Bradley takes down Illinois State in Redbird Arena!

Redbird Arena - 2-16-2019 Bradley at Illinois State

The Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball outcomes have been absolutely unpredictable this season.  A few games back, Illinois State defeated Loyola to take the lead in the conference.  Last night they lost to a struggling Bradley team.  Actually, Bradley has been staging a bit of a comeback the last few seasons, albeit a slow one.  But, nothing seems to happen overnight with maybe the exception of the Loyola Rambler cinderella team last season...Devine Intervention?

The game has always been a rivalry, but in recent years it's been beat up.  This game, 9000 people filed in to the 'nest' to watch the game.  Some accounts say the contingent of Braves fans that travelled 40 miles from Peoria were more energized.  Maybe so, so much red in Redbird that I couldn't tell the fans apart by just looking up.  Still, the rivalry wasn't like it was in its heydays a dozen plus years ago when the thunderous crowds could have been heard halfway to Peoria... the years my ears would ring for days and I'd swear I'd wear hearing protection the next year.

Enough of my ramblings...  The Valley is truly up for grabs this season.  Arch Madness is going to have to sort it all out.  Here's to hoping the 'Birds are healthy and bring their best game.

a fairly small Photo Gallery!  Hope you enjoy looking!

Valpo Crusaders trample IState Redbirds in MVC Men's basketball game

Well, starting off with the positive is the Star Spangled Banner was adequately performed last night at the start of the game.  It wasn't or even attempted to be overdone!  Not a first, but pleasantly refreshing.

From there, depending on the team you follow or the perspective you have - the rest of the night was either really good, or not so good.  Valpo walked on to something like a 14 - 0 run to start the game.  The Redbirds finally got it going in the 4th quarter and cut a 23 point deficit to 7 but it wasn't enough to change the momentum.  The Crusaders picked back up and sharpened their swords to take the score to a 16 point lead as the buzzer ended the bloodshed

Not a huge gallery this game, but some pretty cool under the bucket shots are here.

Birds make comeback run, but fall short against Racers

A fairly uneventful first half led to a 2nd half full of excitement as the Racers of Murray State visited Redbird Arena to play basketball against the Illinois State Redbirds.  Refs whistles came alive in the 2nd have creating some tension and escalating the level of play.  The Racers at one point mounted a double digit lead of 13.  The lead only changed one time, with the Redbirds giving it up to the Racers.  Late in the game, the Redbirds had trimmed the lead to one possession, but a couple of miscues evaporated the chance of taking the lead back to win the game.  Final score on the board was 78-72.

Litwiler puts on 3 point show during Quincy Hawks loss to Illinois State Redbirds

If you skipped last nights game at Redbird Arena, you missed a good game to watch some of the players that don't dust the floor very often.  Among those was Luke Litwiler, a walk on from Olympia High School who hit 3 points from beyond the arch and narrowly missed a 4th bringing the crowd to their feet!

Titans top Scots at Shirk

At the final buzzer, the Illinois Wesleyan Titans 94 and the Alma Scots 75. On the path to get there, Brady Rose scores 35 while connecting on 6 three pointers. Brady had the company of Zach Knobloch who broke the schools 3 point record with 10 three point shots upsetting the standing record by Bryce Dolan who had 8. Knobloch was playing his 2nd game as a Titan after transferring as a sophomore from Wisconsin Whitewater. Jalen Beasley grabbed a career best 12 rebounds. The Titans move to 2-0 on the season. The Scots fall to 0-2.

Torrey Ward & Aaron Leetch

It's been a very long and sad day for most everyone in Central Illinois today.  Waking up to the news that a small plane crashed a couple miles short of the airport in the dense fog and the suspense till the names of the 7 people killed in the crash was enough to wear one down very early.  Then hearing the names about lunch time, just seemed to take all the wind from the sail.  The dreary day just became gloom.

I sit back of the baseline for most every Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball game.  I have been for 15 years.  Knowing that most don't really like a camera in their face, I normally just do my job while keeping my distance.  People see me, I see them, we probably even recognize each other away from the arena.  It was no different with Torrey and Aaron.  I don't remember even getting the chance to say hello to Torrey.  I probably did to Aaron as he would have moved around the arena more.  I don't really recall.

With Torrey, one always knew when he was near the court.  He dressed impeccably, and usually had at least one player with him.  The respect for him just transcended the commotion.  Today, I saw a couple images of him where he was actually leaning into the court shouting something.  I didn't see that a lot.  He appeared to always be calm, cool and gentlemanly.  I'll miss seeing him on the court.

Aaron, worked behind the scenes.  Much of what you see around ISU Athletics is due in part to his greatness at his job.  He energized the community and the businesses and got everyone behind the 'Birds.  I'll recognize more of those efforts now that he is gone, wondering always which may not have happened had he not been on the job.



Torrey Ward photos - Images by Alan Look
 - Chimper