≈ 5,000 fans has become the norm. We need at least 9,000-10,000 to have that kind of atmosphere and home advantage again.

[LongTimeFan]

There was a solid student section in the Field house days and greatly contributed to the noise.

[Stryker]

My most memorable game was when Michigan State visited Bradley. I waited in line with about 10 other students to get into the Carver first. I've never heard Carver as loud as it was that game. 11,000+ and standing room only. I doubt Carver is ever that full again.

[Dub]

Going off topic in relationship to the play of the current Bradley team. Who here on this board can remember the home court advantage Bradley enjoyed at Robertson Field House. That place was just such a hostile place for visiting teams. The noise was just deafening. Fast forward to the Civic Center and I can remember during certain times of the game streams of bath tissue would fly from the stands. It was a sea of white. Just hoping that we can get somewhat close to that atmosphere again. Maybe it is just wishful thinking. Do not know what it will take to get a little bit of that enthusiasm back. To me college basketball is by far more exciting than pro ball. Anybody out there that can share their favorite memories of past times regarding BU basketball.

I clearly remember the toilet paper in carver from when I was a little kid. They finally put an end to it by assessing us technical fouls bc you had to stop the game every time to clear the floor after the first basket celebration. Those were the days that cemented me as a BU fan because I didn’t get to experience Robertson in its glory days.

[tomahawk chop]

Unfortunately the students do not attend much as far as numbers go, heck I would be happy if we could get back to averaging 7500 . Last seasons championship game reminded me of the past when sellouts were the normal. Pres. Glasser pretty much ruined the basketball program with the way she ran things. We have not recovered as far as our fan base when she decided to run off really good people.

[LittleBrave]

Never went to Robertson for a game. The old War on 74 games were usually at Horton Fieldhouse (ISU - red) or PCC (BU) in mid-late 80s.
Remember standing for most of the games at Horton.

[Da Coach]

We went to the games at Horton for several years in the early to mid 1980's after they entered the MVC in the 81-82 season. But by the late '80's their fans had become so unruly and obnoxious and constantly pelted Bradley fans with various objects that included mostly harmless stuff like paper wads, but occasionally included leftover food and drinks. Since we had small children at that time, we had to stop going. And it wasn't just the objects constantly being thrown at Bradley fans, there was obscene vulgarity directed at Bradley and the BU fans, often with the crowd being lead by their own cheerleaders in vulgar chants. I still can't understand why their AD allowed that, or why the Valley didn't step up and put a stop to it. Their coach, Bob Donewald was a supreme a$$hole, and he fostered that kind of fan behavior. ISU fans will say they were treated similarly at Carver, but that simply isn't true. There might have been a few rude comments made in the concourse toward ISU fans that might have hurt their sensitive feelings, but none of the other stuff that they subjected Bradley fans to. There was one time when the student section at Carver tried a vulgar chant, and Coach Versace immediately went over and demanded they stop and be respectful. That's something Donewald never did.

[BUBraves2006]

Attending school in the Les era, I can say that the most important things at Carver were always the student section and the band. The collective was loud and made for an incredible atmosphere. I still don't really understand the whole lack of students thing (I know it was rehashed a lot last year) because other schools get students to their games, so it's not just the "sitting on their phones" thing. Maybe it's the type of students Bradley is attracting? Hard to know really being far away now ...

On topic, I remember participating in a lot of great chants (maybe helping start a few myself ). I was always partial to the ones that were not vulgar in any way but were clever. "If you can't go to school, go to State!" might still be my favorite - I wish it would come back for the ISU games ... but we're all so soft these days, probably even that wouldn't be "allowed".

[Stryker]

Attending school in the Les era, I can say that the most important things at Carver were always the student section and the band. The collective was loud and made for an incredible atmosphere. I still don't really understand the whole lack of students thing (I know it was rehashed a lot last year) because other schools get students to their games, so it's not just the "sitting on their phones" thing. Maybe it's the type of students Bradley is attracting? Hard to know really being far away now ...

On topic, I remember participating in a lot of great chants (maybe helping start a few myself ). I was always partial to the ones that were not vulgar in any way but were clever. "If you can't go to school, go to State!" might still be my favorite - I wish it would come back for the ISU games ... but we're all so soft these days, probably even that wouldn't be "allowed".

I was in school the same time as you I think, I was front row of the student section most games. I haven't been on campus in a long time despite still living in the arena, but from going to games, seeing the students that do show up, plus the cheer and dance squad...I am making the conclusion that the type of students recruited to BU these days is quite a bit different from the ones during the Les era.

Not to get political, but it seems the student body is pretty soft, and there don't appear to be many "jock type" students around anymore. Gone are the days the best looking girls on campus were cheer leaders etc...I think it is very different environment than it was 15 years ago overall. Not sure what the Greek community on campus is like either.

[molar50]

It is not just Bradley. Except for Arizona, the PAC 10 last year averaged about 5,200 fans per game. Some seats sold for $5.00 per game. Most students don’t care about spectator sports and have other interests

[Bradley8792]

Yes, Glasser and Ford should be blamed for the start of the downfall, but I think the quality of the team and the department are back to where they were before them.

The students stopped coming back when they moved the games to carver. They took that as a slap that it was more about Peoria than them.

Considering the fan base has primarily been the public, what’s changed in Peoria that fewer people are attending?

[Da Coach]

It is not just Bradley. Except for Arizona, the PAC 10 last year averaged about 5,200 fans per game. Some seats sold for $5.00 per game. Most students don’t care about spectator sports and have other interests

You're right. With a few exceptions nationally, most schools have seen sharp drops.
Here are just a couple surprising examples of the huge drops in attendance at even the top basketball programs in the country.

You mentioned the Pac-10 (it's actually still called the Pac-12 ), so I looked to see what a couple of the historically most successful teams are drawing-
UCLA- is having an off year this season, but they are coming off 3 straight NCAA Tournament seasons, and they won 31 games last year. Not long ago, tickets to their home games were like currency. Everyone wanted them, and few of their season ticket buyers ever gave them up. They used to sell out every game.
Their arena, Pauley Pavilion, is a beautiful arena located in a nice part of the city. It underwent a 2-year complete renovation a decade ago. It used to be a basketball Mecca, with mostly sellouts until the last few years. But this season their average attendance is only 6,538, less than half the capacity of 13,800.

USC, like UCLA is having an off season, they, too, are 8-10, but are coming off 3 straight NCAA Tournament seasons in which they averaged almost 25 wins per season. But that hasn't helped their attendance much. Their arena, the Galen Center, is also a nice arena that opened in 2006, and is located in a decent part of the city. But they are averaging only 5,719, about half their capacity of 10,300. Last year, in an NCAA tournament season, they averaged only 4,100.

[Tomahawk]

Thinking back on it, there is one other memory I have of games long ago. Can"t remember the year, but do recall that the weather conditions that night were awful. Together with the temperature and wind it was I recall -60 to -70 below zero. The game was against Tulsa. Am a diehard fan and still am to go out in those conditions. So we go to the game and to my surprise the arena is almost a sell out. What a night that was.