Final score: Evansville 67 Bradley 55

[tornado]

..Brzoja and Wing are 42. and 53% from 3 ......

I guess I can see that but their production from there is minimal and they do NOT show up in the official league stats

here's the MVC leaderboard for 3-pt accuracy - not an Evansville guy on it:

3-POINT FG PCT Cl GP 3FG 3FGA Pct
1. Wampler, Billy-DU FR 15 17 38 .447
2. Hawkins,Deontae-ILS SO 16 33 74 .446
3. Bohannon, Matt-UNI SR 16 48 111 .432
4. McCloud,Justin-ILS SR 16 26 63 .413
5. Scott, Brenton-INS SO 16 44 107 .411
6. VanVleet, Fred-WSU SR 16 23 57 .404
7. Jesperson, Paul-UNI SR 16 39 98 .398
8. Woodward, Graham-DU SO 16 25 63 .397
9. Smithpeters,Tyler-SIU JR 16 25 64 .391
10. Kreklow, Ryan-MSU FR 16 23 59 .390
11. van Bree, Luuk-BRAD FR 16 26 67 .388
12. Richardson, Ben-LU SO 16 17 44 .386
McIntosh,MiKyle-ILS SO 16 17 44 .386
Wills,Tony-ILS JR 16 17 44 .386

might also point out that Evansville's non-conference Strength of Schedule is 253 and some of their guys built their stats against
one of the the worst slates of non-conference opponents in the MVC
That's an amazingly weak non-con SOS for a team that some have actually talked up as a potential at-large team.

[Da Coach]

Also, next season when they don't have two 1st team All-MVC players, the nation's leading rebounder, the MVC leading scorer, and the MVC leader in FG%, I would bet Adam Wing will not shoot 53% from the arc.
Wing, Brzoja, and Blake Simmons benefit tremendously from the double teaming those other stars get every game.

In a similar way, there were a lot of NBA vagabond players who had their best shooting seasons when they played for the Bulls during the Michael Jordan era.

[tornado]

I got a kick out of reading the summary on the betting web sites about last night's BU-Evansville game..
..basically stating what WE ALL KNOW ALREADY, that the SMART MONEY always picks BRADLEY!!!

the point spread was 15.5 & point total 106 and indeed Bradley beat BOTH in their 12-point, 67-55 loss...
but they said..

"I’m recommending a play on Bradley plus the points on Tuesday night. The
Braves finally snapped their lengthy losing streak with a 73-70 win over Drake
last time out. But bettors already know that Bradley has been a bankroll builder
of late, covering three in a row and six of their last seven games. And after a
32-point loss at Evansville when last these teams met, I expect a full on
effort in BU’s home finale. The Purple Aces have won three straight games,
but they have been overvalued, losing seven of 10 ATS."

[Vent]

I would still say of the 8 scholarship freshmen, 5 of them are players we can build a program around. Strength and maturity will help Pittman, Van Brees, Suggs, Barker and DLO. DLO however really needs to improve his shot. Guys like him are a dime a dozen. I also believe our top 5 freshmen players, that have logged the most minutes, have hit a wall physically and mentally. This is not uncommon.

It will be interesting to see, as the season concludes, who will not be back next year. I would suspect at least 3 and maybe more, depending if anyone is homesick. You have to agree, some of these kids are a long way from home.

[tornado]

.. I also believe our top 5 freshmen players ... have hit a wall physically and mentally. This is not uncommon. ...

now why do you say that?
Last night Callum Barker had perhaps his best game of the year matched against one of the top opponents in the nation...

then clearly we've been playing a lot better of late - staying with even the teams like ISU & Evansville where early on we were dropping behind by 20 in the 1st half.

then TWO of the three weeks we've had a FRESHMAN Player of the week in the MVC- something that's only happened four times all year

then all five of the top 5 scorers on our team have BOOSTED their scoring averages this past couple weeks.

and 2 of our only 3 MVC wins have come in the last couple weeks

and every game we've played in the past month we've been within single digits late into the 2nd half - but early on we were losing by 20, even 30 and 35 pts..

and in our 17 conference games - only NINE of those games did we have anyone score more than 15 points...
and yet ALL nine of those times have been since January 20th...well beyond the midpoint of the season..

I think our guys are just now getting accommodated to all the rigors, daily practices, travels, and other stresses like academics...and I think our best ball is coming up in the next few games!!! I'm confident the rest of the MVC is a bit less hopeful to get us in St. Louis than they were a few weeks ago.

[lefty]

I would still say of the 8 scholarship freshmen, 5 of them are players we can build a program around. Strength and maturity will help Pittman, Van Brees, Suggs, Barker and DLO. DLO however really needs to improve his shot. Guys like him are a dime a dozen. I also believe our top 5 freshmen players, that have logged the most minutes, have hit a wall physically and mentally. This is not uncommon.

It will be interesting to see, as the season concludes, who will not be back next year. I would suspect at least 3 and maybe more, depending if anyone is homesick. You have to agree, some of these kids are a long way from home.

