The 2 missing pieces

[brocks]

Seems to me that Bradley is 2 pieces away from being exceptional, and possibly even ranked.

One: a zone-busting shooter (or 2). Two: a serviceable inside presence.

Now, let me say at the outset: those are two BIG pieces.

Warren is back, and Eastman is in. Does their presenece make Sammy Man a better shooter, too? If that all falls into place, teams will finally pay for staying in a zone for 30+ minutes.

The second piece is more problematic, IMO. No sign at all that AT is ready. But WE will be back (100%?). SS will be the most experienced big in the history of DI hoops, but we know his limitations. Hate to "put pressure" on newbies, but for BU to be really special next season, I do believe that JP and MK will have to make immediate impacts. Or at least one (more likely JP, I think).

Put another way, I think the zone problem will be addressed. If we can just get SOMEONE . . . .ANYONE to step up inside, it's back to the Big Dance.

[ser_solace]

lol. That seems like pretty important stuff to have. The frustrating thing about this most recent year was that we weren't that proficient in either category, and usually, you'd expect strengths in one or the other at least.

Warren should make a huge difference. Maniscalco's shooting I think would improve with another good shooter on the floor. And maybe Chris Roberts can improve his outside shot for next season. (Practice those 75' shots, Chris!).

[BUFAN]

You forgot the third and to me by far the biggest piece, defence. We couldn't stop any one last year and we lost our only inside presence in DC and our only outside in your face defender TW and we all saw what ODU was able to do. We will consistantly see teams score 85-88 points against us next year unless we pull a Mo and let the air out. JL likes to put it up and we don't have any rebounders or defenders and I'm afraid it could get uguly...

[real fan]

Milos is suppose to be a very good outside shooter.

[Out of Balance]

Seems to me that Bradley is 2 pieces away from being exceptional, and possibly even ranked.

One: a zone-busting shooter (or 2). Two: a serviceable inside presence.

Now, let me say at the outset: those are two BIG pieces.

Warren is back, and Eastman is in. Does their presenece make Sammy Man a better shooter, too? If that all falls into place, teams will finally pay for staying in a zone for 30+ minutes.

The second piece is more problematic, IMO. No sign at all that AT is ready. But WE will be back (100%?). SS will be the most experienced big in the history of DI hoops, but we know his limitations. Hate to "put pressure" on newbies, but for BU to be really special next season, I do believe that JP and MK will have to make immediate impacts. Or at least one (more likely JP, I think).

Put another way, I think the zone problem will be addressed. If we can just get SOMEONE . . . .ANYONE to step up inside, it's back to the Big Dance.

I agree that we need long range shooters. Two on the court at all times. You are absolutely correct until we have the out side game, the 30 plus minutes of zone won't go away! Even in the ODU game if we hit our threes that zone with the 3 bigs camping under the basket goes away real fast and I think we win that game easy.
As for the inside play, we played with one big and a 6'5 guy playing out position. I think pointing the finger a DC, SS and TW was not the real trouble. When you have teams in a deep zone (as we seen all year, as you say for 25 to 35 minutes a game) that makes the #'s for rebounding, and double teaming inside, in their favor. If we had been better at nailing the outside shots our inside game would have been a lot better, rebounding and scoring. The inside game can be as good as it can be but until we have a outside game, more deeper zone!

[mrcoachdude]

Looks like we have these guys that will be able to hit the outside shot, and with that many that can knock it down, it should take pressure off of one or two guys....

SamM
DodieD
JakeE
MilosK
AndrewW
EgdeM should improve in this area as well....

And even WillE can shoot the ball pretty well.....we have not seen that side of him and may not.....

[Out of Balance]

Looks like we have these guys that will be able to hit the outside shot, and with that many that can knock it down, it should take pressure off of one or two guys....

SamM
DodieD
JakeE
MilosK
AndrewW
EgdeM should improve in this area as well....

And even WillE can shoot the ball pretty well.....we have not seen that side of him and may not.....

Thats looking good! Egde needs to get the 3 shot down better. As for WE, I agree on his short shot but his 3, I think he is 0 for 17. Maybe if he makes that first one, that will be all he needs. Keep shooting WE

[shaunguth]

Looks like we have these guys that will be able to hit the outside shot, and with that many that can knock it down, it should take pressure off of one or two guys....

SamM
DodieD
JakeE
MilosK
AndrewW
EgdeM should improve in this area as well....

And even WillE can shoot the ball pretty well.....we have not seen that side of him and may not.....

Don't forget about Roberts! He shot the 3rd most three pointers on the team and made 34% of them.

[shaunguth]

Seems to me that Bradley is 2 pieces away from being exceptional, and possibly even ranked.

One: a zone-busting shooter (or 2). Two: a serviceable inside presence.

Now, let me say at the outset: those are two BIG pieces.

Warren is back, and Eastman is in. Does their presenece make Sammy Man a better shooter, too? If that all falls into place, teams will finally pay for staying in a zone for 30+ minutes.

