CHN Picks Bradley #120

[DUBulldog]

I wish the Bulldogs great success this year, but it seemed the more experience all the players got with Dr. Tom's system, the worse they got and the more Dr. Tom got frustrated and even said so, benching some starters.
They lost 11 of their final 12 games, and early in the season they took Boston College to the wire on the road.
So what happened?

I think there were two factors that led to Drake's decline late in the season....

1. A large portion of Drake's early success was due to newcomers....Stewart, Calvin and Bucky Cox. In addition, Chaun Brooks, who was a horrible, horrible 3-point shooter his first two seasons at Drake was being left wide open by opposing defenses....and was hitting close to 50% of his 3-point shorts. So, Drake was getting large amounts of offense from newcomers that opposing scouts were unfamiliar with, and from a guy who the early scouting report said you didn't have to guard. As the season went on, teams started guarding Brooks, and he was extremely ineffective after that point. They also figured out how to more effectively guard the new guys, and a couple of veterans who were counted on for big contributions failed to step up.

2. Drake lost an incredible number of close games last season. Some writer for ESPN, or CBSSportsline (or some such website) even mentioned that Drake had lost more close games than any team in the country. At some point, all the close losses took a mental toll on the team and guys started trying to do too much.

Barring injuries, there is no question in my mind that Drake will be better this season (note....I'm not predicting that they'll be a contender). How much better, I don't know....and I don't know if it will be enough to move them up in the standings.

[tornado]

I hope DU beats Creighton and WSU twice because of the Dana Altman Factor" and the "Mark Turgeon Factor"!

[MacabreMob]

Drake lost an incredible number of close games last season. Some writer for ESPN, or CBSSportsline (or some such website) even mentioned that Drake had lost more close games than any team in the country.

The 'Drive-By Media' strikes again.

Anybody who follows college hoops knows last season Notre Dame lost more close games than anyone in the country.

I spent a few minutes looking it up and here is what I found.

Drake lost 19 games. Their average margin of points lost by got no lower than after their first loss of 3 points. 4 losses into the season, they had got it back down to a 7.25 average. I am sure the writer may have been referring to around just after their 5th loss in a row on Feb 22 (they were after Drake's 17th loss overall, but the 5 game stretch was 13 points in 5 games with an average of 2.6) which brought their total average back down to 8.53.

Of games lost by 5 points or less, they had 9.

Of extra periods played, they had 2 single OT's.

Number of games having Double Digit losses were 7.

Final on the year, they averaged 9.16 points per loss.

Now Notre Dame (who lost 14 games)....

Their lowest average margin of points lost by was after their 11th game lost bringing them down to an average of 4 points per loss. They, too, had a 5 game stretch where they lost 5 in a row .... but by a total of 11 points for an average of 2.2 points a game in that stretch (which occurred before Drake had their close 5 game stretch).

Of games lost by 5 points or less, they had 10.

Of extra periods played, they had 2 single OT's and 3 Dbl OT's for a total of 8 extra periods.

Number of games having Double Digit losses was just one (their first lost game of the season).

Final on the year, they averaged 4.21 points per loss.

[MacabreMob]

But, many of you will recall the hype we were subjected to last year as some were saying Drake would be in the hunt for the Valley title, and even one major service (cbssportsline) selected Ajay Calvin as NOY and 1st team All Conference.

Wrong board T.

I am sure there are many members here now that are new enough to have never read the 'other board' (or didn't back then) and do not know what you are talking about - and since they don't keep posts more than a few days... you are fighting an uphill battle.

[MacabreMob]

Re: Speaking of Drake

Speaking of Drake.............

I remember being at The Fieldhouse as a kid for a game against Drake in the early 70's (somewhere between '72-'75 I think) where BU was up by eleven with 33 seconds to go and we lost!

Does anyone else remember this, and am I correct in my memory about it being an eleven point spread with 33 seconds to go? (of course I also remember a game where we were up 28-0 on New Mexico State and still lost the game by about 20 ).

B4L, I recall the NM St game - I was there.

As for the Drake game, I recall my Mom and Dad telling me about that one. I don't recall the point spread and all - will ask my folks tomorrow.

[DUBulldog]

But, many of you will recall the hype we were subjected to last year as some were saying Drake would be in the hunt for the Valley title, and even one major service (cbssportsline) selected Ajay Calvin as NOY and 1st team All Conference.

Wrong board T.

