Braves 71 ill 75

[MacabreMob]

Now that I'm quitting the other board....you guys will just have to put up with my ranblings more here.

DRU - you need to camp out here.

[Big Mike]

What took you so-long?

[phyneous_j_whoopie]

We battled hard tonight. There is way more positive here than negative. We were seriously outmatched on the front-line and UIUC still had to fight back from double-digits.

My only criticism is Will, if you're going to make a great move to get to the basket...please finish!!


how huge were the 6 missed free throws?

[Bravesfan]

Now that I'm quitting the other board....you guys will just have to put up with my ranblings more here.

They have a thread from an Illini fan telling us "what you can kiss"

I told em if its allowed to stay...I'm out. Its still up...so...I'm out.


No inside game....NONE. ZA went back to his old ways. Forced way too much.

Danny looks rusty but still had a decent game.....

5-1. I'll take it but we have work to do.

I still can't believe that after all the Non-BCS wins in the NCAA Tournament last year, after the parity that has developed in the last four or five years, and after all of the BCS losses to the so-called "mid-majors" these past two weeks, that ANYONE still thinks that the Valley is overrated! Maybe it will take five more years of NCAA Tournament futility by the Big Ten and the ACC before the "little guys" finally get their respect.

It sounds like this nutty Illini fan has a serious case of Billy Packeritis!

[Big Mike]

Zach's missed dunk also stands out........JC missing the front end of a 1 & 1........AW missing the 1st two FT's out of the 3........countless missed bunnies by all the guards....not just will! We lost as a team tonight IMO!

[Braves4Life]

Re-focus

This should force everyone to refocus on what got the first five wins. Here's to five more "W's" before the next loss

[BTID]

Illinois found out that they have to play much better against future opponents than they did against Bradley or Miami if they expect to make the NCAA Tournament and win a couple of games. That said, coming back like they did the past two nights should really help their confidence, even though they didn't play very well in their eyes. We didn't play particularly well in the second half tonight, so I think it's safe to say that we had them down for the count but didn't put them away, while they showed how resilient they can be. Very entertaining game despite the outcome--still would have been nice to exorcise the demons from 32 years of frustration and neglect they've shown us and other in-state teams.

[Braves4Life]

Chi Sports.com article link

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/cs-061125illinigamer,1,578598.story?coll=cs-college-headlines

[BUBraves2006]

I think I can speak for everyone who was in section 117 or 116 with this ...

*Sigh.*

What a deflating way to fall but ... to a very talented team with way more size.

The key to the game was the fact that we couldn't hit anything for about a five minute stretch (I want to say from about the 8 minute mark to the 3 minute mark). The poor shooting magnified the mistakes noted earlier (Warren's FT misses, etc).

I don't think BU has anything to be truly upset about as they played hard for 40 minutes and except for a few possessions, played very calmly and under control in a very hostile environment. The second half was like a road game in there and the Braves hung tough.

Sure there are things to work on and JL is smart enough to adjust, but against a powerhouse from a big conference, how can we be too upset now?

Remember, everyone thought we'd be lucky to be .500 this year. The expectation level has been raised, even in a loss. BU should finish in the top 5 of the Valley if they continue to play smart basketball and hit shots.

[Big Mike]

Your right........this team is exceeding my early prediction of a 500 team.........let's not get too high from the wins and not get too low from the loss! Good effort tonight..........but if ZA goes out with foul trouble we will struggle IMO!

[Big Mike]

http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=696081

[Da Coach]

Just got back to the hotel. Not much more to say. The Illinois big guys made just enough diference in the game, and the shots were not falling quite as well tonight.

I listened to the Bruce Weber post-game show up here. He was extremely complimentary to Bradley and Jim Les. He pointed out how much Bradley lost from last year's team, and how Jim Les has "totally revamped" the offense and defense to accomodate the new guard-heavy team Bradley has this year.
He must have said a dozen times what a great league the Valley is.

I don't think I saw any time during the game where the kids didn't think they could still win the game, until the final seconds. This is a great group of kids, and I am sure they will bounce back to continue to have a fine season.

[Fetz86]

I think Pruitt is who really won them that game tonight. Carter finished with more points, and Jamar was a big lift, but Shaun grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds, drew fouls, and finished inside (except that missed dunk ).

Our team played a great 30 minutes of basketball, and the other 10 werent horrible. I think we got refereed a tiny bit and it felt like a road game even though when i looked down to my right from 212 i saw the block of red. I just really wanted to beat those guys. My biggest concern though is that my face still smells like the paint i put on it.

[tornado]

Agree with just about everything said, plus Jim Les' post game comments.

If anyone would have asked about this game a month or two ago, most would have all said,
"hey, Bradley will be rebuilding and Illinois will win easily".

But that wasn't the case.
These Illini knew they were in a game, and they were trying to get their fans pumped up and were fighting as hard as they could.

I agree that the missed dunk, and the 3 or 4 easy missed layups, plus bungled passes on the pick and roll cost Bradley 12 points easy.
Crouch, Will, and JJ were a combined 9-16 from 3 point range.
I wish those guys and maybe DA would have gotten a few more shots.

But I am still optimistic about the rest of the upcoming games.
The Braves fought hard and played hard, simply came up short.
Bradley led for 35 out of 40 minutes, and showed all in attendance that we are likely the 2nd best team in the state.

[ser_solace]

Bradley v Illinois

Initially, I was kind of disappointed we did not win. Illinois was definitely beatable by us. The margin of loss was slim, and those missed easy lay-ups/dunks and free-throws would've made a difference.

However, in retrospect, how can I be upset with this game when this team is exceeding my expectations? We hung in there against a tough team, and it's still early in the season for improvement. We needed a game like this to show us our areas for development. Those Braves should be proud of their performance and know that we're proud too.

Not sure if anyone has read the PJ Star articles yet, but I like the quote from Jim Les about trying to make a Bradley v. U of I game a regular thing. I don't think it'll happen, but it would be a great thing if it did.