Braves come back and beat NIU 66-63

[Chico]

Out boarded by 12. That beat goes on and on and on. 8-16 from the ft line, that is very familar too.

3 pt win over a team who will struggle to win double digits this season.

Why are we taking the air out of the ball with 3 minutes to play? 17 - 2 run and we decide to stop essentially playing offense.

I guess a win is a win.

My thoughts exactly. You beat me to it. I don't ever remember being critical of JL on this board before, but IMO we let NIU back in the game by not having the killer instinct and that's something this team is going to need.

[OrangeandBlack74]

Why are we taking the air out of the ball with 3 minutes to play? 17 - 2 run and we decide to stop essentially playing offense.

Agreed! Too much time left and not a big enough lead. Clock management needs to improve for BU to win games like this against a better opponent.

[Beninator]

This was one game where I will admit - if I was a NIU fan I'd have been ticked at the refs...
Rucker was whistled for a lot of travelling and offensive fouls -- not sure they were all good calls......
and the fact that Silas missed most of the 1st half with fouls helped keep us in the game.

But I'd like to know if we have a play for when we need to eat the clock -- and hold the ball for 30 seconds...
because each time down the stretch that we did that, when we get to about 30 seconds.. Sammy just uncorks a wild one and it looks like we have no plan..

Also with just a few seconds left and we're inbounding...I have a suggestion...
let Dodie inbounds the ball to Sammy -- NOT the other way around!!
Geez...you know you're going to get fouled and sent to the line -- so why not get the ball into the hands of your 85% FT shooter?? Is this such a foreign concept??

Let me check... Is it April 1

BTW, we really need a couple of inbounds plays!

[BradleyDU4]

Agreed! Too much time left and not a big enough lead. Clock management needs to improve for BU to win games like this against a better opponent.

I have never understood slowing down an offense like ours that was on such a good run to the point where the shot clock is below ten and we are still standing near half court waiting to run a play. I understand needing to waste some time, but getting quality looks like we were is more important than completely stalling to kill a few seconds IMO.

On another note, MK looks absolutely like he has no clue and it scares me every time he hits the floor. I understand our depth has taken a hit but there has to be some more reliable option, even if it means more minutes for our core guys.

[Chico]

1 more thing....

The Band......LET THEM PLAY.

During one timeout they were trying to play but were being drowned out by the Yin Yang Twins blaring on the Speakers.....Really??

I agree, let them play. I bet 4 times tonight I heard the PA announcer remind all season ticket holders that the number on the back of their ticket was 58. Don't you think we know that. I know I get chewed out for wanting the Fight Song played more, but with 9:04 left on the clock the Braves were on a run and the crowd was finally into the game. NIU called a time out. Most everyone was on their feet. Now is the time for the Fight Song, because that is the only time the crowd stands as soon as it's played. But no, we had to listen to de, de, de, de, de. Wasn't at the 4 minute mark I guess.

[romar]

I have to say that AW's scoring was good, BUT I really liked his defensive effort when he was matched up with Rucker. Thought he really showed good strength and could only remember one time where he scored on AW. Don't think last years model of AW would have shown the same cahones.

WE WTF? Just cause you room with TB doesn't mean you have to pick up his bad "coaches decision" suspensions habit. On the TV broadcast CK kept saying that NIU was doing this with Silas missing 1st half minutes - DUH, WE was missing the entire 1st half too.

WL - good defense, some questionable decisions on O. Still impressive for a Frosh. Reminds me of the spark DSE brought to the team last year. Hopefully he doesn't catch the JC sophmoritis virus.

Think I'm in the minority, but thought that AT gave BU some decent minutes in the paint defensively and altered/blocked a few shots and tried to battle for postion. If he can provide a blow for JP/WE of about 2-4 minutes a half, that would be awesome.

Finally, JL's "shoot yourself in the foot" moment of the night was pulling the NIU team out of a zone you had just figured out how to torch for about 12 straight points. They said on TV the idea was to get them into Man to run the clock down? I think it would have been just as easy to leave them in the zone and swing it around the perimeter until you get a good shot and keep them on their heals.

