Fallacies

[Da Coach]

I don't want to dwell on all the fallacious statements I've read on this board and on onter sites in the last couple days, but I do want to caution fans from making judgements based on a small sample size. It leads to a much higher liklihood of error.

Here are just a few fallacies I've read here or on other sites by well-meaning fans--

Bradley is a poor shooting team- yes, they shot poorly for a couple games, but last night they shot 52% from the floor and 47% from three. This team will be a lot better shooting team than they showed their first 3-4 games.

Bradley can't shoot free throws- they shot 23-29 for 79%. Though they struggled a bit in a couple early games, I am not worried about their FT shooting.

Chris Roberts can't shoot- another silly statement based on limited observation. CR was 4-5 from the floor last night, and 4-4 from the free throw line. Chris is an unselfish player who passes up a lot of good shots to try to help this team, and his shooting will be OK.

Will Egolf is a wasted scholarship- yes, there have been uninformed, so-called fans who have posted this nonsense. Will is a skilled big man, who will be a large part of this team for the next 2 1/2 years.

Sam Maniscalco should not be starting- There were several who posted this after Monday's game. Some have said he can't guard, but as he gets over the foot injury that has limited him, we'll see that he guards just fine, and is the leader of this team. He leads the team in steals and assists, and is 2nd in scoring, while playing basically on one foot.

If other teams zone Bradley, we don't stand a chance- another fallacy. Last night Richmond kept trying a zone, and Bradley's passing and cutting, as well as their outside shooting kept causing the Richmond coach to switch back to man-to-man defense. Even when a team's shots aren't falling, there are coaching moves that negate zone defenses, and we'll see more such coaching moves if teams try to zone Bradley. Bradley is a fairly young team, and they have only been practicing together for less than 5 weeks.

There are more, but I have made my point. If anyone wants to add more fallacies to the list, feel free.
People were writing off this entire season just 2 days ago, and now things look a little brighter.

[patrick_o'brian]

I agree DC. Although I have not seen this team live and in person, or on tv. I have a pretty good basketball mind and can just envision what this team is about. Most people when they think of a zone they think that it opens up the perimeter and that's it. It does serve that purpose, but it also opens up lanes to the hoop and makes people "help" on defense leaving the goal wide open for cutting, athletic, type players for easy lay-ups. This team is full of those types of guys. We have to get out of the mindset that these guys are gonna make 15 3's a game. It will come with time, but we have athletic basketball players and with these guys our FG % will continue to go up. Sam Maniscalco is a natural born leader playing with a bum foot. It is hard to find leaders these days. With him on the court it makes EVERYONE else that much better. I AM SO PROUD OF WILL EGOLF. He reminds me of a young Chase Budinger. If he continues to build his confidence and plays smart he has all the tools to be great. I'm not sure if anyone agrees with my observations, but I didn't agree with anyone's expectations for the year. GO BU!

[Da Coach]

I don't want to suggest that I believe this team has no shortcomings. I am on record as saying that I believe BU's pick as #5 in the MVC is fair, though I think they can finish higher. I just wanted to caution fans not to jump to conclusions based on one or two bad games.
Every other MVC team, except ISU and UE so far, now has "bad losses", so the MVC race will be wide open.

[tornado]

As I said elsewhere, I just hope we don't have a rash of injuries among Bradley fans who keep jumping off then on the bandwagon.


One other fallacy...
that Jim Les can't coach!
Gimme a break......read what Dave Reynolds said...
they didn't have time to practice nor prepare much for the 3 teams in a row, but they gave up their time on the nice beach to stay at the hotel, review film, and get ready after Monday's loss.
Then they tweaked their offense and defense for the FGCU game and again for the Richmond game and .....

Bradley clearly was not only the MOST well prepared team last night, but they were also the best coached team. Jim did a great job with substitutes, and with the switching man/zone defenses that we alternated and played which totally confused a GOOD Richmond team!
And he did a good job working to penetrate which then also opened up many GOOD outside shots!

[bigdaddystuck]

I agree that this team will get better, I even posted that I thought we would go through some growing pains early. I also have no problem with someone questioning the direction of the season, team, program etc..

Bradley shot poorly over the first 3-4 games, but shot it well yesterday. To say any of the new guys can't play is kind of silly, since they are still trying to figure out the game at this level. Same for WE, IMO he struggled last year trying to figure out his role on the team and over the last 2 games he has seemed to figure that out. Sam does not recover that well on D, but obviously the foot has something to do with that. Honestly, if a team chooses to go zone on us I like our chances. You do not shoot 3's to bust a zone, its nice if you can, but you don't have to. Good passing and attacking the basket will also get a team out of a zone. With the athletes we have, I like our chances of getting to the hole.

I want to win as many games as we can, but truly feel the important part of the season is conference. The non-con is there to get us ready for the conf. season. We need to be building each game, getting better and better. We did have a set back earlier this week, but rebounded well over the last 2 games. We all need to keep in mind that it is still early in the season. Just like people shouldn't panic and call it quits based on 3-4 games, we also shouldn't be sipping kool-aid and think everything is alright based on 2-3 games. JMO

Happy Thanksgiving and GO BU!!!!!!

[Bradleyguy10]

I am not and will not be ashamed of me questioning why SM was starting when he is hurt. I understand that I am not on the team in any way shape or form and they would know better, but I just don't get why you would take the risk of further injury of our leader.

