Some Friday News...and a thought on message boards...

In this day of cutting back to save on costs....I have a great idea for ISU --
not only can use the same uniforms and jerseys as last year...they can even save money on the player names on the backs...
.......they just got rid of Bobby Hill, Justin Clark, and Julius Moor..
and now they have Johnny Hill, Darious Clark, and Nic Moore.....they can re-tool and re-use some of their old jerseys quite easily!

Someone alerted me that one of the ISU players is driving a nice, late model BMW and has new pics of it on his Facebook...
Is ISU taking lessons from Coach K and getting cars for the players??


BTW - ISU is so desperate to get their schedule better -- they want fans to call in and tell them how they can do it!!
http://wjbc.com/whats-the-best-way-to-strengthen-the-illinois-state-univeristy-mens-basketball-schedule/


Speaking of Illinois State -- there's a lingering rumor out there that ISU may not YET be done with their player departures....
They are a close 2nd to SIU on how many kids have left their program in just the last couple years...but a rumble says they may yet have one more unexpected open scholarship for next year, even though of their 14 rostered players - EIGHT of them already are newbies - have either never played college ball - or for the two juco kids - have never played for ISU.
EIGHT newbies -- anyone remember the Kirk Wessler article titled
"Seven D-I Virgins" in which he slammed our staff for bringing in too many newcomers at once?
(but strangely he referred at that time to the era from 2005-2007 - players like Tony Bennett, David Collins, Theron Wilson, Sammy Maniscalco...)
and BU actually did pretty well considering all the players lost to injury back then with post-season play in all those years anyway!

Wonder how Kirk feels about ISU landing 8 D-I Virgins for this season??

http://www.bradleyfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=6423

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OscuqstdUH8J:www2.pjstar.com/index.php%3F/wessler/article/bradleys_seven_virgins/+%22I+started+this+drumbeat+back+in+May,+when+a+Bradley+basketball+fan+asked+me+what%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com





Is this predictable or what???

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110708/NEWS02/110709895/isac-chief-andrew-davis-departs-troubled-college-illinois-agency

First - any story that talks of failure and corruption in government is hardly surprising...
but Illinois has had a pre-paid college tuition program for several years --

Parents can start paying into a fund and then when their kid goes to any state college they get a break and lesser tuition...

BUT -- guess what -- the entire fund -- $1.1 BILLION is going under and the guy running it is corrupt -- and just got fired...
I guess I am thankful this doesn't affect Bradley at all, just the state schools...but more news on financial doom at the state schools is just around the corner......



Looks like Matt Roth has quit his summer pro-am league team -- not playing with them any more. he was having trouble scoring, but I have heard some rumors - more on that later...



COREY HAWKINS - Hersey's 2nd son who left Arizona State tweeted that he will make his final decision next week where he'll play next year. There were comments that he was looking at UMass, UC-Davis, and St. Mary's - but he's definitely ruled UMass out.
I'm thinking St. Mary's but I also think he'd be a ton at UC-D...or maybe some other school will get in late.



I note that HOI Fair attendance is way down -- could the riots, mobs, and unruly youths that have plagued the fair for years - teamed with news of recent mobs and riots be having an effect?



I have a few thoughts on MESSAGE BOARDS -- and the first & foremost is that I am so appreciative that BU's most knowlegable sports guy Bobby Parker
is now on the BradleyFans.com boards and posting up to the minute BU news and info -- thanks Bobby...

The second thing is that I have been informed via several routes that players as well as BU personnel watch and read the boards
so keep that in mind when posting -- I know we all have opinions but slams should not be allowed on this board
(even tho I know they are kinda routine elsewhere on other boards).

Lastly I just checked this morning and BradleyFans.com had 132 people currently online and viewing...

This is solid evidence of an amazing level of interest even in the off-season in Bradley basketball....
It just never changes -- it's always busy at BradleyFans even when things are slow.....but this is NOT the case on most message boards.

In BF's case I think it is clearly because of the tremendous info on the team, on recruiting, on the contributions of people like Bobby
and other fans, and as a factor of Bradley's super fans base that wants to talk BU basketball all year long.

It never fails - even in an average workday of mine at least a dozen people (who of course all know I am a big BU fan or who see me
wearing my Bradley apparel or see my Bradley memorabilia around my office) will always want to strike up a conversation on BU basketball, this year's team, and current events.

So -- I did a quick check of the other 11 message boards in the Valley (there are nine other teams, but Indiana State has two boards
and Bradley possibly could be considered to have the PJ Star-sponsored board - although that contribution is negligible (only 2 unregistered guests online currently)..and the TOTAL number of people online on the other ELEVEN board combined was just under 100...
with Creighton & Wichita being the busiest besides BradleyFans (around 20-25 people) but Indiana State's board surprisingly beating out the rest for 4th busiest...and amazingly SIU in dead last place without a single person online when I checked -- not one besides me as I viewed to see their numbers! (ISU had only 4 on their basketball board)

Great work BradleyFans and all the great posters who make it work and who make it fun.