Oh & someone said BU didn't feed the post until WE's shot. There were 2-3 passes into the post in the first half that were either poorly timed or too low to handle. I know AT fumbled two and at least one other was out of JP's reach. If everytime you try to put it into the post it gets fumbled away, you stop trying. Until the bigs start rewarding the passes with baskets, the game in the post will suffer. Reminds me of the Bears running the ball, think sticking to it would help keep teams from standing on the 3 point line all night defending.

[BUfan14]

On another note, MK looks absolutely like he has no clue and it scares me every time he hits the floor. I understand our depth has taken a hit but there has to be some more reliable option, even if it means more minutes for our core guys.

I would have never thought he'd be at this point as well as he started last year....I hope he figures it out soon. We could use a contribution from him.

[Beninator]

Looked ugly, Sam got us back in it. We barely finished. I want to see more of JP and WE at the same time. We might need to un-redshirt AD if MK can't give us something and AD can. DSE fell back to earth IMO.

Re WE and JP: I have been saying this since day 1!

Re AD, have we announced a redshirt for him? It looked as if he dressed for the game tonight. I realize that he can't play any minutes for a redshirt, but found it curious that he would be in a uniform.

[amckillip]

Re WE and JP: I have been saying this since day 1!

Re AD, have we announced a redshirt for him? It looked as if he dressed for the game tonight. I realize that he can't play any minutes for a redshirt, but found it curious that he would be in a uniform.

No need to announce a redshirt. If he doesn't enter, he's eligible for a RS.

[real fan]

My thoughts after the game:
How many times have we blown games at home because Les stops our momentum by having us run the clock down with 3 minutes plus at the end of the game, we never made another field goal after we started into our delay and came very close to blowing another game at home, we had the freaking ball and were on a great run playing our best when he decided to slow us down, when is he going to learn from his previous mistakes of doing this?
Tired of suspensions , you recruited these guys so it is up to the coach to make sure this quits happening as we are so short handed already .
M.K. and A.T. do not contribute much and are a liability every time they enter a game, if A.Davis is not red-shirting then get him in as he will not do any worse, if he is not ready then that falls on the coaching staff for not having him prepared as he should at least be able to play 4 minutes a half, will never get better by not playing against competition.
The defense was better but the rebounding was terrible and kept NIU in the game with 2nd chance points, refs made a lot of bad calls both ways so I disagree with T. , Warren going for a loose ball and got knocked down from behind yet somehow committed a foul on the play, the bad calls seemed to even out .
Nice we got a win and did show some improvement and will have to play better tomorrow night in order to get another w.

[jasonpeoria911]

Well... 2 things are for certain this season.

1.) This is a 5th place or worse Valley team. With Brown, it would probably make it 4th or higher.

2.) Were going to get slaughtered, murdered and annihalated by Duke. Probably 35-50 points and get out rebounded by 25 or more.

Two things they desperately need to work on, rebounding and less perimeter play. They have the speed of the guards, put a couple big men out there to set some good screens and then penetrate the lane. Lemon and DSE would be perfect for this.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why Les only played Lemon 15 minutes tonight. He out hustled and out played most of the lineup per game minutes. This dude is the real deal, give him 25+ minutes a game. Still needs to work on his 3 point shot, but at least he's attempting to find his range and work on it. He seems like the type of kid that is the 1st to practice and last to leave.

Jason

[bigjimmy]

2-0. It's not often you get outrebounded by double digits and shoot 50% from the FT line at home and win. Still have the same problem at the end of close games. But a win is a win no matter how it comes. Hopefully winning ugly continues against Loyola Maramount tomorrow night.

[thefish7]

No need to announce a redshirt. If he doesn't enter, he's eligible for a RS.

Yeah, in previous years non-medical redshirt guys have always dressed, they just don't play. I'm pretty sure if a player never appears you don't even have to "apply" for a redshirt even, the guy just gets one.

[thefish7]

Bring back the Swing March!!!!

Still haven't gotten to a regular season game due to travel (that'll continue tomorrow too, darn it), what happened to the Swing March? It's sorta my favorite thing at times.

[jasonpeoria911]

Instead of Swing March, they just play the intro song until tip off. Not sure why they are not letting the band play as much this season. Perhaps a band member can chime in.

Jason