UNI Post Game Thoughts

[Fetz86]

I dont think i'm even going to bother watching the game, i walk in the door and start looking for the tape, my mom goes its over there but you're not gonna like it anyway. thanks a lot .

I dont think we get beat up like this again inside. It was a horrible game for both ZA and MS, and against the best 1-2 forward combo in the league. If we can get just a lil consistency from our 2 guys, the situation wont be as bad. The MVC is still a gaurd dominated league.

[Bravesfan]

It's early, and road games are going to be tough. As long as this isn't a trend, I'm not worried.

I am worried, however, that everybody will just beat us up inside all year long.

You should not worry that everyone is going to beat us up inside. Why, because that is just the way it will be this year so there is no sense in worrying about it. What I would worry about instead is bad defense and poor FT shooting. These things can be controlled and are what lost the game tonight.

Yes, the road wins will be few and far between for all but the very elite teams in the Valley. I am a little miffed about why we played so badly on the defensive side in the first half. Don't know if it was coaching or more likely players a bit nervous playing their first Valley road game of the season. Probably the latter, but the second half shows we will be competitive in most of our road games. Hopefully we win a few since moral victories only go so far.

Also, they say this team will live by the three and die by the three. Well, not in every case. We had very good three point shooting tonight and we still lost. The way this team is structured, the three's will have to go down, BUT we have to play good defense as well. Defense creates offense, and UNI just exploited that aspect of their game quite well tonight!

We will win some road games this year. I'm just trying to figure where those few wins will occur!

[That Guy]

I dont think we get beat up like this again inside. It was a horrible game for both ZA and MS, and against the best 1-2 forward combo in the league. If we can get just a lil consistency from our 2 guys, the situation wont be as bad. The MVC is still a gaurd dominated league.

Yes, this is a guard dominated league, but if our bigs continue to get like they did tonight, it will allow teams to worry about stopping our guard penetration. Such was the case in the first half of the game tonight.

[Lakeview Brave]

Re: UNI Post Game Thoughts

Discuss amongst yourselves ...

Anyone a little worried we gave our last scholarship to another guard, after that one?

Perfect example of why most teams can't play 4 guards...but I'm not jumping off the ship, this team is still going to win a lot of games.

The problem is not the 4 guards its the size and abilty of the guards. JJ gives his all but in order to have an effective 4 guard offence he needs to be able to score and score allot against another teams power foward. Tonight for example he could not really take advantage of Coleman guarding him. At worst he should have been able to draw and kick to others.

The other factor is the size of the guards. JJ is 6'3 imagine a 6'6 Ray Brown in that spot or a 6'5 DW next year. Will is 6'0 (maybe) and he is a warrior who rebounds very well from his spot but put a 6'4 Jeremy Fears and it makes a difference. Im not sure why Andrew Warren didnt get any minutes, I think he more then JJ or DA could have scored on Coleman and made him pay for guarding him. Im not ready to give up on this system and Im happy with our recruits. UNI has one of the best forward tandems in the Valley most teams dont have two front court players that good and big.

[valleyclimber]

Good to see the Braves get some national face-time on ESPN2, but not so great to see announcer Doug Gottlieb spin the Valley as a lower level conference.

Gottlieb belittled UNI's Brooks McKowen, made fun of the Panthers haircuts, talked about how none of the UNI players could even start on the U of Iowa team, and he constantly pushed the midmajor branding label on the Valley.

He said there is NO shame in being midmajor. Well, if there is no shame, then why is that label being applied? Gottlieb said it was all a matter of funding. The BCS schools just have more funds. Well, then if that's the case, then someone should be ashamed. It should be the well-funded BCS schools. With all their money, how could they lose on a fairly consistent basis to MVC schools. His arguement is a joke.

What matters is how sucessful a conference's teams are on the b-ball court. And Valley schools are VERY sucessful and have proven that by having a winning record against those well-funded power schools. MVC schools are sucessful on a national basis and that should carry alot more weight in determining whether it's TOP level college b-ball. It shouldn't be about how much money is thrown into a program.

Jesus, why are even MEDIOCRE BCS schools considered top flight, when non-BCS programs (that are clearly better overall) considered to be second string? Because those mediocre BCS schools are well funded? That's an announcer who's spinning (to a national TV audience) absolute BS!

Once again great to have the national TV exposure, but most uninformed b-ball fans that tuned in tonight's BU/UNI tilt will probably buy into Gottlieb's constant assertions that the Valley is a lower brand of basketball. Pretty damn sad.

