Strategic error?

[lefty]

I could hear Dickey V saying "you gotta foul here - send them to the line - try to extend the game".

I CAN'T TELL YOU ALL HOW MANY TIMES I HAVE WATCHED TEAMS FROM ALL CONFERENCES WITH ALL KINDS OF COACHES AND ALL CALIBER OF PLAYERS PLAY IT LIKE BRADLEY DID TONIGHT.

BUT OMG - IT DIDN'T TURN OUT AS A WIN.

SOMETIMES IT DOES - SOMETIMES IT DOESN'T.

BUT OMG - THIS IS BRADLEY AND COACH LES WE ARE TALKING ABOUT...

IT MUSTA BEEN THE WRONG THING TO DO!

Good grief MM....relax I wasn't bashing JL about this....I've also heard coaches you don't have to be in a hurry to foul either only down 2.....I just watched the end of the Duke-NC game and NC was down 3 and waited until about 30 seconds left before fouling. Maybe JL really didn't want the foul but also thought it wasn't the worse thing in the world. Did we foul someone who shoots under 70%...if so then I could maybe understand it.
But if you are fouling an 80% shooter down 2 with 48 left it really doesn't make sense...especially if it's the unintentional intentional foul...if you are really trying for a steal that's another issue

[MacabreMob]

Then it should be easy to give us examples where it turned out to be the advantageous thing to do. Tell me the games, and I'll track down the tapes.

LOL! 345 D1 teams alone in the past 5 years... and you want me to start naming games.

This reminds me of hearing Ron Santo complain about some "freak play" or "freak call"....

Ron Santo: Ohhhh, NOOOOoooooo!!!! In all my years.... never... NEVER! Unbelievable...."

But if Ron Santo followed another team, he'd find out there was similar "freaky crap" elsewhere.

I'm not gonna try and dig up games and crap. This crap goes on all the time. I know it and so do you. Better yet - it will likely occur on an ESPN game within the next couple days... but who'll give a crap then. Who cares what goes on at another school. Blah - blah - blah.

[squirrelgotdead]

LOL! 345 D1 teams alone in the past 5 years... and you want me to start naming games.

This reminds me of hearing Ron Santo complain about some "freak play" or "freak call"....

Ron Santo: Ohhhh, NOOOOoooooo!!!! In all my years.... never... NEVER! Unbelievable...."

But if Ron Santo followed another team, he'd find out there was similar "freaky crap" elsewhere.

I'm not gonna try and dig up games and crap. This crap goes on all the time. I know it and so do you. Better yet - it will likely occur on an ESPN game within the next couple days... but who'll give a crap then. Who cares what goes on at another school. Blah - blah - blah.

I guess you did say "I can't tell you how many times" so I guess that was a foolish question on my part. But if it was such a common thing to do, I didn't figure 1 would be asking too much. I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

[lefty]

LOL! 345 D1 teams alone in the past 5 years... and you want me to start naming games.

This reminds me of hearing Ron Santo complain about some "freak play" or "freak call"....

Ron Santo: Ohhhh, NOOOOoooooo!!!! In all my years.... never... NEVER! Unbelievable...."

But if Ron Santo followed another team, he'd find out there was similar "freaky crap" elsewhere.

I'm not gonna try and dig up games and crap. This crap goes on all the time. I know it and so do you. Better yet - it will likely occur on an ESPN game within the next couple days... but who'll give a crap then. Who cares what goes on at another school. Blah - blah - blah.

I agree it would be silly to dig up old games....but I disgree that coaches intentionally foul with 48 left down 2...unless it's the known poor ft shooter. Then I understand....

[MacabreMob]

I guess you did say "I can't tell you how many times" so I guess that was a foolish question on my part. But if it was such a common thing to do, I didn't figure 1 would be asking too much. I guess I'll have to take your word for it.

typical

ok - moving on and therefore this back-n-forth is over and done with

any more and it'll be considered a repetitive post (repetitive theme) and subject to deletion

[Bravesfan]

That says just about everything there is to say. A great effort ruined due to poor administration.

The kids are not being given their best opportunity for success.

I understand we may have made a mistake or two down at the very end, though credit has to go to MSU as well. But I don't understand how the kids are not "being given their best opportunity for success". Do you mean bad coaching? And by poor administration do you mean poor execution, or the administration not making a coaching change last year?

