Final: Bradley 83 Evansville 66

[lefty]

Just a good game overall other than 3 pt shooting….only 9 turnovers again…50% from the field….good job by the Braves……and kudos to the staff…….we didn't start out the season well and looked downright terrible at times but they stuck together and hopefully can string some wins together now

[wily coyote]

Who in the heck were those kids in the BU uni's. That 1st half was as good as any half all year. Did anyone notice, no dribbling for prolong periods of time. So many consecutive passes without a dribble and I told my wife we had more assists in the 1st half than we had in any whole game this year. So great to see the guys sharing the ball the way the game is suppose to be played. Hopefully Geno's got their attention and we will see this kind of basketball for the rest of the year. Gonna need that kind of effort Wed. and if we do ISUB is not gonna like the results.
Also great to see XT blooming into a real nice Valley player ( future star IMO). For a kid who rarely started on his HS team ,he is making great strides. Forgot to mention all 5 starters on his HS team are playing at D-1 schools. Now we just need to get his good friend Mr. Cunningham to join the fun next year.

[lefty]

Who in the heck were those kids in the BU uni's. That 1st half was as good as any half all year. Did anyone notice, no dribbling for prolong periods of time. So many consecutive passes without a dribble and I told my wife we had more assists in the 1st half than we had in any whole game this year. So great to see the guys sharing the ball the way the game is suppose to be played. Hopefully Geno's got their attention and we will see this kind of basketball for the rest of the year. Gonna need that kind of effort Wed. and if we do ISUB is not gonna like the results.
Also great to see XT blooming into a real nice Valley player ( future star IMO). For a kid who rarely started on his HS team ,he is making great strides. Forgot to mention all 5 starters on his HS team are playing at D-1 schools. Now we just need to get his good friend Mr. Cunningham to join the fun next year.

We made the extra pass today better than ever??¦..and it seemed the guys enjoyed every minute playing today

[Da Coach]

Who in the heck were those kids in the BU uni's. That 1st half was as good as any half all year. Did anyone notice, no dribbling for prolong periods of time. So many consecutive passes without a dribble...

Though I think Bradley has the athletes to play like this more than we have in the past, I also think some of the difference we saw today has a little to do with the opposition. Evansville was possibly the most un-athletic group of players we have seen all year. I thought they played really soft defense all day against Walt, and our perimeter players, as well as inside, where a couple of our bigs had monster games. I am amazed Marty got as much out of those guys earlier in the season, but they have now sunk to the bottom of the league.

[Da Coach]

Here are the Valley standings after today's games.....

http://www.mvc-sports.com/mbasketball/default/

Strange how that MVC site has the standings. It is not correct.
They show Loyola in 10th place, but they clearly have a better record than the 9th or 8th place team.-


Here is the correct standings-

[lefty]

5-2 for the last 7 games??¦..kudos to the staff and team??¦.they could have given up or just kept playing the same way??¦??¦.good job

[bigjimmy]

Thought we played our best offensive game of the year. We really moved the ball around the perimeter and was able to finish at the basket. Thankfully X played his best game of the year as Prosser was just nonexistent. And Bell reverted back to his form this year which has been bad. Walt's late season push for 1st team MVC continues but Jake Odum and Indiana State comes to town on Wednesday and that will be a tall order. Do this against a better team and we could have something.

[Bradleyfan1]

I agree repeat Wends night and we dance in the streets!

[tornado]

Strange how that MVC site has the standings...

The standings were inaccurate even before today's games - as I saw they had Bradley at 6-6 even before we won today...

anyway - ISU is showing themselves to be very Jekyll & Hyde - depending on whether they shoot well... their fans are really upset apparently thinking there are some players n the team who are problems.

In games where they shoot well (like vs. Dayton, both games vs. Drake, and against UNI) they play well and win...
but when they shoot poorly (they were 4-22 against us, 7-23 today) then they are very beatable - their fortunes seem to hang exclusively on their outside shooting as they are very thin at the post.

[LittleBrave]

Bradley is a 5 point favorite in Las Vegas-

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-basketball/teams/team-page.cfm/team/bradley

The line started at Bradley -4 points, but money being laid mostly on Bradley has pushed the line to -5.

Seems after my Valley write-ups, the lines move slightly as people are picking the team I am in favor of covering the spread...maybe not due to my articles, but there is a correlation. Carrying about a 60% winning record. Not sure if I will screw people up by picking BU to cover (and WIN) vs. Wichita St. When they come to P-town.

[Da Coach]

ISU is showing themselves to be very Jekyll & Hyde - depending on whether they shoot well... their fans are really upset apparently thinking there are some players n the team who are problems.

In games where they shoot well (like vs. Dayton, both games vs. Drake, and against UNI) they play well and win...
but when they shoot poorly (they were 4-22 against us, 7-23 today) then they are very beatable - their fortunes seem to hang exclusively on their outside shooting as they are very thin at the post.

I watched the Jim Mattson Sunday Overtime TV show on WHOI last night (10:30 PM Sunday nights). It's a call-in show for fans of any sport. Despite all the topics to discuss (Bradley win, Olympics, fan-shoving incident, gay athletes, etc.), the show seemed dominated by several different callers who wanted Dan Muller fired. They tried to make the case that things keep getting worse and that he is not a good coach. One caller harped on how he inherited a lot of talent last year but had a poor outcome (8-10, 6th place), another seemed really upset they lost at Loyola so badly (maybe since Bradley had won there).

[Big Mike]

Wesler: X a factor when on the floor...

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140209/SPORTS/140209161/10963/SPORTS

Reynolds: Bradley back on the attack...

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140209/SPORTS/140209190/10962/SPORTS

[tornado]

....It's a home game against the last place team - we should be expected to win this one handily

and I feel the same way about facing the other teams - even the league leaders when we play them at home --
I hope our guys clobber them...

[Bradleyfan1]

I watched the Jim Mattson Sunday Overtime TV show on WHOI last night (10:30 PM Sunday nights). It's a call-in show for fans of any sport. Despite all the topics to discuss (Bradley win, Olympics, fan-shoving incident, gay athletes, etc.), the show seemed dominated by several different callers who wanted Dan Muller fired. They tried to make the case that things keep getting worse and that he is not a good coach. One caller harped on how he inherited a lot of talent last year but had a poor outcome (8-10, 6th place), another seemed really upset they lost at Loyola so badly (maybe since Bradley had won there).

Mattson was pro Dan and GENO! Noone brought up Geno but Jim said Dans doing a good job Dan and Geno are both doing great jobs or something along those lines.

[Bradleyfan1]

I also wish they put the show on more often. Also make it hour long.

Give Mattson a co host or guest every show too. Maybe both?

IMO ...Love the show ...Jim seems Rushed and Lonley lol