Another thing...I really don't like how on this board when ONE thing goes somebody's way they get on here and post about how they were right. Why isn't it ok to say the team isn't shooting well? Did they really shoot THAT well the other games. Just because they had one good shooting game doesn't instantly make you correct and others wrong. Let me set myself straight I think this team will get better when it comes to shooting including free throws...I agree with that, but you can't deny people and pick on them for being wrong when they say that we are a bad shooting team. As of right now we are not that great of a shooting team and if you shoot bad 3 out of 4 games then in some minds it still qualifies. Post those "I told you so's" when we have shot well 4 out of 7 games. This argument stands with the zone thing also. I never made those comments but if you were the coach of ETSU and you have 4 games to make a game plan off of. Do you feel more comfortable trying a zone or man to man based on the 4 games? There has only been one game where we were able to overcome the zone.....

You guys have admitted of a probable up and down season and this is one game of an up. So why contradict yourself of your predictions by saying the I told you so's?

I just don't get it...why can't we have opinions without being called out for being bandwagon fans or just flat out stupid-wrong. Who cares...we post our opinions if it weren't for our opinions there wouldn't be anything fun to read on the board...and no board for that matter.

[Guinness]

Uh its a message board, where many people vent their frustrations and hopefully are allowed to do so.

[shaunguth]

I am not and will not be ashamed of me questioning why SM was starting when he is hurt. I understand that I am not on the team in any way shape or form and they would know better, but I just don't get why you would take the risk of further injury of our leader.

My biggest question is why Sam played 96 of 120 minutes over three days if his foot is bothering him that much.

[houstontxbrave]

One game does not make a season, nor does one shooting night make a great or even good shooting team.... Consistancy.

I definitely posted that this is a bad shooting team and until they consistantly make open 1 ft 15 ft and 20 ft shots then well they cant be considered anything other then a poor shooting team.

I want nothing more then to be wrong but other then the Richmond game, we have shot the ball badly.

Seems the key right now to a change is that Egolf has injected energy into this team.

I want to be wrong more then anything about out team as shooters but to call it a fallacy after one very good performance well thats, I guess to be seen, as I said one game does not make a season.

[Bradleyguy10]

I was never a person who could say what they mean in few words....

You've done it for me. Thank you.

[Grassman]

One game does not make a season, nor does one shooting night make a great or even good shooting team.... Consistancy.

I definitely posted that this is a bad shooting team and until they consistantly make open 1 ft 15 ft and 20 ft shots then well they cant be considered anything other then a poor shooting team.

I want nothing more then to be wrong but other then the Richmond game, we have shot the ball badly.

Seems the key right now to a change is that Egolf has injected energy into this team.

I want to be wrong more then anything about out team as shooters but to call it a fallacy after one very good performance well thats, I guess to be seen, as I said one game does not make a season.

However, it does show that they are ,at least, capable of "shooting." Something that really concerned me B-4 Richmond.

[BUFAN]

Everyone wants to enjoy a victory and savor it for as long as possible. I don't want to spoil the party but, the team they beat was a bunch of 6'10" guys who had been running up and down the floor for three days. They were not that quick to begin with and after three days of fla heat were not able to get to our shooters. They made us look good just like we made UMKC and FGCU look good with our poor D. Richmond will not be a contender in their con., lucky to be .500.

[shaunguth]

Bradley is a poor shooting team- yes, they shot poorly for a couple games, but last night they shot 52% from the floor and 47% from three. This team will be a lot better shooting team than they showed their first 3-4 games.

41.3% FG shooting

26.5% 3-point shots

51.0% 2-point shots

Bradley can't shoot free throws- they shot 23-29 for 79%. Though they struggled a bit in a couple early games, I am not worried about their FT shooting.

69.6% FT shooting

Chris Roberts can't shoot- another silly statement based on limited observation. CR was 4-5 from the floor last night, and 4-4 from the free throw line. Chris is an unselfish player who passes up a lot of good shots to try to help this team, and his shooting will be OK.

45.9% FG shooting

31.3% 3-point shots

57.1% 2-point shots

Will Egolf is a wasted scholarship- yes, there have been uninformed, so-called fans who have posted this nonsense. Will is a skilled big man, who will be a large part of this team for the next 2 1/2 years.

I have always liked Will. In fact, he's the one I was most looking forward to seeing when he came in as a freshman. My son can attest to this since I generally go to the games with him and am always telling him how much I love Will's defense and athletic ability.

Sam Maniscalco should not be starting- There were several who posted this after Monday's game. Some have said he can't guard, but as he gets over the foot injury that has limited him, we'll see that he guards just fine, and is the leader of this team. He leads the team in steals and assists, and is 2nd in scoring, while playing basically on one foot.

Guilty as charged. The fact remains he was shooting terribly and had a terrible turnover rate. He was also caught running away from 3-point shooters on defense. I'm always open to the possibility of "shaking things up" when someone is not producing, but never doubted his spot on this team. My question is if he is "basically on one foot", why is this staff having him play 96 minutes in three days?

People were writing off this entire season just 2 days ago, and now things look a little brighter.

I am never going to "write off" an entire season just three games in, but the game on Monday and even Tuesday did not look too good.

[shaunguth]

Richmond will not be a contender in their con., lucky to be .500.

They were picked to finish 8th in their 14-team conference.

[georgethedog]

Uh its a message board, where many people vent their frustrations and hopefully are allowed to do so.

Amen to that!