{"id":745,"date":"2014-12-15T01:19:47","date_gmt":"2014-12-15T07:19:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/?p=745"},"modified":"2014-12-15T12:27:29","modified_gmt":"2014-12-15T18:27:29","slug":"coach-geno-fords-comments-cause-stir-after-bradleys-win-tuesday-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/2014\/12\/15\/coach-geno-fords-comments-cause-stir-after-bradleys-win-tuesday-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Coach Geno Ford’s comments cause stir after Bradley’s win Tuesday night"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Brent Drevalas<\/p>\n

PEORIA, IL – Bradley University defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas by the score of 84-73 Tuesday night in the mens team\u2019s one and only game to be held on campus at Bradley\u2019s Renaissance Coliseum this season.<\/p>\n

Comments after the game by Head Coach Geno Ford may be the lasting impression left from Tuesday night, though, as he expressed his interest in playing in the Renaissance Coliseum full time moving forward.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u2018I thought the atmosphere was huge,\u201d Ford told Aaron Freeman of the Bradley Scout. \u201cTo be honest and some people will be great with this and some people won\u2019t, but we should be playing all of our games in [Renaissance Coliseum].\u201d<\/p>\n

The game was held in front of a crowd of 4,204 people, including 351 students, a season high for the men\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

Ford gave much credit for his team\u2019s tempo and enthusiasm from start to finish Tuesday night to the crowd that cheered them on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is so much louder and the atmosphere at [Renaissance Coliseum] is 100 times better than downtown [at the Civic Center] and that\u2019s just the reality,\u201d Ford also told Freeman. \u201cWe played with more bounce and more pop because there was an atmosphere and the students that came were loud. I thought we played the hardest we\u2019ve played all year and I give the crowd all the credit for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Ford is not far fetched in his beliefs, as it has publicly been known that the contract between the Bradley Braves and the downtown home of the men\u2019s team since 1982 is set to end after this season.<\/p>\n

Bradley University Director of Athletics Michael Cross shed some light on the opportunities that the Renaissance Coliseum offers to the men\u2019s team.<\/p>\n

\u201cControl of our own venue would provide improvements in scheduling, access to games for students, atmosphere, new revenue streams and a modern building that presents Bradley Basketball in a favorable venue,\u201d said Cross.<\/p>\n

Cross noted that improvements to traffic flow around campus would be a requirement if the team were to move back to campus. He also stated that tight parking and possible political resistance could both provide obstacles if the move were to take place.<\/p>\n

As both Ford and Cross stated, not everyone would be delighted with the move.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say. Some people love the idea and some are not convinced of the merits,\u201d Cross said when asked about how the community would respond to the move. \u201cBut we have an obligation to examine every possible angle to make our program the best it can possibly be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another scrutinized aspect is the size of the Renaissance Coliseum in comparison to the Civic Center. The Civic Center can hold over 11,000 fans while the coliseum can currently hold 4,200.<\/p>\n

There is speculation that the coliseum could add upwards of 1,000-plus additional seats, although the exact calculations on this is yet to be revealed.<\/p>\n

The team has also seen its attendance figures drop substantially in the last two seasons. The team averaged 8,447 fans per game in 2011, 7,640 in 2012 and just 6,557 last season.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*Date retrieved from NCAA.org and bradleybraves.com*<\/em><\/p>\n

As for the action on the court Tuesday night, junior Warren Jones stole the show with a career-high 33 point performance. Jones is in his first year with the team after transferring from Southeastern Community College (Iowa).<\/p>\n

With the win the Bradley Braves moved to 3-4 on the young season. The Braves will take the court next Saturday evening as they will pay a visit to Memphis.<\/p>\n

For more information on the Braves, visit http:\/\/www.bradleybraves.com\/SportSelect.dbml?SPID=1498&SPSID=25965<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Podcast with Aaron Freeman of the Bradley Scout:<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Brent Drevalas PEORIA, IL – Bradley University defeated the Central Michigan Chippewas by the score of 84-73 Tuesday night in the mens team\u2019s one and only game to be held on campus at Bradley\u2019s Renaissance Coliseum this season. Comments after the game by Head Coach Geno Ford may be the lasting impression left from Tuesday night, though, as he expressed his interest in playing in the Renaissance Coliseum full time moving forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[176,174,175,64,177,34],"class_list":["post-745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-baseketball","tag-braves","tag-bu","tag-finalproject","tag-renaissance","tag-com425"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745\/revisions\/771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/com.bradley.edu\/newslab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}