post game BU 54-DU 68

[Bravesfan]

Pathetic. That's the only word to describe that entire performance. Drake was almost as bad in the 1st half and still led by 10.

If we play like that Wednesday, we'll lose by 30+.

I'm not sure which Creighton team is going to show up though. If they beat UNI they may play cocky thinking this game will be an easy win. If they lose to UNI there is a 50-50 chance they will either play angry or demoralized.

But we all know if Bradley plays like they did tonight it won't matter. I'm not writing off the game though since Creighton has been so up and down this year. But they have been playing a lot better lately so that does not bode well for us.

I guess my next question is can we win all three of our remaining home games. On paper yes, but when a team is in a slump like we are, all bets are off. Let's just see what we can do in Omaha on Wednesday, and win or lose, take any positives to Peoria to make sure we hold court at home the rest of the year so we can at least get that 5th seed in St. Louis. That and/or a couple of CBI home games are probably the best we can count on right now.

[Garland 22]

Main disappointment from the player's tonight......no fire, after coming off a home loss....?

I disagree - I thought the effort was there, but they seemed in Fast Forward, need to relax and play the game. I would like to see Norris supplant Sammy at the point. He seems more composed. Sam is playing really bad basketball right now.

Need a shake-up to get three more wins. This is a good team that needs to regroup. Concentration is a big factor right now and bickering with the refs and losing composure isn't helping.

[lefty]

I disagree - I thought the effort was there, but they seemed in Fast Forward, need to relax and play the game. I would like to see Norris supplant Sammy at the point. He seems more composed. Sam is playing really bad basketball right now.

Need a shake-up to get three more wins. This is a good team that needs to regroup. Concentration is a big factor right now and bickering with the refs and losing composure isn't helping.

running around all over the place and throwing passes all over doesn't look like effort to me. For whatever reason the were not ready to play,Drake didn't play well...we just played really bad

[Bravesfan]

Heard the pregame interview from JL saying what a great week of practice they had. I said thats not good. They always say that before a flop of a game.

I like Les, and I still think his best years are ahead of him (as long as we give the guy a chance the next year or two by not starting the official "Let's fire Jim Les campaign"). But I agree, the "great week of practice" line has been used by Lovie Smith, Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron and other "great" coaches in the history of Chicago sports.

Then again, as someone else posted here, most coaches use that line from time to time. BUT some don't use it as a crutch. I'm not saying Les is, but he may need to emphasis more to the fans and the players that some players are not taking what they are learning in practice into game situations.

Let's face it, without our two best players this team is young and inexperienced. And I like Collins, but I'm not sure what is going on with him lately. He seems to be digressing as this season winds down, and that's ashame. He's a senior and I hate to see someone going out like this. Having said that though, he has shown some flashes of brilliance and maybe he can get things going in time for St. Louis if not sooner. We need him if we have any chance, and we can't get into situations where our offense and/or defense takes eight or ten minutes off in a game.

[lefty]

I like Les, and I still think his best years are ahead of him (as long as we give the guy a chance the next year or two by not starting the official "Let's fire Jim Les campaign"). But I agree, the "great week of practice" line has been used by Lovie Smith, Dave Wannstedt, Dick Jauron and other "great" coaches in the history of Chicago sports.

Then again, as someone else posted here, most coaches use that line from time to time. BUT some don't use it as a crutch. I'm not saying Les is, but he may need to emphasis more to the fans and the players that some players are not taking what they are learning in practice into game situations.

Let's face it, without our two best players this team is young and inexperienced. And I like Collins, but I'm not sure what is going on with him lately. He seems to be digressing as this season winds down, and that's ashame. He's a senior and I hate to see someone going out like this. Having said that though, he has shown some flashes of brilliance and maybe he can get things going in time for St. Louis if not sooner. We need him if we have any chance, and we can't get into situations where our offense and/or defense takes eight or ten minutes off in a game.

Who's our two best players?

[Bravesfan]

Main disappointment from the player's tonight......no fire, after coming off a home loss....?

I disagree. Watching it on tv, I thought the effort was there. The problem was that it was a sloppy effort at times, some in fairly long stretches.

For those who thought we run the weave too much, Les did a good job of game planning in that we got the ball inside far more often tonight. But in the first half, SS and TW missed easy layups and got rattled due to Drake's stingy defense.

In the second half, our offense was better as the inside game looked crisper which in turn led to some more three point attempts, but then our defense looked like rubbish. Great defense leads to better offense, but tonight it seemed like our offense opened up in the second half, but at the expense of our defense. Go figure!

Of course Collins playing poorly and TW's foul trouble did not help either. We just can't seem to get the entire team play on the same page in any given game, and we look very average.

Speaking of average, I can sum up our recent stretch against the Valley elite in a nutshell. Great teams win those games, bad teams get blown out. Average teams, whether slightly above or slightly below, usually lose games to the elite, but play very close. I think that sums up our team right now. We are an average to slightly above average team that plays with great effort and are very competitive, which bodes well for next season. We also have talent. Unfortunately we don't have depth, we have several very young players and we don't play with smarts all of the time. So while the lack of effort is not the problem, I think nerves and poor in-game decisions are the problem.

