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points of concern

I actually liked giving it to DSE in that case. I think everyone in the stadium, including Indiana St., expected the ball to go to SM since he is one of our best free throw shooters but by giving it to DSE, it caught them a bit off guard. Then before they fouled DSE, you could see SM heading towards the other side of the court that was wide open. So if DSE didn't get fouled, he would've had SM wide open on the opposite side to avoid a double team and get fouled to go to the line.

I guess I didn't look to see what you pointed out here, as I said all I could think about I guess, is wrong guy. Anyway he made one for the tie. Thanks
 
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I disagree on the 'fan enthusiasm' part. BU had a tremendous following out in Vegas, a large number of which were season ticket holders making the trek from Central Illinois. I think the home enthusiasm was first tempered by a pretty poor non-conference schedule (name-wise), poor scheduling date-wise (too much time in between games), and most importantly, dreadful performance on the home court. I would say perhaps enthusiasm has done its biggest nosedive in years, as we were at an all-time high after beating the Illini, and are nearing the lows of end of the Molinari era with 3 straight home losses in embarrassing fashion. Last night's crowd was announced at 8,618, but I think 6,500 was a more accurate number of people in the building. Sure, the weather wasn't ideal, but this is Central Illinois and it does snow from time to time. A product worth watching would have brought people out.

Good thoughts. . .there are a variety of problems with the crowds at Carver.

First, many of the best seats are held by people who hold on to the seats for the prestige of it. . .not necessarily to attend every game. The games those people do attend, they just sit through. If it's a bigger name opponent, then they might be more actively involved.

Second, related point, is that there is still a culture of just going to socialize, not watch prime DI college basketball. Again, they might be more involved if its a bigger name opponent.

While there has been a great influx of younger Braves fans as alums from the 80's and 90's have started families and remained in the area, let's face it, our fan base still isn't any younger than it was 10 or even 15 years ago. Every year we get further removed from success those voices get a little weaker and their legs a little more tired. They have witnessed tremendous Bradley history firsthand and I have trouble calling them out. . .

So you have those things that can't really be changed because they largely support the thing.

Again, as I've always said, I empathize with the students and wish they were a more integral part of the atmosphere of Bradley games. But you can't just complain about the seating situation or not being included in games over breaks. . .you must force the change. That means organizing and going to every game, regardless of when it's played. You must be the change you wish to be. The attendance of students for games when school is in session is already drastically down from just two years ago.

In large part, a good product will do more to change the atmosphere at games than any drastic changes to the culture or seating.
 
I actually liked giving it to DSE in that case. I think everyone in the stadium, including Indiana St., expected the ball to go to SM since he is one of our best free throw shooters but by giving it to DSE, it caught them a bit off guard. Then before they fouled DSE, you could see SM heading towards the other side of the court that was wide open. So if DSE didn't get fouled, he would've had SM wide open on the opposite side to avoid a double team and get fouled to go to the line.

If SM was not coming to the ball then that is a HUGE coaching mistake at the end of a game that was going to require critical free throws to be made. Your top free throw shooter should not be running anywhere other then to the ball.

I will never want the ball in the hands of someone who is shooting fts at a 47.6% clip when the game is on the line, let alone someone who right now shoots it so poorly and has missed 3 weeks of action.

You put the ball in the hands of the only 3 on this team who can shoot free throws:

Warren 81%
Brown 82.5%
SM 82.6%

DSE should not be receiving an inbounds pass in that situation.
 
GOOD FANS DONT BOO, pretty simple

Disagree completely...
That may be your opinion, and that's fine...but this generalization isn't accurate.
Hardcore, passionate fans that care...some of them boo from time to time...it happens...I'd much rather have a house full of fans that care so much that they end up voicing their frustrations occasionally when things get bad than a house full of apathetic people that pack up and leave every home game with 10 minutes to go in order to beat the dreaded Peoria traffic...
 
Good thoughts. . .there are a variety of problems with the crowds at Carver.

First, many of the best seats are held by people who hold on to the seats for the prestige of it. . .not necessarily to attend every game. The games those people do attend, they just sit through. If it's a bigger name opponent, then they might be more actively involved.

Second, related point, is that there is still a culture of just going to socialize, not watch prime DI college basketball. Again, they might be more involved if its a bigger name opponent.

While there has been a great influx of younger Braves fans as alums from the 80's and 90's have started families and remained in the area, let's face it, our fan base still isn't any younger than it was 10 or even 15 years ago. Every year we get further removed from success those voices get a little weaker and their legs a little more tired. They have witnessed tremendous Bradley history firsthand and I have trouble calling them out. . .

So you have those things that can't really be changed because they largely support the thing.

Again, as I've always said, I empathize with the students and wish they were a more integral part of the atmosphere of Bradley games. But you can't just complain about the seating situation or not being included in games over breaks. . .you must force the change. That means organizing and going to every game, regardless of when it's played. You must be the change you wish to be. The attendance of students for games when school is in session is already drastically down from just two years ago.

In large part, a good product will do more to change the atmosphere at games than any drastic changes to the culture or seating.

