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Fan Behavior in STL

L

LukeBob

New member
The narratives surrounding BU fans at Enterprise Center / ballpark village has gotten out of control. When you are by far the largest fan base and one of two schools actually packing seats at a conference tournament, of course it's going to get rowdy for that team at points. The lies and slander that I heard in person regarding the Peoria faithful have been ridiculous. On Twitter, all you'll see are InSU, Valpo and Drake fans whining about our decorum over the weekend, but did anyone actually witness anything over the top that can't be chalked up to a strong competitive spirit that surrounds this program? The only thing I've seen was a video of (what is rumored to be) Jaquan's uncle threatening a Drake box.
 
egib52 said:
Other than the girl dropping an F bomb, I haven't heard anything other than typical whining.
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That wasn’t very classy.

I didn’t spend much time at the village. In the arena, I was surprised at the amount of booing. Booing refs for crappy calls, I get. But booing a fan participating in a contest due a time out is a bit much.
 
LukeBob said:
When you are by far the largest fan base and one of two schools actually packing seats at a conference tournament, of course it's going to get rowdy for that team at points.
The only thing I've seen was a video of (what is rumored to be) Jaquan's uncle threatening a Drake box.
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Sure looked like Drake had us beat in number on Sunday - I wasn't there in person, but on TV the Drake crowd appeared larger.

So JaQuan's uncle threatened a box? How does that work?
I had the priviledge of meeting his uncle my last visit to Peoria (vs Murray St) and he seems like a great guy with a lot of passion. Had some words of advice for my 11-yr-old son that he took to heart and was very friendly. Great first impression.
 
LittleBrave said:
Sure looked like Drake had us beat in number on Sunday - I wasn't there in person, but on TV the Drake crowd appeared larger.

So JaQuan's uncle threatened a box? How does that work?
I had the priviledge of meeting his uncle my last visit to Peoria (vs Murray St) and he seems like a great guy with a lot of passion. Had some words of advice for my 11-yr-old son that he took to heart and was very friendly. Great first impression.
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BU probably had twice as many fans.

There were some profanity chants that weren’t great, and the girl dropping the F bomb during the interview that was mentioned earlier.
The altercation with Drake fans happened right behind us and it wasn’t all one sided. It was a bunch of drunk Drake guys that were being dicks after beating us, but it could have easily just been ignored. They were on separate levels, so I don’t think there was any real intent to start a brawl. The Drake fans were on one of the luxury boxes.
 
There are always going to be fans that take things to far so you just need to ignore their bad behavior. Some of it is do to alcohol because some cannot handle it without causing trouble.
 
Imo there's bad fans with every team. During the Northern Iowa Valpo game myself and the group i was with were flipped off several times for cheering for Valpo. In my personal experience the worst fans I've encountered are ones from those 2 Iowa schools. I think there's also no place for instigating opposing fans after the game. If you're going to talk trash do it during the game but after it's just in bad taste
 
LittleBrave said:
Sure looked like Drake had us beat in number on Sunday - I wasn't there in person, but on TV the Drake crowd appeared larger....
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It might have appeared Drake had a lot of people there, but that was only because they were all in Section 104 behind the Drake bench, and they got a lot of camera time. There were negligible Drake fans anywhere else in the arena.
There were a lot of Bradley fans in the center 103 section, plus Bradley fans packed Section 102 (behind the BU bench), and Sections 101, 126, 125, 124, 123, 122, 121, and 120. Most of them were never shown by the cameras. I would estimate the ratio of Bradley fans to Drake fans was more like 3 to 1 or 4 to 1.

And as far as misbehaving fans, I did not see any Bradley fans doing or saying anything that crossed the lines. I was not at the Ballpark Village, so it's possible things might have been different there. The only rowdy fan behavior I witnessed was at Saturday's game when an inebriated Illinois State fan seated behind my family (which included a couple young grandchildren), started shouting loud and vulgar stuff during the Bradley-UNI game. He did stop the vulgar stuff when several other fans asked him to stop and pointed out there were children present, but he continued his anti-Bradley rants until the Braves won the game.
 
Before the game started was getting something to eat. Couple of Drake fans started chatting with me. They were very polite and stated no matter who won, just to have a clean competitive game. I in turn said that if Bradley won the game then Drake would be deserving of an at large bid. We then went on our way and each said to enjoy the game whoever won. Great to have mutual respect for the opposing team. Wish it was always that way.:)
 
I'm not sure over all of my time as a BU fan I've seen worse winners than Drake fans. I would root for Drake in the NCAA if their fans weren't so obnoxious.
 
