67 Bradley - 75 WCU postgame

[bigdaddystuck]

The team that played better tonight won the game. plain and simple. We did not take advantage of their mistakes...FREETHROWS... and the D was not consistent. I am not in melt down mode...will not make ultimatums, but we need to play better for longer stretches and have to get better on D.

[Out of Balance]

How many times in the last 5 mins, when we were in the 4 guard mode with TB, did we get out rebounded and they got second chances. All this with 6'11, two 6'9 and a 6'8 sitting and watching No wonder SM is gone. we didn't need him

[Big Mike]

Dave Reynolds, PJS....

http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage/x1964353540/It-isn-t-business-as-usual

[Chico]

Bad loss period. You have to beat teams like this at home. We lost at every phase. They played better ball. They made their shots and fts. We got outcoached in the last ten minutes. The refs chose to even it up a bit late in the game. I thought the crowd was very lame. I'm usually louder than that. Students were superweak. The announcer probably had an off night. My point here is that the catamounts came in here and kicked our butts and they deserved to win. May they mop the floor and finish 29-1.

Things to remember. The catamounts are now, I think, 8-1. This may or may not be a bad loss by the end if the season. As a result of wcu's record our rpi almost certainly went up tonight. We still have a chance at a decent at large profile but as TAS Has said we have no margin for error. I recall a similar loss (albeit on the road) during the sweet 16 year. Not sure how it'll turn out. I decided to drink another beer or two and my brother and I burned our tickets in effigy. It was probably stupid but I feel better. Can't change this now and I didn't expect to lose this game after a win against NIU at their place. But let's stick it to loyola and Iowa st and win 15 in the valley. And just to make sure let's win the tourney too.

Hard for the crowd not to be lame when the band stands and waits for the announcer to finish his every time out speel, or some one who can't throw a basketball 10 feet tries to make a 20 footer, etc. Our announcer never has an off night. He did a great job tonight yelling out "2 minutes", just as Sam was putting up a 3 pointer. It's good Sam has good concentration and buried it.

[BU_EMT128]

He did a great job tonight yelling out "2 minutes", just as Sam was putting up a 3 pointer. It's good Sam has good concentration and buried it.

Not really the announcer's fault that Sam took a shot at the 2 minute mark... What was the excuse for the much better look that AW missed about a minute later?

[Braves2011]

My thoughts:
Not a very well coached basketball game.
JL is a good coach.
I think we going to miss Merf, I think he did alot more than we all observed. He's been to the NCAA before so that helps. I know EB works hard, but i think its time we go in a different direction with him not being Associate Head Coach. I think losing this game will help us in the long run. The last 2 games we played good but this is a wake up call. EM played better tonight might not have scored alot but was better defensively. This team we played would be in the Top 3 of the valley. They def. look alot like UNI but quicker

Starting line up should be: WE, TB, DSE, AW, CR : this is the best defensive line up i think we have.

I'm not putting this year to sleep I believe we will learn from this and be better come valley time.

[BU_EMT128]

I'm not putting this year to sleep I believe we will learn from this and be better come valley time.

Didn't we have a bad n/c loss our sweet 16 year....

Loyola-Chicago is ringing a bell...

[jasonpeoria911]

Well our 1/3rd of our season is over for at large wise. Gonna have to dominate in the 2nd part of the season in the Valley.

After every loss, I continuously hear Les say that it wasn't because of the poor FT shooting. It was because of poor offense execution or poor D. Well for once, I want him to own up and take responsibility for his player's poor FREE THROW SHOOTING. The numbers don't lie. Will rarely win a game when you miss 10+ FT's, no matter how good the D is.

A good majority of fans bash Mccain, but at least he was 2 for 2 on FT's tonight, everyone else missed at least 1 FT.

Below is a summary of our 3 losses...

