Indiana State writer can't believe Sycamores are picked behind Bradley

[Da Coach]

Here is an article from a columnist for the Indiana Statesman, the student newspaper for Indiana State University. He reacts to the polls for the men's and women's teams at the MVC Media Day yesterday. He is upset that the Sycamores' women's team was picked 5th.
He claims "Women's (team) should have been top three, easy".

But when the Sycamores' men's team was picked 7th, right behind Bradley, he said,
"So here comes the funny/crazy part, that's my opinion. HOW IN THE WORLD ARE THESE TEAMS NOT COMPARABLE? It makes no sense that teams like Bradley are beating out the men's team".

Note that last year's Indiana State finished with a 11-21 record, and 7-11 in the MVC, ahead of only 10th place Missouri State.
Bradley finished 21-15, and 10-8 in the MVC, behind only UNI, CU, and ISU.
Bradley also easily beat Indiana State twice last year, by 11 and 12 point margins. Yes, we know they have Jake Kelly this year, but Bradley will have Andrew Warren back. BU lost Theron Wilson, but InSU lost Jay Tunnell, their 2nd leading scorer, and leading rebounder from last year, leaving them very thin in their frontline.
It's nice to see optimism at Indiana State, and their 7th place preseason pick is the highest they've been picked since 2002, but does anyone else think they should have been picked ahead of Bradley?

http://media.www.indianastatesman.com/media/storage/paper929/news/2009/10/28/Sports/Sycamores.Snubbed.In.Mvc.Preseason.Coaches.Poll-3815231.shtml#4

[BradleyBrave]

Unless Marico Stinson is coming back, I am not sure what this guy's beef is with us. Did he not see that SIU and WSU were also picked ahead of his beloved Sycs?

[chitown fanatic]

This is written like a 2nd grader. How many times can he use the word "explosive" in a column? Does he have any other adjectives in his vocabulary? And can we stop with the great Jake Kelly?? Trees are picked right where they're supposed to be...playing in as usual. The loss of Thunnel hurts more than they know right now....let's just hope our loss of wilson doesn't hurt us more than we know. TB will have to be a force on the boards as our rebounding could be a major problem...again.

[it's boogie time]

I could see how somebody could doubt the Braves if they don't look too deep into the program. BU was an average team last year and they lost their best scorer and rebounder. The point guard admitted to going through the motions. The center didn't do too much and now he is gone. They didn't shoot too well. None of the recruits are slated to step in to starting spots and make a big difference. On paper, there isn't too much to suggest that Taylor Brown (3.3ppg,3.0rpg) is going to do much.

It looks like a bunch of teams are going to be much better than last year. Indiana State has an early matchup at LSU. We'll find out quickly if this author is correct and they are a top 3 team. I don't see it, but I don't follow Indiana State too closely.

[SaintLouBrave22]

TB will have to be a force on the boards as our rebounding could be a major problem...again.

Didn't T3 already lead the team in rebounding while he was in games last year as a Freshman?

Also, I'm not concerned bc minus Theron, the guys we brought in all rebound better than the stiff we lost.


Even the 2 guards we brought in rebound well

[tornado]

I will debate a few points the guy makes...

**"The men's team also has a deep team. They started off rough last year but caught fire later in the season."--- well if by "caught fire" he means played a little better against the bottom teams in the Valley, then so be it.
But here are facts...
Indiana State was 11-21 and 7-11 in the Valley. They did win 7 of their final nine but those 7 opponents were:
an OT win against contender ISU, then wins over Drake, Missouri State, SIU, Toledo, Missouri State, and Drake again.
So only ONE of their 7 late season wins was against a contender or a team above 7th place in the league.
Toledo BTW was hideous, and played InSU having lost 16 of their previous 19 games on the way to a miserable 7-25 season.