I am sure there are many members here now that are new enough to have never read the 'other board' (or didn't back then) and do not know what you are talking about - and since they don't keep posts more than a few days... you are fighting an uphill battle.

That's why I didn't press my "disagreement" with Tornado any further....I know that there's no way to view old posts on the "other" board, or on the old Valleytalk. The Drake board wasn't even in existence before last season.

Perhaps it was unfair of me to tell Tornado that he couldn't find a corroborating post.....since (even if they once existed) there would be no way to find them.

P.S. I think T is right about Ajay Calvin being picked as newcomer of the year....but not about him being picked first-team all-conference. Still, I don't see how that equates to hype about Drake's team.

[tornado]

But you still haven't even challenged my assertion that Dr. Tom gets in some talented kids, and they play their heart out and give Drake some early wins....but the longer they adapt into Dr. Tom's system, the less productive they seem to become.

Robinson, Randolph, Brooks, Keita....and more were earning POW and NOW honors when they were fresh to the system.

Randolph is the best example.
His scoring totals plummetted and he all but disappeared as a senior.
Then there's Keita--
And what happened to him?
He averaged 9pt/7 reb in 04-05, then he lost his starting spot and fell to 4.8pt/4.5 reb last year.
Al Stewart completed the entire cycle from POW caliber to benchwarmer in just a couple months.

This is NOT just a fleeting phenomenon.
This has happened to ever good young player from Luke McDonald to Al Stewart.
You can make excuses, but I can think of at least 6 or 8 fine young players who have shrivelled and disappeared by the time they were seniors.
Somebody HAS TO ask the obvious question---- has Dr. Tom ever developed anyone since coming to Drake?

If the same had happened to Cellus, or Ruff, or Boogie, or TB you'd have every right to ask what's happening.

[DUBulldog]

I always love discussion on this board. Seriously, I enjoy talking b-ball with the BU fans more than any other MVC fans. Let me try to respond to Tornado's thoughts.

But you still haven't even challenged my assertion that Dr. Tom gets in some talented kids, and they play their heart out and give Drake some early wins....but the longer they adapt into Dr. Tom's system, the less productive they seem to become.

Robinson, Randolph, Brooks, Keita....and more were earning POW and NOW honors when they were fresh to the system..

I guess I didn't realize I was supposed to challenge all of your assertions....I thought I got to choose Stepping out of smart-aleck mode, let me address all 4 of those players.

1. Robinson......only played for 1 year for Dr Tom.....Davis actually had to re-recruit him, because he had already decided to leave DU before KK was fired. Anyway, Robinson was the leading scorer for DU early in the season....maybe the first 10-12 games or so, and was looking real good. Then, he suffered a severe ankle sprain in a road game at Creighton....he missed the next 8-10 games and was not in game shape when he finally did come back. He then left Drake for good (allegedly because of grades). He has since been at 3 different schools, and played at none of them. He will be playing for a D-3 school (Susquehenna) this season. You can hardly pin this one on Dr Tom.

2. Randolph.....there is no question that Randolph took a big step back his senior season. He was pre-season 1st team all-MVC, and I don't think he even made honorable mention at the end of the season. Unfortunately for Drake, Lonnie's father thought that Lonnie was NBA material. Lonnie did what he thought would get him into the NBA instead of doing what his coach asked him to do. If Davis made a mistake here, it was in letting Lonnie get away with it for as long as he did. Randolph eventually was moved from point guard to shooting guard late in the season.

3. Brooks. Brooks progressed every year he was at Drake. He definitely was much better during the first half of his senior season than in the second half. As I mentioned a few posts ago, he was a horrendous shooter his first two years at Drake. So, scouting reports rightly said to not guard him on the perimeter. He shot lights out early in his senior season.....maybe we should give Davis credit for the tremendous improvement Brooks made from his junior season to his senior season. However, scouting reports eventually caught up to him, and teams started guarding him on the perimeter, at which point his productivity declined. Davis' fault? Hardly. Viewed in perspective, there is no question that this is a kid that improved every season he was at Drake.

4. Keita. The improvement that Keita made between when he first came to Drake, and the end of his sophomore season (his first at Drake) was nothing short of incredible. This kid scored a total of 5 points his freshman season at Tulsa......sat out a year at Drake and then averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds per game for the 'dogs......Dr Tom obviously did something right there. There is no question that Aliou took a big step back his junior season. However, as was the case with Lonnie Randolph, there were outside influences telling Aliou to do things other than what the coach was telling him to do.

Al Stewart completed the entire cycle from POW caliber to benchwarmer in just a couple months.

