At first glance, it looked like some students were having a water fight in front of the Hartmann Center Monday morning as numerous water balloons were hurled through the air. Looking closer, however, I saw a large map of the state of Illinois splattered with mud.

Students encouraged others from the Bradley family to take part in the festivities to help “clean up Illinois.”

A senior, Sarah Shadnia, encouraged passersby to “Come on guys! Throw a water balloon at Illinois.”

“You know you want to,” added Justin Green, a junior.

The creative demonstration took part prior to the start of the sixth meeting of the Illinois Reform Commission meeting, which was held in the Hartmann Center. Those in attendance included Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias.

I heard Green also say “Illinois politics has shifted from the integrity of President Lincoln to being the subject of Saturday night skits week after week due to our corrupt officials.”

I’m so proud to see our students take an active role in helping clean up our state.

Ahhhh! Spring is in the air. In just a few weeks, the beautiful trees leading up to the Founder’s Circle will be budding and the flowers at my feet will begin to bloom. In between rain showers, students have been tossing Frisbees on the quad!

Also in between the showers, our baseball and softball teams have been playing the first conference games of their seasons. Sports enthusiasts say we usher in spring with the start of baseball and softball seasons.

President Joanne Glasser helped get the softball team psyched by joining them in a huddle and throwing out the first pitch at a recent game. She also showed her support for our baseball team last night by throwing the first pitch at the game.

I wish the teams the best of luck this season and hope you will all join them for their games.

Junior guard Chris Roberts gave us all a lesson last night about the importance of never giving up.

About 5,000 Bradley fans were amazed as we watched Chris, standing in the right wing parallel to the free throw line, catch an inbound ball from senior forward Theron Wilson, take aim at the basket 70 feet away—and MAKE it with less than a second on the clock!

The Oakland Grizzlies proved to be tough contenders against Bradley in the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Tournament. With 18 seconds left, sophomore guard Sam Maniscalco tied the game. Then, with just 0.9 seconds left, Oakland scored and it looked like the game was over. Chris had other ideas, though, and all those times in practice he had played around with long distance shots paid off as he stunned the jubilant crowd with a once-in-a-lifetime feat.

Fans were high-fiving friends and strangers alike as the team, fans, and cheerleaders rushed onto the court in jubilation.

Coach Jim Les told the Journal Star that “people don’t realize how hard of a shot that is: next to near impossible.” The moment became even more special when I learned that this happened the night before Chris’ 21st birthday.

This brings memories of other great last-minute shots in Bradley basketball. Hersey Hawkins is a legend here, but those two back-to-back games in 1986, when he pulled us through in the last second, are especially memorable. The first game was at Drake. With one second left, Jim Les threw the ball the length of the court to Hersey, who made a turn-around jump, twisting in mid-air, to bring the score to 69-67. Two nights later, we were down by two points against Dayton and had just a second left. Again, Jim threw the ball to Hersey, who made a 20-foot jump shot to send the game into overtime. We won 79-77.

We all still talk about Deon Jackson’s incredible 25-foot, turnaround fling to defeat Southwest Missouri State at the MVC Tournament in St. Louis in 1996. Then there’s Will Franklin’s 23-foot shot from the left wing in the last second of the MVC Tournament’s quarterfinal game versus Northern Iowa two years ago. Chris’ spectacular shot is another of those stellar moments we will always remember.

The shot was captured on video by the in-house monitors, and by the time SportsCenter aired on ESPN last night, it had been picked at the #4 play of the day. This morning, the footage was in the national spotlight again, as it was shown on the Today show. Chris was also interviewed by ESPN today.

It’s not the NCAA, not the NIT, but still the Bradley Men’s Basketball team is participating in post-season action. Last night at Carver Arena, a small but enthusiastic crowd came out to watch the Braves beat the Austin-Peay Governors in the inaugural Collegeinsider.com Tournament.

Since this is Spring Break here on campus, most students weren’t able to attend. As you can see, however, the ones who did were excited to be there. The Basketball Band and cheerleaders helped keep the crowd on their feet.

I am thrilled that we will be playing another home game on Monday, this time against the Oakland Grizzlies. So students, make plans now to come out and cheer on our team!

The Student Center was the place to be during the afternoons of Tuesday and Wednesday. I saw many students looking so nice in their fine suits and dresses. I heard that a total of 354 students attended Tuesday’s Education Recruitment Fair and Wednesday’s Social Service and Government Career Fair.

The great news is that even though our economy is facing some tough times right now, I heard both of these job fairs had more employers registered this year than last year. Smith Career Center Executive Director Jane Linnenburger said, “In this time of economic decline and job market decline, this is very encouraging.” The Education Recruitment Fair welcomed four more employers than last year with 43 attending, while 68 employers (15 more than last year) participated in the Social Service and Government Career Fair.

I wish those who attended the best of luck in all of their future endeavors.