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10 most memorable shots in Bradley history (last 1/2 century)

Y

yoda

Well-known member
(my opinions, and I have been around to see them all)

10- Fancy, flying reverse layup by Barney Mines to seal the Championship of the 1982 NIT- scroll forward to 2:07:30 of this video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IphhSUEiDOM (I wish I could find the end-to-end fast break by JJ Anderson that won the Syracuse game)

9- Elijah Childs' high flying dunk vs. Michigan State in the 2019 NCAA Tournament (scroll to 1:25 on this video) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpakFcC4DM

8- Jerry Thomas' slam dunk that broke the backboard in 1988, but I can't find a video clip

7- DLO's 3-pointer & 5-point play in the MVC Tournament Championship game vs. UNI in 2019 that sealed the win and the 18-point comeback- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9z3S_Lfpis (scroll to 1:50 of this video)

6- Will Franklin half court buzzer beater at halftime to put Bradley up on Kansas 37-27 in the NCAA Tourney (scroll to 41:30 on this video)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVRtbOZP_dg

5- Chris Roberts' full court buzzer beater to win Bradley's 2009 tourney game- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9z3S_Lfpis (not the best video but here's another CRob dunk- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiVvrxlX27Q)

4- Jim Les pass to Hersey Hawkins at Dayton in 1986 to send to OT and eventually win (wish I had this video clip)

3- 1986 MVC Tournament, full court drive by Jim Les to send game to OT where Bradley would win and head to the NCAA Tourney- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmPJgL4pXa8

2- Jim Les full court pass to Hersey Hawkins at the final buzzer to beat Drake in 1986

1- of course Deon Jackson's phenomenal game winner in the MVC Tourney- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAK9svJzAqY

(if anyone has those other highlights - lmk)
 
One correction- #3 on your list was a regular season MVC game, not an MVC Tournament game, played January 23, 1986 at Carver Arena.
At about the 5 second mark, the announcer says that Illinois State made a "pair of free throws to put them in the driver's seat of this game and threaten Bradley's perfect Valley record and their 18-1 season". Trevor Trimpe inbounded the ball to Jim Les, who took it the full length of the court and got a layup to tie the game. Bradley won 67-63 in overtime.
 
Some may not know how athletic and talented those teams form the 80's were.
1985 & '86 Bradley had four NBA players (Les, Hawk, Mike Williams, Voise Winters)
The '82 team had 3 NBA players plus two pro baseball players (Mathews, Cook)

but the other top teams also had immense talent.
Wichita had Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel, Cliff Levingston, Aubrey Sherrod, Ozell Jones, Greg Dreiling
Creighton had Benoit Benjamin, McKenna, Gallagher
Tulsa- Steve Harris, Paul Pressey, Tracy Moore
it was a fun time to be an MVC fan.
 
yoda said:
Some may not know how athletic and talented those teams form the 80's were.
1985 & '86 Bradley had four NBA players (Les, Hawk, Mike Williams, Voise Winters)
The '82 team had 3 NBA players plus two pro baseball players (Mathews, Cook)

but the other top teams also had immense talent.
Wichita had Antoine Carr, Xavier McDaniel, Cliff Levingston, Aubrey Sherrod, Ozell Jones, Greg Dreiling
Creighton had Benoit Benjamin, McKenna, Gallagher
Tulsa- Steve Harris, Paul Pressey, Tracy Moore
it was a fun time to be an MVC fan.
Click to expand...

And the saddest part for us old-timers is that we'll never see those days again in the Valley due to the forever changed college basketball landscape.
 
The Les to Hawkins passes would be my favorites. But right behind them would be a play by Massive Mike Williams, one of my all time favorite Braves. Mike took an offensive rebound near the basket, and had joint possession with an ISU player. Can't remember who. But Mike wrenched the ball away with his left hand, and simultaneously flung the ISU player to the floor with his right, then made the put back. The best part of the play was the ISU fans howling in anger that no foul was called.
 
Da Coach - you’re gonna have to fill in the details - I never saw the shot but heard it on radio and then heard everyone talking about it all season. And the players name is a hard one to remember how to spell so I apologize in advance.

Mbukoo Nagugoo

and I believe it was a game at Loyola
 
MacabreMob said:
Da Coach - you’re gonna have to fill in the details - I never saw the shot but heard it on radio and then heard everyone talking about it all season. And the players name is a hard one to remember how to spell so I apologize in advance.

