Coach’s Radio Show Monday 7 pm

[BIG BILL FAN]

26 minutes ago, Box and Won said:

That arena is such a hunk of garbage.  It has no A/C.  I sweated my balz off at my sister's graduation there.  I should've dropped a deuce on the men's room floor on my way out.

surprised that there is no ac. Good news it's coming in 2019 as part of their renovations.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/arena-upgrade-things-learned-from-athletic-director-neil-sullivan/Bprc1WIsptQ0j7Kx6pWIjM/

[johnbj14]

So the place that the NCAA taps for the First Four every year doesn't have a modern standard like A/C? That is wild. 

[almaman]

2 hours ago, slu72 said:

Effing SVU's turning up the heat. Sounds like something Belichek would do.

Check air pressure in the balls over there?

[White Pelican]

42 minutes ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

surprised that there is no ac. Good news it's coming in 2019 as part of their renovations.

https://www.daytondailynews.com/sports/arena-upgrade-things-learned-from-athletic-director-neil-sullivan/Bprc1WIsptQ0j7Kx6pWIjM/

Looking forward to the Board's critique of the new ductwork.

[HoosierPal]

Really neat interview this morning with Anthony Bonner on the Press Box. He loved playing at Kiel with its atmosphere. He said he would choose it over Chaifetz. 

Said it was ridiculous that SLU didn’t admit Craig Upchurch. He would have been the missing piece for the Bills to make the NCAA. 

AB says Jordan is the best of all time, not Kobe nor LeBron. He guarded Jordan and says he would have been put on LeBron if they played at the same time. AB played @ 240 lbs. could have played at 250 but he said you had to be quicker in the 1990’s then now. 

Frank asked if Larry Bird ever trash talked to him. AB said no “He let the ball going through the net do the talking.”

Talked about playing with the Knicks. Lot of respect for Pat Riley. Played with Oakley, Mason and Ewing. Wow. Tough team. They would practice 1 to 1.5 hours on game day, lift weights before and after games and ride the stationary if they didn’t get in enough minutes. 

Talked about playing in Italy where the players were behind protective glass and there were armed guards in the aisles. People in the stands all smoked and there would be smoke hanging over the court. 

When the Press Box posts the link it is well worth a listen. 

[CBFan]

7 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Really neat interview this morning with Anthony Bonner on the Press Box. He loved playing at Kiel with its atmosphere. He said he would choose it over Chaifetz. 

Said it was ridiculous that SLU didn’t admit Craig Upchurch. He would have been the missing piece for the Bills to make the NCAA. 

AB says Jordan is the best of all time, not Kobe nor LeBron. He guarded Jordan and says he would have been put on LeBron if they played at the same time. AB played @ 240 lbs. could have played at 250 but he said you had to be quicker in the 1990’s then now. 

Frank asked if Larry Bird ever trash talked to him. AB said no “He let the ball going through the net do the talking.”

Talked about playing with the Knicks. Lot of respect for Pat Riley. Played with Oakley, Mason and Ewing. Wow. Tough team. They would practice 1 to 1.5 hours on game day, lift weights before and after games and ride the stationary if they didn’t get in enough minutes. 

Talked about playing in Italy where the players were behind protective glass and there were armed guards in the aisles. People in the stands all smoked and there would be smoke hanging over the court. 

When the Press Box posts the link it is well worth a listen. 

Another nice summary thank you.

I remember going to Kiel to watch games when Bonner played and remember watching Hersey Hawkins when he played with Bradley coming to the Kiel and play against Bonners team.

I watched Bonner play for the Knicks as often as I could a lot less TV coverage back then.  When he got an offensive rebound get the ball to Ewing.  Whenever Bonner got a pass get the ball to Ewing.

When I watch French he reminds me so much of Bonner and I think he will be as good.

[DeSmetBilliken]

2 hours ago, Box and Won said:

That arena is such a hunk of garbage.  It has no A/C.  I sweated my balz off at my sister's graduation there.  I should've dropped a deuce on the men's room floor on my way out.

I think you could see that place as you described, or as a charming old barn kind of arena. The thing that really threw me was finding out that that once the game started, they turned the lights off in the upper levels of the arena like it was a theater. Some may like that, but I thought it was weird.

[Box and Won]

5 minutes ago, DeSmetBilliken said:

I think you could see that place as you described, or as a charming old barn kind of arena. The thing that really threw me was finding out that that once the game started, they turned the lights off in the upper levels of the arena like it was a theater. Some may like that, but I thought it was weird.

