Final: Bradley 63 SIU 44

[Buesch N Chips]

A blowout win. Great to see.

[Da Coach]

Best complete game Bradley has played all year. SIU is not very good, and when Beane isn't scoring, they have no other offense. But Bradley did not play "down" to the opponent's level like they have frequently, and they had no dead stretches, and everyone played hard. I'd like to know what the difference was, and how they got them playing so well when the Loyola game was about the worst they have looked all year, IMO.

[Da Coach]

Game story from BradleyBraves.com
Braves Thump SIU for 6th Straight Home Win

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=209833361

Here are the stats from ESPN-

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400586397

[Da Coach]

Box score from Bradley-

http://www.bradleybraves.com/pdf9/3081512.pdf?ATCLID=209833361&SPSID=25965&SPID=1498&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=3400

[tornado]

Smithpeters and Pendleton will be replaced by Goodwin and Lavender.

if Barry thought this was gonna help his offense - then he was really wrong -- it took them forever to score...

Anyway - we looked much, much better...

-some of that was who we were playing...if Barry gets even one vote for Coach of the Year, then the fix is in..he has bad players and does not coach them well - they are bad - not saying they can't get better but right now they look far worse than us.

-Josh Cunningham keeps having good games, Mike Shaw had one tonight, as did Donte Thomas - not that anyone's numbers blows you away - we still scored only 63 points against a bad team - but the guys played harder, made some shots they've been missing, and went for the loose balls.

-but mostly we did play good defense and didn't let anyone have an easy shot

-Nate Wells should play every game - he does some things, hustles, and gives the team energy..

- the hanging on the rim technical was pretty weak - like the guy just musta wanted to call something...

-nice crowd - and the Chick-fil-A promotion was very popular with the fans

[Vent]

Tonight SIU may have been the worse team BU has played all season, with the exception of Eureka. Bradley played with a little more confidence tonight, in my opinion, because every time BU made a mistake, SIU had a hard time taking advantage of it. That allowed BU to be more relaxed and not hurry things the next time they had a possession. Also shooting good from the free throw line made a huge difference. I thought the "T" on Josh's dunk was a cheap call. That's a call you just don't make with 3 minutes and change left on the clock, or whatever it was, and a 20 point spread. The first half shooting percentage for BU was one of the best of the season, while SIU shot horribly not only the first half, but the entire game. I wonder when was the last time BU beat somebody by 19. I still think BU will only win 3 to 5 games in the Valley this season, but would love to be proven wrong.

[Rick LeHew]

Tonight SIU may have been the worse team BU has played all season, with the exception of Eureka.... . I thought the "T" on Josh's dunk was a cheap call. That's a call you just don't make with 3 minutes and change left on the clock, or whatever it was, and a 20 point spread.

1st part I agree - Very poor basketball tonight by SIU.
2nd part I disagree - From my view - he slapped the board. You DO NOT slap the board. Does not matter = close game or 20 point lead.

[Buesch N Chips]

Sounds like we're making a lot of excuses for winning.

[turtle]

and we had heard this is the toughest team Bradley has had in decades - tough, aggressive, confident, deep, intense, "takes no excuses", "not back down",, talented...

but this morning's headline...
"Bradley 'struggling with confidence'"

https://twitter.com/pjstarsports/status/551235082388660224

well, there's no time to struggle with confidence or fret about our shortfalls....isn't it the coach's job to get them focused, ready and confident?
This is why we focused on getting tough Chicago kids who would be confident and give Bradley an edge..

Ford would have a hard time winning as a HS coach - he is that bad

[BUSongwriter]

I find the BradleyFans.com subject lines for BU??™s first two MVC game threads interesting, if not revealing:

Game 1: ???Bradley blown out by Loyola- Final- Loyola 64 Bradley 49???

Game 2: ???Final: Bradley 63 SIU 44???

If a 15-point conference road loss is a blowout (and it was ugly), to be fair shouldn??™t a 19-point conference home win be heralded with something positive like ???Bradley trounces the Salukis????