Mbukoo Nagugoo

and I believe it was a game at Loyola
Click to expand...

Mbaukwu Nwaogwugwu played for Jim Molinari from 1994-1996 and was a member of the 1996 Bradley regular season championship team that played Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. He came to Bradley from a Chicago junior college (Olive-Harvey).
About all I remember about him is he was 6'4" but could really jump. He didn't play much in his 2 years at Bradley. I don't recall the shot you are referring to, though. If anyone else remembers details, let us know.
 
Da Coach said:
Mbaukwu Nwaogwugwu played for Jim Molinari from 1994-1996 and was a member of the 1996 Bradley regular season championship team that played Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. He came to Bradley from a Chicago junior college (Olive-Harvey).
About all I remember about him is he was 6'4" but could really jump. He didn't play much in his 2 years at Bradley. I don't recall the shot you are referring to, though. If anyone else remembers details, let us know.
Click to expand...

Article on him prior to his time at Bradley.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-02-26-9402260148-story.html
 
Da Coach said:
Mbaukwu Nwaogwugwu played for Jim Molinari from 1994-1996 and was a member of the 1996 Bradley regular season championship team that played Stanford in the NCAA Tournament. He came to Bradley from a Chicago junior college (Olive-Harvey).
About all I remember about him is he was 6'4" but could really jump. He didn't play much in his 2 years at Bradley. I don't recall the shot you are referring to, though. If anyone else remembers details, let us know.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm the only one that remembers it, lol, but I also recall Snell raving about it (maybe someone knows Dave and can ask him about it).

Another memorable "shot" was The Predator's, Eric Roberson's, slam dunk on a missed free throw - he timed it perfectly to come flying into the lane and flushing it on Tractor Trailer's Michigan squad.
 
PhiAlphaBoy said:
Here's a little something I found, courtesy of one of our posters Tommy Boy. Thanks Tommy!
Click to expand...

thanks for finding that, just after the 2:00 mark are the clips of both the Hersey buzzer beaters vs. Drake & Dayton.
I still would love to see a clip of the Jerry Thomas dunk that shattered the backboard. It was included in the pregame intro-video on the
overhead scoreboard a few years ago, but haven't been able to find it anywhere online.
 
MacabreMob said:
Maybe I'm the only one that remembers it, lol, but I also recall Snell raving about it (maybe someone knows Dave and can ask him about it).

Another memorable "shot" was The Predator's, Eric Roberson's, slam dunk on a missed free throw - he timed it perfectly to come flying into the lane and flushing it on Tractor Trailer's Michigan squad.
Click to expand...

This was definitely a thing Mac, but I've never seen video of it anywhere.
 
January 9th, 1982. 70 degree below wind chill factor in Peoria. Bradley upsets Wichita State at the Fieldhouse ( I believe Wichita was #8 in the nation). Most memorable shots were Kerry Cook's two free throws to seal the win (Donald Reese had fouled out). Despite the bitter cold the place was packed. I drove down from Naperville (X-mas break) to see the game. One of the greatest Bradley experiences in the last 40 years for sure and those unlikely free throws were so huge.
 
BRAVE82 said:
January 9th, 1982. 70 degree below wind chill factor in Peoria. Bradley upsets Wichita State at the Fieldhouse ( I believe Wichita was #8 in the nation). Most memorable shots were Kerry Cook's two free throws to seal the win (Donald Reese had fouled out). Despite the bitter cold the place was packed. I drove down from Naperville (X-mas break) to see the game. One of the greatest Bradley experiences in the last 40 years for sure and those unlikely free throws were so huge.
Click to expand...

I was at that Wichita game. Was it Al Caruso that hit that shot. A jumper from the free throw area
 
BRAVE82 said:
January 9th, 1982. 70 degree below wind chill factor in Peoria. Bradley upsets Wichita State at the Fieldhouse ( I believe Wichita was #8 in the nation). Most memorable shots were Kerry Cook's two free throws to seal the win (Donald Reese had fouled out). Despite the bitter cold the place was packed. I drove down from Naperville (X-mas break) to see the game. One of the greatest Bradley experiences in the last 40 years for sure and those unlikely free throws were so huge.
Click to expand...