That dump opened in the late 60s - way too late to have any kind of historic charm.

[Pistol]

It should be pretty nice after the renovations are complete.

[Bills71]

On 2/20/2018 at 12:04 AM, Quality Is Job 1 said:

It's been you.  I'm relieved to see that it has been unintentional.

Again sorry, anyway to make them more visible, I'm using W10, chrome. thanks

[HoosierPal]

38 minutes ago, CBFan said:

Another nice summary thank you.

I remember going to Kiel to watch games when Bonner played and remember watching Hersey Hawkins when he played with Bradley coming to the Kiel and play against Bonners team.

I watched Bonner play for the Knicks as often as I could a lot less TV coverage back then.  When he got an offensive rebound get the ball to Ewing.  Whenever Bonner got a pass get the ball to Ewing.

When I watch French he reminds me so much of Bonner and I think he will be as good.

That was one tough Knicks team.  I think Charles Smith was on there also.  Drive to the hoop at your own risk.

French / Bonner is the obvious Billiken comparison.  French needs to (and will) develop a 10 to 12 foot jumper which will open things up for him.  To be compared with Bonner is an honor.  45 points, 20 rebounds against Loyola will never be matched by a Billiken.

[RUBillsFan]

55 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Really neat interview this morning with Anthony Bonner on the Press Box. He loved playing at Kiel with its atmosphere. He said he would choose it over Chaifetz. 

Important to note (for people my age or younger) that Bonner is talking about the old Kiel Auditorium and not Kiel/Saavis/Scottrade Center.  I sort of did a double take reading this before I remembered that Bonner's days w SLU were before Kiel-vis-trade was even open.  I wish I was a little bit older to have seen or more likely remember having seen some games at Kiel Auditorium.  My earliest memories are of games at the Arena, so the old barn will always have a special place in my heart.

[willie]

23 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

That was one tough Knicks team.  I think Charles Smith was on there also.  Drive to the hoop at your own risk.

French / Bonner is the obvious Billiken comparison.  French needs to (and will) develop a 10 to 12 foot jumper which will open things up for him.  To be compared with Bonner is an honor.  45 points, 20 rebounds against Loyola will never be matched by a Billiken.

A friend and I were comparing French/Bonner as freshmen just yesterday. Our conclusion was that as freshman French might be  better. Bonner was pretty raw coming out of high school. Now I agree is hard to imagine French developing that 10 to 12 foot jump shot but you never know. Bonner had the best career in my long tenure so here's hoping French keeps pace.

[bauman]

5 minutes ago, willie said:

A friend and I were comparing French/Bonner as freshmen just yesterday. Our conclusion was that as freshman French might be  better. Bonner was pretty raw coming out of high school. Now I agree is hard to imagine French developing that 10 to 12 foot jump shot but you never know. Bonner had the best career in my long tenure so here's hoping French keeps pace.

You are right about AB when he came out of Vashon.  My memory is that he had just two scholarship offers, SLU and SIU (before the "C" was needed).  I remember Grawer and Bonner in the Bauman Gym on West Pine, just the two of them, working on improving AB's skills.  If French improves 1/2 as much during his career as AB did,  he will be quite a player.  The one aspect of French"s game right now that  exceeds AB as a Freshman is HF's ability to block shots.  The other similarity is that both are soft-spoken, outstanding individuals in spite of their imposing size.

[BIG BILL FAN]

38 minutes ago, RUBillsFan said:

Important to note (for people my age or younger) that Bonner is talking about the old Kiel Auditorium and not Kiel/Saavis/Scottrade Center.  I sort of did a double take reading this before I remembered that Bonner's days w SLU were before Kiel-vis-trade was even open.  I wish I was a little bit older to have seen or more likely remember having seen some games at Kiel Auditorium.  My earliest memories are of games at the Arena, so the old barn will always have a special place in my heart.

Found this photo from a 2011 post.

 

 

[HoosierPal]

2 hours ago, HoosierPal said:

Really neat interview this morning with Anthony Bonner on the Press Box. He loved playing at Kiel with its atmosphere. He said he would choose it over Chaifetz. 

Said it was ridiculous that SLU didn’t admit Craig Upchurch. He would have been the missing piece for the Bills to make the NCAA. 

AB says Jordan is the best of all time, not Kobe nor LeBron. He guarded Jordan and says he would have been put on LeBron if they played at the same time. AB played @ 240 lbs. could have played at 250 but he said you had to be quicker in the 1990’s then now. 

Frank asked if Larry Bird ever trash talked to him. AB said no “He let the ball going through the net do the talking.”