I suspect not much thought goes into the game thread subject lines. But you??™ve been tough on the PJS for having too positive a point of view, so I figured I??™d call out what some could interpret as a leaning toward negativity on a "BradleyFans" site.

This is a bit tongue in cheek, because DC and T are great mods and are certainly among the most knowledgeable and loyal fans. During the season I am addicted to this board, checking several times a day to get the latest. Let??™s hope tonight's performance gives the team some confidence and that we continue to get better. Stay out of Thursday, Braves!

[Da Coach]

I find the BradleyFans.com subject lines for BU’s first two MVC game threads interesting, if not revealing:
Game 1: “Bradley blown out by Loyola- Final- Loyola 64 Bradley 49”
Game 2: “Final: Bradley 63 SIU 44”
If a 15-point conference road loss is a blowout (and it was ugly), to be fair shouldn’t a 19-point conference home win be heralded with something positive like “Bradley trounces the Salukis”?
I suspect not much thought goes into the game thread subject lines. But you’ve been tough on the PJS for having too positive a point of view, so I figured I’d call out what some could interpret as a leaning toward negativity on a "BradleyFans" site.
This is a bit tongue in cheek, because DC and T are great mods and are certainly among the most knowledgeable and loyal fans. During the season I am addicted to this board, checking several times a day to get the latest. Let’s hope tonight's performance gives the team some confidence and that we continue to get better. Stay out of Thursday, Braves!

First, thanks for the compliment....
I was a bit pi**ed off after watching the Braves lose at Loyola, like most BU fans probably were. I was sitting at home with my laptop, and from there it's easy to change the title of the thread, which I do after every game, so I added my editorial comment. But when I change the title after home games, I do it from my cellphone, which is not quite as easy, especially when I do it as I am walking to my car in a cold rain. I was in a hurry, and thus I simply posted the score of the BU-SIU game. Anyone is free to add their own editorial comments. But I'd encourage fans not to try to make too much of the syntax and content of the titles.
I think if you read what I post, I believe I was fair in my complimentary comments about tonight's game.

I suspect the SIU board has several mentions of them being blown out by Bradley.

[bigjimmy]

A much needed win against a team you have to beat at home. Thought our defensive effort was pretty good throughout the game. We actually had a section of the game during the middle of it where we actually ran some plays to get the ball inside and Shaw, X and Austin were for the most part able to finish. When was the last time we shot 17 for 19 from the FT line? I thought we took our foot off the peddle during the last 10 minutes, started our usual isolation offense and dribble the ball around the perimeter and put up a hope shot but our defense more than held its own. We outscored them 10-9. It's not often we don't give up any 3's either. Having said that it's one thing to do this against one of the worst teams in the Valley. How we meet the challenge of the next 3 games against the 3 best teams of the Valley, at Wichita and home to Evansville and UNI, will reveal a lot about this team. I don't expect us to win any of these games but we need to be at least competitive.

[Da Coach]

Kirk Wessler-

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150103/SPORTS/150109792/12701/SPORTS

Dave Reynolds-

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150103/SPORTS/150109805/10962/SPORTS

Report card-

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150103/SPORTS/150109793/12701/SPORTS

[Dub]

Always fun to smack down the dawgs, one of the teams I love to hate. I was happy to see the coaches push the issue and pump the ball inside a couple times... even made a few. However, it is glaring how few quality shot attempts we get out of a planned offensive set. How many games until the offense has "gelled"??

[tornado]

... leaning toward negativity

...are great mods..

I do not "mod" and have nothing to do with anyone's titles

I prefer to think of it as objectivity - reality - not biased by agenda as we see elsewhere

It was a blowout - nobody's hiding that - we really outplayed them and I gave them nothing but kudos...

...I suspect the SIU board has several mentions of them being blown out by Bradley..

yes - and "getting blown out by a 300 RPI team"
..and by "the worst team in the Valley"

http://salukination.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2485