Overview
10,200 seats filled in the Redbird Arena with screaming fans some with their faces painted with Red paint, if you look in the student section you would see college students filled with joy and excitement ready for the team to get underway with the game. In the place the Illinois State University Men's Basketball which is the "Redbird Arena". Students who enjoy men's basketball and sit in the student section often paint their faces red and wear red t-shirts and become part of THE "Red Alert," the official student spirit group of Illinois State athletics. Screaming and chanting when good plays happen you may even hear roars of loud booing and shouting at referees for a bad call. The fast pace action is amazing and if you are a fan of college basketball this is an amazing arena you would love to be inside.
Reggie Redbird
The mascot that Illinois State University fans love and adore would be the one and only Reggie Redbird, which is a student in a wonderful costume of a walking red bird. The mascot was named Reggie due to a contest that was held by the Junior Redbird Club members in 1980. Rick Percy, a general manager of Clemens and Associates Insurance was the man who made the red bird costume possible because he donated it to the school and he was a loyal and longtime member of The Redbird Club. Reggie Redbird can be seen during the year at all Illinois State Athletics events, and is also active on the Illinois State campus, during special University and ISU Athletics events and throughout the Bloomington-Normal, Ill., community.
History
NCAA Tournament Results
The Illinois State Redbirds have worked extremely hard in all of their seasons of play but have only made it to 6 Tournaments. While making it to 6 tournaments they have a combined record of 3-6. Year ............. Round ............. Opponent ............. Final Score 1983 ............. 1st Round ............. Ohio ............. L 51-49 1984 ............. 1st Round ............. Alabama .......W 49-48 1984 ............. 2nd Round ............ DePaul ........... L 75-61 1985 ............. 1st Round ............. So. California ......... W 58-55 1985 ............. 2nd Round ............. Oklahoma ............. L 75-69 1990 ............. 1st Round ............. Michigan ............. L 76-70 1997 ............. 1st Round ............. Iowa State ............. L 69-57
Missouri Valley Conference
Website to The Missouri Valley Conference http://www.mvc-sports.com/home/default/ The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is a college athletic conference whose members are located in the Midwestern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I. Founded in 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MVIAA), the MVC is the nations second oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference. However, some consider the MVC to have been formed from a split of the MVIAA in 1928. Most of the larger MVIAA schools formed a conference that retained the MVIAA name and would ultimately become the Big Eight Conference. The smaller schools, plus Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University, which ultimately rejoined the Big Eight in 1957), formed the MVC. During the Big Eight's existence, both conferences claimed 1907 as their founding date, as well as the same history through 1927. It has never been definitively established which conference is the original and which is the spin-off. via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Valley_Conference
Conference Facilities
2010-2011 Season
Roster
Coaches
Tim Jankovich - Head Coach Anthony Beane - Assistant Coach Rob Judson - Assistant Coach Paris Parham - Assistant Coach Kerry Darting - Director of Basketball Operations Brendan Reilly - Administrative Assistant
Season Games Played & Team Stats
Awards
Illinois State had the pleasure of having two excellent players this year both on and off the court. Blake Mishler and Alex Rubin which were both seniors and were both named to the 2011 Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete team after the season. The votes are received by the league's sports information directors. Mishler earned second-team honors, while Rubin gained honorable mention as well.
Mishler, was born and raised in Metamora, Illinois. Blake carried a 3.89 grade-point average while working hard toward a double major in history and political science. He is a five-time member of the AFNI Athletics Honor Roll and also a five-time member of the Dean's List. Mishler played in all 31 games for the Redbirds with six starting assignments and averaged 4.4 points and 2.4 rebounds per game.
Blake Mishler ranked among the best 15 offensive rebounders in the Missouri Valley Conference, even though he only averaged 13.1 minutes per game. Mishler also collected six double-digit scoring efforts this season, including a career-best 18 points in the season-opener against Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Illinois.
Alex Rubin was a finance major with a 3.51 GPA, comes from Plymouth, Minnesota. He was seven-time member of the AFNI Athletics Honor Roll and a member of the Dean's List five times. Rubin played every game this season with 19 starts, while averaging 3.5 points per game. He ranked fourth on the team in minutes played (691) and was third in assists (42), while topping the squad in steals with 25 (Wikipedia) .