I don't know as a coaching staff how you address those problems, but something is "lost in translation" from the practices to the actual games. Either it's experience, chemistry, a little of both or maybe players who are athletically talented but lack fundamentals. Let's hope for the sake of the remainder of this season and particularly next season it's more from lack of experience and chemistry than from anything else.

[Bravesfan]

Who's our two best players?

I meant two of our best players. And of course I'm talking about Warren and Egolf.

[lefty]

I disagree. Watching it on tv, I thought the effort was there. The problem was that it was a sloppy effort at times, some in fairly long stretches.

For those who thought we run the weave too much, Les did a good job of game planning in that we got the ball inside far more often tonight. But in the first half, SS and TW missed easy layups and got rattled due to Drake's stingy defense.

In the second half, our offense was better as the inside game looked crisper which in turn led to some more three point attempts, but then our defense looked like rubbish. Great defense leads to better offense, but tonight it seemed like our offense opened up in the second half, but at the expense of our defense. Go figure!

Of course Collins playing poorly and TW's foul trouble did not help either. We just can't seem to get the entire team play on the same page in any given game, and we look very average.

Speaking of average, I can sum up our recent stretch against the Valley elite in a nutshell. Great teams win those games, bad teams get blown out. Average teams, whether slightly above or slightly below, usually lose games to the elite, but play very close. I think that sums up our team right now. We are an average to slightly above average team that plays with great effort and are very competitive, which bodes well for next season. We also have talent. Unfortunately we don't have depth, we have several very young players and we don't play with smarts all of the time. So while the lack of effort is not the problem, I think nerves and poor in-game decisions are the problem.

I don't know as a coaching staff how you address those problems, but something is "lost in translation" from the practices to the actual games. Either it's experience, chemistry, a little of both or maybe players who are athletically talented but lack fundamentals. Let's hope for the sake of the remainder of this season and particularly next season it's more from lack of experience and chemistry than from anything else.

you must have better eyes than I do.....I thought the effort was ok at best...

[lefty]

I meant two of our best players. And of course I'm talking about Warren and Egolf.

Here's the thing about WE. I like him alot, especially his energy.
He had two games where he scoored 6 and 8 points before he got hurt. While there is no doubt he would have been a tremendous help I don't know there would be leaps and bounds differences if he was in there. DC would have not seen the floor then and there have been a few games where he has done ok..

[Bravesfan]

you must have better eyes than I do.....I thought the effort was ok at best...

Well there were some lapses. I'm not saying there wasn't. But again I think it was more from not playing smart than anything else. I think there's a difference between lack of effort and not playing smart. Lack of effort implies they are just standing around while not playing smart means things like not concentrating enough. I saw a lot of that tonight, but I did not get impression they were out there staring at the floor all the time.

Then again maybe I'm just trying to compare apples and oranges here!

[Bravesfan]

Here's the thing about WE. I like him alot, especially his energy.
He had two games where he scoored 6 and 8 points before he got hurt. While there is no doubt he would have been a tremendous help I don't know there would be leaps and bounds differences if he was in there. DC would have not seen the floor then and there have been a few games where he has done ok..

Well the thing about Egolf is we don't know for sure if he would have been a difference maker, but the potential was there. And I still believe he will be big for us next year.

[Out of Bounce]

Here's the thing about WE. I like him alot, especially his energy.
He had two games where he scoored 6 and 8 points before he got hurt. While there is no doubt he would have been a tremendous help I don't know there would be leaps and bounds differences if he was in there. DC would have not seen the floor then and there have been a few games where he has done ok..

You don't think that would of helped

[lefty]

You don't think that would of helped

It would have helped but I remember how everyone here was clamoring for JL to play DC and now they don't want Jl to play him. at all. DC has had a few good games is all I'm saying and there is no guarantee that WE was going to change our whole team around

[Out of Bounce]

It would have helped but I remember how everyone here was clamoring for JL to play DC and now they don't want Jl to play him. at all. DC has had a few good games is all I'm saying and there is no guarantee that WE was going to change our whole team around

Well for the record I was not one either way but its time for his playing time to be reduced. His play has reached the point that it is hurting this team more than helping. You just talked about trusting your teammates in the other post. Now how can that happen based on the DC play the last 1 and 3/4 years. I like the guy but this is not about like. We are at a point now that we need to give AT some time at the 4 with SS and play DC as needed, moving TW to the 3.

[Bravesfan]

It would have helped but I remember how everyone here was clamoring for JL to play DC and now they don't want Jl to play him. at all. DC has had a few good games is all I'm saying and there is no guarantee that WE was going to change our whole team around

Well, people wanted to see how DC looked. Now that he hasn't played up to expectations, people don't want him playing as much.

And he certainly hurt himself by fouling out so early tonight!