Arch Madness 1st round - Thursday

[MissouriValleyUnite]

A couple "non-basketball" goodies from Day 1:

1. UIC had in my view point, the best intro video, best band, some of the best cheerleaders, a great mascot and a great uniform. If only their on-the-court performance matched all that. I think they're a better addition to the Valley than they've gotten credit for.

2. Speaking of bands, thanks to the UNI band for standing in for the Valpo band tonight. Great moment at that under 8 timeout in the Murray State/Valpo game tonight with the bands.

3. Most fans on day 1? I give it a tie between UNI and Murray State, though the Racer fans get the award for being louder as my Apple Watch triggered a loud noises alert during their game.

Big props to the UNI band! They had Beacons chants going and I didn’t even catch it was UNI’s band until someone pointed it out.

Murray fans had a booming “Let’s Go Racers” chant 10 minutes before tip.

I was surprised Evansville had 8-10 rows of fans given they’re 348 in NET. Props to those people for still coming out.

After the ISUr/UNI game, an ISU fan chanted “WE WANT BRADLEY!”. Was he trying to set UNI fans up?

Indiana St has their best turnout in a long time.

Thursday crowds are never going to be good, but that was the best Thursday crowd in awhile.

[Mikovio]

I would’ve loved playing ISUr. The last BU ISUr matchup in STL was 2004 and the last non-Thursday matchup was 2001. It would add a jolt to Arch Madness.

[Adunk33]

I would’ve loved playing ISUr. The last BU ISUr matchup in STL was 2004 and the last non-Thursday matchup was 2001. It would add a jolt to Arch Madness.

As ILST stormed back against UNI yesterday, I thought to myself...this could be the worst case scenario....Birds would've used a ton of energy to come back from being down 20, and only really played 6 guys. They would've kept is close until around the 10 min mark of the first half and then it'd look worse (from a Bird perspective) than the game at Redbird Arena. Bradley would've won that game by 25+.

Instead, ILST charged back and forced UNI to play their starters the whole game instead of getting them rest for today's match up. Tired legs should hit UNI in the second half today. Anderson containing Mast and high school senior, Bowen Born shooting a good 3pt% are the keys to this one.

[BCPanther]

I would’ve loved playing ISUr. The last BU ISUr matchup in STL was 2004 and the last non-Thursday matchup was 2001. It would add a jolt to Arch Madness.

As ILST stormed back against UNI yesterday, I thought to myself...this could be the worst case scenario....Birds would've used a ton of energy to come back from being down 20, and only really played 6 guys. They would've kept is close until around the 10 min mark of the first half and then it'd look worse (from a Bird perspective) than the game at Redbird Arena. Bradley would've won that game by 25+.

Instead, ILST charged back and forced UNI to play their starters the whole game instead of getting them rest for today's match up. Tired legs should hit UNI in the second half today. Anderson containing Mast and high school senior, Bowen Born shooting a good 3pt% are the keys to this one.

The 8/9 winner has a whole day now instead of 14 hours. I don't think legs will be a big factor today and, frankly, UNI doesn't have enough bodies to have gotten guys off the floor anyway.

All the pressure is on Bradley and UNI could have a very cathartic moment today.

[SalukiBand]

A couple "non-basketball" goodies from Day 1:


2. Speaking of bands, thanks to the UNI band for standing in for the Valpo band tonight. Great moment at that under 8 timeout in the Murray State/Valpo game tonight with the bands.

.

Correct me if I am wrong, but didn't the UNI admin say the band wasn't coming to St. Louis and some alum stepped up and paid for the band to be there?

[ISUSOX13]

Walking back to my seat yesterday after the lid lifter, an Evansville fan congratulated me on my team's (ISU-R) win. Thought it was a bold play from a fan of a one win team. But, hey, whatever makes you feel good.

Sat with some cool people in a shared suite, including a gentlemen from San Antonio, who is on a quest to see every D1 basketball team in person. He will be at 178 after tonight. Told me he's seen 114 FCS football teams, all NFL teams and has seen a baseball game in all but three MLB stadiums. Pretty neat.

[racernation]

Sat with some cool people in a shared suite, including a gentlemen from San Antonio, who is on a quest to see every D1 basketball team in person. He will be at 178 after tonight. Told me he's seen 114 FCS football teams, all NFL teams and has seen a baseball game in all but three MLB stadiums. Pretty neat.

#lifegoals

[Adunk33]

I would’ve loved playing ISUr. The last BU ISUr matchup in STL was 2004 and the last non-Thursday matchup was 2001. It would add a jolt to Arch Madness.

As ILST stormed back against UNI yesterday, I thought to myself...this could be the worst case scenario....Birds would've used a ton of energy to come back from being down 20, and only really played 6 guys. They would've kept is close until around the 10 min mark of the first half and then it'd look worse (from a Bird perspective) than the game at Redbird Arena. Bradley would've won that game by 25+.

Instead, ILST charged back and forced UNI to play their starters the whole game instead of getting them rest for today's match up. Tired legs should hit UNI in the second half today. Anderson containing Mast and high school senior, Bowen Born shooting a good 3pt% are the keys to this one.

The 8/9 winner has a whole day now instead of 14 hours. I don't think legs will be a big factor today and, frankly, UNI doesn't have enough bodies to have gotten guys off the floor anyway.

All the pressure is on Bradley and UNI could have a very cathartic moment today.

I hope you're right! I'm a Panther fan today!

[IllinoisState]

Walking back to my seat yesterday after the lid lifter, an Evansville fan congratulated me on my team's (ISU-R) win. Thought it was a bold play from a fan of a one win team. But, hey, whatever makes you feel good.

Sat with some cool people in a shared suite, including a gentlemen from San Antonio, who is on a quest to see every D1 basketball team in person. He will be at 178 after tonight. Told me he's seen 114 FCS football teams, all NFL teams and has seen a baseball game in all but three MLB stadiums. Pretty neat.

Could they have meant the women's team's win over Evansville yesterday?

[E-Villan]

Walking back to my seat yesterday after the lid lifter, an Evansville fan congratulated me on my team's (ISU-R) win. Thought it was a bold play from a fan of a one win team. But, hey, whatever makes you feel good.

Sat with some cool people in a shared suite, including a gentlemen from San Antonio, who is on a quest to see every D1 basketball team in person. He will be at 178 after tonight. Told me he's seen 114 FCS football teams, all NFL teams and has seen a baseball game in all but three MLB stadiums. Pretty neat.

Could they have meant the women's team's win over Evansville yesterday?

That was my first thought. I have a hard time believing any of our fans would talk crap yesterday. If one was, you really should feel sorry for them, and assist them with getting their meds.