I disagree.........I don't argue that nobody likes losses, and winning would bring a few more fans...but win or lose, Bradley has great fans and great fan support!
People buy their season tickets months ahead of time, and BU's season ticket sales have been as high as at any time in 20 years...
(there has been only one year ever prior to the past few where every seat in the lower bowl is sold on a season basis)
and they make their plans to be at the game weeks and weeks in advance...
BUT - the decision to call Wednesday's game a White-out was made only a little more than 24 hours ahead of game! it was a nice try to help drum up fan enthusiasm
for a mid-week game between two teams that have about .500 records, and there was bad weather...
Go back and look at our game thread about the Creighton game...
the thread was started Sat. 1/23, and it was already THIRTY posts long when BU issued it's Pre-game Notes that called for a white out...
even then, the mention of the white out was somewhat obscurely placed in a long pregame press release...and surely a whole lot of people don't get their news from the BU Braves web site..
Bradley Basketball Pregame Notes
Game 20 - Creighton Bluejays (10-10, 5-4 MVC) at Bradley Braves (10-9, 5-4 MVC)
Wednesday, Jan. 27 - 7:05 p.m. CST - Peoria, Ill. - Carver Arena (11,164)
Series History - Tied 39-39
Television: Comcast Spotlight (Central Illinois 74 and Chicago 102) - Frank Bussone (play-by-play), Dick Versace (analyst) and Danny Adams (sideline)
Radio: 1470 AM WMBD -- Dave Snell (play-by-play), Chuck Buescher (analyst), Joe Stowell (analyst) and Dan DiOrio (pregame host)
Online: BradleyBraves.com - subscription video streams, free audio streams and live stats
On A Roll
Two teams locked in the third-place logjam in the Missouri Valley Conference standings will battle Wednesday night at Carver Arena when Creighton visits Bradley...Bradley has won three straight games for the second time this season and the Braves will shoot for their longest winning streak since a five-gamer from Dec. 23, 2008-Jan. 6, 2009...Wednesday's game features The Valley's two coaching deans: Bradley's Jim Les (250 games in eight years) and Creighton's Dana Altman (489 in 16 seasons) have combined to coach 739 games at their respective schools, while the league's other eight head coaches have combined for 746 games with their respective teams.
Just The Bears
Heading into Wednesday's game versus Creighton, Missouri State (26-17) is the only current Missouri Valley Conference member with a winning record against Bradley...As the series between the Braves and Bluejays is tied at 39-39, Creighton could become the second Valley team with the series edge against Bradley with a win Wednesday night...The Bluejays have put themselves in position to take over the series edge by winning 16 of the last 19 meetings, dating to Feb. 14, 2001.
White Out Conditions
Wednesday's game has been deemed a Bradley Basketball White Out: fans are encouraged to wear white and Bradley will enhance the effect by distributing white Bradley Basketball t-shirts to everyone in attendance...In addition, the Extreme Team will entertain fans at halftime with their high-flying slam dunk exhibition.
With A Win...
Bradley will extend its winning streak to four games, its longest since a five-game streak from Dec. 23, 2008-Jan. 6, 2009...The Braves will snap a four-game losing streak against Creighton and reclaim the all-time series lead versus the Bluejays...Bradley will earn its fourth consecutive home victory...The Braves could climb into at least a three-way tie for second in The Valley standings if Illinois State also wins at Wichita State.
With A Loss...
Bradley will suffer a fifth consecutive loss to Creighton and will fall behind the Bluejays in the all-time series...The Braves will suffer their fourth home loss of the season and second in Valley play...The Braves could drop as low as a tie for sixth place in the league standings.
Carver Arena
Wednesday's game will be Bradley's 403rd at Carver Arena...Bradley is 304-98 (.756) at Carver Arena since moving its home games to the Peoria Civic Center to start the 1982-83 season...Included in that record, Bradley is 170-65 (.723) in Missouri Valley Conference games at Carver Arena...Bradley is 72-20 (.783) at Carver Arena since the start of the 2004-05 season.
Climbing The Coaching List
Eighth-year Bradley head coach Jim Les will coach his 251st game Wednesday night against Creighton...Currently tied with the legendary Chuck Orsborn for fourth place ...etc...
Basically, unless you read about it on BradleyFans, you wouldn't have known it was a white out...
Here's the pregame story from the local newspaper and they don't make a mention of it either......
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x349736806/BU-aware-Jays-may-have-a-rallying-cry
nothing about a white out was said as people entered the arena, and it wasn't on their programs or scorecards...
The entryways from the lobby only had a couple people at the sides handing out shirts, so lots and lots of fans entered and didn't even know they were supposed to take a shirt or wear one......
it certainly had nothing to do with lack of fan interest, so nice try trying to make a bogus point!
I kinda think it's unfair to label the fans as disinterested and use this example, when we still drew almost 10,000 loud fans for a mid-week game on a bad weather night...
There are fewer that 10 midmajor programs that draw as well as BU, so I really don't get this point of criticizing the fans and calling them disinterested...