Final: Bradley 74 UT Pan Am 54

[bigjimmy]

It's hard to call a 20 point win a ho hum win but I think this one qualifies as one. Got up 14-0 and cruised from there. As long as Barnes plays defense and gets rebounds you can get away with him not scoring, if you're getting 4 other guys in double figures. If you're not and getting no scoring from the middle men that's where you struggle. Never felt like we were ever really threatened in this game but during the middle 20 minutes we played some real ugly basketball. It looked like, just like most of the games this year, that we panicked against pressure defense. It's almost like we don't practice those situations. Really sad to see so few people in attendance. I thought Grier had a good offensive game and Bell played well in the 2nd half. Walt was Walt. Hard to be upset with a 20 point win. Maybe that's progress or maybe our expectations for this team are a little too high.

[Chico]

It's hard to call a 20 point win a ho hum win but I think this one qualifies as one. Got up 14-0 and cruised from there. As long as Barnes plays defense and gets rebounds you can get away with him not scoring, if you're getting 4 other guys in double figures. If you're not and getting no scoring from the middle men that's where you struggle. Never felt like we were ever really threatened in this game but during the middle 20 minutes we played some real ugly basketball. It looked like, just like most of the games this year, that we panicked against pressure defense. It's almost like we don't practice those situations. Really sad to see so few people in attendance. I thought Grier had a good offensive game and Bell played well in the 2nd half. Walt was Walt. Hard to be upset with a 20 point win. Maybe that's progress or maybe our expectations for this team are a little too high.

Once the season started the last thing I had was high expectations. Sure hope I'm wrong. But with no threat in the middle we are in big trouble.

[tornado]

This was a guarantee game where we paid them $80,000 to come and play us without a return game

and some negative press - LINK

and if anyone wants a little laugh - look at the UTPA/Bradley box score in the newspaper this morning...
There might just be a slight mistake as they have Walt Lemon with 36 points, Ka'Darryl Bell with 26, and Anthony Fields with 10 (wish we had that kind of depth)

[Buesch N Chips]

and some negative press - LINK

Is Geno throwing his players under the bus?

[Da Coach]

I noticed in the KW column he was touting this fact-
"the Bradley Braves shot 55 percent to win by 20 points and run their home victory streak to seven games, the program’s longest in seven years."


We are happy to be winning these games, not losing, but touting a seven game home winning streak that includes the string of 5 home games this season against teams that will end up around 300 RPI, plus 2 home games in the CIT last year that we paid to enter is silly. It draws most people's attention to the awful home schedule, though I noticed Kirk conveniently forgot to mention this.

Plus, how much longer are we going to keep hearing this excuse?-
"With an inexperienced team — five players new to NCAA Division I and seven in their first seasons of eligibility at Bradley — Ford had expected some hiccups."

Other teams recruit juco players and never complain about them being "new to Division I"? And at one time we were told the 2 transfers were immediate "impact players" from other major programs, and they've had a year and a half to play and practice with this team, so why include them in this excuse?
To Geno's credit, I don't think I've heard him use this lame excuse, but why does the press keep making excuses for this coach?

[wily coyote]

I still feel the crowds will be back when two things happen. 1.) League starts & 2.) when we put a product on the floor that is worth watching. I've seen alot of BAD basketball the last 4-5 years but last night from about the 16 minute mark in the first half to about the 3 minute mark,that was about as bad as it gets. I rarely leave a game early but last night I couldn't watch anymore and left at the under 4 minute time out in the 2nd half.
On a positive note nice to see Bell have a good game.We are gonna need him because it doesn't look like Fields is gonna show up. Don't think we missed JP one bit the last 4 games. Someone had to tell me after the game that he played. Major no-show. Tayor seems to have hit that Freshmen wall a little early. We need major improvement from him in b4 league starts.

[tornado]

Tyshon sorta disappeared after the first 5-6 minutes as well...the sloppy, sluggish play by UTPA & the quick run out to 14-0 seemed to cause our guys to stand around get lazy...or just give it to Walt

[Da Coach]

It seems like he played somewhat timid last night. UTPA had no really big guys inside (6'6"-6'7") and they were not very skilled. This is a team he should have done very well against, yet he had one of his worst games (8 points, just 2 rebounds, and 3 turnovers). I am not buying the excuses given by the PJ Star apologists that his fouls caused him to play that way. Even his short jump shot was missing, and he was nearly invisible on offense, which can't be blamed on what the excuse-maker says was that he "picked up two fouls in the first 12 minutes".

[molar50]

I hope I am wrong, but I do not think the crowds will be back. I know several people my age (early 60's) who have not renewed. Some have lost interest, some have a winter home in the south, and some are unhappy with the price increases. There is no life in the Civic Center. The player introductions are lame, there is no half-time entertainment (unless you count the young people putting on oversize shoes, jersey, and shorts dribbing across and making one basket. It looks like everything is second rate. I sit a few rows behind the visitors bench and over 50% of the seats are empty. There are seats in front of me that have not been occupied once this season. Either those seats were not renewed by former fans or they do not care to attend watching Bradley's opponents.

[Dub]

I think it's appropriate for Bradley fans to be concerned right now, and to air their concerns the way they wish. I would be more on concerned if we just watched the program fade and didn't fight for it.

I wrote letters to Dr Cross and Pres Glasser after the Les firing, and got personalized and meaningful if vague responses. I had an occasion to speak briefly with Dr Cross this summer and he is a decent guy, but he doesn't seem to have much connection to the history of the program, which I hold dear. I can't judge whether or not he's done things that have helped the bball program, but either they haven't shown up yet or don't exist. His main contribution was hiring Geno, and he hasn't been given full allowance of time to see if he can help us.

Maybe we will begin to win, turn the fanbase on fire, put Bradley back on the map bigtime, and in 2 years be talking about how the administration took Bradley hoops to the next level. I would love for that to happen.

[basketball nut]

The player introductions are lame, there is no half-time entertainment (unless you count the young people putting on oversize shoes, jersey, and shorts dribbing across and making one basket. It looks like everything is second rate. Bradley's opponents.

Couldn't agree more about player introductions. I remember when the music had the fans fired up and clapping hands and making noise. Now try clapping w/ the garbage they play and it is almost impossible-not sure how that is suppose to fire up the crowd but it only seems to put them to sleep.
They have nothing at half time but hopefully that changes but we'll see.

[Da Coach]

A win is a win. But Geno did not seem pleased with our defense and rebounding (UTPA had 16 offensive rebounds). It will be interesting to hear his post-game comments. But despite the cheerleading by the press and some fans, this is not as good a team as we are being told (depth, athleticism, talent, recruiting all improved?). What happens if we lose to one of these 300+ RPI teams?

Attendance was posted as 5,898- indeed the lowest attendance figure in the modern Bradley era, and possibly the smallest since the Armory days, and a lot of those were no-shows.

Last night showed everyone what I was talking about here. As someone else said, the risk of playing these lowly teams is what if you lose to one of them. It can do more to hurt the program than any real benefit from stacking the schedule with cupcakes.

[Old Coach]

Last night showed everyone what I was talking about here. As someone else said, the risk of playing these lowly teams is what if you lose to one of them. It can do more to hurt the program than any real benefit from stacking the schedule with cupcakes.

I think that's the same thing that BCS programs say about playing teams like Bradley.

[bu fan 9]

I think we are a cupcake now.

[Old Coach]

I think we are a cupcake now.

It's all relative.