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Final score: Bradley 84 Northern Illinois 55

Da Coach

Da Coach

Moderator
Staff member
Next game: Northern Illinois (3-5) at Bradley (5-4), Saturday, Dec. 6, 7:00 pm

ESPN+- Direct link- https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/4c07b87b-b756-41b5-bafc-dd97db6d07bd
Chat room- https://www.chatzy.com/bradleyfans
Live Stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary
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Northern Illinois was just 6-25 last year, and finished dead last in the Mid-American Conference with a 2-16 conference record.
They were picked a distant 13th place (last place) in the 2025-26 MAC Preseason Poll-
https://getsomemaction.com/news/202...-basketball-preseason-poll-all-mac-teams.aspx
Rashon Burno is in his 5th season as the head coach at NIU, and he's never had a winning record. It's been almost 30 years since NIU last played in the NCAA Tournament (1995-96 under Brian Hammel).
Their NET at the time of posting is 314. Bradley's is 144. Their Kenpom rank is 324, and Bradley's is 128.
NIU Historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/northern-illinois/men/
NIU Schedule/results- https://niuhuskies.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule
Roster- https://niuhuskies.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
Stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/...2025-26_NIU_Men_s_Basketball_Season_Stats.pdf

Bradley stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats
MVC stats- https://mvc-sports.com/documents/2025/11/4//2025_26_MVC_MBB_All_Game_Stats.pdf
 
I graduated from NIU in 1976 and the men's hoops team sucked when I was there and they have sucked for the better part of the 50 years since. They have had only a very few seasons, maybe they can be counted on one hand, when they had decent teams. NIU is a dead end for coaches. No coach has gone on to be a head coach of another D1 school in all this time except for Jim Molinari who, incidentally, took NIU to the NCAA, then left for Bradley after just two seasons. The NIU men's hoops team is quite an embarrassment and were blown out last night, at home, by Lindenwood, 99-64. They are lucky to have 1000 spectators at their games; usually it's less.

Coach Rashon Burno published an article, just yesterday, in the New York Times about his struggles at NIU leading him to seek therapy:

www.nytimes.com

After my college basketball team went 6-25 last season, I learned how to ask for help

Rashon Burno is in his fifth season as the men’s basketball coach at Northern Illinois. Therapy helped him become a better leader.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

There were high hopes for him after the first game of his first season when the Huskies from DeKalb knocked off the Huskies from Seattle in Seattle, but it's been all downhill from there. The season two seasons ago looked promising, but injuries turned that season into a bad one. Burno alludes to this in his article.

I follow the NIU board and word is he can recruit talented players, but can't coach them. There was a center from Switzerland who mostly sat on the bench for much of the season (I think he was injured for part of the season, too). After the conclusion of the season two or three seasons ago (I don't remember which), he transferred to Penn State and became their starting center. Another of his players made significant contributions to Kansas. This season, Burno has had to recruit an entirely new team. There are no leftovers from last season, not even a walk-on.

NIU needs to hire a coach from either the D2 or D3 level, possibly the NAIA, or one who has D1 coaching experience (not a Ricardo Patton type), who has a proven record of winning, not some assistant who doesn't have any head coaching experience. How did hiring Tom Izzo's assistant work out? How has this hire worked out?

End of rant. lol
 
Here is an interesting video of Oakland head coach Greg Kampe complaining about the lack of support from the Oakland students-
www.x.com/NoahB77_/status/1996566348911001690

I hate to bring this subject up again, but it seems to have only gotten worse. I'd love to see a bunch of students at the game Saturday, but I have to be realistic and admit that it isn't going to happen. If there were any students at the last home game Tuesday night against Washington State, I couldn't find them.
If a winning program with exciting players doesn't draw students, and giving away free tickets, and providing a free shuttle ride, t-shirts, free snacks, drinks, and their own student area in the arena isn't enough, what else will help? Is there any way to get Gen Z'ers interested in supporting their schools' teams?
And if the students aren't going to bother to attend, for goodness sake turn the volume of the music down.
 
Da Coach said:
Here is an interesting video of Oakland head coach Greg Kampe complaining about the lack of support from the Oakland students-
www.x.com/NoahB77_/status/1996566348911001690

I hate to bring this subject up again, but it seems to have only gotten worse. I'd love to see a bunch of students at the game Saturday, but I have to be realistic and admit that it isn't going to happen. If there were any students at the last home game Tuesday night against Washington State, I couldn't find them.
If a winning program with exciting players doesn't draw students, and giving away free tickets, and providing a free shuttle ride, t-shirts, free snacks, drinks, and their own student area in the arena isn't enough, what else will help? Is there any way to get Gen Z'ers interested in supporting their schools' teams?
And if the students aren't going to bother to attend, for goodness sake turn the volume of the music down.
Click to expand...
Agree with everything you stated on here, the music is way too loud and from what it looks like the students could care less about attending.
 
