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A tale, an old tale, if you will. About 7 weeks ago, and we're seconds before tipping in overtime against the worst team in the league on the road. We all have that look, the look of a team that hadn't won on the road in conference in a year and a half. If we lose that overtime, our team is crushed, we uninspiredly limp to the finish, and Les is most defintely out the door.
Think back to that Lawrence Wright runner with about 10 seconds left, down one. I thought it was a bad shot as it left the hand, watching our season hang in the balance of a runner. (God, it feels so long ago, that I barely remember a play like this.)
But it willed its way in, and somehow, someway, we escaped that game.
Think, people. This wasn't even a full 2 months ago. Seems like 2 years, doesn't it?
And it built from there.
We weren't supposed to beat SIU at home, it was supposed to be the rugged game that finally killed our fledging at-large hopes. But somehow, we put it together.
We defintely weren't supposed to beat UNI, at UNI, being as awful as we were on the road earlier, and on senior night to boot. We were supposed to be beaten and finally wake up from those at-large pipe dreams. But by then, our players believed, and played like location didn't matter.
Drake has owned us in previous years. We were supposed to just follow suit again and let Dr. Tom own us again. But we seemed oblivious to that thought.
We've been awful in St. Louis in previous years. We weren't suppposed to go in and all of a sudden reverse that trend, when all the pressure in the world is on us to make a serious at-large berth run. But somehow, we played oblivious to the pressure.
And once we won that first game, we sure as heck weren't supposed to overachieve and beat the conference champion who had beat us twice already.
We were supposed to be run out of the building by Kansas' athleticism and talent, and Pitt's tough and rugged frontline, respectively.
Get the drift?
In the first 3 1/2 years at Bradley, this team doesn't win ANY of those games. But when it truly mattered, this team found another gear. I have NEVER seen a team do a complete 180 like we did in the past 2 months.
We stopped underacheiving and we started overacheiving. And for the first time in a long time, people could be PROUD to say they were a Bradley fan.
So as we look back on the great season....just remember the hard work and pains it took to get us to this point. Be proud of everyone in the Bradley program. We could've underachieved like normal. But they didn't get the memo.
I can't think of a player who wasn't superb down the stretch. Cellus stepped up and played like a leader. POB filled potential. Bennett was a hustler, never quit. Ruff and Franklin gave us the steady PG play we needed. JJ's emergence was nothing short of legendary for this team. DA keeping us together in big moments in games earlier in the year. LW went from awful to really, really good in the final 5 games or so. ZA continued to give effort. Heemy's attitude held it all together.
So, as we congratulate the team, just remember back. One single LW shot may have been the different between a 13-16 season, and a Sweet 16 season. Amazing.
And while I'm at it, game thoughts:
We let the game slip away in the 2nd half because we forgot about POB. This team needs to play from ahead to be effective. We got ahead vs. Kansas and Pitt and put the pressure on them. Instead, we let Memphis get the lead and let us force things. We needed more POB, and I defintely feel we left some chances on the floor tonight. That being said, Memphis was clearly the better team, and they acted like it, and played like it.
Think back to that Lawrence Wright runner with about 10 seconds left, down one. I thought it was a bad shot as it left the hand, watching our season hang in the balance of a runner. (God, it feels so long ago, that I barely remember a play like this.)
But it willed its way in, and somehow, someway, we escaped that game.
Think, people. This wasn't even a full 2 months ago. Seems like 2 years, doesn't it?
And it built from there.
We weren't supposed to beat SIU at home, it was supposed to be the rugged game that finally killed our fledging at-large hopes. But somehow, we put it together.
We defintely weren't supposed to beat UNI, at UNI, being as awful as we were on the road earlier, and on senior night to boot. We were supposed to be beaten and finally wake up from those at-large pipe dreams. But by then, our players believed, and played like location didn't matter.
Drake has owned us in previous years. We were supposed to just follow suit again and let Dr. Tom own us again. But we seemed oblivious to that thought.
We've been awful in St. Louis in previous years. We weren't suppposed to go in and all of a sudden reverse that trend, when all the pressure in the world is on us to make a serious at-large berth run. But somehow, we played oblivious to the pressure.
And once we won that first game, we sure as heck weren't supposed to overachieve and beat the conference champion who had beat us twice already.
We were supposed to be run out of the building by Kansas' athleticism and talent, and Pitt's tough and rugged frontline, respectively.
Get the drift?
In the first 3 1/2 years at Bradley, this team doesn't win ANY of those games. But when it truly mattered, this team found another gear. I have NEVER seen a team do a complete 180 like we did in the past 2 months.
We stopped underacheiving and we started overacheiving. And for the first time in a long time, people could be PROUD to say they were a Bradley fan.
So as we look back on the great season....just remember the hard work and pains it took to get us to this point. Be proud of everyone in the Bradley program. We could've underachieved like normal. But they didn't get the memo.
I can't think of a player who wasn't superb down the stretch. Cellus stepped up and played like a leader. POB filled potential. Bennett was a hustler, never quit. Ruff and Franklin gave us the steady PG play we needed. JJ's emergence was nothing short of legendary for this team. DA keeping us together in big moments in games earlier in the year. LW went from awful to really, really good in the final 5 games or so. ZA continued to give effort. Heemy's attitude held it all together.
So, as we congratulate the team, just remember back. One single LW shot may have been the different between a 13-16 season, and a Sweet 16 season. Amazing.
And while I'm at it, game thoughts:
We let the game slip away in the 2nd half because we forgot about POB. This team needs to play from ahead to be effective. We got ahead vs. Kansas and Pitt and put the pressure on them. Instead, we let Memphis get the lead and let us force things. We needed more POB, and I defintely feel we left some chances on the floor tonight. That being said, Memphis was clearly the better team, and they acted like it, and played like it.
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