@ BYU, lost by 10 points
Roberts = 5-7 FG
Warren= 4-13
9 missed Free Throws
Brown suspended

@ Vegas against OK. State, lost by 11 points
Roberts = 0-4
Warren = 1-8
10 missed Free Throws

Home vs Western Carolina, lost by 8 points
Roberts = 1-8
Warren = 3-12
14 missed Free Throws

Need to stay sharp on the FT's and get Roberts/Warren back on track before Valley season starts.

Jason

[Chico]

Not really the announcer's fault that Sam took a shot at the 2 minute mark... What was the excuse for the much better look that AW missed about a minute later?

Sam had to take the wide open 3, which I thought I said he buried and it got us within 4 I believe.

[arabbitwhisperer]

Some other things to consider in tonight's loss

Every time out benefited the opposing team and I do not believe this began tonight. This evening, it simply manifested a rather glorious loss. A time out is called. Who called it is no matter. Maybe Bradley was or is enjoying or making a drive. Maybe not. Both teams exit the floor for the small break while the civic center, the band and the cheerleaders do their best at individually and/or collectively completely taking the crowd out of the game. This does not say or mean to imply the band does not know how to play or the cheerleaders do not know how to cheer. No. If either is left any time whatsoever courtesy the ad nauseum announcements for every sort of non-game related event or action going on elsewhere in the arena or world by Paul Herzog, we as fans are entreated to some rock song rendition or rapid fire cheer no one can keep up or cheer with in spite of age or awareness. Oh wow! Tom and Jane Smith got better seats than they paid for originally. This helps the home team in what way? Then there is the race of three icons for every body in the arena to get better food. Okay. Right. This time the crowd benefits. And this helps the men's basketball team go on to win? Some one in the audience is chosen to beat the clock in some kind of all alone half court game. Again, this helps the Bradley Braves how? Need I mention all of the rest of non-help time out shenanigans to make my point? Please. Even the balloon is advertising some business and not championing the Bradley Braves. Oh, but it every now and again drops coupons not worth much more than the paper they were printed on to those catching them after dropped..... ..... ..... All together now: This helps the home team how???

[BU_EMT128]

Every time out benefited the opposing team...

I thought you were talking about the timeouts JL called... Ironically, the statement is true for both..

[buballer82]

BradleyBrave, I was wondering the exact same thing. I looked at my brother in the second half and said, "Why have they stopped going to Taylor?" Even when defense was tight on him in the first half, he created shot after shot with his athleticism. I was very disappointed because you can't stop going to your biggest offensive threat and expect to win.

[SFP]

There was enough blame to go around, JL not calling a TO once the run started, especially after CR through up a quick 3, WE had a terrible uninspired game as I have seen???, AW needs to assert himself for once and not only towards the game, SM was not SM until the end of the game, our D is SOFT.

On the bright side TB is the real deal, EM had his best game, DSE showed us why we love him but is still a freshman and best of all no one got hurt.

BTW..I would have played EM a bit more and sat WE down and inserted SS to throw his weight around. Is SS injured? The team needs to develop cojones!

[Da Coach]

How many times in the last 5 mins, when we were in the 4 guard mode with TB, did we get out rebounded and they got second chances. All this with 6'11, two 6'9 and a 6'8 sitting and watching No wonder SM is gone. we didn't need him

I disagree. We lost the lead and were getting beat the last 10 minutes because they went with 4 guards and started making 3-point shots. That's what forced JL to put another guard (DSE) back into the game and replaced a big. The couple extra offensive rebounds they got late were partly due to odd bounces. We held a rebounding lead until the last minute or so when we started firing long shots.

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynolds, PJS....
http://www.bradleyhoops.com/homepage...iness-as-usual

Dave said in the Braves Briefs section at the bottom that "Dodie Dunson attended his first BU game since breaking his left arm in the Braves’ home opener, against Idaho State."
But I don't think that is correct. Dodie attended the Presbyterian game on 11/24. He wore a black BU polo shirt and sat behind the bench for that game. It appeared he left that game early, which might be why DR missed him.