Final score: Loyola 70 Bradley 50

[lefty]

I don't know I'd go that far...
we just don't seem to learn from mistakes...
don't they do film sessions and focus on the turnovers, missed defensive assignments, and bad judgments?

need to learn and stop making the same mistakes...
STOP forcing the risky pass, anticipate the defense and stop making the lazy pass, and value possession of the ball..

A couple positives...
Jayden Hodgson - 26 minutes with ZERO turnovers, and hit every shot
Donte Thomas - 30 minutes, just 1 turnover, 11 pts/11 rebs, stayed out of foul trouble
Pittman - decent defense on Doyle

Hodgson has been playing pretty well the last several games. He keeps the offense moving most of the time, or at least until someone messes it up...

the carelessness with the ball is what drives most of us nuts. Turnovers are going to happen....maybe a forced pass, someone trying to make a play and travels, or just a good play by the defense but those careless ones are just killers. Carelessness on defense is an issue too...over helping when it's not necessary or trying to help when you really aren't in a position to do anything and it's just leaving your man open. We are also very slow to react to 50/50 balls.....we lose most of those

[pfcmsh]

I Left Early

We were sitting 5 rows back from Snell and slightly closer to center court. Almost as much red in the stands as purple. We were in the game and playing pretty good defense. Loyola up by 4 at half due to a last second 3. We'd have lead by 10 or 15 without turnovers. I hate to say this but I was embarrassed and left the game with 7 minutes left. Never done that ever before. Turnovers killed us. Donte was an animal around the basket. That kid can play!!

[molar50]

I do not think Tom Izzo could have any success with our players. Until the talent improves, we will not compete. Wardle still gets a pass this year. I think our freshman players will grow and improve. I do see some improvement with our 2 signed commitments for next year. I am hopeful by Wardle's fourth year, Bradley basketball can be respectable. I believe that is all we can expect.

[Da Coach]

I wish I could say I have the same optimism as you. I have not seen anything yet to give me hope that this program is moving in the right direction. I talk to other long time season ticket holders every day, and have not found that any of them are very optimistic about how things are looking. Nearly all of them say they will not renew tickets unless the maintenance fee is dropped.

[bradleyfan124]

Hodgson has been playing pretty well the last several games. He keeps the offense moving most of the time, or at least until someone messes it up...

the carelessness with the ball is what drives most of us nuts. Turnovers are going to happen....maybe a forced pass, someone trying to make a play and travels, or just a good play by the defense but those careless ones are just killers. Carelessness on defense is an issue too...over helping when it's not necessary or trying to help when you really aren't in a position to do anything and it's just leaving your man open. We are also very slow to react to 50/50 balls.....we lose most of those

I don't like turnovers either but I think that will improve with experience. But I agree with Lefty on 50/50 balls..I noticed in a lot of the games we never seem to come up with a loose ball. Most of the time the other team seems to grab the loose ball. Not sure why..lack of experience? not being agresssive? lack of confidence?. I am not a coach so maybe someone can help me on this

[Da Coach]

Could it be that in practices, our players do not play against any defensive pressure? That causes them to get comfortable with the lazy passes, and the lack of effort on loose balls.
Dick Versace used to have his starters play against a team of 7 or 8 defenders to get them used to good defenses and pressure.

Whatever the reason, I can't believe that we are more than 1 1/2 years into the Wardle era, we have better depth at point guard, and still we are not seeing any significant improvement in passing, and protecting the ball.
Last year, Bradley was 350th out of 351 D1 teams in turnovers per game with 16.9 turnovers per game. They were 351st in team scoring.
This season, Bradley has 349 turnovers- average of 15.9 per game overall (ranking 344th out of 351 teams), but a whopping 17.8 turnovers per game in conference play! That is a turnover rate of over 30% of possessions.
That is also more than 4 turnovers per game more than the next worst team! There are some MVC teams that don't even have true point guards, so how do they manage to play better and more effectively than Bradley without turning the ball over on almost 1 out of every 3 possessions?
Unacceptable.

