Final: Bradley 55 Portland 57

[mrcoachdude]

I am stunned to see the final score.
I am really questioning if this team can win 6 games in conference now with our PG struggles.
By the looks (in boxscore) and sounds of it, we lost in large part due to our lack of steady PG play. Walt had 0 points tonight?

wouldn't lay this on the point guard alone...he doesn't play "D" against all the other players... and the rest of the team did not shoot very well....Walt did score...not sure where you are getting 0

[Tulsa Brave]

Lemon had 10 points. We can't win much shooting 31.5% and unfortunately that kind of shooting has become the norm the past few games. 19 turnovers for Portland to our 7. This game never should have been close.

[sportsnut2]

Am I disappointed we lost, sure. But I am not at all disappointed with where Geno has us headed. These guys play extremely hard an don't give up....as was evident when they were down 7 with under 2:00 to play.

As far as the last play, I thought it wasn't bad at all. We had Walt going left off of a screen (to be honest I thought he could have turned the corner for layup) and Pickett rolling with another option for will coming off pickett's screen if roll was not there. Will got an open but contested look just didn't knock it down.

Geno can't go out and shoot the ball for them. As some point they have to knock down some shots. We are starting to, but keep in mind Geno came here with nobody that has that ability. Once he gets his own guys here we will be just fine

[Bravesfan]

Am I disappointed we lost, sure. But I am not at all disappointed with where Geno has us headed. These guys play extremely hard an don't give up....as was evident when they were down 7 with under 2:00 to play.

As far as the last play, I thought it wasn't bad at all. We had Walt going left off of a screen (to be honest I thought he could have turned the corner for layup) and Pickett rolling with another option for will coming off pickett's screen if roll was not there. Will got an open but contested look just didn't knock it down.

Geno can't go out and shoot the ball for them. As some point they have to knock down some shots. We are starting to, but keep in mind Geno came here with nobody that has that ability. Once he gets his own guys here we will be just fine

I agree. I'm just at a loss as to why these guys continue to put up wild shots without passing the ball a little more. And as I said on the chat, if WL continues to have issues with his confidence, sit him down for awhile (not the whole game, just let him compose himself), and let him start the next game or two on the bench, and use him selectively. I know he is one of the best we have, but he won't do us any good playing flustered like that. Someone needs to sit down with him and show him what he needs to do to play with more confidence. And yes, I know for the 4000th time he is playing out of position. He can still learn how to play with more confidence in a new role. I hope we see more of the good WL during the conference season though as the season is certainly still young.

[Bravesfan]

Some news to report about next year's schedule-
You heard it here first- We heard a rumor that Bradley may be returning to Las Vegas next season to play in the Thanksgiving tournament (? Las Vegas Invitational).
Free up your schedules for the post-Thanksgiving weekend.

Nice! Anytime we have a shot at some great teams in Vegas is a good thing! Now let's hope we have the players next year to win some games there.

[Bravesfan]

Hmm, Bradley is taking a step back in Vegas. They should of easily beaten Portland. Maybe just not enough depth right now to play on back to back nights. Time to regroup this next week off and head into the Valley with a full head of steam.

Jason

Well, plenty of time to start fresh again on the 29th. There are more important things than basketball, and one of them is definitely getting home safely and celebrating Christmas with their families! A few days off will do the team and the coaches good, especially knowing that they are still way ahead of where they where last year. Plenty of time to win 7 or 8 Valley games, which would be better than a lot of people had this team finishing anyway.

[Bravesfan]

Very disappointing. We surely could have designed a better shot than that last one? Is that what was called in the timeout?

Lappas and Gottlieb were saying it was a designed play that was called. They ran the replay about three or four times after the game ended. Either it was well defended or it ended up in the wrong player's hands.

[sportsnut2]

Lappas and Gottlieb were saying it was a designed play that was called. They ran the replay about three or four times after the game ended. Either it was well defended or it ended up in the wrong player's hands.

Like I said, I don't think Egolf coming off that screen was option 1 or even option 2. I think it was the third option and without a timeout we were able to at least run the play and get a shot off to win the game. Yes, not the ideal shot, but it had a chance

[tornado]

Doesn't matter...should have beaten that team by 15-20...

...again - why doesn't it matter? This kind of question is legit and sure was asked a lot in past games..

we need to try to feed the low post and stop jacking up long range shots that we don't hit 80% of the time

[Gary the Gargoyle]

I actually liked the play.

[Bravesfan]

Like I said, I don't think Egolf coming off that screen was option 1 or even option 2. I think it was the third option and without a timeout we were able to at least run the play and get a shot off to win the game. Yes, not the ideal shot, but it had a chance

I liked the play, and I called it that it was going to be a three point attempt on the chat. If it goes in and Geno and the players look like geniuses. It didn't, it was a good play, but the shot was off from the moment it left Will's hands. Sometimes they fall and sometimes they don't. We just have to avoid getting to this point against teams like this in the very near future.

[sportsnut2]

I actually liked the play.

Me too!

[Tulsa Brave]

...again - why doesn't it matter? This kind of question is legit and sure was asked a lot in past games..

we need to try to feed the low post and stop jacking up long range shots that we don't hit 80% of the time

My point was simply that the game should never come down to the final seconds against a team like that. Agree with your final sentence though.

[Da Coach]

Lappas and Gottlieb were saying it was a designed play that was called. They ran the replay about three or four times after the game ended. Either it was well defended or it ended up in the wrong player's hands.

I don't see how they could have known, other than guessing and acting like they knew it was a designed play. They were broadcasting from the opposite side of the court, and could not have possibly heard what was called.
If that was the best shot a team can get with 10 sec left and a full timeout then it was a disaster doomed to fail. Nonetheless, I agree that the game should never have come down to that circumstance. We blew a number of chances to take control of the game.

[Da Coach]

Well, plenty of time to start fresh again on the 29th. There are more important things than basketball, and one of them is definitely getting home safely and celebrating Christmas with their families! A few days off will do the team and the coaches good, especially knowing that they are still way ahead of where they where last year. Plenty of time to win 7 or 8 Valley games, which would be better than a lot of people had this team finishing anyway.

Not to be disagreeable Bravesfan, but I think the last 2 nights have shown that our improved record (8-4 vs. 5-7) has as much to do with other circumstances than it does with improvement. No doubt we are a bit improved, but playing as many really weak and poorly coached opponents as we have this season has given the false impression, championed by the cheerleaders at the PJS that we are light years better. This team, unfortunately, has still got too many weak areas that have not been dealt with to see satisfying improvement this year. Hopefully that will change next year.
I think I have been realistic in assessing this year's team. I predicted they would be 8-4 at this point, though I did think we'd lose at CMU, and win tonight's game against Portland.