[asurfaceofone]

After 8 minutes, I turned it off ... ... ...

It was what would have been the same kind of broadcast if {insert whatever name you want here} pegler or any of what I believe to be the complete lower rung of broadcasters from weak-25 would have been televising the same. Comment after quiet-subtle comment putting down whatever they could about Bradley and, like I said, I turned the television off as quickly as I did. I wanted to listen to the Master, Dave Snell, but, the time lapse was too great for me to tolerate while watching. Switching gears here, I realize we need big guys down low; hence Salley and Andrews. What if we simply sat those two down for a few games? Would it make a difference? I am serious about this. Would it really make a difference? Do I really need to give examples to support this query of mine? We seem to have been doing a pretty good job of making up for our continued consistency of missing layups with our three point 'bombardment'. How do we, though, over come what we are missing in my aforementioned inquiry???

[Da Coach]

UNI postgame recap--

http://unipanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/122806aab.html

Box score-

http://unipanthers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2006-2007/uni12.html

Photo gallery--

http://unipanthers.cstv.com/view.gal?id=4700&template=player_gallery

[tornado]

Too many poorly chosen shots on offense, runners, off balance shots, turnaround jumpers, etc.
Then the oft seen lazy defense that shows up on the road.
A lot of missed FTs.
Add to that a few bizarre calls like the charging fouls on BU and the no calls when our guys were getting hacked.

I am frankly amazed BU was even within 20 points at the end, but yet it was narrowed to under 5.

All these are fixable problems, and BU didn't lose because of lack of talent.
I had actually figured this might be one of the toughest road games and even if BU wins 3 or 4 road games, this, I figured, probably wouldn't be one of them, but I would have liked to see them win there and spoil the opening of the arena.

[Chico]

We just can't have the ball in the hands of Zach or Matt when the game is close. They force bad shots and kill us at the free throw line. We kept throwing the ball to Matt. He tries so hard though, it hard to knock him or any Brave, with the size we have this year.

[BradleyBrave]

We just can't have the ball in the hands of Zach or Matt when the game is close. They force bad shots and kill us at the free throw line. We kept throwing the ball to Matt. He tries so hard though, it hard to knock him or any Brave, with the size we have this year.

I agree Chico. Salley I certainly have more confidence in though due to his understanding of the game, which is eons ahead of Zach's. Both excel at being the garbage men of the team, moreso Salley lately. Unfortunately, ZA seems to think he's a legitimate post threat, when in reality he's a finisher and a garbage man, and nothing more. His offense should consist of dunks, layups, point-blank turnaround hook shots, swinging the basketball, finishing on a pick-and-roll, and rebounding. Unfortunately, what we've gotten lately from ZA are hop-jump-stops that are travels, spin moves that are travels, weak up-and-unders, and ZA bringing the ball up the floor which has resulted in turnovers. I love the kid to death, but his basketball IQ is miniscule, which is why Salley will be playing a lion's share of the crunch time minutes IMO.

I am also curious as to when our 6'8" 250 lb monster who can jump out of the gym is going to block a shot. He's intimidating no one inside, regardless of height. I'd much rather see him pick up 5 fouls being an intimidator inside than diving into someone's knees when they already have the ball, or tackling someone and wrestling them to the ground as he did last night. It's just plain basketball stupid.

[TheAsianSensation]

I think Zach was brought in with the idea that he would be the running mate for POB. With POB swatting away shots in the middle, Zach could play the 4 and be more of an athlete and have less burden.

Zach would've been the perfect compliment to POB. But now, we're asking too much out of him. He's simply not the answer inside in a 4-guard system. But we have to play the hand we have. Not complaining after last year, of course, but.....

[Dallas Brave]

I wasn't able to catch the game, so I had to read the posts on this web site and the PJS to get the scoop. I wasn't surprised to read about the poor offensive showing. There was lots of evidence in the last few games that Bradley was getting away from its motion offense and starting to do more individual play with the basketball. Hopefully, the team can regain some of the ball movement it displayed earlier in the season.

That said, I also think people are expecting too much of this team now that we are in conference play. To the credit of the coachs and players, the team had a great start and it's natural to extend that success into conference play. But, as we all knew before the season started, there is a lack of overall team depth, especially down low. The competition in the MVC will be brutal this year. A .500 conference record will be a strong accomplishment. Also, the NIT is a realistic post-season goal, not the NCAA tournament.