Final- Drake 65 Bradley 49

[Da Coach]

Offense and defense were sub-par tonight.
Drake wins 65-49

[ph]

Offense and defense were sub-par tonight.
Drake wins 65-49

We don't need chemistry, we need biology

theonion.com/articles/great-team-chemistry-no-match-for-great-team-biolo,27468/

[jasonpeoria911]

Has apathy set in for BU fans? Only 3 or 4 posts almost an hour after the game is over. Judging by how many season ticket seats in the lower bowl were empty half the season, their shouldn't be any reason for someone to be rejected on a "seat change request".

Well, Geno has set the bar for improvement. Sure will be easy to improve on Bradley's worst season ever. He better hope his new recruits coming in next season will be able to play right away or else his seat will be getting quite warm.

2011-12 season we lose Taylor Brown, Anthony Thompson and Charron Woods.
2012-13 season we gain Tyshon Pickett, Ka'Darrell Bell, Will Egolf and Nate Wells

I have a feeling Pickett will be good and Egolf should be decent if he can stay healthy. A lot of uncertainty with Bell and Wells. Should see quite a bit of improvement if those 2 can be productive. I'm not sure if anyone is leaving but if we can get a consistent deep shooter then that would help even more.

Jason

[Tulsa Brave]

We were 4-20 on 3's tonight...that's 4 more than we made the last time against Drake with the same number of attempts.

Hey I had to find something to be positive about.

Eastman should never attempt a 3 again.

My oldest son needs layup practice. The youngest didn't want to go out there to participate...too bad because he would have made the layup.

[FlyingSpaghettiMonster]

Eastman should never attempt a 3 again.

You aren't the first one to say this.

[Big Mike]

WOW...the Braves were never in this game...almost 6 minutes into the game before you get your 1st basket? I for one am glad this season is over, take it out behind the barn and shot it, blow it up and do what is neede to get back to not being a joke on the court! Get rid of anyone who was not good enough to get into a game on a 7-25 team, please bring in some shooters.....congrats to Walter for showing improvement on his last 6 games...gives me some hope for next year!

[Big Mike]

Reynolds:Bradley ends its new record 25 loss season @ MVC tourney...

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x186779517/Live-blog-Bradley-vs-Drake

Wessler:First step in the long road ahead...

http://www.pjstar.com/sports/x587868733/WESSLER-First-step-on-a-long-road-ahead

[ph]

WOW...the Braves were never in this game...almost 6 minutes into the game before you get your 1st basket? I for one am glad this season is over, take it out behind the barn and shot it, blow it up and do what is neede to get back to not being a joke on the court! Get rid of anyone who was not good enough to get into a game on a 7-25 team, please bring in some shooters.....congrats to Walter for showing improvement on his last 6 games...gives me some hope for next year!

Worse, to me, was the announcers saying we were only 0-5 in that span. 5 shots in 6 mins? Even if we had Greg MCD shooting those 5 we would still be trailing Drake. (Although its possible Greg would do something unconventional, like get an offensive rebound.) Our guys think offensive rebounds are on the same level as a technical and run away from the basket like a gernade was thrown to it.

[Da Coach]

Story from BradleyBraves.com-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_LANG=C&ATCLID=205390198&DB_OEM_ID=3400

Box score-

https://www.nmnathletics.com//pdf8/829485.pdf?ATCLID=205390198&SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=3400

There were a lot of Bradley fans at the game. And i saw a bunch of students there, though tge PJS reported there were none. There isn't much to say about the game. It was eerily similar to many other games this season. Like all the teams tied at 9-9, Drake is not a very good team. Their season will end tonight at around 8 pm. But their ability to knock down the open shot and drive into the lane to score were the differences. Let's hope Geno can get the additional kids to correct that.

[tornado]

First I thank all the BU players for a very courageous effort and for playing hard.........
First and foremost I am a big fan of these guys && they know it.........given the circumstances, we were undermanned all year....
and I will root for them even with 25 losses...but having said that - I was completely puzzled by our game plan right from the start!
We seem to play as if we've practice "Floor is poison" in the paint....


As was painfully evident to everyone - we lost this game in the first 4 minutes.....

EVEN Geno & DR said so...

"This one took shape quickly as Drake stormed to a 12-0 lead by 14:50.

“The start of the game was really big,” BU coach Geno Ford said. “That was really the difference.
They were able to get a lead and get comfortable. We were never able to get ‘em under any game pressure."

so - what happened in the first 5 minutes??
What happened was....They dribbled repeatedly right into the lane and scored in the paint....basically the same thing we've seen all year long !
and I suppose it was PRECISELY what anyone whose seen even one BU game would have expected Drake to do...

So WHY did WE not expect Drake to do this and prepare a defense to stop it??
It's not like Drake has LeBron James and Dwyane Wade...sure Rice is good at penetrating, but come on....
I know we don't shoot well BUT, what he hey -- our shots all get jacked from 25 feet while theirs all come from 2 feet......
OUR TWO LOW POST PLAYERS combined for THREE shot attempts in the 1st half. (and we MADE two of them)
The full game totals show 8 shot attempts - making FIVE.
Our non-low-post players (Charron, Jake, WL, DSE, Shayok, Jalen) combined for 12-42. So it took them more than five times as many attempts to make barely more than TWICE the baskets we made down low.
OK -- I was only a math major for one year in college but I can see the difference here...we need to develop maybe just a little more presence in the paint on both offense and defense.


