Final: Bradley 66 Southern Illinois 60

[SFP]

We are winning because we are playing gutsy, intensive DEFENSE. I can appreciate this style of play until we get a few more skilled players. As I've said before this team reminds me of some of those really good defensive SIU teams. The most positive part of this year for me is that we are finally seeing what GF is trying to put together. With the type of talent that he's capable of putting together in the near future, I'd have to believe we are upward and onward. IMO we are 2 recruits away from having something special again at BU.

[tornado]

I applaud our guys for their efforts, but there's one other thing to consider as to why we are winning -
the two Valley teams we've played have had a little to do with it.....does anyone think either of our two victims are gonna be idle Thursday night in St. Louis?
We cannot play soft inside and throw up low percentage shots if we're going to compete with the upper half of the Valley

[peoriaspitfire]

I guess the slew of turnovers are what made the game ugly.

Agreed, it was mostly the turnovers that made things so ugly. However, the SIU free throw shooting and fouls on BU??™s front court were pretty bad too. Overall, there were so many WTF moments in that game that I lost count in the first half.

I definitely appreciate the BU Defense and I hope it can keep pace with the upper half of the Valley. As a side note, I thought Wells did a decent job affecting some shots, but was disappointing when trying to post up against much smaller competition. I??™m not opposed to giving him a 5 minutes a game to help build him for the future.

[lefty]

I applaud our guys for their efforts, but there's one other thing to consider as to why we are winning -
the two Valley teams we've played have had a little to do with it.....does anyone think either of our two victims are gonna be idle Thursday night in St. Louis?

Well no doubt bottom tier......I think our real problem is going to be quality of depth. We weren't real deep to start with and now less so....but that's the way it goes.

[SFP]

T - They both have a Thursday date I agree but these were games we would not have won last year and we practically have the same team as last year. The real test for us will be how we do against UNI and Evansville. I expect to see CU, WSU and both ISUs at the top of the MVC. If we can steal a few road wins we just maybe able to skip playing on Thursday and that to me folks will be a pretty good season for this squad.

"Mountains are climbed one step at a time."

Go BU!

[tornado]

I have felt all along like we need to feed the post more...I think it will work against most of the Valley teams who have even less down low than we have...

...
#1 ...We are who we are - we are not a good outside-shooting team but...we have power in the paint and we have some strength, skill, experience, and athleticism at every position.
I believe if we limit turnovers and sloppy play, feed the low post, and then nail our FT's - we can still finish at least 4th, 5th, or 6th in the Valley - and I HOPE even better.

#2 ...Half the MVC has even less than we have.... so let's look forward - not back and start the MVC race off believing we can contend with every team in the league...

[JMM28]

I have felt all along like we need to feed the post more...I think it will work against most of the Valley teams who have even less down low than we have...

That's great to want to get it down low and whatnot. But how do you do that when teams are playing one of two ways? They will either play a man D sagging off the perimeter, or they will play a zone and just pack it in.

There are two teams on the court. It's no different than an NFL team with a terrible qb. The D can play 8 in the box and completely shut down an offense.

The best bet for Bradley is to try to establish a perimeter game early and that will open up the post early and later. Just feeding the post would lead to many turnovers and even less offensive execution.

[BUBalum05]

Box score...

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201301020528

Valley scores from tonight...All final
INSt......65
UNI.......61

MS........59
UE........62

WS.......75
DU........63

16 CU.....79
isu.........72

Although one could easily argue that the slate was imbalanced, 4 out of 5 road wins probably doesn't happen that often.

[lefty]

Other teams make outside shots too. Other teams are better and we are still 2-0.....so I don't know what the problem is.
You want to compare McD and Stockton to our guys T? We had success early in the year and we have been scouted...We do look into the post but it's not always there...we don't even have that great of hands in the post either...


we have talked about how they are packing it in...don't you think that makes a difference? We are not a good entry passing team but we have had some success when screening but do you think teams don't know what is coming?

Nate and SS are not good post players right now...I'm sure they will get better but they just aren't now.

