In game thread - BU at USF

[Braves4Life]

It's going to be very difficult for our men as USF returns 4 starters from last year's Sweet 16 team. Go Braves!

As I said... USF is a good team. I like the way our boys fought to the end.

[shaunguth]

Did you really think this team would win the valley or the ncaa tournment this year.

I didn't.

They are playing a very good team tonight, no matter how much negative spin you people want to put on this loss I still see huge improvements from this team over last years team.

Care to quantify that or just making a blanket statement?
If we aren't allowed to ask just how much better this team is, then how can you say there are "huge improvements over last year's team"?

[Da Coach]

As I said... USF is a good team. I like the way our boys fought to the end.

I don't quite agree on the quality of the competition. This USF team lost 2 key players from last year's team, and has already lost to a couple of mediocre midmajors. We should have shown much better tonight. Every team in our conference is going to be tough, most will be as tough as tonight's game. The team just folded up early tonight. I didn't see much fight when it mattered.

[ncaafreak]

I didn't.



Care to quantify that or just making a blanket statement?
If we aren't allowed to ask just how much better this team is, then how can you say there are "huge improvements over last year's team"?

Last years team seemed to be centered around individal play, not a team effort. The three games i've been to (including exibitions) I've seen a complete team effort, with good ball movement, unselfish play, diving for loose balls, etc,etc,etc. Just to actually see more than 2 assists from them in one night is an improvement. I think people have possibly forgot how bad last years team was.

[Braves4Life]

...it's probably too early to make statements about how much better we are.

Technically you are correct shaun. However, the optimist in me (with Bradley shaded rose-colored glasses) sees improvement across the board... Egolf is improved, Pickett gives us something we didn't have last year, DSE, Prosser, and Jake seem improved at this point. Now, if we can see more consistency from Walt, improvement from Crawford and Shayok, and increasing minutes from Bell then this team can be competitive in the MVC. Can't you see the improvement?

[JMM28]

As I said... USF is a good team. I like the way our boys fought to the end.

I don't recall USF being in the S16 last year?

As far as the game goes, sometimes you screw the dog and sometimes the dog screws you. I didn't see the game so beyond that I have no idea.

[Braves4Life]

We should have shown much better tonight. Every team in our conference is going to be tough, most will be as tough as tonight's game. The team just folded up early tonight. I didn't see much fight when it mattered.

I can't disagree with this statement Da Coach. We showed up flat and not ready to play against a team that needed to prove something to themselves. I still think USF is a good team and will be a factor in their conference. They would be a Top 3 MVC team this year.

[Braves4Life]

I don't recall USF being in the S16 last year?

You are correct JMM28. I stand corrected. USF ALMOST was a Sweet 16 team last year; they fell one game short... My bad.

[shaunguth]

Technically you are correct shaun. However, the optimist in me (with Bradley shaded rose-colored glasses) sees improvement across the board... Egolf is improved, Pickett gives us something we didn't have last year, DSE, Prosser, and Jake seem improved at this point. Now, if we can see more consistency from Walt, improvement from Crawford and Shayok, and increasing minutes from Bell then this team can be competitive in the MVC. Can't you see the improvement?

I can see the depth and I do like what I see there as far as having two former starters coming off the bench. However, they were starters on one of the worst teams in recent Bradley history so I'm not even sure what that means. I don't even like saying this, but what happens if Egolf and/or Pickett get injured? I'm not sure we're really as deep as it may appear on the surface.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

I don't quite agree on the quality of the competition. This USF team lost 2 key players from last year's team, and has already lost to a couple of mediocre midmajors. We should have shown much better tonight. Every team in our conference is going to be tough, most will be as tough as tonight's game. The team just folded up early tonight. I didn't see much fight when it mattered.

You think most MVC teams will be as tough as a Big East team who returned 4 starters from an NCAA tournament team? Hmmm.... That's an interesting opinion. My opinion would be to the contrary. I don't think that most MVC teams are as tough as a Big East NCAA tournament qualifier with 4 returning starters. Agree to disagree.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

I don't recall USF being in the S16 last year?

As far as the game goes, sometimes you screw the dog and sometimes the dog screws you. I didn't see the game so beyond that I have no idea.

Ohio beat USF to advance to the Sweet 16.

[Da Coach]

Preliminary stats-

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201211200526

I have no big problem with the "L", as I didn't expect to beat USF.
But I expected to see improvement. Geno had said he expected to see improvement and thought we had a chance to stay with USF

In the postgame show he conceded we took a big step back and played poorly in every aspect of the game. What I want to see is a bounceback in the next game. Tennessee-Martin is bad. They are 1-3, and their only win is against Fontbonne. We need to play well, and win that game convincingly.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

I suspect that the Braves will play well at home on Saturday afternoon and move to 4-1.

[shaunguth]

You think most MVC teams will be as tough as a Big East team who returned 4 starters from an NCAA tournament team? Hmmm.... That's an interesting opinion. My opinion would be to the contrary. I don't think that most MVC teams are as tough as a Big East NCAA tournament qualifier with 4 returning starters. Agree to disagree.

Probably not "most", but I'd say 4 of the 9 MVC teams that we'll face will be just as good as this South Florida team.

[Gary the Gargoyle]

Probably not "most", but I'd say 4 of the 9 MVC teams that we'll face will be just as good as this South Florida team.

I agree, and I would expect to lose at least 7 of those 8 games.

It's my expectation that we win 5 or 6 games in the non-conference, and then win 4 or 5 home conference games, and maybe 1 conference road game. There's the 10-12 wins I expect.