Da Coach said:
There were a lot of Bradley fans in the center 103 section, plus Bradley fans packed Section 102 (behind the BU bench), and Sections 101, 126, 125, 124, 123, 122, 121, and 120. Most of them were never shown by the cameras. I would estimate the ratio of Bradley fans to Drake fans was more like 3 to 1 or 4 to 1.
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Wow! It seems that the media wanted to portray that the number between both sides was even, but you're right - the location of the Drake fans and the camera panning over that whole section for half the game made it look like BU fans were outnumbered.
Guess I need to be there next season to see for myself!! ;)
 
Tommy said:
BU probably had twice as many fans.

There were some profanity chants that weren’t great, and the girl dropping the F bomb during the interview that was mentioned earlier.
The altercation with Drake fans happened right behind us and it wasn’t all one sided. It was a bunch of drunk Drake guys that were being dicks after beating us, but it could have easily just been ignored. They were on separate levels, so I don’t think there was any real intent to start a brawl. The Drake fans were on one of the luxury boxes.
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Drake can kiss my A$$. (Pardon my French DC)
Makes me dislike them even more. The student-athletes seem like good kids, but that Manyawu is a dirty player from what I've seen. There have been a few occasions this season I saw where he took a cheap shot at either refs (verbally) or opponents (physically), including the Hannah play which was outrageous that Duke was the one called for a T, and was the turning point to aid Drake to get a double-digit lead and pull away. We need to put that kid in his place next season.

I'd love nothing more than to turn the tide and beat Drake more than they beat us.
I can't even explain in words my disdain for them, but I've always liked them the least among any Valley school ever since I became a BU fan in 1993-94. And now they are on their way to becoming the next Gonzaga. (Triple barf-bag)
 
I was very disappointed with the F-bomb being said because at a big game like that with children present it wasn't necessary.
As for the fans I talked to Northern Iowa and Drake fans and had civil conversations with both. Admittedly they were older fans and we both said good luck to each other and hoped it would be a good game.
 
Da Coach said:
If anyone finds photos of the crowd inside the Enterprise Center yesterday that would show the huge Bradley contingent, please post.
Here is a short video showing the numerous sections filled with Bradley fans dressed in red - https://x.com/IsaacBourne_/status/1898807223113150482

And another one - https://x.com/MSUSportsNews/status/1898800974946349493

Here are photos from the PJ Star - https://www.pjstar.com/picture-gall...ley-vs-drake-in-mvc-championship/82156139007/
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Easily 3-1 Bradley fans. It's surprising that tv could even give a different view
 
LittleBrave said:
Drake can kiss my A$$. (Pardon my French DC)
Makes me dislike them even more. The student-athletes seem like good kids, but that Manyawu is a dirty player from what I've seen. There have been a few occasions this season I saw where he took a cheap shot at either refs (verbally) or opponents (physically), including the Hannah play which was outrageous that Duke was the one called for a T, and was the turning point to aid Drake to get a double-digit lead and pull away. We need to put that kid in his place next season.

I'd love nothing more than to turn the tide and beat Drake more than they beat us.
I can't even explain in words my disdain for them, but I've always liked them the least among any Valley school ever since I became a BU fan in 1993-94. And now they are on their way to becoming the next Gonzaga. (Triple barf-bag)
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Drake made two great coaching hires in a row and has had a great run the past 5 years or so. Devries was unproven but coached for a long time as an assistant under Dana Altman and Greg Mcdermott. Devries had success and is gone but hiring McCollum was a great move. He is a great coach and IMO he outcoached Wardle in the Championship game.

Is Drake the next Gonzaga? IMO no unless McCollum sticks around, even then this success is not guaranteed. I say it is a very good chance that McCollum is going to be gone after this year. His success this year in D1 and his record in D2 is going to make him a hot commodity, especially if Drake can win a game or two in March Madness. Iowa will likely be looking for a coach and that is likely his dream coaching job (he is from Iowa City).
 
Having made the trip to Des Moines dozens of times over the last 45 years to watch Bradley play at Drake, I feel I need to say that in my experience the fans I have encountered at Drake have been the nicest and most friendly as any fans I have encountered anywhere. Any of the negative experiences I am reading about probably come from a few bad apples like might be found in any fan base. I hope nobody generalizes and applies those sentiments to the entire fan base of Drake.
 
I think back through the years at fans behavior and anytime there's a big fan base they are criticized, rightly or wrongly. The hatred directed at Wichita St was more towards their former wonderful head coach Gregg Marshall and his equally wonderful wife. Creighton's fans got very "we're better than you" attitudes as they kept winning and especially when they were leaving the Valley. Loyola certainly got that way before they left. On the hole throughout my time attending Arch Madness I've had very positive experiences. As for the championship game BU had well over half of the arena filled
 
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