Creighton 82 - Bradley 71

[Da Coach]

Box score--

http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=780088

Creighton got all but 3 of their points from their 5 starters, and Bradley just couldn't get enough stops defensively. Creighton looks like they are the best team in the Valley right now.

[Long-Hair's Lunatics]

All I have to say is officials, free throws, and 3 point shooting. I think they are all self explanitory.

[Bravesfan]

Re: Creighton 82 - Bradley 71

Box score--

http://www.bubraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=19332&SPID=1498&DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=780088

Creighton got all but 3 of their points from their 5 starters, and Bradley just couldn't get enough stops defensively. Creighton looks like they are the best team in the Valley right now.

Agreed! I think tonight's action in the Valley answered a lot of questions regarding where the teams will finish in the standings if everything plays out to expectations the remainder of this season. It's amazing that after all the craziness, all of the goofy games we have seen so far, and all the teams beating up on each other, that it looks like the Valley will indeed shake out in the way things were predicted, for the most part.

Creighton and SIU are the class of the Valley so far. MSU and WSU still look like the third and fourth teams in since WSU has a relatively easy schedule and MSU barely escaped with their lives tonight at Drake! UNI and Bradley should be the two NIT teams which is a great accomplishment for both teams considering how many players they lost, particularly Bradley. As a matter of fact, Bradley making the post season would be the only prediction that was not expected by most experts, as many had Evansville and/or Drake moving up the ranks a bit.

I think we saw tonight that there is a good bit of difference in the talent level between Bradley and the Valley elites. That we beat SIU and WSU at home was a combination of playing teams at the right time and our home court advantage. But a great team like Creighton does show how dangerous they are by going out on the road and totally dominating good to great teams. That's what Creighton did to us tonight. We got beaten by a great team, simple as that.

Bradley has shown a lot of guts this season with what they have. An NIT invite, with hopefully a home game or two would be a nice reward for a good year. Of course we still have to take care of business, and that starts with a must win Saturday night against a mediocre ISU team. If we beat them, than we go into SIU with nothing to lose. A win at SIU gets us back into the NCAA hunt, but a loss there would be nothing to be ashamed of as long as we can beat the teams we should along the way.

[BUBraves06]

This game was a joke. The effort, the execution, the officiating, it all sucked.

[it's boogie time]

It seemed like there was something wrong with Ruffin.

[tornado]

Re: Creighton 82 - Bradley 71

I think we saw tonight that there is a good bit of difference in the talent level between Bradley and the Valley elites. .....

You think so?

I assume you mean SIU and Creighton as the two Valley elites.
Last night was only one game, but here is my response:

--We have beaten SIU in the only meeting we've had this season between the two teams. I really can't see this as supporting the argument that they are elite and we are not.

--In the game at Creighton, we had every chance to win right down to the final minute, but shot poorly as teams often do on the road.
Playing in front of the largest crowd in the history of the state of Nebraska, our guys nearly pulled off an upset on the road, and although Nate Funk had a good game, I see no evidence that the talent difference had a whole lot to do with the outcome.

--last night's game was won at the FT line and a whole lot of those calls that sent the Jays to the line were pretty questionable.
Bradley outscored Creighton last night from the floor 62-51
Bradley outscored Creighton from 3-point range 30-21
Bradley had better passing, more assists, and better bench scoring.
Creighton's best bench player, Josh Dotzler, was all but invisible, while BU's best bench player, Jeremy Crouch was 4-5 from 3-pt range. Will Franklin had a bad game, but he's been one of the 2 or 3 best players in the league to this point.
Despite that, Creighton raced out to a big lead, it was the fouls and FTs that helped CU win, as they got 21 more attempts at the line and were able to outscore BU 31-9 at the FT line.
When you win a game by 11 but outscore the opponent by 22 at the line, it isn't too hard to see the biggest reason Creighton won.

By the way, Creighton loses Funk, Porter, and Tolliver next year, and will not as likely be the Valley's top team in 2007-2008.

[Majik45]

Re: Creighton 82 - Bradley 71

Bradley had better passing

Totally disagree with this statement. Bradley looked terrible passing the ball last night, and a lot of it had to do with the CU defense.

Sometimes you just have to give props to the other team. They flat out beat our butts last night.

[tornado]

Re: Creighton 82 - Bradley 71

Bradley had better passing

Totally disagree with this statement. Bradley looked terrible passing the ball last night, and a lot of it had to do with the CU defense.

Sometimes you just have to give props to the other team. They flat out beat our butts last night.

