Main glaring factor why this team blows leads

[jasonpeoria911]

Maybe you can blame the coach for not developing more bench players but our bench quality is a huge factor in why this team blows so many leads. Virtually every loss, our bench has been outperformed.

One thing is for sure though, this team is going to be dead on the Saturday if they happen to win Friday down in STL.

They were just flat out tired the last 10 minutes of the game tonight. When your players get tired, your shots won't fall and the rebounding will be non-existant. We need at least 1 or 2 more players off the bench but the problem is, we have no bench scoring. They may be ok on defense but then our offense stalls. Some stats below...

@ IL State (was slaughtered) = Out rebounded by 20 with 18 offensive boards.
ISU bench had 9 points and 17 boards. (5 bench players)
Bradley bench had 14 points and 8 boards. (6 bench players)

Vs IL State (blew lead, lost by 1) = Out rebounded by 13 with 17 offensive boards.
ISU bench had 26 points and 13 boards. (4 bench players on 55 mins)
Bradley bench had 11 points and 3 boards. (3 bench players on 43 mins)

Vs Creighton (blew lead, lost by 5) = was +15 on the boards but the depth clearly showed...
Creighton bench had 27 points and 10 boards. (6 bench players on 85 mins)
Bradley bench had 7 points and 9 boards. (3 bench players on 41 mins)

@ UNI (had brief lead, lost by 2) = was +8 on the boards but the depth again...
UNI bench had 10 points and 9 boards. (5 bench players on 53 mins)
Bradley bench had 6 points and 10 points. (3 bench players on 56 mins)

Vs. SIU (Had colossal lead, lost by 5) = +2 on the boards and the depth again...
SIU bench had 13 points and 7 boards. (4 bench players on 60 mins)
Bradley bench had 4 points and 6 boards. (4 bench players on 43 mins)

Bradley has rebounded well against the other teams in the Valley but without a couple solid bench players, they are not going to last long down in STL. They were pushed to the max against a solid team tonight and just plain wore out the final 10 minutes. I foresee a 5th or 6th place finish for BU and our usual STL time slot.

Jason

[bigdaddystuck]

Agree. I said on a different thread....As it stands now this team, playing the way it has, can't put 3 days back, to back, to back together. I just don't see it happening. We can't string good games together spread out over a week!

[BradleyJD]

Agree. I said on a different thread....As it stands now this team, playing the way it has, can't put 3 days back, to back, to back together. I just don't see it happening. We can't string good games together spread out over a week!

Right now, BU is not putting 40 minutes together, let alone 120 minutes.

[chitown fanatic]

As good a player as TB is, it would be nice if he could hit a big shot when we need it. That's at least twice he's missed an open jumper from the free throw line, not to mention going ice cold the last 9 minutes of the game. Not sayin the game was on him, as the entire tam froze up as usual at the end of the game, but it would be nice to see a clutch shot from someone other than Sam.
We lost again because once again we came out of the locker room in the 2nd half and played lackadaisical defense. Our 10 point lead was down to 1 in 2 minutes. That just can't happen. they weren't tired with 18 minutes left in the game. these are 20 year old kids. this is simply a lack of focus. It's clear that this team just simply doesn't get it. The only advantage we have now is that UNI can clinc tonight and shouldn't have much interest on Saturday, a game we have to have to avoid Thursday.(man, I'm getting tired of having to write that!)

[bu fan 9]

Warren didn't show up for the second half.

[bigdaddystuck]

Aside from SM...nobody showed up from the 9 min on in the second half!

[BradleyJD]

Aside from SM...nobody showed up from the 9 min on in the second half!

That is correct! Very very disappointing, but no longer surprising.

[real fan]

We have little bench depth and only DSE is able to score more then 6points off the bench, we also give up too much size when Taylor comes out, this was the year that we were suppose to have depth but Thompson and Milos rarely play so we end up lacking in size.
We have a good starting lineup returning but if we don"t get out and pickup a couple of players that can bang inside we could be looking at the same problems next season with our starters playing 35 plus minutes with little help from our bench.

[midstateknowitall]

Les has never really gone deep into his bench. Also, if Im a Banger why would you ever come to Bradley. All the big guys do in this offense is set screens around the perimeter....They never post up and actually get a meaningful touch...

Im sorry but enough is enough.... I think its time for something new!!!!

[SaintLouBrave22]

Poor Bench Depth + Poor Late In Game Coaching = Many Disappointing Close Losses

[LittleBrave]

You can see it in the eyes of the players - ISU is way more confident than BU and never loses their poise. With the exception of SM and DSE - they are confident guys who EXPECT to make plays.
Second chance points have been the killer - I saw it unravel last season vs. ODU - thought we'd correct it, but get thrown around by the other team's bigs in the tougher games.
If we had crashed the boards in the second half, SM's clutch 3-ball would have been what BU fans would be talkin' about today.

[BradleyDU4]

Les has never really gone deep into his bench. Also, if Im a Banger why would you ever come to Bradley. All the big guys do in this offense is set screens around the perimeter....They never post up and actually get a meaningful touch...

Im sorry but enough is enough.... I think its time for something new!!!!

Agreed, the system of offense we run isnt attractive to any big men. WE has shown some skill and ability to score, yet we barely ever attempt to get the ball inside. I feel like more and more we are relying on SM, which hes been great lately, dont get me wrong, however hes one player trying to make an entire offense click it seems. I think that became apparent at the end of the game when he tried going to the hoop about 4 straight times, he knows his help is really limited.

[SaintLouBrave22]

You can see it in the eyes of the players - ISU is way more confident than BU and never loses their poise. With the exception of SM and DSE - they are confident guys who EXPECT to make plays.
Second chance points have been the killer - I saw it unravel last season vs. ODU - thought we'd correct it, but get thrown around by the other team's bigs in the tougher games.
If we had crashed the boards in the second half, SM's clutch 3-ball would have been what BU fans would be talkin' about today.

It certainly helps ISU when they have Odiakosa, Carmichael, and Hill on the floor when we have the 3 and sometimes 4 guards, Brown, and Egolf....

With the system we run and the fact that we on most occasions play 2-3 players out of position, we're not going to beat the good teams more times than not...plus add to that our lack of bench depth, it makes for a bad coctail of disaster.