-- but we lost this in the first 5 minutes

Almost all their first 20 points were in the paint - or came off FT's after getting in the paint...
and overall - they outscored us offically in POINTS IN THE PAINT 40-22!
Drake didn't dominate anyone all year "In the Paint" -- even against teams like Evansville or Indiana State who are not big down low - Drake did not dominate - and even occasionally GOT dominated - LINK

So...having said all that - we're done and let's get going on 2012...

[Hello Newman]

First I thank all the BU players for a very courageous effort and for playing hard.........
First and foremost I am a big fan of these guys && they know it.........given the circumstances, we were undermanned all year....
and I will root for them even with 25 losses...but having said that - I was completely puzzled by our game plan right from the start!


As was painfully evident to everyone - we lost this game in the first 4 minutes.....

EVEN Geno & DR said so...

"This one took shape quickly as Drake stormed to a 12-0 lead by 14:50.

???The start of the game was really big,??? BU coach Geno Ford said. ???That was really the difference.
They were able to get a lead and get comfortable. We were never able to get ???em under any game pressure."

so - what happened in the first 5 minutes??
What happened was....They dribbled repeatedly right into the lane and scored in the paint....basically the same thing we've seen all year long !
and I suppose it was what anyone whose seen even one BU game would have expected Drake to do...

So WHY did WE not expect Drake to do this and prepare a defense to stop it??
It's not like Drake has LeBron James and Dwyane Wade...sure Rice is good at penetrating, but

Almost all their first 20 points were in the paint - or came off FT's after getting in the paint...
and overall - they outscored us offically in POINTS IN THE PAINT 40-22!
Drake didn't domijnate anyone all year "In the Paint" -- even against teams like Evansville or Indiana State who are not big down low - Drake did not dominate - and even occasionally GOT dominated - LINK

Hopefully next year Geno will start asking fans to help with the game plan. Obviously he, coach Graham, Willie Scott and Coach Uken dont seem to watch game film and form a game plan.

Bradley lost because Drake has a lot better players. When you have the two best players kn the court ln the same team (Simons and Rice- that team is going to have a huge advantage and it showed last might.

[it's boogie time]

Has apathy set in for BU fans? Only 3 or 4 posts almost an hour after the game is over.

Yep. This game was pretty much like all the other conference games. Bradley was -13.3 in scoring margin this season in the Valley and that was around the deficit much of the game. They couldn't put together baskets to make a run.

[tornado]

disagree - they have some good players and so do we...
...so now after years of talking about the coach's game plan - you are saying fans NOW shouldn't express an opinion???
Newman - you slay me........
Drake got absolutely BLOWN out by several teams this year......
...Wichita, New Mexico State, Missouri State, UNI, Creighton, even a 44 point blowout against BOISE STATE!

Speaking of fans....where were they all....there was less red last night than there was pink....
Didn't see a whole lot of the people who wanted the moves made last spring...

[LittleBrave]

Has apathy set in for BU fans? Only 3 or 4 posts almost an hour after the game is over.

Don't think it's as much apathy as fans not wanting the post the same problems & shortcomings we have all season. It's obvious we didn't have the talent to beat Drake even on a good night without TB.
Aside from DSE and WL, not much contribs and I think the way the others have played this season, they are not good enough to start on another MVC roster.
When you have Eastman playing a good chunk of minutes and starting, that's all you need to know about BU's talent.
I hope our team improves and is deep enough that he gets 8-10 minutes per game next season.
And while Pross had a better game, he'd better get a LOT better before next season starts. Maybe it's more mental with him (???)

I never want the season to be over with. And while I'm hopeful to see strides next year, there's not much to be overly excited about with this team as it is now. At the very least, I'm hoping that the guys we expect to contribute next year will stay healthy and have a strong off-season. But even if everyone works their tails off, I question whether this will equate to much improvement for some.

Walt was definitely the MVP for the Braves this season.

[real fan]

Has apathy set in for BU fans? Only 3 or 4 posts almost an hour after the game is over. Judging by how many season ticket seats in the lower bowl were empty half the season, their shouldn't be any reason for someone to be rejected on a "seat change request".

Well, Geno has set the bar for improvement. Sure will be easy to improve on Bradley's worst season ever. He better hope his new recruits coming in next season will be able to play right away or else his seat will be getting quite warm.

2011-12 season we lose Taylor Brown, Anthony Thompson and Charron Woods.
2012-13 season we gain Tyshon Pickett, Ka'Darrell Bell, Will Egolf and Nate Wells

I have a feeling Pickett will be good and Egolf should be decent if he can stay healthy. A lot of uncertainty with Bell and Wells. Should see quite a bit of improvement if those 2 can be productive. I'm not sure if anyone is leaving but if we can get a consistent deep shooter then that would help even more.

Jason

The reason why there are few posts is I think everyone had a good idea how this was going to end, not a hard team to guard when you just have to stop a couple of players from scoring, in order for this team to get better next season they will need more then the 4 players you named above.