Who am I?
All great things start with an idea.
Matt Styka
Writer / Designer / Thinker
In the Beginning ...
No, I'm not going back as far as you might think. For me, the beginning of this particular journey starts in the late fall of 2005 in Peoria, Ill. While I knew about Bradley's basketball tradition, I grew up in the Chicago area and spent most of my childhood going to DePaul Blue Demon basketball games. We sat in the corner (Sec. 109) and I can remember countless games. College basketball has been in my blood since I was really small.
It was November 22, 2002 and I had these beautifully printed tickets for the student section to commemorate 100 years of Bradley basketball. Pepperdine was coming to town and I had always thought they had a cool logo.
While I don't have that original ticket, I do have one from two games later:
You see that price? $20 for the whole season! What a deal, especially for a kid starting out in college who loves basketball. I remember there was a Peoria Charter Bus sitting out front of the student center ready to take students to the games. It would run multiple times because student turnout was so good.
Walking into Carver Arena was incredible. Sure, I had been to the Rosemont Horizon/Allstate Arena plenty, which is bigger than Carver. But the combination of the band, big student section and overall huge crowd had me hooked. How big was the crowd? 9.713 fans attended for the opener of the season. There was an energy that was difficult to describe now that you had to be there in that era.
While I probably would have loved Bradley basketball just from that point, it didn't hurt that game was incredible. It went to overtime and Bradley blitzed the Waves 18-4, to win 95-81. The much maligned Danny Granger had 29 points and 20 rebounds in the game.
In a Blink, 20+ Years Pass
Bradley, and more specifically, Bradley basketball, has been intertwined to my life ever since. I wrote for the student newspaper, including covering the team during the Sweet 16 run of 2006. I started a blog after I graduated and covered three seasons and published more than 80 articles. I've attended games in Peoria, Chicago, Milwaukee, Nashville, St. Louis and many other places.
I've restarted my writing about Bradley and the Missouri Valley Conference because it's one passion that never left me, even after having different jobs and countless other life events. My hope is that if you read my writing, you see my passion for Bradley and the conference and can get another unique perspective from someone who gets what Bradley and the Valley are all about in each story.