Final: Utah 68 BU 60

[Da Coach]

The ball hog nature of this team bothers me (too much isolation from what I could imagine listening). Four assists in total? I know Utah was not any better, but we all know what they had that BU does not.

I pose this question to the team, what would SM think of your performance tonight?

I do not agree...Bradley was at it's best when we limit the number of passes. Late in the game when we shot quickly, we scored much more efficiently. The more we run the offense, the more we turn the ball over. It is purely a function of not having an effective point guard.
I'd rather see AW shoot more.

[theBUer]

I do not agree...Bradley was at it's best when we limit the number of passes. Late in the game when we shot quickly, we scored much more efficiently. The more we run the offense, the more we turn the ball over. It is purely a function of not having an effective point guard.
I'd rather see AW shoot more.

Still, the fact that Utah did not do so well from the line and the fact that one player accounted for half of the assists, tells me that the outcome of this game could have been different.

Also, the fact that JL called a time out not once but twice after a player made a basket killed some of the momentum the team was generating. Why do we have to pace ourselves in that regard, but we seem to fling shots that did not really get in?

I mean, Warren had 22 points, in 20 attempts.

[TNel]

What ever happened to the 10 ... 15 ... 20-foot jumper? We have one 3-point shooter, no big who can score from point blank range, guards who drive the lane and base line over and over again when there's place to go and then either step out of bounds, throw it away or throw up some crazy a$$ desperation shot. It NEVER changes. And it's getting mighty old.

[buballer82]

Has WE ever passed the ball back out....once he has it ...its going up...period! Can we install a new play called the inside/out game .....................

I agree with that 100%. It seemed like Dodie wasn't giving it up at the end either. I understand AW was covered tightly but he still had 27 for the game and was scoring with a man in his face.

[TNel]

Meant to say "NO place to go ..."

[VeveJones007]

I do not agree...Bradley was at it's best when we limit the number of passes. Late in the game when we shot quickly, we scored much more efficiently. The more we run the offense, the more we turn the ball over. It is purely a function of not having an effective point guard.
I'd rather see AW shoot more.

They don't have an offense to create open shots for guys, so AW should just shoot 25 times a game and WL should go to the basket. It's the best option for this team since they have no concept of an inside-out passing game.

[houstontxbrave]

I do not agree...Bradley was at it's best when we limit the number of passes. Late in the game when we shot quickly, we scored much more efficiently. The more we run the offense, the more we turn the ball over. It is purely a function of not having an effective point guard.
I'd rather see AW shoot more.

Umm ok well I'm not exactly sure how a point guard helps much when you put the other team to the line 44 times in 40 minute college game or when you get lay oppotunities and miss I'm conservatively guessing miss 15.

Missing shots is one thing but playing just poor fundementials is becoming a trademark of this program. 44 free throws is a joke.

[Big Lance]

I do not agree...Bradley was at it's best when we limit the number of passes. Late in the game when we shot quickly, we scored much more efficiently. The more we run the offense, the more we turn the ball over. It is purely a function of not having an effective point guard.
I'd rather see AW shoot more.

That's interesting, because Coach Les COMPLETELY disagreed with that statement on the postgame show. He said that they were "not making the extra pass" and that there were too many guys trying to do it themselves.
Coach Les also said that they had to hold the other team to the 50s in order to even have a chance to win. WHAT???
He also said that the Braves don't have enough firepower to outscore anybody. Ummmmmm, correct me if I'm wrong, but if you don't outscore teams you lose every time!

It is a horrible situation that the Braves are facing this year and to some extent it is beyond their control. (Nothing can be done about the injuries, but poor team construction IMO has led to no other point guard on the entire roster.) But please please please get shooters in the game. Please. I'm begging you. Milos isn't rebounding hard enough in practice? Well great you have to teach him a lesson. But when you have 43 stinking points with 3 minutes left in the game and the bombs have got to fly, Come On, Eileen! It's probably just me, but if it's gonna be a loss, I'd rather lose 90-80 than 60-50, which is what this season is setting up to be. Just my personal opinion.

[Da Coach]

We had 4 assists and 19 turnovers. I have followed BU baskeball for 43 years. Maybe that's happened before, but I would be surprised.
Many of the free throw attempts were late in the game when Bradley fouled repeatedly. A good point guard creates shots for everyone else, and that's not happening. That's why we have so many one-on-one plays.

[Big Lance]

As far as the 44 free throw attempts, in my opinion it should have been 60 or 70. Seriously. I do agree with you on one thing, Da Coach-when they basically were forced into scramble mode in the last 2 minutes, they started to score. With 5 minutes left in the game, I turned to my brother and said "they need to start fouling these big goofy stooges now." The Hack-A-Shaq technique is a legitimate strategy, and when a team is barely shooting 50% from the line, I'd use it MUCH MUCH MUCH earlier in the game when you have trailed the entire time. Another thing that bothered me was with about 40 seconds left and AW and DD had the ballhandler trapped in the backcourt in the obvious foul situation, they let him go because neither wanted to foul out. DD should have fouled-AW is clearly the ONLY Brave left that absolutely had to stay on the floor.

[Bravesfan]

Still, the fact that Utah did not do so well from the line and the fact that one player accounted for half of the assists, tells me that the outcome of this game could have been different.

Also, the fact that JL called a time out not once but twice after a player made a basket killed some of the momentum the team was generating. Why do we have to pace ourselves in that regard, but we seem to fling shots that did not really get in?

I mean, Warren had 22 points, in 20 attempts.

In all fairness, I've seen a lot of coaches call TO's after quick scores, but usually late in games while trying to set up their defense. I don't think that was the real problem tonight though. Just too many easy missed shots again!

[bigjimmy]

I'm not really sure what to say. What can you say. My mom always told me if you didn't have anything nice to say.........

[BUFanatic]

I'm really disappointed in this team. I know it's weak to blame the coach, but I think that he's got a foot and a half out the door. It's gonna take a HECK of a Valley season to save his job now. I'll ALWAYS be a BU fan, but nobody said it was going to be a Detroit Lions thing every once in a while! lol

[real fan]

Has WE ever passed the ball back out....once he has it ...its going up...period! Can we install a new play called the inside/out game .....................

True, we need to get an inside out game in order to get our shooters better looks, really disappointed in Will as he seems to want to shoot every time he gets a touch, he did rim out 2 shots tonight but he just does not pass the ball enough which in effect could lead to him or a teamate getting a better shot, he seemed to play a lot harder but still believe he is the key to our team being more successful, until we get a lot better contributions in the post we are going to have trouble beating anyone.

[Chico]

We had 4 assists and 19 turnovers. I have followed BU baskeball for 43 years. Maybe that's happened before, but I would be surprised.
Many of the free throw attempts were late in the game when Bradley fouled repeatedly. A good point guard creates shots for everyone else, and that's not happening. That's why we have so many one-on-one plays.

If Utah would have shot their free throws late in the game as bad as they did earlier, we would have had a chance to pull it out. They shot them a lot better down the stretch, at least it seemed like it.