BU women's basketball

[Da Coach]

It's really hard to win with 27 turnovers, and shooting 1-17 from three.

Some of Bradley's season numbers are hard to believe. With tonight's 1-17 shooting, they drop to 22.1% for the season (75 of 340) on threes. That now rank 341st out of 343 teams in D1, and is just a couple tenths of a percentage point from being the worst in Division I.
Their overall shooting ranks 320th, their assists are 317th, their turnovers per game rank 338th, and points allowed ranks 318th.

[Lebreezy06]

I see things differently

This team is young and from what I saw tonight they were working their tails off. Ollie...I must disagree with your assessment of the league. They just beat Loyola who tonight beat Evansville 70- 58 and Illinois St lost in a tough game to Northern Iowa 59-52. So they must not be absolutely horrible as you just mentioned. Yes, this team needs to cut down the turnovers, but do you really not see the growth potential for this team. 6 out of the 9 players who played for Indiana State were Seniors. Coach Brookes' team was the exact opposite 7 of the 9 that played were freshman and sophomores. The potential for this team in the next few years is astronomical. Let me give you one of the reasons this team struggles that you all seem to over look. Coach Brooks released all four members of Paula Buchers final recruiting class. 3 of those ladies are at D2 schools and averaging less than 5 points per game as juniors at that level. To me this coach started with young freshman and is trying to build a program. They fight hard. Which I can't say for the other basketball team on campus. They need to cut down turnovers and YES hit those open shots. I can take this coach growing this program the right way. I listened to Coach Brookes speak today and I understand what the future holds. They need time like any young club needs, but I realize you all are not interested in giving that to them. I will be there Sunday and I will be looking forward to another tough battle from these players.

[tornado]

...
Their overall shooting ranks 320th
.. their assists are 317th
..turnovers per game rank 338th...

wow - I did not realize we were so bad - maybe we haven't given them enough time to rebuild "the right way"

[ollienanyes]

This team is young and from what I saw tonight they were working their tails off. Ollie...I must disagree with your assessment of the league. They just beat Loyola who tonight beat Evansville 70- 58 and Illinois St lost in a tough game to Northern Iowa 59-52. So they must not be absolutely horrible as you just mentioned.

1. I looked at the standings. I see Illinois state as 1-9 MVC, 1-20 overall.
I see Loyola as 1-9 MVC, 3-18 overall. If this isn't bad, what is?

2. I never said that this team wasn't trying and hustling; they are. But I continue to see bad decision after bad decision; the same stuff I saw at the beginning of the season. Of course, someone with more knowledge of basketball than I have might detect improvement that I haven't seen.

3. Yes, they are young; no argument there.

4. Yes, I'll be there on Sunday too, sitting under the play by play radio announcer's station, as usual. I was there last night as well.

For the record: I am NOT, NOT saying "fire the coach"; I'd like to see what happens next season. But I am calling it as I see it, with the caveat that I am not a basketball expert.

[Da Coach]

I can buy the "young" excuse a little, though it is a little harder to accept the "young" excuse in year 3 of a coach's program. How many years can a coach get away with dismissing players, recruiting more, and using the "young" excuse? So far the team has not even come close to where things were when Coach Brooks took over, and while the previous coach is having great success elsewhere, Bradley has clearly gone backward.

I don't want to pile on, but the things that bother me the most are the lack of basic fundamentals this team shows. That cannot all be blamed on being young. This team can't shoot, they can't dribble, they don't pass well, and they don't defend well. They consistently have been the worst defensive team in the MVC every season under Brooks, they are a horrible shooting team, and they lead the conference by a wide margin in turnovers. These are not skills that the team seems to be getting better at, and I have not seen any evidence that any of the players improve significantly under Coach Brooks. We all want to see him succeed, and I am sure he will get another season to show it. But 2 of the team's top 3 scorers are 4th-year players, so it isn't looking good for a turnaround next year. I believe the women's team should be held to the same standards as the men's team, and so far, as bad as the men's team has been, the women's team has been worse.