Here are the numbers-

All games-



MVC games only-

[tornado]

..Turnovers are going to happen......

sure, turnovers forced by a good defense or maybe even one bad one once in a while..
but when our guys do something silly and have a completely unforced turnover - we then come right back down the court and do the exact same thing again and again.....
if it didn't work the time before - then DON'T keep doing it again and again..
we definitely lead the nation in streaks of 3 or 4 consecutive possessions ending in a turnover..
several times (at least 4) the ball bounced away from one of our guys...and then we meander casually after it while the other team smells blood and goes hard after it...
so guess who gets it most of the time -- and of course it's a TO...we don't seem to want the ball or value possession as much as the other guys.

we have 40 more turnovers in MVC play than the next worst team in that stat...that's four more every game then the next worst team in Valley play...
and only 3 TO/game separates spots #1 thru #9 while we are 4 back form that.

Check this out-
we have 349 turnovers on the season...
according to the official NCAA stat site, as of last night, only 6 DI teams had more - Lipscomb, North Florida, UT-Rio Grande, UAPB, Manhattan, and SFA.


I know it may not mean much....but here it goes...
MEMO TO EVERY PLAYER ON THE SQUAD...FROM STARTER DOWN TO THE END OF THE BENCH:
Start playing like a man possessed...play as if your life (and your scholarship) depend on it...
But other things depend on it - the fans' appreciation, your reputation, the integrity of Bradley basketball..
Hustle, dive, get some floor burns, play with energy, learn from mistakes, make smart plays and good passes, avoid risky passes...

50 years ago we had a sign posted in the gym something to the effect..
"You may not be the tallest, the fastest, or the most talented but nothing stops you from being the HARDEST WORKER"
..and people will notice - the coaches, the fans, and hopefully the other team. It has to come from you - each one of you.

[pfcmsh]

I Left Early

We were at the game, 5 rows back from Dave Snell and a little closer to center court. Very low attendance. I'd say without Bradley fans, there was less than a 1000 people in the seats. Bradley was well represented.

I'm no coach and lack the expertise that many of you have, but it seems to me that our players panic often when a defender encroaches and sometimes even when we are alone. We are trying so hard and it seems we are in such a hurry to play well, we make silly errors. We lack the maturity to play calmly and up to our potential?

Donte Thomas came to play!! He was an animal out there for most of the night. Very proud of how he played. Ingram killed us, but we controlled Doyle a lot better. We were playing really good defense for most of the first half, but then again, I am no coach!

Early on, the turnovers killed us and kept coming. Inspite of those we were only down 4 at half, due to a last second three ball. We could have won this game, if we had reduced turnovers. It was so obvious and my coaching skills are lacking. I know I was embarrassed, so for the first time in my life, I left a Bradley game early. I hate to say it but it is true.

[Chico]

When you fire a coach with a 32-3 record and a coach who made it to the Sweet 16, what kind of program do you people expect? Give Coach Wardle a chance to repair a program that the University ruined. He had to start from scratch.

[BUSongwriter]

. . . . and yet Ronnie Suggs is not good enough to get into these games.

[pfcmsh]

I'm With Coach Wardle

I agree with you, Chico. Coach Wardle deserves a chance and I am still behind him. I loved Coach Versace and I am upset with how Jim Les was treated. I hate to think back on the lousy choices made after Coach Les. Things will get better and they already have. I just want it to happen sooner. I believe in Coach Wardle.

[Vent]

I wish I could say I have the same optimism as you. I have not seen anything yet to give me hope that this program is moving in the right direction. I talk to other long time season ticket holders every day, and have not found that any of them are very optimistic about how things are looking. Nearly all of them say they will not renew tickets unless the maintenance fee is dropped.

I'm hearing the same thing. But I am actually hearing more talk of not renewing season tickets at all next season, from lower bowl and upper bowl people. Many of these upper bowl folks don't pay a maintenance fee now. Most of them I've talked to are just going to buy individual games tickets, when they go on sale, for a handful of games next year (ISU-red, Wichita, SIU) and request their current seats for those games. They doubt if anybody will buy season tickets and request those seats. If and when Bradley gets better, and how much better they get, will determine if they get season tickets again. I can't blame them. It is not a product that is very good, and certainly isn't even worth what individual game tickets cost.

[carter]

Season tickets

I have season tickets in the upper bowl,have had them for years now.As of now I will not be renewing next year.I may get the conference only package but that depends on if we get some JC players that can compete.I am losing interest in Bradley baseball.

[DeanMartin]

Final score: Loyola 70 Bradley 50- a complete and total blowout to a mediocre Loyola team. What's new?

