Postgame thread Bradley 78 - Edgewood 42

[tornado]

Wow - the most entertaining basketball in Carver Arena in over four years...
when's the last time we have blown someone out there or led by 36 points?

It was fun, full of energy and the kids will only get better.

Callum Barker 15 pts, 10 reb and solid in the low post - can dish out some physical play - was Player of the Game
Scottie James 6 pts, 10 reb
DLO 12 pts, 4 asst
Ronnie Suggs 10 pts, 2-3 from the arc
Luuk van Bree 9 pts, 4 reb
Davante Cooper 8 pts on 4-4 & 8 reb
Joel Okafor 3 pts, 3 reb, 4 asst & did a great job handling the ball
Ka'Darryl Bell 7 pts, 5 reb
Antoine Pittman 4 pts and some good D
Peter Hanley 4 pts, 2 rebs
D'Angelo McBride - a few minutes deep into the game but did not embarrass himself in any way

Crowd was sparse (thanks to the last 4 years) but hopefully that will correct - the crowd was lively and into it and the student section was decent but not large.

I think we land somewhere between 1 and 6 on the All-Freshman Team

...and Dr. Chris Reynolds was there with his wife and really enjoyed everything and the fans' reaction - he did not sit and take notes, but instead interacted all over the arena with fans - something nobody at Bradley has seen an AD do since 2009.

at least two of the recruits we have been discussing regularly were there. (NK & AJY)


btw - despite tremendous hype - St. John's just got hammered by an obscure D2 by 32 points!!!!!!!!! and they did NOT play all freshmen...

[Braves2006]

For the past several years we would lose or come close to losing even these exhibition games with juniors and seniors. I think this is a great sign that better days are ahead!

[Da Coach]

Bradley beats Edgewood 78-42.
Stats-

http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?a=1&id=109301

What I liked: I thought the team was very well coached, a refreshing change compared to the last regime. I saw very good and effective point guard play, which is always preferable to trying to play without a point guard. I saw good, quick passes from nearly everyone on the roster, and none of the 1 on 5, gimme-the-ball style that helped cost Bradley 86 losses over the past 4 seasons, despite playing weak competition. The execution was not always effective or pretty, but I believe that will come around with more time. I saw real depth with this team, not just imaginary depth we were told in the past. And considering this was the first game of the Wardle era, I saw energetic, effective defense. I concede that Edgewood was not a good team, but they were defended well inside the 3-point arc, and had trouble getting a shot off. Edgewood shot only 21.7% for the game! One other stat that was impressive- Points in the Paint- Bradley 42 Edgewood 6!

Bradley outrebounded Edgewood 52-34. Both Okafor and DLO had 4 assists, and the team had 14 for the game- not great, but again, better than what we have seen in recent years. It also looks like this team shoots free throws well (13-15, 87%). They did miss a number of layups, but I can excuse that for the very first D1 game for all but Bell.
I liked nearly everything I saw tonight, except for the poor attendance. It was announced as 5,825, but the real attendance was barely more than half of that. Hopefully, fans will return when they realize how hard these kids play, and that we have some real talent and depth.

[Da Coach]

btw - despite tremendous hype - St. John's just got hammered by an obscure D2 by 32 points!! and they did NOT play all freshmen...

St. John's lost to St. Thomas Aquinas (of Sparkill, NY) 90-58! I had to check a couple sources to be sure that was not a mistake.

http://www.redstormsports.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2015-2016/110415.html

[ihatetea]

There were a lot of good things to note. Our guards look to be solid athletically and work hard. I liked that the team actually looked to push any advantage and get easy transition buckets instead of trying to use the entire shot clock each possession. All of the bigs appear to have decent jump shots, and every player shot free throws well when they had the chance. It is nice that all of our 4's appear to be able to dribble. I liked that our offense was designed to get shots, not just create iso situations.

Now to be fair, Edgewood was tiny and not very athletic. We dominated inside, because they had no chance. There were many times were we looked like a bunch of freshman playing together for the first time, with poor communication defensively and rushed shots/wild passes. Cooper has stone hands and is definitely a work in process, which cuts into our size since only he and Barker have legitimate size.

But overall there were far more things to like than dislike. I like the potential of this group. We will struggle in valley play, but the foundation appears to be in place to have a competitive team next year and going forward.

Gotta take it one game at a time, well done Coach Wardle. Build and get better everyday go BU!

[tornado]

attendance announced as 5,829....consider that only ONE of our seven home non-conference games last year drew that many!!!

And even four of our nine conference games didn't even draw that last year!!

so can't help but be encouraged...