[Lebreezy06]

Good points

You make some descent points, but not sure you really understand how recruiting works and the timeline that Brookes was hired in. It is ok if you don't think he develops players but I looked at the webiste and Michelle Young averaged 2 points and .5 rebounds when Brookes took over the program. Now she averages 14 points 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Also the 2nd leading scorer and top bounder is a sophomore. she averages 13 points and 7 rebounds. Brookes also has recruited 2 freshman averaging 6 points and 6 rebounds. They must be descent recruits because Cunningham who was a top 100 recruit is averaging 8 points and 7 rebounds on the men's side. Most people I talk to think he will be one of the best players to come through Bradley. Maybe I am the one who is blind but I am excited about where this program will head. And to top it off, I can support this coach more because he actually made the tough decision to get rid of a player when they made a choice to physically assault another person. I can stand by that choice. Who else has Brookes dismissed? I believe the game will slow down soon for these young players and they will have more contributions to give. If Brookes develops these players like he did Michelle Young then we are going to have one heck of a group to support. I will look for you under the sign Ollie! Also, I just had to chuckle as I looked to see how Bucher was doing and realized her leading scorer is the young woman who assaulted a former teammate at Bradley. Wow.

[Da Coach]

Paula has a winning team and they are 14-9, and 9-1 in their conference. Somehow, she had created a winning team without using the "too young" excuse. A year ago I believe you posted that the reason BU the team wasn't winning was all Paula's fault and because of Paula's players. You said the team would improve when the coach got his own players, while I predicted things would worsen with the loss of the better players. I was right with my prediction. Now that most of Paula's players are gone, the excuse is because they are young and we haven't given the coach enough time. OK, but when will it be fair to expect a winning team? Year 4, year 5 or when?

And, by the way, I do know a lot about how recruiting works, thank you. I do know that a coach needs to recruit players with shooting and passing skills.
Bradley fans, and hopefully a new administration are not going to satisfied with losing teams year after year, and ranking at the bottom of the league in most offensive and defensive categories. The women's team has gotten worse each year, not better as would be expected during a rebuilding process. Like I said, I am sure Coach Brooks will get another year, but by next year, I don't think the "too young" excuse will work any more.

[Jeffesh]

At the beginning of the season I think the "they are young" excuse was legit. Unfortunately at this point in the season when the team is not playing any better and making the same mistakes one has to wonder if the coaching is doing their job. The truth is they are young but without good coaching the decent young players they do have, and they have some, will not development and from what I have seen this year there hasn't been much improvement. I have seen every game, including the ISU game, so I feel I have seen them enough to comment on their development or lack there of. I feel Coach Brooks deserves another year but I am starting to have strong doubts about his ability to help these young women grow as basketball players. I really hope I am wrong, time will tell.

[ollienanyes]

BU women finish the sweep of Evansville 56-50

First meeting: EU won 86-46 (not a misprint).

This time, BU nursed a 22-18 half time lead, extended it to 39-31 and didn't panic when EU went on a 9-0 run to lead 40-39.

Along the way, Bradley got a 5 point play; there was a foul away from the ball on a 3 point make.

BU's freshman center had a good day rebounding and the Braves took somewhat better care of the ball, though they did struggle with the press at times. It was 52-50 with 1:30 to go, and good free throw shooting iced the game.

[Jeffesh]

Yes on a whole they played a good game with a few lapses here and there, which is to be expected. Seemed like Coach Brooks went with his more reliable players and they were able to keep their cool and pull it out. Good job today.

[Da Coach]

Nice win today. Now lets see some continued success on the road trip!

[ollienanyes]

Missouri State 68 BU 61: rally too little, too late

Well, BU lead 24-21 but got beat 48-37 in the second half. Mo. State got offensive rebounds for second chance points and lead 68-53 with under 2 minutes to go; BU's last ditch rally was too little, too late.

Schlueter hat 20 points and Young got 6, which got her to 1000 career points.

[Da Coach]

More bad news, but not surprising-
The Bradley women's team played at 2nd place Wichita State today and got blown out from start to finish-
Wichita State 66 Bradley 36

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=71348&vislive=wich

The same old problems I have been pointing out these last 3 years-
Poor shooting- Bradley shot 13-38 (34%) overall, and 1-9 (11%) from three. No Bradley player scored more than 6 points.
Poor passing- Bradley with a total of just 5 assists for the entire game
Poor ball handling- Bradley with a whopping 28 turnovers.


BTW, the BU softball team lost 14-9 to new Mexico State today to drop to 2-8.
And BU baseball lost 30-7 (that is not a typo) to Grand Canyon State.

[ollienanyes]

33-15 at the half

I started to listen to the game on the drive back home after the Loyola fiasco. WSU is fighting it out with Drake for first.

I do think that BU has a good chance of two more home wins; they have Loyola at home this coming Friday and I'd expect them to bounce back and win that one.

[Da Coach]

The Bradley women won tonight-
BU 66 Loyola 57

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?a=1&vislive=mvc&id=70299