**as for being deep...again that's open to interpretation, as they return only two players who averaged over 7.6 ppg.
They do add three new guys, transfers Kelly and Lathan and redshirt Duluony, but BU returns FIVE guards who likely could start on any other team in ther MVC!
Indiana State does NOT have a single big man who averaged more than 4 ppg or 3 rpg.
Lots of people rip on BU for being shallow in the paint, but at least we have THREE returning players whose averages exceed those numbers (TB, WE, SS).
Lastly, InSU returns only ONE player who played more 900 minutes total and 25 mpg last year (Reed) while BU returns four, plus AW who is also adds to depth.

**Lastly...look at track record...
BU has at least been right there the past four years, battling among the contenders in the Valley and going to the post season averaging almost 22 wins per year...and BU returns 5 of their top 6 scorers.
By contrast, InSU hasn't been smiilarly hampered like BU losing their best player every year, yet they still averaged only 6 Valley wins, a 9-10th place finish, and no post season.
In fact, a bigger travesty would have been if the Sycamores were ranked ahead of Bradley based on hype alone centered on transfers and new guys!

in the end..it's all just hype and preseason talk...
so why the Sycamore guy is so "angry" is beyond me...indeed..
"this will be the most angry and ticked off you will ever see me"..he says.
BU and the Valley in general have been disrespected perennially, and instead of whining about it...we go out and do something.
We build up BradleyFans and other ways to support the team and we help our team...
we promote and talk up our team, we encourage others via the board, other web sites, e mails, PM's, and face to face to get out and support the Braves.
AND we fill the seats....we average 10K and a ton of red-clad BU fans follow the team on the road...
when's the last time more than one or two Sycamore-blue fans were spotted anywhere...?
you guys don't even average 4000 butts in the seats at home....so come back and talk when you do..

we do things, we don't just whine..

[PTownHawkeye]

The writer of that article is explosively uninformed. If you compare the two teams, Bradley has an explosive advantage at 4 of the 5 positions, better homecourt advantage, past record of success, an explosive lead in the series over the past 5 years, Andrew Warren returning along with an explosive portion of the offense, and I could go on and on. I'm a fan of Jake Kelly, but one explosive player does not a great program make. There is no LOGICAL reason for a voter to pick ISUblue over Bradley. NOT ONE. Explosive rants with no actual reasoning should be kept to message boards and newspaper comments, not ACTUAL newspapers.

[TheAsianSensation]

Everyone's mad they're picked below the team ahead of them.

[SaintLouBrave22]

The writer of that article is explosively uninformed. If you compare the two teams, Bradley has an explosive advantage at 4 of the 5 positions, better homecourt advantage, past record of success, an explosive lead in the series over the past 5 years, Andrew Warren returning along with an explosive portion of the offense, and I could go on and on. I'm a fan of Jake Kelly, but one explosive player does not a great program make. There is no LOGICAL reason for a voter to pick ISUblue over Bradley. NOT ONE. Explosive rants with no actual reasoning should be kept to message boards and newspaper comments, not ACTUAL newspapers.

If it came down to one player wouldn't everyone assume Drake would still be in the mix with Josh Young?


Also, I think you forgot to mention "explosive"

[Dubl R 1]

"The men will play their first exhibition game Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. in Hulman Center against Terre Haute rival Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology."

This is ISU's rival now?

[mrcoachdude]

Why they rated BU 6th:

1.No one remembers AW
2.Will who?
3.Taylor B is no where near TW.....

Why we won't finish 6th:

1. AW brings back memories
2. Will stays healthy and is a rebounding machine...
3. Taylor shows they were right (kinda) and exceeds the play of TW....

just more predictions

[Double D]

This is written like a 2nd grader. How many times can he use the word "explosive" in a column? Does he have any other adjectives in his vocabulary? And can we stop with the great Jake Kelly?? Trees are picked right where they're supposed to be...playing in as usual. The loss of Thunnel hurts more than they know right now....let's just hope our loss of wilson doesn't hurt us more than we know. TB will have to be a force on the boards as our rebounding could be a major problem...again.

It only takes one trip to "Terrible Haute" to understand this logic. It is the worst town in the league with by far with the worst support and level of interest.

I know this sounds harsh, but sometimes the truth hurts. Especially when you choose to throw stones.

