68 Bradley- 74 TCU in game thread.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Haha, ok, I'll bite again, the technical yesterday was clearly ridiculous. But what were the bad timeouts today?

And you can't have it both ways. You can either blame JL for everything when he loses, but when he wins you have to give him credit. He's 4-1 missing his most dynamic player. I'm not going to convince you, JL will never do right in your eyes, but talk about having your cake and eating it too, jeez.

Yes I point the finger at him more than most but he has known we were without Taylor yet none of the bigs are ever ready to play so it's either on him for not preparing them to play or on him for not recruiting the right players...

Beat a good team and I will change my tune but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest we're more than just a middle of the road team ourselves...

We have two great guards and a few above average ones...not a complete package or enough of one to make a serious run unless someone steps up inside...

So maybe you're right in a sense...maybe I should focus more on the 3 players inside that aren't even carrying half their weight...

Someone needs to step it up in the post, and for me, I hope it's Prosser because I've about seen enough of the other two!

And just so you know...I know JL fairly well...he's a great guy, but a great guy doesn't make him a great coach, just like it doesn't make me a basketball player or an investment banker...

We finish 3rd or higher though and you can have a pointing at me and telling me I'm wrong party...

I'm just not seeing it unless someone miraculously steps up not named Warren or Maniscalco on O or Dunson on D

[amckillip]

Yes I point the finger at him more than most but he has known we were without Taylor yet none of the bigs are ever ready to play so it's either on him for not preparing them to play or on him for not recruiting the right players...

Beat a good team and I will change my tune but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest we're more than just a middle of the road team ourselves...

We have two great guards and a few above average ones...not a complete package or enough of one to make a serious run unless someone steps up inside...

So maybe you're right in a sense...maybe I should focus more on the 3 players inside that aren't even carrying half their weight...

Someone needs to step it up in the post, and for me, I hope it's Prosser because I've about seen enough of the other two!

And just so you know...I know JL fairly well...he's a great guy, but a great guy doesn't make him a great coach, just like it doesn't make me a basketball player or an investment banker...

We finish 3rd or higher though and you can have a pointing at me and telling me I'm wrong party...

I'm just not seeing it unless someone miraculously steps up not named Warren or Maniscalco on O or Dunson on D

Dude, JL has had 9 days since he knew TB was out for the season, and had 5 games in that time! Just playing that many games in such a short amount of time is tough. Let alone completely re-tooling an offense! playing 5 games in 8 days is like playing in the NCAA's, only worse. I'm not a huge JL fan, but cut him some slack, he's doing a god job this year. And what is wrong with our 3 seniors being the ones that step up? (Also I'd say WLJr. has 'stepped up' but maybe that's just me)

[SaintLouBrave22]

He just earned some respect from me...

FINALLY he called out some players...

Oh and defense is one thing but I've said for years that the offense needs to be changed...no guys even in the post most of the time and running everything through Sammy and Drew is eventually going to break down and there was proof today when Drew had a double double and we still didn't win

[bu fan 9]

I think Les has did a great job this year 4-1 with your best player in SM about 85% and T Brown lost for the year.DSE struggling so bad and Eastman just now coming back. Not sure what people want.

[shaunguth]

I think Les has did a great job this year 4-1 with your best player in SM about 85% and T Brown lost for the year.DSE struggling so bad and Eastman just now coming back. Not sure what people want.

They want JL to get SM 100% ready, to "prepare" DSE much better, and to get Eastman ready before now. I guess. Or maybe he just recruited the wrong guys! Too late now!

[AZ BU Fan]

Haha, how the heck do you say this wasn't a good coaching effort??? He had them in a position to win, what more do you want???

I am happy with the 4-1 BU start and JL should get credit when they win and start 4-1 without TB. So there! Hopefully BU can build on the 4-1 start.

I find your logic a bit of a stretch however as I am sure JL could get BU in a position to win vs ICC, but would take some criticism if BU lost to them by 3.

BU figured out how to come from behind late in a game, now they need to figure out how to hold a lead as the game winds down! 60-56 with 4+min left, and apparently gave up 3 straight baskets by TCU.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Come on SaintLou! They are still 4-1. So they don't show up one night and it's all Les's fault?! I understand a lot of easy missed shots are hurting us, but for us to start 4-1, you have to give a lot of credit to Les for that, don't you?

Ok let me just say again, I like Les, it's just that we have zero big guy presence...

So who should I blame that on? He did recruit them and is the one starting Egolf...his choice...

So who is to blame there?


If we can beat Utah and Detroit here and not fall on our face in the other games, yea, I'll be happy with the job he's done...

Better?

Oh and for another post I saw, we should t even worry about EIU...if we can't beat them here, there, or on the playground, we should scrap everything and start over!

[real fan]

Ok let me just say again, I like Les, it's just that we have zero big guy presence...

So who should I blame that on? He did recruit them and is the one starting Egolf...his choice...

So who is to blame there?


If we can beat Utah and Detroit here and not fall on our face in the other games, yea, I'll be happy with the job he's done...

Better?

Oh and for another post I saw, we should t even worry about EIU...if we can't beat them here, there, or on the playground, we should scrap everything and start over!