Simply another unbelievably bad performance by Bradley. No excuses. Please Coach, do not go on the postgame show and blame the players again. This game showed a complete failure at every level, including coaching staff.

They should be embarrassed. Even against the Loyola walkons, Bradley looked like gym-class amateurs. Effort was lousy, execution was lousy, turnovers on 30% of possessions every game seem to be an integral part of the coaches' system, and the defense was as poor as the offense (21% shooting in 2nd half!).

I cannot find a single redeeming factor in this team, and I do not see anything getting better with Childs and Stipanovich replacing 2 of the guy we have now.

DaCoach, I couldn't agree with this post of yours anymore! I have been a Bradley Brave fan for over 40 years. I tried to support this coach during year #1, in spite of reading of the "player abuse" allegations from his previous post at UWGB. I have sat back thus far this season evaluating the progress (in this case, a lack there of), and what I have witnessed that is most concerning and has convinced me that this guy was not a good hire by Chris Reynolds is the fact that not one single recruit of his from last year's recruiting class has improved 1 bit. As a matter of fact, the majority of them have regressed. Major red flag! The only kid on this year's team that is showing any improvement since the start of the season is Jayden Hodgeson, Red Flag! We don't have 1 player that when he shoots it, I know it's going in, not 1 single "knockdown shooter." We don't have one player that can go out every night and consistantly get us 20+ points, not 1. We don't have 1 player that remotely appears to love the game, Red Flag! This coach is repeatedly placing the blame on the players after a loss, Red flag! I for one will not be attending another game this season, as I am turned off completely! ISU & Wichita State are elite in this league, and there is not one other team that has the kind of talent that separates them from the rest of the pack, much less beat our brains out by 20+. This is the kind of season that with the right coach, the Braves could easily have jumped up into the top 4 in the league. I don't care how many coaches we have to go through to get it right. Drake was God awful until when? When the wrong guy for the job left, and the right guy took over! That is proof enough that the having the right guy in charge does matter, and having the wrong guy in charge matters to. The offense stinks, the defense stinks, the recruiting stinks, and the atmosphere stinks! RED FLAGS ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!

[lefty]

DaCoach, I couldn't agree with this post of yours anymore! I have been a Bradley Brave fan for over 40 years. I tried to support this coach during year #1, in spite of reading of the "player abuse" allegations from his previous post at UWGB. I have sat back thus far this season evaluating the progress (in this case, a lack there of), and what I have witnessed that is most concerning and has convinced me that this guy was not a good hire by Chris Reynolds is the fact that not one single recruit of his from last year's recruiting class has improved 1 bit. As a matter of fact, the majority of them have regressed. Major red flag! The only kid on this year's team that is showing any improvement since the start of the season is Jayden Hodgeson, Red Flag! We don't have 1 player that when he shoots it, I know it's going in, not 1 single "knockdown shooter." We don't have one player that can go out every night and consistantly get us 20+ points, not 1. We don't have 1 player that remotely appears to love the game, Red Flag! This coach is repeatedly placing the blame on the players after a loss, Red flag! I for one will not be attending another game this season, as I am turned off completely! ISU & Wichita State are elite in this league, and there is not one other team that has the kind of talent that separates them from the rest of the pack, much less beat our brains out by 20+. This is the kind of season that with the right coach, the Braves could easily have jumped up into the top 4 in the league. I don't care how many coaches we have to go through to get it right. Drake was God awful until when? When the wrong guy for the job left, and the right guy took over! That is proof enough that the having the right guy in charge does matter, and having the wrong guy in charge matters to. The offense stinks, the defense stinks, the recruiting stinks, and the atmosphere stinks! RED FLAGS ALL OVER THE PLACE!!!

Well there you have it....I agree with a few things and disagree with much of it...I don't know anyone who thought we could be top 4 this year starting from scratch last year....and certainly not done easily as you put it..You are right about the knockdown shooter..but as a team....


we are 3rd in ft%
5th in FG%
4th in 3pt%
6th in 3 pt% defense
4th in rebounding margin


I'm sure we are worse on turnovers though which is what I think kills us more than anything.....now I haven't looked up last years stats but I'm guessing we are better than we were last year as a team in what I posted above...especially in shooting


now we may not end up in the same spot is these categories but we are here now and I think all improved over last year as a team.....


I'll be there Sunday with my grandkids in tow and while we will probably get beat bad I'm not going off the rails until at least this time next year and/or more likely year 4