Next game- Oakland at Bradley- Monday, March 23 7:05 pm

[Da Coach]

This one will be tough...Oakland is much better than Austin Peay. In my opinion, the winner of the BU/Oakland game should win the CIT.

I actually do agree that Oakland seems to be a better team than APSU.
It looks like they play a lot like Bradley did the last 2 season, a quick point guard and an exceptional shooting guard who shoots a lot of threes (Kangas is 127 for 303- more than 9 attempts per game).

However, can someone tell us why they were not able to finish any higher than 3rd place in the Summit conference? The Summit is loaded with awful teams, and is ranked #26 in conference RPI. Only 2 teams in the Summit have winning records against Division I competetion.

[BradleyBrave]

BU opens as 3 point favorite.

[Chico]

Here is a preview article from an Oakland County (Michigan) newspaper-

http://pembertonpoint.blogspot.com/2009/03/oakland-at-bradley-preview.html

Oakland has the nations leading assist man, Johnathan Jones, who averages 7.8 assists per game--

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/stats/bycategory?cat=Fielding&conference_id=NCAAB&sort=10

Some fans on the Oakland Grizzlies message board have noticed some BU fans' overconfidence--

Grizzland said:
I am amazed by the confidence of the fans on the Bradley forum. While a few fans are giving Oakland their deserved credit many feel that this game could be an easy victory for BU. I agree with Kampes quote saying that the guys have really seemed to embrace the CIT tournament after a tough come from behind victory. I am expecting Oakland to come out and play tough against BU giving them a run for their money. I am excited about the game Monday and hope we can quiet some fans and that forum. Go get em Grizzlies!!!

Grizzfan1 said:
I agree. A couple of them seem to be a little too overconfident.

Some of our posters are sounding like Kansas fans 3 years ago. Boy did some of our posters give Kansas fans junk after we handled them. IMO, never mouth off until you win, if even then. GO BRAVES

[Bradleyguy10]

Yeah I'm not really sure why so many are too confident. We've been streaky at best through out the season and last game was no exception. We could easily lose this game, and I would not be surprised one bit. The beauty of last year's CBI tournament was because it felt like the starting lineup was finally all able to play together for that tournament so we wanted to know what type of team we had. This tournament is different...we've had all season to see this team and what it has and it could very well lose this game. That being said we could also win by 20. The point is you just don't know who's going to show up and this is anyone's game. I don't know why we are the #1 seed to be honest, probably because we can draw more fans. We haven't done much to deserve a 1 seed.

[Da Coach]

The big difference is the rare few who are confident, are not obnoxious about it, and they are not doing over on the Oakland message board like loudmouth Kansas fans did here.

[dogsrus]

Some of our posters are sounding like Kansas fans 3 years ago. Boy did some of our posters give Kansas fans junk after we handled them. IMO, never mouth off until you win, if even then. GO BRAVES

I agree Chico.....since I imagine NO ONE has seen em play how can we comment. Its like those that give Diggger and company cr@p when they make comments about BU and mids yet they have seen maybe ONE game to judge from.

Its OK to predict a win and "feel" confident but show some resepct for the opponent. Its not like we are Butler...Gonzaga or WKU. We have "issues" also and can't seem to crack the top 3 of the Valley in 7 years. Granted the Valley is a tougher conference but even in this "down" year we failed to do so.

I look for a good game and expect this team to be tough.......if we win great.

Go BU.....!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dogsrus]

The big difference is the rare few who are confident, are not obnoxious about it, and they are not doing over on the Oakland message board like loudmouth Kansas fans did here.

I will agree there.....you go on ANY teams message board before a game and you will here the same and many times worse.

Also...Kansas fans came lookin for a fight and to talk smack.....whatever happened to them AFTER the game.

[Bravesfan]

I actually do agree that Oakland seems to be a better team than APSU.
It looks like they play a lot like Bradley did the last 2 season, a quick point guard and an exceptional shooting guard who shoots a lot of threes (Kangas is 127 for 303- more than 9 attempts per game).

However, can someone tell us why they were not able to finish any higher than 3rd place in the Summit conference? The Summit is loaded with awful teams, and is ranked #26 in conference RPI. Only 2 teams in the Summit have winning records against Division I competetion.

Because they got swept by North Dakota St.

Seriously though, Bradley cannot take this team lightly. This is a postseason tournament, and EVERY team puts forth their best effort. I think we win this game, but we cannot expect just to show up and win. Win or lose, this will be a good learning experience for our younger players.