BRAVE82, the game you are recalling, could it have been this one?-
February 27, 1982, Bradley vs. Tulsa. It was the last regular season game of that 1981-82 season, the teams were tied for 1st place in the MVC, and it was for the MVC regular season title. Tulsa was ranked #8 in the country at that time (the announcers mention that several times). Bradley won 82-79 in overtime, thanks in part to 2 late free throws by Kerry Cook with 8 seconds left in the overtime period. Donald Reese had fouled out, as did Willie Scott. And David Thirdkill left the game with an ankle sprain in the overtime period. Thus Kerry Cook, along with freshmen Voise Winters and Willie Harris were on the court in their place. The only 2 starters left at the end were Barney Mines, and Mitchell Anderson, who was limited by recurring back spasms.
The Kerry Cook free throws are at about 4:37:40 of this video (thanks to Tommy for uploading). Click here to see-
https://youtu.be/QjHZfcJzCGc?t=16660

If anyone has the time, it's worth watching the last few minutes of regulation and the overtime of that exciting game. The announcers were Wayne Larivee and Bob Ortegal. There were numerous heroics by the Bradley players to beat a really talented Tulsa team (with Paul Pressey, Mike Anderson, Greg Stewart, Steve Harris, etc). The other thing you'll notice is how many fouls were called on minimal or almost no contact. The Ron Zetcher-lead crew really tried to make themselves the stars of that game with so many whistles down the stretch. Zetcher was noted for calling excessive offensive fouls whenever a defending player flopped backward. FWIW, the only game that Hersey Hawkins ever fouled out of was a game in which Zetcher called 5 offensive fouls against Hersey in a win at Charlotte in Hersey's senior season (Jan. 6, 1988)

Btw, between the two Kerry Cook free throws, the TV shows a shot of the Bradley crowd. Down in the far right lower corner of that shot is the late Ken Goldin and his wife Pat.
 
Da Coach said:
BRAVE82, the game you are recalling, could it have been this one?-
February 27, 1982, Bradley vs. Tulsa. It was the last regular season game of that 1981-82 season, the teams were tied for 1st place in the MVC, and it was for the MVC regular season title. Tulsa was ranked #8 in the country at that time (the announcers mention that several times). Bradley won 82-79 in overtime, thanks in part to 2 late free throws by Kerry Cook with 8 seconds left in the overtime period. Donald Reese had fouled out, as did Willie Scott. And David Thirdkill left the game with an ankle sprain in the overtime period. Thus Kerry Cook, along with freshmen Voise Winters and Willie Harris were on the court in their place. The only 2 starters left at the end were Barney Mines, and Mitchell Anderson, who was limited by recurring back spasms.
The Kerry Cook free throws are at about 4:37:40 of this video (thanks to Tommy for uploading). Click here to see-
https://youtu.be/QjHZfcJzCGc?t=16660

If anyone has the time, it's worth watching the last few minutes of regulation and the overtime of that exciting game. The announcers were Wayne Larivee and Bob Ortegal. There were numerous heroics by the Bradley players to beat a really talented Tulsa team (with Paul Pressey, Mike Anderson, Greg Stewart, Steve Harris, etc). The other thing you'll notice is how many fouls were called on minimal or almost no contact. The Ron Zetcher-lead crew really tried to make themselves the stars of that game with so many whistles down the stretch. Zetcher was noted for calling excessive offensive fouls whenever a defending player flopped backward. FWIW, the only game that Hersey Hawkins ever fouled out of was a game in which Zetcher called 5 offensive fouls against Hersey in a win at Charlotte in Hersey's senior season (Jan. 6, 1988)

Btw, between the two Kerry Cook free throws, the TV shows a shot of the Bradley crowd. Down in the far right lower corner of that shot is the late Ken Goldin and his wife Pat.
Click to expand...

Yes! Coach you are correct, it was the Tulsa game that Kerry Cook came up big. Both the Tulsa and Wichita games were unreal to experience in person. So we beat two top 10 teams in the nation, won the MVC, and still didn't get invited to the NCAA tournament. This might have been the game where Nolan Richardson tried to go into the stands after a Bradley fan. BU fans were really razzing him at the end of the game. The Wichita game was equally emotional. That was the game with the bitter cold temps. Thanks for correcting, coach, it's been 40 years!
 
For any of you younger Bradley fans... please watch Tommy's YouTube video that Coach linked. This was Bradley basketball at it's best. When the Braves could go toe to toe with the best teams in the nation. And NOBODY had a more intimidating home court advantage. Thank you coach Versace for the memories. By the way... had the honor of meeting Barney Mines awhile back. He has some great stories and would be glad to share if somebody in Peoria media would reach out to him.
 
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