I don't agree that we had bad coaching tonight. I think our coaching gave us every opportunity to stay in this game. If Les has had some badly coached games this year it still wouldn't have mattered towards the result of tonight's game as he coached well IMO. So I don't know how tonight equates to any of the earlier games this year.

[Lakeview Brave]

Maybe in retrospect it's easy to make that judgement. But if they do score then the game is over as there is not enough time to come back. The coaching was very good and not the reason BU lost. But I am not surprised the "blame the coach" posts start immediately.

Do we have any losses that you blame on the coaching? The same way you continue to say you "dont blame the coaching" for losses, anyone can say they dont give credit to the coaching for any wins.

One of the best wins in Bradley history was beating Kansas, in that game we hit 11 three pointers the most we had all season, Cellus hit 5 the most he had all season and Franklin banked in a 30 footer. Do we give Les credit for that win or say it had nothing to do with the coaching the team hit all those threes and the game plan had nothing to do with the win?

[jrish12]

I agree it would be silly to dig up old games....but I disgree that coaches intentionally foul with 48 left down 2...unless it's the known poor ft shooter. Then I understand....

Missouri State as a team shoots just a touch under 75% from the line. And only 2 guys who log significant minutes in a game shoot under 74%. When you have guys that shoot 83, 82, 88, and 88% individually from the line, who do you foul?!

I dont think anyone has specifically said it was JLs fault, it could have been a foul from the team that JL didnt want. I think what people are trying to say is its another mismanaged late game situation, in a winnable road game against a team we werent expected to beat. Same stuff different day IMO.

[Braves4Life]

We just lost a VERY close game to the league's first place team on the road! Puleaze! Give it a rest fellas! Just say "Good game Braves. Better luck next time."

This team has made some significant strides over the past few games and is now a team that most Valley teams would rather not play right now. Good job coaches and players!

[Tulsa Brave]

Dodie didn't score until 39 seconds remained. We pretty much had to foul at that point. Therefore, this whole thread is moot.

[squirrelgotdead]

I understand we may have made a mistake or two down at the very end, though credit has to go to MSU as well. But I don't understand how the kids are not "being given their best opportunity for success". Do you mean bad coaching? And by poor administration do you mean poor execution, or the administration not making a coaching change last year?

I don't agree that we had bad coaching tonight. I think our coaching gave us every opportunity to stay in this game. If Les has had some badly coached games this year it still wouldn't have mattered towards the result of tonight's game as he coached well IMO. So I don't know how tonight equates to any of the earlier games this year.

To your original question: Neither.

The choice for using the word administration had 2 levels of meaning in its use. Primarily it was used in terms of application, secondarily it was used to describe performance, both directed towards the coaching.

Similarly to you, I am not citing bad coaching overall tonight. In fact, the past week has shown us the great potential Jim Les has in coaching. Tonight, however, also has shown us that minor, fundamental things continue to be glaring problems in the program. And that shows poor administration.

[MacabreMob]

... tonight, however, also has shown us that minor, fundamental things continue to be glaring problems in the program. And that shows poor administration.

Teetering... you have been warned.

Don't act when things disappear.

[bustudent]

Maybe in retrospect it's easy to make that judgement. But if they do score then the game is over as there is not enough time to come back. The coaching was very good and not the reason BU lost. But I am not surprised the "blame the coach" posts start immediately.

I'm not going to get into the decision, but I bet you were one who was praising the coach after the wins, so you should not be too upset that he gets the blame also....

[Da Coach]

Nice try on the gotcha game. But I fully expected there to be the "blame the coach" posts after this and almost every game that we lose. It neither surprises me or upsets me. In fact, if you have paid attention, I have also criticized the coaching moves in some past games. I just don't have the knee-jerk reflex to do it immediately after every loss.
The disparity is on the other side. How often to you see the anti-JL ever give the coach any credit for anything?

How about this-
Points in the paint-BRAD 46,MSU 14. Points off turnovers-BRAD 20,MSU 18.

How about crediting the coaching just a little for the game plan. How many expected Bradley could score 46 points in the paint?

[TheAsianSensation]

The vast majority of teams I've seen in college basketball make the decision to not foul in that spot.

I think it was a poor decision, plain and simple, and the coach is ultimately to blame for the poor decision. But also, I'm not one to lynch someone for a single mistake. I'll need consistent flaws before I do that (whether or not there are consistent flaws with Les is an argument I'll leave to the rest of you )