Jim Les is responsible for not getting post players ready or not recruiting good enough ones, Prosser appears to look like he has the potential to be good but then I thought Egolf was going to turn the corner this season and be good, he still can be but we need to keep him inside and not bring him out to set screens because he has the quickness to move in the paint and get open to make shots, he just needs to realize that he cannot shoot everytime he gets the ball as he threw up a horrible shot in the last 3 minutes of the game while he was being double teames instead of kicking the ball out to a wide open player.

[BU RICK]

Some have mentioned how we set up offensively and I have too on other threads. What I remember from watching our other games (I didn't watch this one) we often have 5 guys out near the 3 point line, I saw WE and AT at the top of the 3 point line, one on either side of the guard so he could go either way. When shots are put up often the bigs don't have a chance to establish position under the basket and when the ball bounces off the rim in a direction they are not anticipating it often makes them look a little uncoordinated trying to get it, that's because they are running towards the basket and then trying to go another direction at the last second. If you get a chance to watch Detroit or probably most teams, don't even think about looking at Duke. They always keep 1 or 2 players near the basket on offense so they can establish a position when the ball is shot, we have a hard time getting offensive rebounds because we don't establish those positions, our bigs most often seem to be moving towards the basket when the shots go up rather than being there ahead of time.

[TheAsianSensation]

Wasn't this supposed to be the one game we're supposed to win?

I don't mind the first loss coming on the 4th game of a back-to-back plus back-to-back week. But this was supposed to be the win.

[real fan]

Wasn't this supposed to be the one game we're supposed to win?

I don't mind the first loss coming on the 4th game of a back-to-back plus back-to-back week. But this was supposed to be the win.

We could very well have lost every game so winning 4 was good but if Les does not change this offense and get our bigs inside where they belong we will not be finishing any higher then 6th as you cannot expect 2 players to score 40 points each and every game.

[SaintLouBrave22]

Some have mentioned how we set up offensively and I have too on other threads. What I remember from watching our other games (I didn't watch this one) we often have 5 guys out near the 3 point line, I saw WE and AT at the top of the 3 point line, one on either side of the guard so he could go either way. When shots are put up often the bigs don't have a chance to establish position under the basket and when the ball bounces off the rim in a direction they are not anticipating it often makes them look a little uncoordinated trying to get it, that's because they are running towards the basket and then trying to go another direction at the last second. If you get a chance to watch Detroit or probably most teams, don't even think about looking at Duke. They always keep 1 or 2 players near the basket on offense so they can establish a position when the ball is shot, we have a hard time getting offensive rebounds because we don't establish those positions, our bigs most often seem to be moving towards the basket when the shots go up rather than being there ahead of time.

Great insight and extremely accurate...

Thus what I said about the offense set they run needing to be scrapped...

Snell calls it a 1-4 high but the problem with that is it's more like a 5 out motion because our center isn't even anywhere near the basket most times...

We will never rebound well or have any inside game whatsoever with the center outside the paint and 4 guys retreating like the French military when a shot goes in the air

[jasonpeoria911]

Props to BU for being +11 on the boards today, big kick in the butt for being -6 on the Turnovers LOL.

Our keys to winning this season had been negative on rebounds and positive on turnovers. I think a factor in this loss had to do with the much smaller & quicker TCU team. I think the other 4 teams had some bigger players. Again, this likely comes down to focusing more on offense in practice this upcoming week. They shot better today and played decent on D, just need to work on the O a tad bit more and we should be fine for Valley season. After all, the rest of the Valley seems to suck right now LOL.

Jason

[SaintLouBrave22]

Props to BU for being +11 on the boards today, big kick in the butt for being -6 on the Turnovers LOL.

Our keys to winning this season had been negative on rebounds and positive on turnovers. I think a factor in this loss had to do with the much smaller & quicker TCU team. I think the other 4 teams had some bigger players. Again, this likely comes down to focusing more on offense in practice this upcoming week. They shot better today and played decent on D, just need to work on the O a tad bit more and we should be fine for Valley season. After all, the rest of the Valley seems to suck right now LOL.

Jason

Why is it that every year I feel like our guys get worse in the fundamental aspects of the game?

Poor free throw shooting, boxing out, missed layups, and ball handling plague this team during key stretches of games...and every piece of that means the difference between a 10 point game and a 5 point game, a 5 point game and a one possession game, and a one possession game and a loss.

[BradleyBrave]

Good to finally win a rebounding battle, props to AW for stepping up in that area. However, as many have stated, far too many turnovers. This team without TB doesn't have that kind of margin for error. Egolf's regression continues to be disturbing. 13 minutes, 2 rebounds, 3 turnovers, 5 fouls? It's his 4th year, he's got to be better.

Taking a step back, we had 4 games in 7 days, and won 3 of them. Would have been sweet to go 4-0 this week, but most coaches would take 3-1 weeks any day. If we keep winning 4 of every 5 we play, that's a 24 win regular season. That's dance-worthy my friends. Let's rebound (pun intended) against EIU and go into turkey day 5-1. Deal?