Agree with you on most of this. One thing I disagree with is the student seating. I've been paying more attention to other games on the tube lately and practically every student section is behind the baskets. Guess what makes it so noticable is that there are actually students there.
 
Agree with you on most of this. One thing I disagree with is the student seating. I've been paying more attention to other games on the tube lately and practically every student section is behind the baskets. Guess what makes it so noticable is that there are actually students there.

Good call, Chico. Students have been very weak this year... While they are on break it's fine, but the section was near empty all season.
 
If SM was not coming to the ball then that is a HUGE coaching mistake at the end of a game that was going to require critical free throws to be made. Your top free throw shooter should not be running anywhere other then to the ball.

I will never want the ball in the hands of someone who is shooting fts at a 47.6% clip when the game is on the line, let alone someone who right now shoots it so poorly and has missed 3 weeks of action.

You put the ball in the hands of the only 3 on this team who can shoot free throws:

Warren 81%
Brown 82.5%
SM 82.6%

DSE should not be receiving an inbounds pass in that situation.

I never said that SM wasn't coming to the ball, he was probably no more than 10 feet from DSE when it was inbounded, but by giving it to DSE it allowed SM to slip to the other side of the court without anyone really on him because his defender left to go after DSE. I would imagine that if DSE wouldn't have been open to get the pass then SM would've leaned off the defender to create a space and receive the pass.

As far as the other comments about the students, what do you think we should do? Games are promoted, albeit not very strongly, but there are plenty of avenues for students to get to the games if they choose to.
 
I have always said that BU fans are not very loud. I use to go to Butler games when I lived in Indy and they would have 5000 at Hinkle and it woudl be much louder then Carver w/ 10,000. The best game I remember @ Carver was right after we came eoff the sweet 16 year when they had the coud stand for the 1st 4 minutes and last 4 minutes of each half. It actaully got kind of loud for Carver.
 
I have always said that BU fans are not very loud. I use to go to Butler games when I lived in Indy and they would have 5000 at Hinkle and it woudl be much louder then Carver w/ 10,000. The best game I remember @ Carver was right after we came eoff the sweet 16 year when they had the coud stand for the 1st 4 minutes and last 4 minutes of each half. It actaully got kind of loud for Carver.

The loudest and best, was last years Michigan State game:!: Even better than any ISU game I can remember:!:
God I Love your Avatar:D
 
A great home court advantage will not be built by a crowd that "boo's" really well. (and please don't suggest that BU fans should aspire to be NY or God forbid Philly fans-fortunately that will never happen-and Santa Claus thanks us for that).

My counter to the "fans who care boo" argument is that I have been going to Bradley games since I was about 6 years old (quite a few years ago) and I have never boo'd the team. (The officials yeah but not the team). I cannot imagine ever booing the team/coach. Its just not anything I can ever envision doing.

The "blue hairs" may not be very loud but they are there every year and they have been for many years. Their loyalty and donations to the University keep the place going so get over it-that will not change-the University cannot afford such a change.

Our student body has a group that are loud and devoted. However, that group is not terribly large and the students are unfortunately more fair weather than most of the rest of the fan base. If we are going really well they will come out in big numbers, but if things get rough we lose a lot of the students (not all).
 
A great home court advantage will not be built by a crowd that "boo's" really well. (and please don't suggest that BU fans should aspire to be NY or God forbid Philly fans-fortunately that will never happen-and Santa Claus thanks us for that).

Maybe we should also aspire to be Cubs' fans and start throwing things onto the court when we don't like something like they seem to enjoy doing at Wrigley? I mean you did pay for your ticket and have every right to show your "support".....errrr......disgust towards the players....errrr.....coach. :roll:
 
Our student body has a group that are loud and devoted. However, that group is not terribly large and the students are unfortunately more fair weather than most of the rest of the fan base. If we are going really well they will come out in big numbers, but if things get rough we lose a lot of the students (not all).

I hope I am reading this right. I read it to mean that other than the group of dedicated students, that the rest of the students are mostly fair weather fans. Otherwise I disagree with you because I know of quite a few fans that have come back during break for the games or even gone out to Vegas to cheer for this team. I'll admit that I have thought about not going to a couple games, I even told my girlfriend that I wasn't going to one game, but when it comes down to gameday, I'm always at Carver whether we are winning or losing.
 
I did not say you could not "boo". My point was I never have and I never will. Just will not happen-I cannot and will not boo a Bradley team. I am not telling you that you cannot boo or you are not a fan-just don't tell me if I don't boo I am not a fan or I don't care.

I do not think the tendency for NY or Philly fans to boo their teams helps them. Their tendency to boo and beat up their teams when they are not doing well hurts them rather than helps them. Yes, you can bring up the Yankees success but I would argue that their success comes in spite of rather than because of their "difficult" fans/media-maybe fueled by the few hundred million extra they spend on players.

I also stand by my point that we can complain about not having as big a home court advantage as we would like but that will not be built by booing as loud as possible. It just won't happen. Don't remember anyone coming out of Cameron Indoor saying "wow that was a hard place to play they were booing Duke really loudly".
 
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