Stewart was benched for one game. He had 10 points, 10 assists and 7 rebounds in Drake's MVC tourney game....not a bad way to finish the season. Stewart was forced to try to do too much, as his teammates were not getting it done. this led to him making some bad decisions, but he still averaged far few turnovers per game than Lonnie Randolph did during his supposedly great junior season.

Still, he managed to rack up the 4th highest season assist total in Drake history.....with a bunch of teammates who had no ability to hit an open jump shot. No way to prove it, but put him on a team with guys like Bennett, Sommerville, O'Bryant, etc and he averages 8-10 assists per game.

This is NOT just a fleeting phenomenon.
This has happened to ever good young player from Luke McDonald to Al Stewart.

Ummmm....Luke McDonald never played for Dr Tom.....I don't think it's fair to blame Davis for his decline

You can make excuses, but I can think of at least 6 or 8 fine young players who have shrivelled and disappeared by the time they were seniors.

I can't (seriously, I can't).

Somebody HAS TO ask the obvious question---- has Dr. Tom ever developed anyone since coming to Drake?

I saw Klayton Korver play in high school.....he wasn't even close to being the best player on his high school team. By his sophomore season at Drake, he averaged 10 ppg and 5 rpg for the season, despite playing on a bad knee the entire year.

Keita, despite his step back last season, is far better than he was when he first came to Drake.

Bucky Cox was a walk-on who was 6-8, 190 pounds when he came to DU. After a red-shirt year, he started most of his freshman season...and made some key contributions....I think Dr Tom had something to do with his development.

To be honest, Dr Tom hasn't had any of his own players go from freshman to senior yet (and won't 'til the 2007-08 season), so it's hard to answer that question.

[tornado]

Ummmm....Luke McDonald never played for Dr Tom.....I don't think it's fair to blame Davis for his decline


To be honest, Dr Tom hasn't had any of his own players go from freshman to senior yet (and won't 'til the 2007-08 season), so it's hard to answer that question.

And as always, I appreciate your responses.

As for Luke, he had the chance to play for Dr. Tom, and was working out in the summer but then up and quit, with very little believable reason given.
You don't need to repeat the injury/religious arguments, because I think those were mostly a smoke screen.
I think the kid simply didn't want to play for Dr. Tom.

[DUBulldog]

Ummmm....Luke McDonald never played for Dr Tom.....I don't think it's fair to blame Davis for his decline


To be honest, Dr Tom hasn't had any of his own players go from freshman to senior yet (and won't 'til the 2007-08 season), so it's hard to answer that question.

And as always, I appreciate your responses.

As for Luke, he had the chance to play for Dr. Tom, and was working out in the summer but then up and quit, with very little believable reason given.
You don't need to repeat the injury/religious arguments, because I think those were mostly a smoke screen.
I think the kid simply didn't want to play for Dr. Tom.

You, sir, are pretty much on the right path, although the overall situation was a bit more complicated than that.

I'll leave it at that, because to say anything more would involve some speculation on my part and would make one of the parties look bad.

But.....McDonald's decline was in full effect before Davis took over (compare his sophomore season to his junior season).

[chitownBUB]

Loyola is selected #88, and #1 in the Horizon

http://collegehoopsnet.com/preview/2006/88.htm

They also mention Marvell Waithe's academic questions.

[chitownBUB]

CHN ranks UNI #76, 5th in the MVC

http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/preview/2006/76.htm

[flipper]

CHN ranks UNI #76, 5th in the MVC
http://www.collegehoopsnet.com/preview/2006/76.htm

well that leaves missouri state, sothern illinois, wichita state, and creighton. which one will be ranked the highest? by guess is creighton.

[chitownBUB]

I think they'll pick SIU highest, followed by CU, WSU, then MSU.

[Bravesguy]

CHN just listed their inaugural Top 100 college players.

http://collegehoopsnet.com/top100/061009.htm

1 Joakim Noah
2 Tyler Hansbrough
3 Glen Davis
4 Greg Oden
5 Nick Fazekas
6 Ronald Steele
7 Kevin Durant
8 Aaron Gray
9 Brandon Rush
10 Richard Roby

Rush didn't show me much last year, neither did Gray.
To have two freshmen on that list is impressive or else it means there just aren't any good upperclassmen left.
They also have a lot of extras and info bits on the top 30 if you click their names.

Not many midmajor players on the list, but
Nate Funk is #55
Grant Stout is #68
Blake Ahearn is #78