Post Game Talk BU beats Wooster- 81-71

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynolds' article-

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x574913058/Bradley-wins-second-exhibition?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[amckillip]

No offense but maybe they seen things you didn't because they know BB better then you do.

I think it has a lot more to do with the fact that Bradley University pays them. There's really no need to say something like that. Most people who know basketball would have talked about how ugly both of our games were.


The team had it's high points, but it definitely wasn't a fundamentally sound team. With JP out it's very hard to get a feel for the team and it's rotation, but I though AT looked far better than I've ever seen him, thought Wooster's big men were atrocious. DS came down to earth tonight and I agree with Coach Fords plan to start WL over of him. DS has a bright future ahead of him, but I don't see him getting starter's minutes this year, maybe 15-20. He has great vision but he's two steps slow on D and can't create his own shot.

Shayok has looked like what I want him to be this year which could lead to quite a bit of PT for JE. Good things seem to happen when JE is in the game. Kind of the 'you make your own luck' situation.

TB is a Stud. IMO he is already a better player than Andrew was last year. He will be the best player on the court in all but 3 games IMO (Wisconsin, and 2 against CU). That alone could count for something.

I feel more comfortable with WL and DSE running the point after this game, particularly this type of offense we're going to run (or lack thereof?). They both are very good at forcing the bull up the court to make things happen on the break, and that dunk by DSE is the best one I've seen since ZA was here... Just dominant.

All in all, I still think 7th place is where I've got us pegged until I see more consistent D and a little bit more put together offense, particularly against a better team. I'm looking to the Wofford game as an good game to judge our team by in the early season.

[buschsquirrel2011]

It's another win...congrats to Geno and the Boys.

Wooster provided a unique challenge. Good shooters. Used to winning. Good offense. Well coached. Bradley's superior athleticism clearly showed.

I do think Nate Wells will and should redshirt. The inside game will be extremely iffy but that is to be expected. BU just needs 10 serviceable minutes from Sticks.

Taylor has looked really good. DSE did his thing. I really like Walt Lemon. Yes, he can be out of control and has his flaws--but he is so athletic and can be a disruptive defender.

Another solid showing for Donivine. Good for him. Hopefully he can give a good 12-15 minutes a game at the backup guard spot. That would be nice. I would like to see more out of Shayok in game situations but you can tell the ability is there.

Still a long ways to go. There will be some really tough nights on the schedule. The defense is questionable at best. But as long as the group plays hard and gives great effort then that is all anyone can ask for at this stage.

Looking forward to the season starting for real.

[Beninator]

Small flashes of good, large swaths of meh, some pieces of crappy.

I thought both teams on the floor looked like it was very early in the season.

I didn't see much of anything from NW tonight. It was like 5 on 4 when he was in the game.

I think a message is being sent to Hodges. Not sure what the message is.

I didn't even notice Milos wasn't there until i came home and read it on this board.

Sitting here listening to Snell and Geno on the postgame laud all over our team tonight. I gotta tell ya, I didn't see what they did. Sorry. Plenty of room for improvement.

Hey wait a minute... I am supposed to be the Negative Nellie around here!

I agree with you on some things, but I thought that we played a lot better tonight against a much better team than Wisconsin Parkside. I am not saying that Wooster is a bunch of world beaters. I thought Wells played better tonight, but nothing has changed my mind about Nate redshirting. As DC pointed out, we made our run with DS on the floor and I feel comfortable with DS in an active guard rotation. At times it is very exciting to see the talent that Shayok has, but there are parts of his game that are very raw, which IMO will limit his minutes to the first half for the foreseeable future.

A couple of things that I am curious about...

For those of you who wanted us to get rid of our post players setting screens at the top of the key.. Well..... It is still happening... Something that I noticed was that NW, AT, and one other person set what looked to be a bit of a screen with a very quick roll toward the basket. At first, I thought that this may have been some pre-season mistakes, but this happened so many times with different players that I wonder if the staff is teaching our players to do this. If the quick screens are part of the instruction from the staff, I will be very curious as to how the MVC officials will react to this when they see our games.

The other thing I am curious about is that IMO, we did not have some good possessions toward the end of the game around the four minute mark. I think we had a 12 point lead during this time, and took what IMO were rushed shots without taking some time off the clock. I will be curious if this changes in future games.

All in all, a much better performance than last week and I will give the staff credit for this. We have a long way to go though and I still need to be convinced about some things......

[AZ BU Fan]

Re: Quality of BU Preseason wins? Just keep winning baby!



Quantity (of basketball wins) has a certain quality of its own!



So far, so good. GF is 2-0 with BU.

[Da Coach]

...
The other thing I am curious about is that IMO, we did not have some good possessions toward the end of the game around the four minute mark. I think we had a 12 point lead during this time, and took what IMO were rushed shots without taking some time off the clock. I will be curious if this changes in future games...

I saw the same thing, but as I mentioned elsewhere, the quick sequence of BU turnovers that chopped the 15 point lead (the largest of the game) down to single digits occurred right after Donivine Stewart was removed from the game. IMO, DS is the best ball handler, and our other guards are a little too turnover prone right now, and get a little too much out of control. Geno talked on his post game show about how well the offense worked with DS at the point, and I think we will continue to see more of him at PG.

[real fan]

We did what all of us wanted BU to do and that is improve on our last games play, I think Wells can help us this year because he alters shots inside and he can score some points for us, I know he will make mistakes but he was really going at it down low which is a great sign to me in that he is not afraid to bang with people, having him redshirt will hurt the overall depth of this team , I also think he showed great improvement on defense tonight.This team is fun to watch and if they continue to improve should have a decent season.