[pfcmsh]

Wow - the most entertaining basketball in Carver Arena in over four years...
when's the last time we have blown someone out there or led by 36 points?

It was fun, full of energy and the kids will only get better.

Callum Barker 15 pts, 10 reb and solid in the low post - can dish out some physical play
Scottie James 6 pts, 10 reb
DLO 12 pts, 4 asst
Ronnie Suggs 10 pts, 2-3 from the arc
Luuk van Bree 9 pts, 4 reb
Davante Cooper 8 pts on 4-4 & 8 reb
Joel Okafor 3 pts, 3 reb, 4 asst & did a great job handling the ball
Ka'Darryl Bell 7 pts, 5 reb
Antoine Pittman 4 pts and some good D
Peter Hanley 4 pts, 2 rebs
D'Angelo McBride - a few minutes deep into the game but did not embarrass himself in any way

Crowd was sparse (thank you JG & MC) but hopefully that will correct - the crowd was lively and into it and the student section was decent but not large.

I think we land somewhere between 1 and 6 on the All-Freshman Team

I sure agree! I loved the hustle and team work. The international kids can really play!

I thought they were tense during warm ups, but that is part of the experience curve. They settled in. I thought Davante was strong. Callum is a stud. DLO was great. Okafor is a real point guard. Suggs can shoot. Pittman silky smooth. Hanley looked good. Van Bree looks good. I love the way Scottie plays! Bell did well too. I'm proud of them and agree they will get much better fast.

Post play infinitely better.

The Edgewood kids played hard.

We would have handily beaten Augustana with this bunch. They played like a team. We are on our way back.

Congrats to these nice young men, Coach Wardle and his assistants.

Nice to see you 4 at the game!!!

[tornado]

it's early and we sure didn't play as well and I'd have liked - but very, very encouraging - to bad we didn't see this with the moves we made back in 2011...
really nowhere to go but UP and the kids are definitely working hard


BTW - how many times did we score 78 points last year - answer - only twice in 33 games (84 vs. CMU & 80 vs. Eureka)
In fact - in the past four years we've only scored 78 or more a dozen times or so...

[Da Coach]

Game story from BradleyBraves.com-
Bradley Rolls in Exhibition Opener, 78-42

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=210473287

[bigjimmy]

This is what you're supposed to do to a DIII opponent. What I really liked was it didn't matter who came in the game, there wasn't much of a dropoff in talent and ability. Not too bad to hold a team without a 2 point field goal in the 1st half regardless of who the competition is. This will certainly be a year of taking incremental steps, some steps like Arizona and Virginia being really tough steps, but in the end for the first time in quite awhile we have hope. Looking forward to this journey.

[Big Mike]

http://m.pjstar.com/article/20151104/SPORTS/151109672/11130/SPORTS

[Da Coach]

It was nice to see several of the players' families at the game. I sat right behind of the mom, dad, and aunt of Luuk van Bree, who were in Peoria from the Netherlands!

[BUfan39]

I was able to follow the game through tweets from Dave Reynolds last night but was not able to catch the 1470 WMBD broadcast. Is there anywhere that the game from last night is archived to listen to? Thanks.

[BUSongwriter]

What I saw last night was a TEAM in the making. Crisp passing to teammates who were in spots they were supposed to be. When a player went down, eight hands there to help him up in a matter of seconds. Aggressive defense, even on the other side of the half line. We have weaknesses on offense to be sure, but our strength may be our balance -- no one player for the other team to key on.

Congratulations to the coaching staff and the players for the work they've put in to this point. Regardless of the W-L this year, this is a team I think the community should -- and will -- grow to love. Please bring friends to the next game, especially you students.

Individually, I really like Suggs' 3-point shot. I was at the open scrimmage and in the shooting contest afterward, I watched him drain shot after shot, leading his team to victory. I think Okafor will be high up on the assists records at BU before he is through. DLO is a leader, period. The beef of opposing veteran bigs will likely hurt us this year, but Barker and James in a couple of years will be the ones with the upper hand.

Finally, as was said elsewhere, it was great to see Chris Reynolds roaming through the crowd. He sat next to my wife and I for the last five minutes, and I really enjoyed the chance to talk with him.

C'mon, Peoria, let's get behind this team. Going to the Civic Center is fun again!

[Da Coach]

I was able to follow the game through tweets from Dave Reynolds last night but was not able to catch the 1470 WMBD broadcast. Is there anywhere that the game from last night is archived to listen to? Thanks.

Bradley used to archive the game broadcasts and leave the link on the schedule page. But it does not appear they still do that. The audio link to last night's game only links to the live broadcast of WMBD now.