Valley Tournament discussion thread

[tornado]

OK - let's get behind the team & pull for a win tonight .. discussion may be light with so many of BU's good fans at the session in St. Louis but here's what I think...

Game 1 - otherwise as the battle to see who gets to be clobbered by the Shockers first...
Drake vs. Evansville -
Evansville lost 7 of their last 10 but still managed to knock off Drake 61-49
Drake lost 6 of their last 10 but managed to knock off Bradley
I think this game is a toss-up and goes to whoever hits shots.
Drake is the better outside shooting team - I think they win a close one.

Game 2 - BU vs. Loyola -- I hope we just go with our white home jerseys and don't fiddle with gimmicks...we need a win!
And don't think just because we beat Loyola twice - that they are gonna lay down and give us this game.
BUT - our seniors want to go out strong - I think we win this one but it'll be close.

[BUfan39]

OK - let's get behind the team & pull for a win tonight .. discussion may be light with so many of BU's good fans at the session in St. Louis but here's what I think...

Game 1 - otherwise as the battle to see who gets to be clobbered by the Shockers first...
Drake vs. Evansville -
Evansville lost 7 of their last 10 but still managed to knock off Drake 61-49
Drake lost 6 of their last 10 but managed to knock off Bradley
I think this game is a toss-up and goes to whoever hits shots.
Drake is the better outside shooting team - I think they win a close one.

Game 2 - BU vs. Loyola -- I hope we just go with our white home jerseys and don't fiddle with gimmicks...we need a win!
And don't think just because we beat Loyola twice - that they are gonna lay down and give us this game.
BUT - our seniors want to go out strong - I think we win this one but it'll be close.

I like Evansville because of D.J. Balentine in Game 1. I've got EU 73 Drake 68.

We tend to play better in the home whites so let's hope that continues tonight in St. Louis. I think we win but in a pretty close game in Game 2. We need to take care of the basketball and rebound better against LU than we have in the previous two matchups. I say 61-55 Bradley with the win.

[tornado]

don't get it - Drake must not know who the Aces' big scorer is - they have never once double teamed him and they don't go at him on the other end and force him to play defense --
Balentine just got his first foul of the game and it was on his offensive end!
On several plays - Drake guys "faked" a move away from their guy to double Balentine then went back and did not double as Balentine who then drove right to the hoop.

btw - just saw a really surprising score - Penn State beating Northwestern in Evanston by almost 30 - whoa...

[Da Coach]

Evansville played extremely well in beating Drake. They probably don't stand a chance tomorrow against Wichita State, but if the Aces play like they did tonight, it could be closer than expected. The WSU fans at Scottrade didn't want to see UE win.

Stats

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/gamecast?gameId=400541016&version=mobile&date=20140306&groupId=18

[Braves2006]

Boy..how good can the Aces be in the next few years? Pretty good young talent.

[BUfan39]

Boy..how good can the Aces be in the next few years? Pretty good young talent.

I really like egidijus mockevicius. That kid can play!

[Da Coach]

There are maybe 100-200 Loyola students here in the student section along with their band.
By contrast, the Bradley band is here in full force, but there are only a dozen or less students in the BU student section. Not a good showing by our students.

[Da Coach]

There are several hundred Bradley fans in the arena, outnumbering the much smaller number of Loyola fans.

[BUfan39]

There are maybe 100-200 Loyola students here in the student section along with their band.
By contrast, the Bradley band is here in full force, but there are only a dozen or less tudents in the BU student section. Not a good showing by our students.

LOL what'd you expect. Man that's pathetic. 4-14 Loyola brings 100 students 6 hours south and we can't even get 10..

[Rhino65]

There are maybe 100-200 Loyola students here in the student section along with their band.
By contrast, the Bradley band is here in full force, but there are only a dozen or less students in the BU student section. Not a good showing by our students.

If we win tonight tomorrow the common students will be there in full force. Too many classes and mid-terms were tonight/early tomorrow.

[tornado]

Bradley Scout article-

http://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/it-is-time-for-mens-basketball-to-win/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=it-is-time-for-mens-basketball-to-win

[tornado]

OK - on to other topics...

Evansville just got hammered by Wichita State 80-58
Balentine tried but by about 5 minutes into the 2nd half, the Shox had a 20-pt lead and never looked back.
The lead was 25 pts with 4 minutes to go and then only one basket was scored after that by either side.

[tornado]

2nd game today Missouri State 53 - Illinois State 48

ISU, although they had a couple guys who were hot - are the most incredibly undisciplined batch of shot-chuckers I have ever seen -
at times passing on clear or easy opportunities to attack the rim - just to launch some of the most difficult, circus like, heavily guarded 30-footers...
They really are fun to watch and sometimes hit a few and put on a 10 point run in a heartbeat - but they will not win games very consistently this way and it sure showed today.

[Da Coach]

Quarterfinal games today (Fri., March 7)
Wichita State 80
Evansville 58

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400542634

Missouri State 53
Illinois State 48

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400541018

Both teams struggled offensively, turned the ball over a lot, and both shot about 32% for the game.
Jarmar Gully had a bad game (2-12), but freshman Austin Ruder was 6-12 from three. Nobody on ISU could seem to score, until Zach Lofton got hot. He scored 23 points for the game. MSU outrebounded ISU 45-36. A key turnover late in the game where Bobby Hunter was called for over-and-back, helped MSU pull ahead for the win. On slo-mo replay, Hunter had not yet stepped over the line and established position in the front court when he passed the ball back, so IMO, the call was in error.

[tornado]

.. Bobby Hunter was called for over-and-back, helped MSU pull ahead for the win. On slo-mo replay, Hunter had not yet stepped over the line and established position in the front court when he passed the ball back, so IMO, the call was in error.

but we've seen this before - several times over the years --
if you do anything unusual or funky near the midcourt time-line the refs just love to call over-and-back...