Da Coach said:
Here is an interesting video of Oakland head coach Greg Kampe complaining about the lack of support from the Oakland students-
www.x.com/NoahB77_/status/1996566348911001690

I hate to bring this subject up again, but it seems to have only gotten worse. I'd love to see a bunch of students at the game Saturday, but I have to be realistic and admit that it isn't going to happen. If there were any students at the last home game Tuesday night against Washington State, I couldn't find them.
If a winning program with exciting players doesn't draw students, and giving away free tickets, and providing a free shuttle ride, t-shirts, free snacks, drinks, and their own student area in the arena isn't enough, what else will help? Is there any way to get Gen Z'ers interested in supporting their schools' teams?
And if the students aren't going to bother to attend, for goodness sake turn the volume of the music down.
Click to expand...
Great points all around DC! (especially the volume!)
In the mid 2000s, during a few yrs of success, did we have a good turnout of students for home games? I unfortunately didn't get to watch many games on TV (and none in person) from 2000 to 2008.
 
tomahawk chop said:
Agree with everything you stated on here, the music is way too loud and from what it looks like the students could care less about attending.
Click to expand...
This is just insane...one of the main factors when my son decides on a college to attend will be the athletics program experience (whether he's an athlete or just a fan). I think a LOT has to do with younger people living their world through the screen in front of them instead of going out and experiencing things (other than music concerts and parties). I don't even know what dates look like these days for people between 16 and 20 as face-to-face interaction is a rarity. Even when teenagers go out to eat as a group, they are looking at their phones more than half the time.
 
Da Coach said:
Here is an interesting video of Oakland head coach Greg Kampe complaining about the lack of support from the Oakland students-
www.x.com/NoahB77_/status/1996566348911001690

I hate to bring this subject up again, but it seems to have only gotten worse. I'd love to see a bunch of students at the game Saturday, but I have to be realistic and admit that it isn't going to happen. If there were any students at the last home game Tuesday night against Washington State, I couldn't find them.
If a winning program with exciting players doesn't draw students, and giving away free tickets, and providing a free shuttle ride, t-shirts, free snacks, drinks, and their own student area in the arena isn't enough, what else will help? Is there any way to get Gen Z'ers interested in supporting their schools' teams?
And if the students aren't going to bother to attend, for goodness sake turn the volume of the music down.
Click to expand...
The world has changed since you and I went to Bradley. With the internet and 5,000 channels of entertainment, there are too many other distractions. Add in the portal, NIL, and the buildup of some college teams into just a slight step below NFL/NBA teams, mid-majors like Bradley just can't compete with that.

I know, it's sad. These kids are throwing away something that when they are older could provide them with alot of pleasure, excitement, and camaraderie with fellow alums. Vs just staring a screen in isolation. Loneliness is an epidemic with older folks per some studies I've read. This behavior isn't going to help things long term.
 
battlebasset said:
I know, it's sad. These kids are throwing away something that when they are older could provide them with alot of pleasure, excitement, and camaraderie with fellow alums. Vs just staring a screen in isolation. Loneliness is an epidemic with older folks per some studies I've read. This behavior isn't going to help things long term.
Click to expand...
Agreed - imagine how many teenagers 5-10 yrs from now are going to need glasses with all the screentime. My eyes have gotten so much worse since my job requires 7-8 hrs of screentime (for almost 20 yrs now). I may not have needed glasses if I had picked a profession that was screen-free!
 
Regardless of the excuses people want to make, I find it impossible to understand how Bradley can have basically no student section at games. It doesn't take that many fans to make a student section have some real impact. I mean, I used to go to games at places like Loyola with a few friends and we could get "BU" chants going in an opposing arena. Bradley can't find 25-50 kids that could be "ambassadors" to help grow it back up? Take a few and make them "influencers" - which is what kids follow all the time these days - and use their power to grow it up.

You could make it a project for someone in the Comm department who is wanting to go into Multimedia. There are just so many ways ...

The reality is that "influence" is easier than it has ever been - you don't need to pay for billboards on the highway or TV ads to garner attention. You just need someone to actually the time and the energy in to it. (And it can't be a one time thing, you need to be consistent in your push.)
 
UNI, which used to have one of the top student sections in the Valley, has also seen their student support dwindle, despite having good teams every year. So they are having the coach promote a snacks and drinks giveaway for the first 300 students to lure them back. And if the student is 21 or older, they can get a free alcoholic drink!
https://twitter.com/x/status/1996731982701555966
 
I'm not one to complain about the loudness of the music or even the type, but I do understand how many don't like either as well and understand that it is important to cater to certain types, whether its young students, or older monetary contributors to the program. The lack of students is incredible, I've also noticed the shrinking of the Bradley Band, both in member number and their role in game time activities.
 
How do you guys feel about the silly promotions we have?....I hate when BU is on a roll and force the other team into a timeout, the crowd is rocking, and then we have some silly promotion which nobody cares about and kills the mood..... (Crutch Race, layup contest that the announcer doesn't even keep track of who's made the basket, that's when the band needs to play and play LOUD, but the pre written activity script must be followed. I'd keep the promotion with the half court shot, and that's about it...find another way to mention the sponsors..nobody pays attention to the stunt part anyway.

Also, I would move the Caterpillar Recognition of a Veteran to the first half as well. While I do think it's important to honor those individuals for their service and feel its a must to keep during the game, it feels more appropriate in the first half as well....again, its a crowd stopper in the second half....and it SHOULD BE to properly honor the veteran, but for the sake of the team, we need to keep the crowd engaged when we can.

My opinions.......like to hear others, and I'm not gonna be offended if anybody disagrees so please tell me how you guys feel
 
Sorta unrelated, but sort of not ... I just got this email from BU:

1764957145382.png

(In case you can't see it, BU is having a pickleball tournament in February.)

If I was anywhere near Peoria, I'd totally be signing up. This is exactly the sort of thing that is missing from Bradley Athletics too often. More of it, please!
 
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