Stockton had some help getting into the HOF too.....let's see what was that guy's name....Malone maybe? I don't know

[SFP]

I love it when we can pound the ball inside but I agree with the way we are shooting teams are going to just dare us to shoot from the outside. Until we start hitting the 3 that will be the way it is. One way to over come having to launch a bunch of 3s is to press a bit more. I suspect we do not have the bench that can sustain that type of game over a season. Also, one thing I have noticed is that once our bigs get the ball they rarely if ever look to pass even when doubled up. Our bigs could improve their passing ability as well. I suspect we'll be launching 3s and banging the board from the weak side for the rest of the season unless someone has been holding back their shooting ability.

The only place I can see vast improvement from this team (we are what we are in the skill department) is elimination of needless TOs. Also, our guys could improve on their pull up jumpers instead of heading into traffic. IMO GF is getting the most he can out of the talent so far. I have very little complaints about the coaching. He just needs to go out there and get a few skilled recruits.

[lefty]

I love it when we can pound the ball inside but I agree with the way we are shooting teams are going to just dare us to shoot from the outside. Until we start hitting the 3 that will be the way it is. One way to over come having to launch a bunch of 3s is to press a bit more. I suspect we do not have the bench that can sustain that type of game over a season. Also, one thing I have noticed is that once our bigs get the ball they rarely if ever look to pass even when doubled up. Our bigs could improve their passing ability as well. I suspect we'll be launching 3s and banging the board from the weak side for the rest of the season unless someone has been holding back their shooting ability.

The only place I can see vast improvement from this team (we are what we are in the skill department) is elimination of needless TOs. Also, our guys could improve on their pull up jumpers instead of heading into traffic. IMO GF is getting the most he can out of the talent so far. I have very little complaints about the coaching. He just needs to go out there and get a few skilled recruits.

Agreed....that was one thing I always thought when the bigs get a pass I thought it could help if they passed back out and reset a little deeper when the defender relaxed a bit...

[Da Coach]

...and many thought this would never happen Da Coach. Thank God for a down year in the Valley.

Since you addressed this to me, I'll respond- You have me confused with someone else, as I wasn't one of those "many" you are referring to. I am not sure who was. Bradley is right where I predicted they would be at this point.
Bradley was favored by 7.5 points to beat Drake, and SIU is a really bad team. No way we should have lost in Carbondale. So it's nice to be 2-0, but the real test starts now.
I predicted we'd be 8-4 in the non-conference because of the weakness of the opposition, and I predicted we'd win 6 or 7 MVC games, and that the one road Valley game we we'd win would be SIU. I hope I am wrong.

The MVC is weaker this year- they remain #9 in conference RPI, though they are getting a little closer #8 SEC and #7 A-10-

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_conf_Men.html

And here are the RPIs of the teams Bradley has played. Bradley's SOS is still bad - ranked #262. Note that Central Michigan at RPI 112 (and falling) and Drake at 162 are the only teams we have beaten with an RPI of under 200-

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_294_Men.html

[Gary the Gargoyle]

In all seriousness, who cares about the RPI this season (as it relates to Bradley)? The team has vastly improved from last season, and shown me a majority of what I had hoped to see. Next year, I think it would be great if Bradley's RPI is of prominent relevance.

[Da Coach]

it would be great if Bradley's RPI is of prominent relevance

Sorry, but my point had nothing to do with Bradley's RPI, it was about the RPI of the opponents we've beaten, and why we have had the success we have had.
It was me (by name)who was accused of not expecting the results we have seen so far. That is not the case. I posted my predictions before the season began, and we are exactly where I predicted we'd be.

[Braves4Life]

Just to clarify my point Da Coach let me be clear that I was not calling you out. Rather, I used your post to illustrate my point that many did not expect Bradley to be 2-0 in the MVC standings at this point. I think you illustrated your view exceptionally well; I hope, however, that we can pick up another road win before the season's over. I think there are several places - Drake, MSU, EU - where this might happen.