Just wondering if any folks here had the opportunity to see Bird play when Indiana State played the Salukis at Carbondale back in the day. How did we defend him, was he a one man team, who was our coach at that time?
I saw him twice I was in my teenage years beat him once lost once in a close game when ISU was ranked number 1 o believe they played man to man with different people trying their hand they were far from a one man team as they had Carl Nicks at the point but Larry just made everyone better it was fun to watch but my memory may be a little fuzzy I believe Lambert coached 1 year and Gottfried the other
I didn't see him in Carbondale, but I saw him play at Loyola. He impressed me with his shooting, but he seemed a little slow. That didn't seem to slow him down in the NBA!
the bobber was there. saw him in carbondale, then again at the valley tourney in terre haute. i don't remember how we guarded him. i just remember brilliant passes to wide open teammates for baskets, and the ability to make plays at the end to beat us. they missed a couple of FT in the final minute in carbondale, and he kept tipping the rebound back out. we are always right there, but couldn't close it. this would have been late 70's, so gottfried was the coach. the tourney game at ISU ended with gale sayers going on the floor and after the refs as they headed to the lockerroom.
I was there, out of school for a few years but living in the area. You felt like part of history. 🏀
I did. Most impressive thing to me was him bouncing a couple of passes off teammates heads when they weren’t paying attention.
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I saw him in Carbondale. It just seemed like he could do whatever he wanted to do. It was obvious he was a great player.
I have the January 19, 1978, SIU vs. ISU program with Al Grant (#10) on the cover. Advertisers include Plaza Records, Beefmasters, Borens IGA, Mel-O-Cream Donuts, Spanish Key Lounge, Golden Bear, Booby's, and WSIU with Bill Criswell. I remember a big crowd at the game, but little else. Dan Kieszkowski probably held to Bird to less than 40 that night.
I was at both 78 & 79 home games. We should have won in 79 when they were #1 and undefeated. Bird rebounded a missed ISU free throw when they were up by 1 with about 10 seconds left or else we would have had a shot to win the game. Great game, great crowd. Howard Cossell spent his radio show talking about the game the next morning. I think Bird went for something like 20 points, 20 rebounds. Not sure how many assists.
The '78 game was my first college basketball game. I was seven. The story behind us going was my father's boss said "You gotta come see this kid - Bird. He's something special."
"The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe." ~Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
I was there for one of the games, probably '79. The Arena was packed and rocking. About all I really remember about the game is that we almost beat them.
in 79 SIU down 1 with 10 seconds left. ISU misses free throw Bird rebounds the ball in midair and fires a pass out near halfcourt to Carl Nicks never landing on the court and time runs out. The whole place was in shock what happened. Great play. The crowd was great. Sold out the only games close to this was the beatdown we put on Michigan and Sly Williams lay in to beat Bradley. I bought 20 tickets and took my Sons 8th grade team to the Bradley game. Those kids and 2 parents who went to u of i will never forget that game.
Feb. 1979, 10,300 fans at the arena. Undefeated and #1 ranked ISU comes to the arena. We had great seats - season tickets. Dawgs had talent except at the coaching position - Joe Gottfried way out of his league, living off somebody else's recruits. Gary Wilson, Milt Huggins, Wayne Abrams.
Great game. We lost 69 - 68. Bird was just a great passer, great shooter, great player, but Nicks, Reed and others were also really good - great team. Nicks played in the NBA for 5 - 6 years.
A reporter for the DE asked Bird to autograph a beer bottle (according to the reporter) but Bird said something like "Hell no, I don't drink that shit!" Must have been Stroh's!
That was a strong conference with Tulsa, West Texas, Bichita, and Creighton.
ISU had 10 - 12K fans at every game. 14K showed up at Mackey to watch the Sycs whip up on Purdue.
I seem to remember the 79 dagger came from Bird in the corner.
I was at that game. I don't remember a whole lot about the game anymore, but I do remember how insane the place was. I've seen some great sell out crowds in the place but that one was off the hook.
My 2nd favorite sellout was probably the 1990 game against Illinois State.
