MSU 86 - Bradley 78

[Da Coach]

There were several similar situations where Bradley made a nice steal, and had an easy basket, but then somehow it broke down and they ended up not getting any points out of it.

We all know these things happen in a fast paced game. But this team has been so good at finishing all year, and I can't recall seeing any such flubs in the previous games, so to see them do it several times tonight was frustrating.

[BIG_BU_Fan]

Agreed. It was VERY frustrating to see.

Was really glad to see DA and AW play well though. I was surprised to see AW only played 15 min. It felt like more. He was pretty effective when in.

[tornado]

Re: I think we lost because of our home court {dis}advantage

To complain about the officials is to be like an Illini fan.

It is not necessarily "complaining" just to point out the incredible discrepancy in number of times our guys went to the line vs. theirs.

And it cannot be explained away just because we shot a lot of threes, since we points in the paint were almost exactly even.

Nope-- the difference was that when MSU had the ball in the post, there were two refs (both the gray haired ones) who awarded a foul every single time they did their back up move and pounded into their defender.
The third ref, never once blew a single one of those calls and was a bit astounded on occasion when the other two guys did.
For the BU guys to play their heart out and be within a shot of winning this game, then have the whole thing turn on a couple calls that kept sending their 90% FTers to the line was awful tough to swallow.

But for a team that lost its best returning player to the NBA, then had their best player and top shooter out with injury, I am still proud, and am confident we can win on the road and get this one back, and we can be a considerable force in the MVC Tourney. At 1-2 in the Valley, we are still ahead of Wichita State and a couple other, so we need to play harder and get one back on the road.

[dogsrus]

Re: I think we lost because of our home court {dis}advantage

To complain about the officials is to be like an Illini fan.

It is not necessarily "complaining" just to point out the incredible discrepancy in number of times our guys went to the line vs. theirs.

And it cannot be explained away just because we shot a lot of threes, since we points in the paint were almost exactly even.

Nope-- the difference was that when MSU had the ball in the post, there were two refs (both the gray haired ones) who awarded a foul every single time they did their back up move and pounded into their defender.
The third ref, never once blew a single one of those calls and was a bit astounded on occasion when the other two guys did.
For the BU guys to play their heart out and be within a shot of winning this game, then have the whole thing turn on a couple calls that kept sending their 90% FTers to the line was awful tough to swallow.

But for a team that lost its best returning player to the NBA, then had their best player and top shooter out with injury, I am still proud, and am confident we can win on the road and get this one back, and we can be a considerable force in the MVC Tourney. At 1-2 in the Valley, we are still ahead of Wichita State and a couple other, so we need to play harder and get one back on the road.

Smarter not harder.....I think this team plays hard all the time. I LOVE the effort. We got away from who we are for a short stretch trying TOO hard to go down low. I realize you have to but to many forced passes and cute passes.

With that said we also need to finish......just recall how many times we had lost legit opportunities.

WF passes to MS on a breakaway where he had the layup. ZA fumbling away a perfect pass from JJ for an easy dunk. AW leading a fast break and we get nothing.....we didn't finish and you can't give this very good team in Mo State any extra chances.

[Da Coach]

Dave Reynolds' article in Wednesday's PJ Star--

http://pjstar.com/stories/010307/BRA_BC06R9KV.076.shtml

Bill Liesse's thoughts on the MVC--

http://pjstar.com/stories/010307/BIL_BC06RBSU.076.shtml

[McBeam]

Re: I think we lost because of our home court {dis}advantage

To complain about the officials is to be like an Illini fan.

It is not necessarily "complaining" just to point out the incredible discrepancy in number of times our guys went to the line vs. theirs.

And it cannot be explained away just because we shot a lot of threes, since we points in the paint were almost exactly even.

Nope-- the difference was that when MSU had the ball in the post, there were two refs (both the gray haired ones) who awarded a foul every single time they did their back up move and pounded into their defender.
The third ref, never once blew a single one of those calls and was a bit astounded on occasion when the other two guys did.
For the BU guys to play their heart out and be within a shot of winning this game, then have the whole thing turn on a couple calls that kept sending their 90% FTers to the line was awful tough to swallow.