The second piece is more problematic, IMO. No sign at all that AT is ready. But WE will be back (100%?). SS will be the most experienced big in the history of DI hoops, but we know his limitations. Hate to "put pressure" on newbies, but for BU to be really special next season, I do believe that JP and MK will have to make immediate impacts. Or at least one (more likely JP, I think).

Put another way, I think the zone problem will be addressed. If we can just get SOMEONE . . . .ANYONE to step up inside, it's back to the Big Dance.

If you're talking about three-pointers, it should help a little. Sammy shot 36.7% when he played with Crouch and Warren. His shooting percentage only fell to 34.5% this season, so it's not like he started missing everything.

[SFP]

Looks like we have these guys that will be able to hit the outside shot, and with that many that can knock it down, it should take pressure off of one or two guys....

SamM
DodieD
JakeE
MilosK
AndrewW
EgdeM should improve in this area as well....

And even WillE can shoot the ball pretty well.....we have not seen that side of him and may not.....

If EM starts taking and hitting that wide open top of the key shot then we should be in great shape with our 3 point shooting. I also expect that AW, CR and TB will be able to put pressure on the inside guys by slashing to the rim. Our biggest question mark on the offensive side especially early on will be a big that can score with his back to the rim on a consistant basis. Defensively I'm very concerned with our bigs being able to stop other teams big much more then our shooting.

[Big Mike]

Here is what is returning from last season, plus the addition of AW on 3's for 2009-2010..

This is based on BU career 3's....
____made__att_____%
AW__88____211 @ .417
SM__126 ___356 @ .354
CR __ 36____106 @ .340
DD___49____133 @ .368
EM___20____68 @ 294

now we lose DN 22-67 @ .328.....he only made 2 more than EM for the season taking one less...EM can more than make that up.....DD will hit a lot more with two hands! I think JE will have something to add on the 3 pt shooting as well....as for WE, please stay inside because that's where we need you the most!

[dogsrus]

If EM starts taking and hitting that wide open top of the key shot then we should be in great shape with our 3 point shooting. I also expect that AW, CR and TB will be able to put pressure on the inside guys by slashing to the rim. Our biggest question mark on the offensive side especially early on will be a big that can score with his back to the rim on a consistant basis. Defensively I'm very concerned with our bigs being able to stop other teams big much more then our shooting.

I really think Edge can hit that shot.....he admitted he lost confidence late but its a sweet stroke. We saw it briefly in the CIT.

MANY times underclassmen defer to the upperclassman....maybe Edge is simply a pass first pg but he HAS to take the shot when its there. Again...I think we will see him shot more the next 3 years.

[mrcoachdude]

I really think Edge can hit that shot.....he admitted he lost confidence late but its a sweet stroke. We saw it briefly in the CIT.

MANY times underclassmen defer to the upperclassman....maybe Edge is simply a pass first pg but he HAS to take the shot when its there. Again...I think we will see him shot more the next 3 years.

Agree with you Dru.....

As far as WillE.....Someday I wanna see him take a 3 after we have run the clock down and no one else gets open....he cuts out to the 3 point line and nails a 3 as the other teams 5 is backing down into the lane Swish!

[braveatheart]

I think it is true that knocking down threes will open up the inside game. Other teams won't be able to pack it in and dare us to shoot the three.

I think it is equally important that our point gaurd must be able to hit the three. When EM was struggling with his shot, teams sagged off him. That takes away your ability to drive the lane and makes it easier to gaurd the other 4 players on the floor.

One thing all the teams in the final four have is a good scoring point gaurd. Danny Ruffin did a real good job of this for us. Having to gaurd all 5 guys on the floor is a lot harder than gaurding just four.

SM can make you pay if you back off him and I think EM did at times also. Lets hope they both work on their 3pt shots and improve their percentages next year.

The 3 point shot though is not the answer to everything. The 3 can be a great equalizer for teams that don't have a big inside presence. Even the best shooting teams that rely on it though hit cold spells that cost them games. That is why, IMO, we will need to play 2 forwards and an center if we want to get back in the top 25. If we play 3 or 4 gaurds and rely on the 3 we will hit cold spells and loose games that we shouldn't.

Are we deep enough next year to play G,G,F,F,C? As it stands now probably not. If JW and SH come in 2010 and all the other bigs stay, I think we can play that way in 2010 and 2011. That will be fun.

Even though that is probably not in the cards next year, we will shoot the three better and thus should be a better team. Go Braves!

[Fansince69]

IMO-I am not as concerned with playing with 2 big men on the floor at one time during the conference season as it's been proven this past season Bradley is competitive with every MVC opponet. It may be the difference maker in helping to win the conference championship but my main concern is our non-conference schedule early in the year. With the likes of Iowa St., BYU, Okla.St., Utah and hopefully IL., if JL does not try to match up with big men against them, I believe we may miss out on a truely great opportunity to have success against some quality teams. Our non-conference schedule will set our RPI ranking going into conference play and change little during league play I believe.