Moral Victory?

[real fan]

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, no reason why the players should not seize the moment , this is our 9th game so it is time for some of our players to break out of their funk and prove they are d-1 players, this could be a confidence builder if the guys decide to play more like a team and not like individuals, hopefully this is the game that we build some confidence and begin to turn this season around, I know we are not as bad a team as we have played in the last 4 games, with that being said I realize we have very little chance of winning but only hope we go out tonight and compete and at least will be able to say after the game that we gave it everything we had, I do not believe in moral victories, I believe in confidence builders and if our team can keep this under a 20 point loss they will at least have hope in their future games.

[Braves4Life]

I think our players are ready and I expect them to really put on a good show for the first 15 minutes. Duke almost always shines in the final 5 minutes of the first half and first 5 of the second half. If BU can hang in there through this I think we can play them within 20. If not.......

[Chico]

A moral victory for me IMO would be to see a game similar to the game Dick Versace coached against Larry Bird, Carl Nicks & Co's Indiana State NCAA Finals team. That was one of my trips to Peoria that year. I wasn't a fan of the 4 corners but I was that night, we lost 27-25.

A moral victory for me is playing what gives us the best chance to win. I do not believe running with them and going to the boards with them is the best chance to win. I believe a coach needs a different game plan for each game. I know the 4 corners is history but we can still use the full shot clock and keep the score low, if we get a good shooting game....who knows. But I would even go so far as to coach, if we get a long rebound don't take the 5-15' shot - pass it back out and keep running the clock.

That type of game will not be popular with the Duke fans. But IMO gives us the best chance to win. And if we give them a game that way and it shows other fans how their teams could play against them, it would give us the admiration we crave.

This is my game plan for one game, so don't fire me, I'd still be a run-and-gun coach. But I'd want to play this game a little bit different, like Dick Versace.

Don't remember a score that low in all my years going to BU games. I know the season Indiana St had Bird and got 2nd in the NCAA tournament Dick V had Carl Maniscalco and Harold McMath double teaming Bird and for much of the game those 3 just stood in the corner when Indiana St had the ball. Believe Bird got 4 points and Carl Nicks had a great night and we got beat bad.

[Missouri Brave]

Uh, 27-25? That is wrong. Way wrong. BU triple-teamed Bird, holding him to 4 points, but Carl Nicks went for 31 on Feb. 10, 1979, at Robertson....

http://www.indy.com/articles/indiana-state/thread/lt-a-href-article-20090326-sports0606-903260431-gt-bird-s-college-career-ended-on-downbeat-note-lt-a-gt

[Fetz86]

Moral victory? Win without cheating.

[AZ BU Fan]

Post game, remember great players make even good players look bad.

I suspect Duke would be why our players may not meet/exceed our expectations, tonight. It shouldn't reflect on the BU players..

[fansince55]

Moral victories? Are you kidding?

GOOD TEAMS GO INTO DUKE AND GET BEAT - BAD.

And we are NOT a good team this year.

Crikeys.

Last year, Duke defeated Florida St by 14 (who was a #9 seed in the NCAA). Duke also defeated Georgia Tech by 19 last season (a #10 seed last year). Wake Forest lost by 20 at Duke (WF was a #9 seed in NCAA). Clemson (a #7 seed last year in the NCAA) lost at Duke by 21. And even Maryland, a #4 seed last year in the NCAA, lost by 21.

We all need to realize that even GOOD teams get their arse handed to them at Duke.

Moral victories... whatever.

A moral victory would be JL sitting in the audience, letting the assistants handle the team, and see how we do! I don't care what the Duke message boards say about AW; our best player (including SM & TB) is not as good as Duke's worst player. We either need to get a coach that can recruit and coach or go DII. All I've heard is that we are soooo deep at the guard spot. How's that workin' out?

[BU RICK]

Uh, 27-25? That is wrong. Way wrong. BU triple-teamed Bird, holding him to 4 points, but Carl Nicks went for 31 on Feb. 10, 1979, at Robertson....

http://www.indy.com/articles/indiana...t-note-lt-a-gt

I remember a low score like that, I was there, maybe it was a different year but I thought it was against Indiana State and Larry Bird. I could be wrong. I don't know how to use the archives to find Bradley home scores from the late 1970's.

[dogsrus]

A moral victory would be JL sitting in the audience, letting the assistants handle the team, and see how we do! I don't care what the Duke message boards say about AW; our best player (including SM & TB) is not as good as Duke's worst player. We either need to get a coach that can recruit and coach or go DII. All I've heard is that we are soooo deep at the guard spot. How's that workin' out?

Come on...quit beatin around the bush.

[LittleBrave]

I'm up for a moral victory tonight.....

1-play as a unit with a purpose
2-WE stays in the game and has 3 or less fouls, does not help the team on the pine
3-AW still gets some points
4-Braves actually shoot some FT's
5-combination of DD-DSE-WL helping out with scoring some pts
6-JP gets some pts to go with some rbs
7-stay within 10-15 pts final score


....remember it should be down-hill after this game...no opponent from here on out will pose this much of a balanced roster so learn from this game!

I think we accomplished #1, 2, 3, 5
JP struggled to score, but he is a pretty consistent rebounder.
Only with our 3 injured guys playing would we have come within 15 pts. of final score...well, if they all weren't playing "injured"

[LittleBrave]

Come on...quit beatin around the bush.

I heard coming into this season that DD was a great 3 pt. shooter. Surely not in the games I've seen him play.

I know it's hypothetical, but if we had DD playing like he did the game he was injured last season, DSE playing like he did most of last season, JE playing like he did toward the end of last season, a healthy SM, WL, and AW playing NOT like he did last night, we are totally DEEP!

Based on what I've seen this season, though, we are lacking pure shooters without SM, and probably will be next season too, losing AW.

[squirrelgotdead]

I heard coming into this season that DD was a great 3 pt. shooter. Surely not in the games I've seen him play.

I know it's hypothetical, but if we had DD playing like he did the game he was injured last season, DSE playing like he did most of last season, JE playing like he did toward the end of last season, a healthy SM, WL, and AW playing NOT like he did last night, we are totally DEEP!

Based on what I've seen this season, though, we are lacking pure shooters without SM, and probably will be next season too, losing AW.

This is actually a very astute point. And a critical one, IMO. There are two kinds of depth. There's basic talent depth, being able to have 7 or more guys who could be DI starters anywhere for instance.

And then there is also system depth. It's one thing to have able, warm bodies. However, when you play to your limitations and do not have a clearly defined system or guys are constantly having to learn new roles, you can never establish adequate "system depth" that prevents the program from growing for a variety of reasons, one being an inability to overcome injury and another being that it leads to recruiting ambiguity. It's harder to sell a vision to a kid when he will plainly be able to see that roles are not defined at all.

I would much rather have 2-3 guys who are potential backups at specific positions, and combo players a luxury.