But for a team that lost its best returning player to the NBA, then had their best player and top shooter out with injury, I am still proud, and am confident we can win on the road and get this one back, and we can be a considerable force in the MVC Tourney. At 1-2 in the Valley, we are still ahead of Wichita State and a couple other, so we need to play harder and get one back on the road.

How does one referee act when he's astounded that his partners were calling fouls???

T, I see you are still on Les for COY if BU wins 3 of the next 6 games. I hope so, but for me this is not about JL. Its about surviving. POB leaving changed everything, we all know that. Ray Browns immaturity and selfishness hurt badly and JC injury is a dagger. JL teams will not lay down, but we just dont have the horses. But JL will not be COY, theres just too many other good coaches in the league.

[tornado]

Please, keep the discussion on topic, and not about other posters.

[Guinness]

Shitty calls and that 3-4 minutes towards the very end of the game where we kept throwing up shitty half assed panic stricken 3's is what did us in. We should have had that game.

[georgethedog]

**** calls and that 3-4 minutes towards the very end of the game where we kept throwing up **** half assed panic stricken 3's is what did us in. We should have had that game.

The guys probably would not have thrown up panic stricken 3's if they would have converted the fast breaks they blew. Someone who knows the players tell them to stop the hot-dog crap and get the bucket!

[Guinness]

**** calls and that 3-4 minutes towards the very end of the game where we kept throwing up **** half assed panic stricken 3's is what did us in. We should have had that game.

The guys probably would not have thrown up panic stricken 3's if they would have converted the fast breaks they blew. Someone who knows the players tell them to stop the hot-dog crap and get the bucket!

In the last minutes of the game, 3's become VERY risky and VERY deadly. Probably best if they cut them out in the last 3-4 minutes.

[tornado]

BU RPI drops to 38 currently. MSU's rises to 22

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Now, Bradley's opverall strength of schedule has risen into the TOP 10!
They are rated #8 SOS in all of D-I by ALL THREE of these ranking services,
and it probably won't drop much as the rest of all the games are against decent conference foes.

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MVC

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

http://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2007/sos

[mike radigan]

BU RPI drops to 38 currently. MSU's rises to 22

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Now, Bradley's opverall strength of schedule has risen into the TOP 10!
They are rated #8 SOS in all of D-I by ALL THREE of these ranking services,
and it probably won't drop much as the rest of all the games are against decent conference foes.

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MVC

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mvc_Men.html

http://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2007/sos

But not by Sagarin who has BU at 64 with a SOS of 72. Now you could argue which service is the best (most accurate), but I know for a fact the BCS uses Sagarin in its football computations and the NCAA basketball tournement committee asks Sagarin for his stats at selection time.

[Dallas Brave]

Last night was my wife's birthday. I was only able to catch the last minutes of the game.

Was there a reason why Sam didn't log more minutes. Looks like we could have used a wide body and he would have had the additional motivation of playing against a Missouri State team.

[New Guy]

I agree that the rebounding lapse that has been talked about killed us. The foul difference was suspucious but could have been overcome. That also has been covered. Here are some good things I saw that gave me hope.

DR. He plain drives the other team's guards crazy. He is creating extra steals for WF by forcing them to the trap. His driving shot down the lane is improving. A very complete player ready to shine.

DA. He has the will and heart of a champion. Never a lack of effort and his confidence is growing. It could'nt happen to a nicer guy.

AW. He can shoot on the dribble and that is hard to find. He also has nice jump shot form. Long and quick on defense. The extra PT these next few weeks may shows us a scoring threat the can put some D on the court. (his drives look a lot like a famous ex-brave to me, any guess?)

WF. He has been the man all year. He looks to be a leader on the court and the huddle.

JJ. He shot right away when left open last night. He can hit that shot and that will keep the D honest. Solid D as usual.

Nice loud crowd but I can't wait for the students to get back.

I look for an improved rebounding effort from this team. The staff has shown they can adapt. This loss was easier to take to me than the Wichita thumping in Carver last year. I think a post season run is still in this team. This will be a diffcult few weeks but I know they will play with heart. They have so far this year.

[ser_solace]

Yeah, I'm going to stay positive. I think all the mistakes last night can be improved upon to the best we can. They just need to try and play smarter. Stop putting the other team on the free throw line.

By the way, I think the Zach Salley combo worked well for the time they were in together.