• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

Next game: Bradley vs. North Central College, Sunday, Dec. 14, 1:00 pm

As an added distraction Bradley is charging $10 to park in their deck or you can park for free if you are willing to walk a long distance in freezing weather. They continue to do more things to want fans to not attend their games. I have zero problem in paying yet this is the first time they have charged people to pay in their parking deck. This whole thing is a bad look.
 
I get some frustration but I am sure the athletic department is looking for additional $ to keep us financially competitive in the new world of intercollegiate athletics. I think everyone on the board wants Bradley to be at the top of the Valley and like it or not it takes money to do so and I am sure they are looking for as many sources as possible to help that. This may or may not be one of those ways but I am sure they are looking for options.
 
What a pitiful performance. It all started with wardles crazy substitutions at beginning of game. Tired of watching the yanking in and out of players.
 
Well starters were playing terribly at the beginning, subs came in played better then starters back in and played better so I can understand pulling them. In post game Wardle said I was not going to let them muddle through a bunch of the game like they did against UMass Lowell.
 
Looked like an awful lot of empty seats, watching most of the game on ESPN+. The cold weather doesn't bother me. I'm just not going to pay $20 per ticket to watch us blow out a little D3 team. Not a criticism of BU or those who chose to attend. Just not my cup of tea.
 
Final score- Bradley 86 North Central 53
Box score- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26/north-central-il-/boxscore/22726

Official attendance was 2,585
There were probably a few no-shows, but not bad for a game that was not part of the season ticket package combined with the snow and extreme cold weather. What was most disappointing was the tiny number of students present, and the almost negligible crowd noise generated by what few students were there. Considering how much Bradley did to promote this game to the students and to accommodate them, it appears it isn't worth doing again.
 
how was it possible for Bradley to host 8300 in the Fieldhouse back in the day? They had 2500 today and traffic was boarder line a pain in the butt.
 
Bradley8792 said:
how was it possible for Bradley to host 8300 in the Fieldhouse back in the day? They had 2500 today and traffic was boarder line a pain in the butt.
Click to expand...
Students actually gave a sh-t about basketball and their team. They completely filled 2 sections from the floor to the top of The FieldHouse and were so loud the place shook at times. Best home court advantage Bradley ever had and the games were against much better teams.
 
As far as student turn out: note that the last freshman class has a higher percentage of students who commute to campus than previous classes. I do not know if this trend will change.
 
Do not know how Duke is able to have such student turnout at their games. Maybe being able compete in the NCAA tournament year after year. Just my humble opinion. Would be great to see some turnout of students at games. But how to do it, I am at a loss of how to make it happen. Who here can remember when Versace was here when at games during times in the game bath tissue would fly from the stands. What a great atmosphere. But of course after a while they had to put a stop to that practice. Maybe someone is thinking of ways for greater student participation. But not holding my breath.
 
daveineureka said:
Do not know how Duke is able to have such student turnout at their games. Maybe being able compete in the NCAA tournament year after year. Just my humble opinion. Would be great to see some turnout of students at games. But how to do it, I am at a loss of how to make it happen. Who here can remember when Versace was here when at games during times in the game bath tissue would fly from the stands. What a great atmosphere. But of course after a while they had to put a stop to that practice. Maybe someone is thinking of ways for greater student participation. But not holding my breath.
Click to expand...
I can say that admissions is making an effort to pitch Bradley as a destination school where students can have fun; they are trying to recruit students who would like to do things like go to basketball games. The effort is there: I cannot predict the outcome.
 
ollienanyes said:
I can say that admissions is making an effort to pitch Bradley as a destination school where students can have fun; they are trying to recruit students who would like to do things like go to basketball games. The effort is there: I cannot predict the outcome.
Click to expand...
It is going to take time to undo the incredible damage done by admissions folks over the last 10 years.
 
JMM28 said:
It is going to take time to undo the incredible damage done by admissions folks over the last 10 years.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about the recent admissions problems, I really hope they can turn this around. I think this was a good idea, maybe not planned enough in advance. It would be nice to have all the games on campus, but that's just not realistic right now, so having a tuneup game there is good. It's unfortunate that the weather turned out poorly. Don't know why it was on a Sunday, could have been North Centrals request, but I agree that Saturday would have been better. Sounds like they need to get the students more excited about coming, maybe do some sort of fraternity / sorority competition to get them involved. If they do this again next year I'll try to make it up to see it.
 
tomahawk chop said:
Students actually gave a sh-t about basketball and their team. They completely filled 2 sections from the floor to the top of The FieldHouse and were so loud the place shook at times. Best home court advantage Bradley ever had and the games were against much better teams.
Click to expand...
I remember all the noise in the fieldhouse and thinking the building would collapse from all the stomping of feet.

I spent five years in Carbondale from '88 to '93 (part of Rich Herrin's tenure at SIU). On a whim one day, I decided to drive up to Peoria for a BU game. It was the first time I had seen a game in the Civic Center. The atmosphere didn't feel the same as the Robertson atmosphere did. There was no stomping of feet and the building didn't vibrate.

I sometimes wonder why Robertson was not maintained for men's hoops. Butler plays in Hinkle which is 100 years old and Duke plays in Cameron Indoor. Both of these venues are hallowed ground and have lots of memories for their fans. Robertson could have become hallowed ground, too.
 
daveineureka said:
Do not know how Duke is able to have such student turnout at their games. Maybe being able compete in the NCAA tournament year after year. Just my humble opinion. Would be great to see some turnout of students at games. But how to do it, I am at a loss of how to make it happen. Who here can remember when Versace was here when at games during times in the game bath tissue would fly from the stands. What a great atmosphere. But of course after a while they had to put a stop to that practice. Maybe someone is thinking of ways for greater student participation. But not holding my breath.
Click to expand...
Bring back the TP shower to Carver!
 
64NIT said:
...
I sometimes wonder why Robertson was not maintained for men's hoops. Butler plays in Hinkle which is 100 years old and Duke plays in Cameron Indoor. Both of these venues are hallowed ground and have lots of memories for their fans. Robertson could have become hallowed ground, too.
Click to expand...
Hinkle Fieldhouse is actually much older than the Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. Hinkle was built in 1928, but it was constructed with new and far better materials and was built to last. It cost $750,000 in 1928 (2025 value $14.5 million). By comparison, Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse was built in 1949 using a couple used surplus airplane hangars stitched together and the total cost was just $400,000 (2025 value $4.5 million).
In addition, Hinkle has been renovated several times, including a massive $36 million dollar renovation in 2014. Today, Hinkle is a very modern, large structure that cannot be compared with Robertson Memorial Fieldhouse. There was no way to renovate Robertson and bring it up to modern standards. The maintenance costs were enormous, and the roof still leaked. There was virtually no insulation, making heating costs huge, and it wasn't air conditioned. Restroom facilities and concessions were woefully inadequate, and parking was almost non-existent. And though we can wax nostalgic about the raised floor, the wooden bleacher seating, the mechanical scoreboards, and the urinal troughs, the locker rooms were tiny with no way of enlarging or improving them, broadcast facilities were an embarrassment, and overall it was not at the standard of a Division I school, especially when every other school similar to Bradley was building new and modern facilities.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top