I guess I'm the lone ranger regarding DLO....I think he's a valuable player for us.....yeah...he could shoot better but he was 2nd on the team behind van Bree and 8% higher that Suggs from 3. He seems like the kind of kid that works hard and will continue to do so....I could be wrong and waaay too lazy to figure it out but I think he's shot better from the field the last half of the year


11 pts,8 boards,7 assists with zero turnovers against a team like Evansville is pretty good for a freshman IMO......

[ihatetea]

I guess I'm the lone ranger regarding DLO....I think he's a valuable player for us.....yeah...he could shoot better but he was 2nd on the team behind van Bree and 8% higher that Suggs from 3. He seems like the kind of kid that works hard and will continue to do so....I could be wrong and waaay too lazy to figure it out but I think he's shot better from the field the last half of the year


11 pts,8 boards,7 assists with zero turnovers against a team like Evansville is pretty good for a freshman IMO......

I'm with you. DLO was 3-11, but many of his misses came from forcing a shot against a dying shot clock or heaving up 3's against the zone when the rest of our offense looked lost. None of these freshman look like the type to be heroes and carry us to 20 wins all by them selves, but the core 4/5 is every bit good enough to take us to 20 as a group. We don't need a single savior because we are building a team. Can't wait to see how much they grow next year.

[tornado]

... Can't wait to see how much they grow next year.

I am actually quite optimistically awaiting our next several games, I think we can win a few!

[basketball nut]

I guess I'm the lone ranger regarding DLO....I think he's a valuable player for us.....yeah...he could shoot better but he was 2nd on the team behind van Bree and 8% higher that Suggs from 3. He seems like the kind of kid that works hard and will continue to do so....I could be wrong and waaay too lazy to figure it out but I think he's shot better from the field the last half of the year


11 pts,8 boards,7 assists with zero turnovers against a team like Evansville is pretty good for a freshman IMO......

I like DLO, RS, AP, & Luuk a lot. They have a lot of potential and the improvement has been great. As one fan said as long as they are giving 100% until the end shows me something we haven't had for 4 years. This team will not be a last place team for quite a while.

[Vent]

The freshmen have logged an incredible amount of minutes. There is no question they have made great strides, especially the past few weeks. All I am saying is they are still freshmen and there were not very many games where they had a physical advantage. I am sure there are a lot of bumps and bruises we don't even know about, that these guys have fought through. These guys haven't quit all season. I just think, when the season is over, these guys will take a week or so off, to rest, heal, clear their heads and reflect on everything that happened this season.

[lefty]

The freshmen have logged an incredible amount of minutes. There is no question they have made great strides, especially the past few weeks. All I am saying is they are still freshmen and there were not very many games where they had a physical advantage. I am sure there are a lot of bumps and bruises we don't even know about, that these guys have fought through. These guys haven't quit all season. I just think, when the season is over, these guys will take a week or so off, to rest, heal, clear their heads and reflect on everything that happened this season.

I understand that and agree for the most part. Although most freshman won't have the physical advantage. Look for these guys to have that advantage over freshman in a couple of years. I think we add a few pieces next year and a few more the year after and things look pretty good when they are juniors

[bigjimmy]

The 2nd half was a true men against boys, upperclassmen against underclassmen. They know how to play and we're still learning. We've seen flashes of ability in most every game, Barker and DLO in the last game, but too often this year that's all it's been, flashes. But we're getting there which is more than I can say for the past few years.

[Vent]

I understand that and agree for the most part. Although most freshman won't have the physical advantage. Look for these guys to have that advantage over freshman in a couple of years. I think we add a few pieces next year and a few more the year after and things look pretty good when they are juniors

It will be interesting to see what type of players and the quality of those players are added for next season. We know Wardle can coach and teach. We are now going to see how good of a recruiter he is. He knows what he needs to get to the top of the MVC. I think he'll be fine. He now has a year under his belt and has seen first hand, the big difference in the quality of talent in the MVC vs. the talent in the Horizon League.

[LittleBrave]

I think Mock had a lot to do with that??¦..DLO has been shooting much better since coming off the bench??¦.and I don't think it was DLO's shooting that hurt us down the stretch??¦.there were at least 2 or 3 of this shots were as the shot clock was winding down??¦.Evansville physicality on defense gave our freshman fits too??¦??¦.DLO is really good in the open floor getting to the basket and his defense is huge??¦??¦.I'm looking forward to his next 3 years here

van Bree was the one MIA last night

Suggs couldn't get anything going either...he brings the intangibles and we can usually count on 7-8 from him.
I really didn't expect a W last night - maybe hoping for a closer game, but I'll take it as another opportunity for growth for a young team.

[LittleBrave]

The 2nd half was a true men against boys, upperclassmen against underclassmen. They know how to play and we're still learning. We've seen flashes of ability in most every game, Barker and DLO in the last game, but too often this year that's all it's been, flashes. But we're getting there which is more than I can say for the past few years.

It's unreal to watch the flow of our offense now compared to a couple years ago under Ford...we are taking pretty high % shots and lots of ball movement, which is a pleasant change...gonna be a long offseason, but look f/w to more growth in our guys next year and some welcome additions.