JJ Tauai passed poorly, and had 4 turnovers on passes right out of bounds. The rest of the turnovers (only 7 of 'em) were largely BAD calls like the travel on Ruff when he was actually hacked on a 3-pt attempt, and the carrying the ball on Will that was just a fabricated call.
I think other than that, I really didn't see a bad pass. We hit the open guy and virtually every one of the 30 3-pointers we took was because of good passing.
We just didn't hit enough of them.
I actually thought Creighton had lots more passes tipped, deflected, and stolen, but they got a whole lot of help frmo the refs, and they hit their shots better than we did.

[Toyota12]

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

I am sorry but we showed last night that we are not mentally tough as we should be!! Our 2 best players did not show up to play last night!! Daniel looked awful in the first half 0fer from the field and maybe 5 turnovers,Will where was he all night 9 points..I really thought our guards were as good as any in the valley but you must be consistent all year... Creighton is a good team but didn't we beat ourselves...We played terrible defense we shot horrible and looked like a bunch of freshman almost ISU like!!! Sad We have a lot of work to do and i don't know if this team can do it or not!! We might be gassed like UNI last year i hope not!! I am a big Bradley and i want nothing but success for this program...Jim Les has done a great job with this group but last nights loss hurts really bad...I hope he can rally them and get on a roll like last year!!

[tornado]

Re: MENTAL TOUGHNESS

Daniel looked awful in the first half 0fer from the field and maybe 5 turnovers,

You will have a very hard time backing this up with any facts.

Ruffin had 3 turnovers in the entire game, one of which as I noted above was the ridiculous travelling call
that should have actually been 3 FT's on a fouled 3-pt attempt, that JL was so upset about he got the "T".
Creighton shot better than BU and scored 22 more points from the FT line than we did. But I did not see evidence of what you speak, and I sure don't think they had either "superior talent" or did they outplay BU in every aspect of the game.

I'd love to see them again in St. Louis, since I fully believe Bradley can beat them.

[Toyota12]

mental toughness

Do you think Daniel and Will played well? Forget the referees they were terrible...If we play well as a team maybe some of the officiating questions go away...Come on let's admit it we looked horrible as a team!!! As i said before i want nothing but great things to happen for this team!!! I am not bashing or wanting to argue...

[smitty]

I think terms like horrible and awful are extreme. Bradley did not play their best, which you need to beat a team like Creighton. Creighton played extremely well for playing on the road in a hostile arena.
I agree that the officiating was highly inconsistent. Tolliver gets away with a lot of shuffling of the feet, and they treat Funk like he's Michael Jordan....any contact at all is immediately whisled while other players get hammered without a foul.

Just like Bradley did last year, I think BU will beat this team in St. Louis.

[ceflentroy]

bu players less talent than cu and siu

It's unbelieveable that you could draw such a conclusion because of one loss. Throughout the course of a (30) plus games season, a team will no doubt have a couple of games in which they will not be at their absolute best. BU is no different! We had the same type of outting against Michigan State, it happens from time to time, especially when you consider how small we are. I will put Will, Daniel, and Jeremy against any guards in the country, let alone the Valley's guards. This team will respond in a big way down the stretch. I understand how bad you feel about this loss, so do I, but you must believe in these kids ability to get it done, and they will!!!

[IheartBU]

OK.

The game kinda sucked. I was sitting in the student section (notably decreased in size from a week ago) and we were screaming our heads off for 3/4 of the game. Yes, we lost. Yes, some of (a lot of) the official's calls were BS. Yes, we couldn't get some of (a lot of) the shots to fall to save a life.

But.

They didn't really give up tonight as much as they've tended to do on the road when in this situation. The hearts and the talent just weren't lining up. The fact that Ruff was close to fouling out, DA did foul out and Jimmy got T-ed up again shows at least some fight left. And watching JC shoot (and make some of) the 3 balls still gave me a little hope.

All is not lost, and we as fans can't lose heart. The team is playing the hand it was dealt, and if they're bluffing at this point, you gotta love them. Let's pack Redbird Arena Saturday night and show ISU what a Valley fan-following is really like.

[amckillip]

I agree, I felt like the team tried the entire game, which makes me love them even more. When the game started I was sooo dissapointed in the student section, but to be honest, I thought we were as loud as we have been in quite a long time, the fans I was dissapointed in were the general crowd, I just didn't feel like the did much to help the team out. I really feel like had the refs been anywhere near decent and had we got another break or two the game could have been totally different.

Also did anyone else see the DRuff I did last night? I don't think there was anything wrong with him, he just tried to take the game on his shoulders, it didn't work, but out of your leader, thats what you want to see. I saw him make one bad pass the entire game. I did feel like he tried to force shots that weren't there, and drive to the hoop when he should have made the pass, but again that's because he tried to step up his game. I can't wait to see what he can do in the next few games this season and how far he can take our team next year.