Kirk Wessler: A flower in Weed Eater Bowl of college hoops

When David Collins pulled his 7-foot frame off the Bradley bench Wednesday night and ambled onto the Carver Arena basketball court barely seven minutes into the game, suspicions were confirmed.

The College Basketball Invitational is the Weed Eater Bowl of college hoop. And this first-round Bradley-Cincinnati contest - matching teams that had lost 33 of the 63 games they didn't play against each other this season - was the buckets version of the spring football scrimmage.

Neither of those endeavors is likely to tinkle any chimes with the majority of the sporting populace. But seniors were rewarded with one more chance to put on the uniform, and potential future contributors to the cause got a chance to prove themselves.

And those are good things.

A Rivermen hockey-like crowd of 5,114 paid to see this, meaning there were more empty seats than full ones at a Bradley home game for the first time since the dying days of the Stan Albeck Era, when the announced attendance figures were figments of a bean-counter's imagination.

This crowd was different. It was real, and it was into the game, which Bradley won 70-67 to set up a second-rounder here against Ohio University on Monday night.

The two primary objects of the crowd's affection were Bradley players who fit perfectly into the theme for the evening.

One was senior guard Jeremy Crouch, who scored 20 points on a terrific assortment of 3-pointers, twisting drives and free throws awarded for his aggression with the ball. He also had three steals and two assists, and if just one teammate holds onto a pass from him and scores with it Monday, Crouch will join Hersey Hawkins as the only Braves to get 500 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists and 50 steals in one season.

It is pretty clear Crouch doesn't want his career to end; doesn't want to take off his uniform. I wouldn't be surprised to discover he wears his No. 14 to bed at night. The only way it's coming off is to rip it off him -- or beat his team. Either way, you're going to have to fight him.

Somewhere over these past few weeks, Crouch got real tough. He has always been a heck of a shooter, and he had turned into a nice player. But too often he seemed deferential. That's gone now. Repeatedly since mid-February, Crouch has stepped up to take over the offense; he's averaging 21.7 points over the last seven games.

"Playing in front of the fans in this building means a lot," Crouch said after the game. "This has been our home for four years now. We want to take every last chance we can."

Then there was Collins, the first-year Brave who had been the Invisible Man during the Missouri Valley Conference season.

Collins' 12 minutes against Cincy were more than he totaled over the previous 11 games, for seven of which he did not unbutton his warmup jacket. The four shots he took equaled the number he had taken in 2008, and his 6 points surpassed his post-Christmas output.

Collins had been in the game only 74 seconds when he swished a turnaround jumper in the post to help spark a Bradley rally from a 10-2 deficit. Later in the first half, he grabbed one of Bradley's four offensive rebounds for the night, got fouled and converted both free throws. And in the middle of the second half, as the Braves were building a 12-point lead to seize control, Collins sprinted to the post in transition, took a quick entry pass from Daniel Ruffin and popped in a nice hook shot.

"The opportunity presented itself," he said. "It's been tough sitting, but I just want to contribute and help this team win."

BU coach Jim Les talked about the difficulty Collins and some of the other first-year players had adjusting to the intensity of Division I ball. It's not just about the games, Les emphasized. It's about being intense every day, in practice, in watching game film, in focus on preparation.

"The way to get back on the floor (in games) is practice," Les said, noting an improvement in Collins' work habits. "You've got to reward him for that."

So on the eve of spring, Collins re-stamped himself as a player who could help the Braves next season. For that matter, he can help them in whatever games that remain this season. If nothing else, this CBI can be a nice proving ground.

"At the end of the day," Cincy coach Mick Cronin said, speaking of the first-year tournament, "some people want to turn down bids. But if you're a competitor and people call and say, 'You wanna go play?' and your players want to play, you go play."

Kirk Wessler can be reached at (309) 686-3216 or <span class="ed10">kwessler@pjstar.com</span>