[jasonpeoria911]

Well this season is starting out better than the last 2 or 3 years..... we didn't lose an exhibition game LOL.

This team is definitely fun to watch, even with an average BU defense, a lot of offensively challenged teams won't be able to put up 80+ points consistently. We won't be able to do that most games once the D gets a little more strict, but the potential is there.

Missed another 12 Free Throws tonight, do these kids shoot Free Throws in High School or what? Gotta correct that, need those easy points. Will likely cause a few losses this season if not corrected.

Nate needs to work on his foot work during his redshirt year. He ran the floor well but constantly got beat on the foot work for easy lay ins.

Jason

[Future Walk-On]

I will take that quick guard and that big man the fouled out on our team.

I liked how after rebounds we were pushing and getting easy fast break points.

[tornado]

Just giving his opinion. Didn't see where he said Wooster wasn't very good.

Wooster was as good as any team we'll see all year in setting high screens and forcing defenses to switch so they can either get a mismatch or an open guy going to the hoop.

I would like to see more out of Shayok in game situations but you can tell the ability is there.

A couple of his moves were amazing -- he just needs to finish better or dish off and let someone else finish...and work on FTs



and Nate just needs to develop a mean streak - he's just darn nice and courteous to the guys wanting to penetrate..


and lastly -- I can recall for sure THREE times AT blocked a shot - one where he even slapped it all the way back outside the 3-pt arc...and AT himself actually wondered the same and said he thought he had FOUR blocks - yet the stats have him for only one.

[Da Coach]

More detailed report from Dave Reynolds-

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x574913058/Bradley-wins-second-exhibition

And the play-by-play-

http://www.woosterathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/files/exhibit.htm

And a post-game article from the Wooster perspective-

http://www.the-daily-record.com/news/article/5121715

[amckillip]

and lastly -- I can recall for sure THREE times AT blocked a shot - one where he even slapped it all the way back outside the 3-pt arc...and AT himself actually wondered the same and said he thought he had FOUR blocks - yet the stats have him for only one.

I agree. I was very impressed with ATs play last night. He definitely had more than one block, also AT getting 9 and 4 in 19 minutes this early in the season is huge. I hope he keeps up this level of motivation as a similar stat line during the regular season would spell great things for this team.

[lefty]

First time I've seen us play this year...so I have nothing to compare in regard to earlier games....

TB looked good for the most...again we are talking a D-3 opponent
SS will be very good for us as he gets use to playing before crowds..he can get his own shot, he will finish those in time...and hopefully work on his ft's..cause I think he'll get fouled alot.
Walt...his stats looked better to me than what I saw....sure seemed like he had more than 2 turnovers...maybe it was just sporadic out of control style...
AT---I don't know...reserve observation until next game..
JE--I hope he gets his outside shot down soon...I think he'll help more there than trying to drive the paint
DSE--will along with TB probably be our most consistent player...hard not to love his toughness.
Crawford...I guess I need to see more of him but he looks like he will be ok to me...
Nate---reserve opinion for later
DS--does ok on the offensive end for sure..looks to pass first which is good...but I think is going to struggle staying with other guards defensively

You all say we looked much better than last game....and I knew we had a long way to go but.....we'll see how much changes Sunday with JP and Milos back...and we really get started.

[tornado]

lefty - I share most of your thoughts...but I will add...

-Wooster played a good game not a bad game as some seem to think - and even their head coach Steve Moore said they were the most competetive he has seen any team of his against a D-I opponent..
"It was probably the best we’ve competed against a Division I team. This was a good game for us"

-Shayok didn't have a good game offensively but he created havoc with his long arms and quickness, got 3 steals, altered at least 3 or 4 other passes and shots, and even while looking a bit wild at times- he still had only 1 turnover! Pretty darned good for a new freshman in 20 minutes of play.

-Walt can be amazingly effective with his fakes, quick first step, and drive/finished around the basket. I agree we did our best when he was more freed up to do that while Donivine was playing PG.

-OK for DSE to work on 3-pt shooting especially in an exhibition - but when your first attempt misses everything by as much as that one in the 1st half did - then maybe don't take a lot more...

-A couple negative comments I heard after game from some fans about Crawford might not have seen what I saw....
Sure his numbers don't fill the stat sheet but he hit his only shot and did not hurt us with bad shots, he plays good defense & got a steal, and with everything new to him (venue, crowd size, teammates, system, etc..) - he still looked solid, did not look lost, minimal turnovers despite a fast paced game, and gave us exactly what we need from a 4th 2-guard option.

In fact -- given the fast pace, new system, and high number of possessions, and plethora of newbies playing - just 12 turnovers is pretty amazing! Last year only two teams in the Valley averaged under 12 TO/game!

[Beninator]

SS will be very good for us as he gets use to playing before crowds..he can get his own shot, he will finish those in time...and hopefully work on his ft's..cause I think he'll get fouled a lot.

You all say we looked much better than last game....and I knew we had a long way to go but.....we'll see how much changes Sunday with JP and Milos back...and we really get started.

Just a couple of comments regarding your post. The reason I posted that SS should get most of his minutes in the first half for now is because of his poor free-throw shooting. I think that Shayok's free-throw is easily correctable and he should improve in this area throughout the year given proper instruction. Once the free-throw is corrected, all he will need is confidence when he goes to the line.

IMO, part of this game was hard to compare to the Parkside game because JP was not in the lineup. Trust me though, we played a much better all around game against Wooster.