KW's Article

[Braveman]

After the Wichita State game, I thought KW turned in one of his best pieces. What he said was largely positive and right on- what this BU team needs to survive is the kind of determined focus they had in the first half against Wichita.

Consistency is a must... all the intangibles, we have to win- and we need second and third options behind Andrew.

[Da Coach]

That is pretty much what Coach Les talked about on his radio show this morning. He pointed to the depth of Wichita State as the difference in the 2nd half. WSU bench players scored 42 of their 79 points, and 18 of their 42 rebounds. By comparison, Bradley's bench scored only 19 of their 63 points (15 by DSE), and 7 of their 32 rebounds. This lack of depth is where the injuries have made the biggest impact.

[shaunguth]

That is pretty much what Coach Les talked about on his radio show this morning. He pointed to the depth of Wichita State as the difference in the 2nd half. WSU bench players scored 42 of their 79 points, and 18 of their 42 rebounds. By comparison, Bradley's bench scored only 19 of their 63 points (15 by DSE), and 7 of their 32 rebounds. This lack of depth is where the injuries have made the biggest impact.

Actually, Bradley's bench only had four points and five rebounds. Lemon, Knezevic, and Woods didn't have any points or rebounds in 17 minutes. Eastman and Thompson combined for four points and five rebounds in 30 minutes. Those numbers from the bench will not win too many games this season!

[squirrelgotdead]

It helps, too, when the system used (WSU) requires constant subbing.

Guys familiar with their roles, many different players used to playing with the others on the floor, etc.

A big part of chemistry is guys being familiar and comfortable with one another on the floor.

[Braves4Life]

It helps, too, when the system used (WSU) requires constant subbing.

No amount of subbing can replace the following losses by a mid-major: 30+ points per game, + your leading rebounder, + your leading assist guy, + their senior leadership.

[srw]

I say again. The problem isnt this year...

its the mediocrity of the recent past.

[LittleBrave]

No amount of subbing can replace the following losses by a mid-major: 30+ points per game, + your leading rebounder, + your leading assist guy, + their senior leadership.

Very true B4L! Replace DD with SM and we'd see a big difference. Add TB with SM and you'd see a world of difference.

Nonetheless, we are good enough to stay out of the Thursday play-in games.
No excuses why we shouldn't. We've seen how well we can be without those 2 guys - just need to do it for a longer period of time in a game. Not sure why we can't sustain our high level of play for even 30 minutes out of 40.
1 good half + 1 bad half = Loss

[Braves4Life]

......Not sure why we can't sustain our high level of play for even 30 minutes out of 40.
1 good half + 1 bad half = Loss

Oh my! You just threw a softball out there for the wolves LittleBrave. I'm just waiting for some of the "haters" to get there grubby little hands on this line.

[Monmouth_Bradley_Fan]

Not sure why we can't sustain our high level of play for even 30 minutes out of 40.
1 good half + 1 bad half = Loss

Actually.... 1 good half plus 1 bad half would = overtime.... assuming that each half was equally as good or bad, lol. But I do agree that 1 good half + 1 awful monstrosity of a half = 16 point loss.

[real fan]

That is pretty much what Coach Les talked about on his radio show this morning. He pointed to the depth of Wichita State as the difference in the 2nd half. WSU bench players scored 42 of their 79 points, and 18 of their 42 rebounds. By comparison, Bradley's bench scored only 19 of their 63 points (15 by DSE), and 7 of their 32 rebounds. This lack of depth is where the injuries have made the biggest impact.

One of the reasons why our starters need to play more minutes, our bench has just a few players that can contribute so if we expect to get more wins then we cannot give many minutes to our bench, whatever happened to the old adage you rean your minutes.

[BradleyBrave]

I say again. The problem isnt this year...

its the mediocrity of the recent past.

7 of 9 years of average/below average basketball will do that.

But we're just young.

[shaunguth]

But we're just young.

Seriously......why do you feel the need to continuously bring this up? It's gotten more than a little old over the past year.

[BradleyBrave]

Seriously......why do you feel the need to continuously bring this up? It's gotten more than a little old over the past year.

That's kind of ironic, because I feel the same way every time someone uses it as an excuse for being bad. You are correct - It's an excuse that's gotten really old over the past year.

FWIW, I like the Braves tomorrow. Experience be d@mned!

[Bravesfan]

After the Wichita State game, I thought KW turned in one of his best pieces. What he said was largely positive and right on- what this BU team needs to survive is the kind of determined focus they had in the first half against Wichita.

Consistency is a must... all the intangibles, we have to win- and we need second and third options behind Andrew.

I believe that we will put together two consistent halves in a majority of the remaining games this season. The problem with WSU though was that they are a top 25 caliber team IMO. It's hard to sustain consistency against a team like that, a team that NO ONE will want to play in March! Thankfully we got what hopefully will be our toughest home opponent out the way early.

Hopefully we can at least somewhat survive at their place!

[Bravesfan]

7 of 9 years of average/below average basketball will do that.

But we're just young.

Well, we can't use that excuse this year since I thought we had more depth than this. Granted I will excuse the loss to WSU to injuries because even if we had more bench depth, this game would still would have been very difficult to win without SM and TB. But we can't afford any more slip-ups against the lower tier teams this year, especially at home.

Gotta win tomorrow night!