Players That Made It Professional
Baboucarr Bojang ..................................... Denmark Jarrod Coleman ..................................... CBA Doug Collins ..................................... 1st round, Philadelphia ( NBA ) Hank Cornley ..................................... 4th round, New Jersey Nets ( NBA ) Ron DaVries ..................................... 4th round, Los Angeles Lakers ( NBA ) Shedrick Ford ..................................... Australia Joe Galvin ..................................... 5th round, Indiana Pacers ( NBA ) Rob Gibbons ..................................... Italy Rickie Johnson ..................................... 6th round, Cleveland Cavaliers ( NBA ) Ron Jones ..................................... 3rd round, Cleveland Cavaliers ( NBA ) Steve Hansell ..................................... Italy Robert Hawkins ..................................... 3rd round, Golden State Warriors Randy Henry ..................................... 8th round, Detroit Pistons Rico Hill ..................................... Finland Rickey Jackson ..................................... CBA Rick Lamb ..................................... 5th round, Phoenix Suns Markku Larkio ..................................... Finland Billy Lewis ..................................... 4th round, Seattle Supersonics Cyrus Mann ..................................... 4th round,Boston Celtics Derrick Mayes ..................................... 6th round, Milwaukee Bucks Jerry McGreal ..................................... 4th round, Indiana Pacers Dan Muller ..................................... Argentina L. D. Murdock ..................................... Israel Blaine Royer ..................................... supplemental, San Diego Clippers Derrick Sanders ..................................... CBA Lou Stefanovic ..................................... 5th round, Seattle Supersonics Mike VandeGarde ..................................... Finland LeRoy Watkins ..................................... The Netherlands Rick Whitlow ..................................... 5th round, Houston Rockets Jeff Wilkins ..................................... 2nd round, San Antonio Spurs Del Yarbrough ..................................... 9th round, Milwaukee Bucks
Doug Collins
Paul Douglas "Doug" Collins was born on July 28, 1951 in Christopher, Illinois. Once of age to attend high school he attended Benton High School in Benton, Illinois, where he had an outstanding basketball career after which he decided to attended college and play basketball at Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, in 1969. In a 1973 a mock draft, Doug was chosen by the New York Nets, but at that time that was an ABA team which made less money than the NBA and had less recognition. He never played a single game in that league, instead he wanted to go play in the National Basketball Association also known as the NBA which was receiving the most attention. Once he decided to play in the NBA he was the number one pick throughout the whole draft where he was picked up by the Philadelphia 76ers. During his rookie year which was the 1973-1974 season he averaged 8 points per game while only playing 25 games. His got better over the next few seasons, averaging 18 points and dishing out 2.6 assists and almost grabbing four rebounds per game in 81 games played in the season of 1974–75. During the 1975-76 season he scored 20.8 points per game and grabbed the same amount of rebounds as he did in the pervious season which was four rebounds per game. Collins made four All-Star teams in the late 1970s. He kept tallying an average of about 19 points and four rebounds per game for the next three seasons, as the 76ers reached the NBA Finals during 1976–77 season. Although the team featured Julius Erving, among others, the Sixers could not overcome Bill Walton and the Portland Trail Blazers in those finals, losing four games to two. During the 1978–79 season, Collins suffered a serious injury, which limited him to only 47 games that year, and eventually forced him into retirement as a basketball player. His last season was 1980–81, in which he would only play 12 games before announcing his retirement. Collins scored a total of 7,427 points in 415 NBA games, for an average of 17.9 points per game, while grabbing 1,339 rebounds for 3.2 per game, and passing for 1,368 assists, averaging 3.3 assists a game. As the three point shots were new to basketball when Collins retired, he only took one of those during his NBA career, missing it. Illinois State University had so much respect and love for Doug that they even named the arena after which any player would love and take that as a great honor.
Fans
When you step into the Redbird Arena on a day that the Illinois State Men's Basketball team are taking the court you will see a diverse group of fans filling the stadium coming together for ONE thing and that's to see the Redbirds WIN!!! You will see everything from Reggie The Redbird playing around and having a good time with little kids Then you will see the adrenaline pumped college students with their bodies covered in body paint and homemade signs cheering "Lets Go Redbirds, Lets Go"
Fan Comments
When given the chance to speak to people that have attended a men's basketball game at Redbird Arena here is what people had to say... "My first time ever coming to the Redbird Arena was when they were playing UNLV & the stadium was filled with excitement & I'm not even a basketball fan I can't wait to attend another game". - Sheila Wade - age 42 "This is my first year attending Illinois State University and no matter what I have going on in the week if there's a game going on everyone knows that I will be there without a doubt with my face painted". Zach King - age 19 "I love coming here because I get to see my best friend Reggie and sometimes before the games he lets us run on the court with him". Ariana Ware - age 7
What ALL REDBIRD fans want?
No matter where they come from all Illinois State University Men's Basketball fans want is for the Redbirds to win and play their hardest so they can do this.... CELEBRATE GO REDBIRDS
Ticket Sales
Student Ticket Information
Student-priced tickets are only available to full-time Illinois State students with a valid ISU Student ID. RED ALERT PASS For only $50 Red Alert Pass holders receive an official Red Alert T-shirt and first priority for available student tickets and/or admission to regular season home athletic events. Students must pick up a hard ticket for ALL home men's basketball games. Advance notice will be given for all hard ticket pickup dates. **Please note: A Red Alert Pass does not guarantee admission or a ticket.** SINGLE-GAME TICKETS Student-priced single-tickets are only available to full time Illinois State students with a valid ISU Student ID. All student single game prices are $5 per game. Save money per game by purchasing a Red Alert Pass.