Talked about playing with the Knicks. Lot of respect for Pat Riley. Played with Oakley, Mason and Ewing. Wow. Tough team. They would practice 1 to 1.5 hours on game day, lift weights before and after games and ride the stationary if they didn’t get in enough minutes. 

Talked about playing in Italy where the players were behind protective glass and there were armed guards in the aisles. People in the stands all smoked and there would be smoke hanging over the court. 

When the Press Box posts the link it is well worth a listen. 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thepressbox/2018/02/27/segment-5--anthony-bonner-22718

They put the link up sooner than I thought they would.  Worth a listen.

[almaman]

thnx for posting link great listen.

[White Pelican]

1 hour ago, RUBillsFan said:

Important to note (for people my age or younger) that Bonner is talking about the old Kiel Auditorium and not Kiel/Saavis/Scottrade Center.  I sort of did a double take reading this before I remembered that Bonner's days w SLU were before Kiel-vis-trade was even open.  I wish I was a little bit older to have seen or more likely remember having seen some games at Kiel Auditorium.  My earliest memories are of games at the Arena, so the old barn will always have a special place in my heart.

Lots of fond memories of the Old Kiel. Not enough wins but a lot of great (local) players to watch.

Favorite games were the NIT games in Bonner's final two seasons. I think we had 2 home games both years and won them all sending the team to New York. Sold out arena, noisy crowds, kids with the cut-out basketballs on their heads. I remember the switch-back ramps to the upper bowl were jammed coming down after the wins with people whooping and dancing all the way to the street. I remember thinking this must be what a winning program feels like. In some ways we're still trying to get there.

[HoosierPal]

36 minutes ago, almaman said:

thnx for posting link great listen.

Mr. Bonner is quit articulate.  I liked his comments on how Grawer threw balls at him and put tape on the floor to increase his stride length.

[CBFan]

2 hours ago, BIG BILL FAN said:

Found this photo from a 2011 post.

 

 

Thank you for the link brings back a lot of memories.

First basketball game there was with a ticket holder that had floor seats with a team of Jim Roder, Ted Mimlitz, PeWe Leonard, Rheddit Hudson they played Loyola who had a big man Andre Moore.

I also went to games at the West Pine Gym back in those days.

[Box and Won]

36 minutes ago, HoosierPal said:

Mr. Bonner is quit articulate.

[Schasz]

I remember in my days working at A-B when Anthony's Dad would deliver something at the Brewery. We had a couple lengthy Billiken Hoops conversations. He was a very nice man.

[Taj79]

Old Kiel was great.  I had season tickets in the corner right off the floor before I moved away.  Players I saw there included Hersey Hawkins, Larry Bird, Andre Miller, Carl Golsten, Danny Acres, Mark Acres, Tyrone Hill, Danny Ferry, Bobby Miller, Lew McKinney, Byron Larkin, Alfrederick Hughes, and a whole bunch of others.  That place would have been a veritable snake pit when we drew crowds.  Hated the climb up those ramps ....game floor was like two or three stories above the street.

[thetorch]

Old Kiel had a different charm.  I never sat upstairs, which was usually empty but our mezzanine seat were packed, you were just really far away from the court and under the balcony.  I don't remember what section we had, behind the visitors bench row m seat 21,22.  I was lucky enough to have a relative who was a staff gopher for Grawer and he would let me and his grandson be the ball boys several times a year.  

[Taj79]

Old Kiel has a charm quickly disappearing in today's day and age.  It was probably up there with the Palestra, Rose Hill, Cameron Indoor, Hinkle, and the old Boston Garden in terms of old facilities not really able to provide the creature comforts today's "fans" demand.  No sky boxes.  No gourmet food stands,  No courtside seats.  No chair food service.  No plush recliners.   No "fan experience" because that gimmick wasn't invented back then.  Heck, on some nights, one concession stand was open per side.  The Palestra is all bleacher seats.  Rose Hill goes seven rows up on the high side.   Cameron is a myth more than anything else.  Hinkle is nostalgia.  And the old Garden is now the new Garden.  Same goes for some other places I've seen go away ..... Connie Mack Stadium, Comiskey Park, Ebbetts Field, KC Municipal, Forbes Field, and Memorial Stadium.  Some needed to go away .. Busch Stadium, Veteran's Stadium, Riverfront, all th emulti-purpose fields, the Spectrum, the Astrodome, the kingdom.  But for those places, the game was the "fan experience."  Not Eutaw Street.  Not Bull's Bar-Be-Que.