Stephen Dean Bardo (born April 5, 1968) is an American retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who played 3 seasons in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He is currently a college basketball analyst.

Basketball career

During his standout career at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, 6'5" Bardo scored 909 points and compiled 495 assists. He was part of the Flyin' Illini team that qualified for the 1989

NCAA men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

Final Four. That

Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

team gained the moniker "''Flyin' Illini''" by

Dick Vitale Richard John Vitale (; born June 9, 1939), also known as "Dickie V", is an American basketball sportscaster. A former head coach in the college and professional ranks, he is well known for his 41-year tenure as a college basketball broadcaster fo ...

while broadcasting a game during the 1988–89 season. Bardo was named

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

defensive player of the year in 1989. Along with Bardo, the other starting members of that team included Nick Anderson,

Kendall Gill Kendall Cedric Gill (born May 25, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who now works as a television basketball analyst. Early life Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. ...

Lowell Hamilton Lowell Hamilton (born May 3, 1966) is an American former basketball player. High school Hamilton was a dominant high school basketball player at Chicago's Providence St. Mel, where he led the Knights to four consecutive IHSA boys' sectional ch ...

Kenny Battle Kenneth R. Battle (born October 10, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. High school career In 1984, Battle led Aurora West High School to third place in the Illinois High School Association Class AA state basketball tourn ...

, and key reserve

Marcus Liberty Marcus Liberty (born October 27, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player. He played four seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Liberty played college basketball for the University of Illinois. High school After ...

. Bardo was selected in the 1990 NBA Draft by the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

, but never played for the team, playing one game (one minute) with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference Southwest Division ( ...

during the 1991–92 NBA season. He also appeared for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference (NBA), Western Conferenc ...

and

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at Li ...

, amassing 32 more

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

games, and leaving the

with per-game averages of 2 points, 2

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and one assist. Bardo also played in France, Italy, Japan, Spain, Venezuela overseas as well as the CBA (Quad City, Wichita Falls, Chicago). He enjoyed a 10-year professional playing career.

College stats

Post-retirement

Since retiring in 2000, Bardo has worked in broadcasting. He has served as a color analyst for the Illini Sports Network, a sports reporter for

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...

in Chicago, an analyst and reporter for

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W 5 ...

, and a color analyst for college basketball on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Keynote Speaker: Stephen Bardo
/ref> and

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs, ...

. He has also participated on ''

ESPN First Take ''First Take'' is an American sports talk television show on ESPN. Episodes air daily Monday through Friday, with the live episode airing from 10am ET until noon, with reruns from noon to 2pm ET on ESPN2 and from 2 to 4pm ET on ESPNews. The sho ...

''. Additionally, he works as a motivational speaker,Great Black Speakers profile
and authored the book ''How To Make The League Without Picking Up The Rock''. In 2021, Bardo began filling in as an analyst on

Bally Sports Wisconsin Bally Sports Wisconsin (BSWI) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. Operating as the "Wisconsin" sub-feed of Fox Sports North until 2007, the channel was known as Fox ...

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

broadcasts for regular color commentator

Marques Johnson Marques Kevin Johnson (born February 8, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player who is a basketball analyst for the Milwaukee Bucks on Bally Sports Wisconsin. He played as a small forward in the National Basketball Associati ...

. In May 2015, Bardo, who is African American, publicly criticized the

's athletic department over the lack of diversity among prominent head coaches at the university.

References

External links

Stats at BasketballReference
*
Official websiteSportsUnplugged on iTunes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bardo, Stephen 1968 births Living people African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in France American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Japan American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball players Atlanta Hawks draft picks Basketball players from Kentucky Chicago Rockers players College basketball announcers in the United States Women's National Basketball Association announcers Dallas Mavericks players Detroit Pistons players Fabriano Basket players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB players People from Henderson, Kentucky Quad City Thunder players San Antonio Spurs players Shooting guards Kawasaki Brave Thunders players Wichita Falls Texans players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople