Bradley basketball nursing injuries...2 out of 3 ain't bad

[BuAlum03]

C'mon... no better than 4th? We have 2 other all-conference candidates, and this is not a season-ending injury. We have DSE who is severely underrated and keep hearing how our bigs will surprise everybody.

I don't care if it's w/out SM. I expect better.

[houstontxbrave]

I've been worrying about this a lot. Sam brings a ton to the table and will be one of our stars if he's playing. I'm a big DSE fan, but those would be enormous shoes to have to fill. Sam is tough so I'm sure he'll be doing his best to put it all out there on the court every night. However, I keep thinking back to the beginning of last season when he was struggling because his ankle(s?) just wasn't there for him. I'll be pulling for him all season to be able to have a big senior year so he can conclude an excellent Bradley career.

Injuries happen, eventually someone on this squad will have to fill SM's shoes next year, so if he is not able to perform, that person steps up and has to perform this season. I doubt DSE is not confident he can do the job, I am equally confident he can do the job.

Losing SM will not be great, but if he is having issues with mobility well his lateral defense is already an issue, someone will need to step up and run the team and play solid on the ball defense. I think DSE will be more the capable of filling any minutes that SM misses.

[tornado]

Injuries happen, eventually someone on this squad will have to fill SM's shoes next year, so if he is not able to perform, that person steps up and has to perform this season....

has the sky fallen yet?? Sammy played through ankle problems last year and unless he flat out unable to walk, I think he's gonna give it a try this year, too..

[houstontxbrave]

has the sky fallen yet?? Sammy played through ankle problems last year and unless he flat out unable to walk, I think he's gonna give it a try this year, too..

No the sky has not fallen.

How did you get the sky is falling from?:

"Injuries happen, eventually someone on this squad will have to fill SM's shoes next year, so if he is not able to perform, that person steps up and has to perform this season."

Exactly what part of that sentence indicates the sky has fallen?

[bu fan 9]

It is hard to win without a point guard he will be hard to replace.

[thefish7]

Injuries happen, eventually someone on this squad will have to fill SM's shoes next year, so if he is not able to perform, that person steps up and has to perform this season. I doubt DSE is not confident he can do the job, I am equally confident he can do the job.

Losing SM will not be great, but if he is having issues with mobility well his lateral defense is already an issue, someone will need to step up and run the team and play solid on the ball defense. I think DSE will be more the capable of filling any minutes that SM misses.

Understand, but the Braves are a worse team without Sam Maniscalco. DSE is one of my favorite players, and I have great expectations for him, but even if does prove capable of replacing SM's contribution (in the event that SM is unable to play-- and I'm skeptical he can replace that contribution, btw), who then replaces DSE's minutes? I've picked BU second in the MVC, and I believe they could actually win the league if things worked out right. This is far less likely if SM misses a bunch of time.

[LittleBrave]

I'm still picking BU 4th in the Valley, no matter if SM is healthy or not.
The possibility of exceeding my expectations is less though, if Sammy is not healthy for most of the season.

[BradleyJD]

Does it make us worse if he is limited? Yes. But I have confidence in the supporting cast (no pun intended).

I don't necessarily tone down my expectations of being in the running for the conference title. People need to step up. It's hard to say right now because we don't even know how good we are. All talk at this point, except for those who saw us against Iowa State.

I suspect that the more quality minutes we can get out of the other guards, the better Sammy will be when he is in there, if that makes any sense.

Exactly correct. TEAMS win championships, not one player.

People do need to step up....

IF Sammy is hurt, we go 9 deep at guard!

Four of the other guards have gotten solid minutes...Dodie, AW, DSE, and Jake. Then you have another 4 who could at least spell a few minutes here and there.

I told a friend at the Hoopla event that I expected Sammy wouldn't be the BU pg by the end of the season anyway. Bradley has depth and will be able to use it IF Sammy is out occasionally.

But, we don't even know if Sammy will miss any real time.

[shaunguth]

I think that even without SM we should beat the "easier" teams on the schedule. However, that's a matter of those games working out to be the same nights SM is unable to give the 110% that we're used to seeing. We really do need him when it comes to competing with the better teams on the schedule.

That said.....if he's able to play in 2/3 of the games (preferrably sitting out the easier games) and only play 20 minutes in those games, then I think we should be ok and will be better off for it at the end of the season.

[Da Coach]

Exactly correct. TEAMS win championships, not one player.

People do need to step up....

IF Sammy is hurt, we go 9 deep at guard!

Four of the other guards have gotten solid minutes...Dodie, AW, DSE, and Jake. Then you have another 4 who could at least spell a few minutes here and there.

How do you get "9 deep at guard" without Sam? No matter how you count, there are only a maximum of 8 other guards on the roster, and none of those are true point guards. The ones who have the capability of filling in briefly there have extremely limited experience at point (DSE, DD, and maybe WL- AW and JE have never played PG). And among the "another 4" you are referring to are 3 walkons (Charonn Woods, Jordan Brown, Aaron Ganson) who will not see any meaningful playing time.
I am not sure many fans here would agree that we can replace All-MVC, senior point guard Sam Maniscalco with a variety of inexperienced combo and walkon guards.
Regardless of how you analyze it, if Bradley had to play this season without Sam, it would seriously hurt them, and would cost them many games.

[BradleyJD]

How do you get "9 deep at guard" without Sam? No matter how you count, there are only a maximum of 8 other guards on the roster, and none of those are true point guards. The ones who have the capability of filling in briefly there have extremely limited experience at point (DSE, DD, and maybe WL- AW and JE have never played PG). And among the "another 4" you are referring to are 3 walkons (Charonn Woods, Jordan Brown, Aaron Ganson) who will not see any meaningful playing time.
I am not sure many fans here would agree that we can replace All-MVC, senior point guard Sam Maniscalco with a variety of inexperienced combo and walkon guards.
Regardless of how you analyze it, if Bradley had to play this season without Sam, it would seriously hurt them, and would cost them many games.

I said we were 9 deep at guard. That is including Sam.

Sorry if you do not think any of the other 8 guards are capable of playing pg, but I think they can.

If I remember correctly, Sammy did not play every minute last season. I think I remember him being out of the game at various times last year and we still managed to field a team WITH someone else at the pg position.

Regardless of how you analyze it, if Bradley had to play this season without Sam, it would seriously hurt them, and would cost them many games.

I also believe that with Jimmy and Willie coaching whoever the guards are, that several of our guards could lead this team at PG. You have two highly-skilled former point guards to learn from with JL and WS. I have complete faith that BU could still win games w/o Sammy.

I may knock JL from time to time, but I think he can coach guards.

[ER3]

Regardless of how you analyze it, if Bradley had to play this season without Sam, it would seriously hurt them, and would cost them many games.

Love it...The excuse-wagon is already warming up in the driveway and we haven't even played our first exhibition game...
If only, if only, we coulda-woulda-shoulda been a contender...

[mrcoachdude]

Love it...The excuse-wagon is already warming up in the driveway and we haven't even played our first exhibition game...
If only, if only, we coulda-woulda-shoulda been a contender...

I am not sure that we are goingto lose Sam for any games...but if we did, I can not see how you could say it would not hurt this squad...but I also do not think it has to cost us "games" lost either.

Here's to a good decision and thoughts from other Doctors...

[tornado]

..
If only, if only, we coulda-woulda-shoulda been a contender...

talk about getting started even before the 1st exhibition -- you are the leading edge in the...
"Bradley should be better and I don't wanna hear excuses" crowd...
..I can see it now -- you're actually hoping for a couple serious injuries so you can drag out your displeasure about how BU did and claim you can't use excuses..

As for me...I want our guys to be healthy and will be positive and supporting regardless....

[Buesch N Chips]

Love it...The excuse-wagon is already warming up in the driveway and we haven't even played our first exhibition game...
If only, if only, we coulda-woulda-shoulda been a contender...

I understand what you are saying, and I agree that if Sam is limited we still should compete, but if there are people who say that injuries won't make us worse...



Injuries have been incredibly frustrating to deal with the past few years, but we cannot just start ignoring them. That's lazy. Without knowing anything about the situation, I predict Sam will be just as healthy as he was last year.