[georgethedog]

He's a moron. Who cares? Let's play and see.

[shaunguth]

Just a reminder, here's what we are returning this year on a "Per 40" basis. When you factor in WE and AW, along with the fact we won't be depending on a freshman point guard, I'm really not sure how this team is picked to finish in the bottom half of the league (or even worse than last year). Rebounding looks to be the weakest of the returning numbers, but WE and JP should pick up the slack there. Assists/TO should be better this year, which would help offset any decline in steals. Getting any positive minutes from AT would be a huge boost for this team. Can't wait for the games to start!

Season Totals (36 games):

Points
18.4 - Theron Wilson
15.4 - Sam Maniscalco
15.0 - Dodie Dunson
13.4 - Chris Roberts
12.0 - Taylor Brown
11.5 - Darian Norris
10.3 - David Collins
10.2 - Sam Singh
8.9 - Eddren McCain
6.1 - Anthony Thompson

Rebounds
10.6 - Taylor Brown
9.6 - Theron Wilson
9.2 - David Collins
8.7 - Anthony Thompson
7.0 - Sam Singh
6.4 - Chris Roberts
4.2 - Dodie Dunson
4.1 - Eddren McCain
2.6 - Darian Norris
2.3 - Sam Maniscalco

Assists
4.9 - Eddren McCain
3.7 - Sam Maniscalco
2.2 - Theron Wilson
2.0 - Taylor Brown
1.9 - Chris Roberts
1.8 - Dodie Dunson
1.7 - Sam Singh
1.7 - Anthony Thompson
1.7 - Darian Norris
0.9 - David Collins

Turnovers
2.0 - Dodie Dunson
2.4 - Chris Roberts
2.4 - Sam Singh
2.5 - Sam Maniscalco
2.5 - Darian Norris
3.0 - Taylor Brown
3.5 - Theron Wilson
3.5 - Eddren McCain
3.8 - David Collins
5.2 - Anthony Thompson

Blocks
3.5 - Anthony Thompson
3.3 - David Collins
1.0 - Sam Singh
1.0 - Chris Roberts
0.7 - Theron Wilson
0.7 - Taylor Brown

Steals
2.5 - Darian Norris
2.4 - Theron Wilson
2.1 - Sam Singh
1.7 - Chris Roberts
1.6 - Eddren McCain
1.4 - Sam Maniscalco
1.0 - Taylor Brown
0.9 - Dodie Dunson
0.5 - David Collins


The following are not 40-minute projections, but interesting to track as well:

Assists per Turnover
1.5 - Sam Maniscalco
1.4 - Eddren McCain
0.9 - Dodie Dunson
0.8 - Chris Roberts
0.7 - Sam Singh
0.7 - Taylor Brown
0.7 - Darian Norris
0.6 - Theron Wilson
0.3 - Anthony Thompson
0.3 - David Collins

Minutes Played per Foul
14.6 - Sam Maniscalco
14.5 - Dodie Dunson
12.5 - Taylor Brown
12.3 - Eddren McCain
12.3 - Chris Roberts
11.5 - Theron Wilson
11.0 - Darian Norris
8.3 - Sam Singh
6.9 - David Collins
6.6 - Anthony Thompson

[DoubleJayAlum]

The writer of that article is explosively uninformed. If you compare the two teams, Bradley has an explosive advantage at 4 of the 5 positions, better homecourt advantage, past record of success, an explosive lead in the series over the past 5 years, Andrew Warren returning along with an explosive portion of the offense, and I could go on and on. I'm a fan of Jake Kelly, but one explosive player does not a great program make. There is no LOGICAL reason for a voter to pick ISUblue over Bradley. NOT ONE. Explosive rants with no actual reasoning should be kept to message boards and newspaper comments, not ACTUAL newspapers.

In all fairness, Harry Marshall is one hell of a player and would probably find his way into the starting lineup for any team in the conference. I think he is a legitimate candidate for first team all conference. Most of IndySt's struggles in the non-con last year were fueled in part by the fact that Marshall was not eligible until the end of the first semester.