Arch Madness Championship - UNI (6) vs Bradley (5)

[ptownbraves]

I understand why the UNI fan turnout was light...average year and long distance to StL. But I thought BU fans would show better. Ain’t Peoria the closest of all of the MVC schools to Enterprise Center? Easy day trip. 3,000 max. BU fans in the building today. Hope the fan base is more supportive of BU in the NCAA tournament.

In years past, the championship game usually featured Creighton or Wichita State bringing 7,500 fans and their opponents bringing 2,500. Then, add-in another 1,500 fans whose teams were beat but stayed for the whole tournament. These fans usually cheered for whomever was playing Creighton or Wichita State. Made for a vibrant, wild, and fun atmosphere.

Congratulations BU fans! Enjoy.

The reality is no current MVC team is bringing 7,500 fans to St. Louis anytime soon. Creighton and Wichita were outliers. Keep in mind Bradley led the Valley in attendance this year at just over 5k average. Creighton and WSU I'm sure would average 10k+ routinely at home games and their fans would travel.

I thought Bradley represented well. They were loud and engaged. You have to keep in mind this program has been bad for so long that a lot of fans have tuned out.

SIU is closest to STL and Illinois State, Evansville, Indiana State and Bradley are pretty much all the same distance.

[Majik45]

Bradley lost a lot of the casual fans at the beginning of the valley season with going 0-5. Hopefully this builds for next year, and then Bradley fans will definitely bring more in future years. If this starts a run for Bradley, they will start bringing more to St. Louis. Bradley has NEVER won the tournament in St. Louis. This is only the 4th time Bradley has made the finals in St. Louis. Build a tradition of winning, and more will come.

[BearsCountry]

I understand why the UNI fan turnout was light...average year and long distance to StL. But I thought BU fans would show better. Ain’t Peoria the closest of all of the MVC schools to Enterprise Center? Easy day trip. 3,000 max. BU fans in the building today. Hope the fan base is more supportive of BU in the NCAA tournament.

In years past, the championship game usually featured Creighton or Wichita State bringing 7,500 fans and their opponents bringing 2,500. Then, add-in another 1,500 fans whose teams were beat but stayed for the whole tournament. These fans usually cheered for whomever was playing Creighton or Wichita State. Made for a vibrant, wild, and fun atmosphere.

Congratulations BU fans! Enjoy.

The reality is no current MVC team is bringing 7,500 fans to St. Louis anytime soon.

We brought close to that in 2011 when we played for the championship.

[municup14]

The conference needs to issue an apology to UNI McDonnell gets shoved into the Bradley player who flops more then LeBron when he played for the Heat and the refs completely screw UNI the conference should be absolutely embarrassed.

Agree 100%,we will never know if it would have changed the outcome of the game.But it definitely didn't help.
There needs to be a change in the rules on blows to the head.And that call it should have been taken into consideration that a Bradley player gave the UNI player a little shove that caused the contract.

[ptownbraves]

The conference needs to issue an apology to UNI McDonnell gets shoved into the Bradley player who flops more then LeBron when he played for the Heat and the refs completely screw UNI the conference should be absolutely embarrassed.

Agree 100%,we will never know if it would have changed the outcome of the game.But it definitely didn't help.
There needs to be a change in the rules on blows to the head.And that call it should have been taken into consideration that a Bradley player gave the UNI player a little shove that caused the contract.

Why would the league issue an apology to a school when the correct call was made? The veteran ref crew took at least 5 minutes reviewing it frame by frame and the CBS announcers including their rules expert agreed it was the right call.

[BCPanther]

Blame the rule not the refs. 110% the correct call by the book.

We had more than enough other opportunities to win the game. We can't continually give up big leads. It has to stop.

[Majik45]

I understand why the UNI fan turnout was light...average year and long distance to StL. But I thought BU fans would show better. Ain’t Peoria the closest of all of the MVC schools to Enterprise Center? Easy day trip. 3,000 max. BU fans in the building today. Hope the fan base is more supportive of BU in the NCAA tournament.

The problem with BU is they lost a lot of fans who used to go every year to Arch Madness. I used to go every year, but then Bradley was relegated to the play-in game for 7 straight years. It's hard to justify the trip when you will be eliminated before the tournament really starts with other family obligations and such.

Bradley has also NEVER won the tournament in St. Louis. I think that was only the 4th time that Bradley has even made the title game in the 20+ years of Arch Madness. We probably have been in the PIG more than we've been in the Semi-finals.

If bradley is a top 3-4 seed again next year, I think you will see a lot more fans make the trip next year, and Bradley fans could fill a good portion of the arena. Maybe not to the level of Creighton and WSU in their prime, but definitely more substantial.

[unipanther99]

Congrats to Bradley. Looking forward to seeing them do some damage in the bracket.

I think the rule was enforced correctly. If you look at that play in it's totality, common sense doesn't seem to say that play is worth 4 free throws and the ball out of bounds. But common sense doesn't seem to be a part of the college rule book these days, and replay is a big part of that. In limited form, it did help fix a few really bad issues with clock situations, but it's expanded too far.

The loss is not on the officials. UNI played how they played much of the year. Hot and cold. Cold caught up with them at the wrong time on Sunday.

[bcg]

There was also sticker shock when fans saw the ticket prices for Sunday's game. What used to be a fun getaway weekend in St. Louis is expensive now.

[Red]

Congrats to Bradley. Looking forward to seeing them do some damage in the bracket.

I think the rule was enforced correctly. If you look at that play in it's totality, common sense doesn't seem to say that play is worth 4 free throws and the ball out of bounds. But common sense doesn't seem to be a part of the college rule book these days, and replay is a big part of that. In limited form, it did help fix a few really bad issues with clock situations, but it's expanded too far.

The loss is not on the officials. UNI played how they played much of the year. Hot and cold. Cold caught up with them at the wrong time on Sunday.

Man I would be losing my SH1T if it was Illinois State who lose the MVC finale in that fashion. You're way too relaxed about it for me.