[Bravesfan]

Yeah I'm not really sure why so many are too confident. We've been streaky at best through out the season and last game was no exception. We could easily lose this game, and I would not be surprised one bit. The beauty of last year's CBI tournament was because it felt like the starting lineup was finally all able to play together for that tournament so we wanted to know what type of team we had. This tournament is different...we've had all season to see this team and what it has and it could very well lose this game. That being said we could also win by 20. The point is you just don't know who's going to show up and this is anyone's game. I don't know why we are the #1 seed to be honest, probably because we can draw more fans. We haven't done much to deserve a 1 seed.

I'm surprised ODU or Portland weren't #1 seeds as Portland beat a couple of great teams and ODU had more wins in a similar conference to ours. But we'll take the #1 seed and it is up to us to play like a #1 seed. As I said above, Bradley has to take Oakland seriously. The have been a decent team every year and they have some players who are capable of scoring in bunches. Hopefully Oakland has an off night and we can keep playing beyond tomorrow night.

[Tulsa Brave]

I actually do agree that Oakland seems to be a better team than APSU.
It looks like they play a lot like Bradley did the last 2 season, a quick point guard and an exceptional shooting guard who shoots a lot of threes (Kangas is 127 for 303- more than 9 attempts per game).

However, can someone tell us why they were not able to finish any higher than 3rd place in the Summit conference? The Summit is loaded with awful teams, and is ranked #26 in conference RPI. Only 2 teams in the Summit have winning records against Division I competetion.

North Dakota State is a really really good team...they would have finished in the top half of the MVC easily this season. 1 of their 2 league losses was at Oakland.

Oral Roberts overall record was not that great because they played an absolutely brutal non-conference schedule...so brutal that Pomeroy has it rated as the toughest non-conference schedule in the country. Oakland lost a couple games on the road early in conference play that they had no business losing, so that cost them a shot at 2nd in the Summit. They did take ORU to OT on the road, and ORU won 35 straight conference games at home until NDSU came from behind to beat them at the end the last game of the season.

I've seen Oakland play several times the past couple years. If we do not stay on Kangas, and/or if DC and SS do not show up, this game is not likely to turn out well for BU. If we do stay on Kangas, and DC and SS do show up to play, we should handle Oakland.

Remember too, we did lose handily to the last place team in the Summit, so what business do we have taking any of that league's teams lightly?

[BradleyBrave]

Remember too, we did lose handily to the last place team in the Summit, so what business do we have taking any of that league's teams lightly?

Exactly. One could argue that game kept us out of the NIT, as we'd have had 19 regular season wins and an RPI several spots higher had we not mailed it in against UMKC.

[BradleyBrave]

The Chicago Tribune has a nice preview of tomorrow's game. BU is trying to win 20 games 4 years in a row for the first time since a streak of 6 straight 20 win seasons ended in 1962.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-23-bradley-oakland-college-insidmar23,0,6674612.story

[Da Coach]

Remember too, we did lose handily to the last place team in the Summit, so what business do we have taking any of that league's teams lightly?

Just to be fair, the best player on the UMKC team, Reggie Hamilton quit the team midway through the season, and that had a lot to do with how poorly they played in their conference. They were a much better team early in the season

They beat Wichita State 66-63 back on Nov. 19 at Koch Arena .
And they played Kansas tough back on Nov. 16. They were tied at halftime, but faded at the end.

[BradleyBrave]

Just to be fair, the best player on the UMKC team, Reggie Hamilton quit the team midway through the season, and that had a lot to do with how poorly they played in their conference. They were a much better team early in the season

They beat Wichita State 66-63 back on Nov. 19 at Koch Arena .
And they played Kansas tough back on Nov. 16. They were tied at halftime, but faded at the end.

They were still terrible and a team we should never lose to. The game wasn't competitive and was by far UMKC's largest margin of victory for the year.

[Da Coach]

UMKC was a bad loss, but they were a much better team at that early point of the season.
UMKC also won AT Wichita State just prior to beating Bradley on a neutral court. Wichita State was 14-3 at home this season. The only 2 other teams that won there this season were Bradley and SIU.

And they played tough at Kansas early, too.
Sometimes teams play bad and get upset, like Bradley did against UMKC.
I know some won't accept it as an excuse, but Bradley was adjusting to playing with a lot of new players early in the season, and without Andrew Warren.

If someone thinks that the Bradley loss to UMKC, coupled with the fact the Oakland beat UMKC at Oakland the only time they met, is somehow proof that Oakland is better than Bradley is simply foolish.