Final score: Indiana State 65 Bradley 60

[tornado]

-get a great hustle play by Luuk and call time out
-draw up the play during time out
-pass the ball right to the post - practically hit him in the head..
-but he's not looking and it goes out of bounds and gets credited as a turnover by Childs who made a perfect pass

[tornado]

refs now calling fouls on every possession whether there's contact or not

[tornado]

as much as I hate to say it - we might be looking at a preview of the first game on Thursday March 7th

but hard to beat any team that the refs send to the line 40 times

...edit - correction - 50 times

[Da Coach]

Bradley loses a winnable game 65-60
https://gosycamores.com/sidearmstats...mary;team=away

[Dub]

That was an embarrassment to officiating. Completely took Bradley out of the game each time we tried to build any momentum. We aren’t playing well right now, but we don’t need that garbage. Terrible! Called traveling in 3 legal euro step moves.

[Bradley3342]

Disappointing loss to say the least but we did show a little more effort today.. Nice to see DB attacking the basket also.

[Da Coach]

Game report from BradleyBraves.com-

https://bradleybraves.com/news/2019/1/5/mens-basketball-brown-scores-32-in-road-setback.aspx

Box score-

https://bradleybraves.com/boxscore.aspx?path=mbball&id=16562

[Bradleyfan1]

Dbj was great. Stop fouling so much. Protect the ball. Every possession is precious , Cherish it. The end of every play should be DBJ driving . Make some shots. Obviously Childs will break out of his soph slump . Get Boya goin. I think we have a winning streak in us. It needs to start at Valpo. #arrivealready

[bigjimmy]

Encouraging as far as our effort was during the game. Played hard from beginning to end which is something this team has struggled with. Just too bad no one other the DB showed up on the offensive end. Could we have won this game? Absolutely. Should we have won this game? Probably but with our struggles on offense we were fortunate to be in it until the end. I do think our offense is too individual based as we only had 5 assists on 20 made shots and committed 17 turnovers with most of those of the unforced variety. At least we outrebounded ISU Blue 48-42 with Koch getting 11 and Luuk getting 10. Still mystified by Elijah's slump since Cancun. Seems to be thinking too much and not reacting, kind of like most of the guys on the offensive end. Do we have the look of a Thursday play in game team tight now? I'm afraid we do but there's still time to change that narrative. Other than maybe Loyola, who seems to be putting it together, I think any other team can finish from 2nd to 10th. So far in 10 Valley games the road team has won 4 of them so the chances to win on the road in the Valley are there. Just too bad we didn't take advantage of our chance. Just gotta keep working and fighting threw whatever offensive malaise we're in and get er done against Valpo. .

[Go_Braves]

Wardle's post game interview with Dave Snell was much better than Wardle's post game interview after the Northern Iowa game. His feedback was more positive and will take this latest effort and work with it. His simple explanation was that the shots did not go in. Valpo will be another "interesting challenge" for the Braves. They are 2 - 0 in the Valley and their first MVC win was a stunning last second shot at Illinois State. Let's build from the Indiana State experience and add one to the "W" column.

[Vent]

As the sand goes through the hourglass of another season, we seem to be watching the same show as before, yet are hoping for a different ending. The league has multiple teams that can win it, but none that will deserve an at large bid to the NCAA Tournament. As Bradley fans, we are hoping they can turn it around against an average at best Valporaiso, after disappointing losses at home to UNI and on the road at Indiana State. While we’re hopeful because we had better effort yesterday, we still have the same problems that have been a hinderance to the program for four consecutive years. We are inconsistent in every phase of the game. From defense to shooting, rebounding to turnovers, mental toughness to free throw shooting, good defense to too many fouls we are inconsistent each game. The only thing we are consistent in is inconsistency. That won’t change at this point in the season or in the program until something changes. We can no longer blame it on player inexperience. Wait until next year is no longer the answer.

[bradleyfan124]

Does anyone else see a problem with this? Your point guard is the leading scorer. Not by a few points but a lot of points. My thinking is I would rather our point guard be the leader in assists and score enough points to keep the defense honest. Your point guard is your director of the offense. He gets the other players involved in the offense

[Vent]

Does anyone else see a problem with this? Your point guard is the leading scorer. Not by a few points but a lot of points. My thinking is I would rather our point guard be the leader in assists and score enough points to keep the defense honest. Your point guard is your director of the offense. He gets the other players involved in the offense

Essentially you are correct. The point guard should be an extension of the coach on the floor and serve as a traffic cop as they lead the offense. Our problem is, other than Childs, he is our best all around player. Offensively we don’t have any pure shooters so Brown is being forced to accept more responsibility in the offensive scheme. You look back to last time Bradley was good, on a consistent basis, there was always a point guard that could score but didn’t have to because they had other options. From Bobby Humbles to Tom Les, to Willie Scott, to Jim Les, to Anthony Manuel and even Billy Wright, those point guards were surrounded by quality players that were offensive threats. This team lacks that. Historically, guards have always been the best outside shooters on a team. With the three point shot, it is more critical than ever. There are a lot of quality shooters at the high school level. Quality outside shooting is what propelled Butler and even Wisconsin to the level they are at. They always have multiple players that are 6’-2” to 6’-7” that are very good outside shooters. We may not be able to get the quality of player those schools get, but you can’t convince me there are no players in the Chicago suburbs or state of Illinois that aren’t better shooters than the players we recruit. If you drive around and look at playgrounds or inside gymnasiums, players are always practicing their shooting from the three point arc area. For some reason we don’t recruit those players. Our players are lights out one game and can’t throw a rock in the ocean the next time out. Good shooters are not that erratic. If you have three to four pure shooters on your team, there will be nights where one may have an off night. But very seldom will the wheels fall off at the same time on all three or four of them. We are so easy to prepare for. If you contain Brown or Childs, you have a better than average chance of beating us.

[Dub]

Does anyone else see a problem with this? Your point guard is the leading scorer. Not by a few points but a lot of points. My thinking is I would rather our point guard be the leader in assists and score enough points to keep the defense honest. Your point guard is your director of the offense. He gets the other players involved in the offense

I mostly agree. However what I’m seeing over the past 5-6 games is basically an attempt (albeit failed) to do exactly as you prescribe. We start every game with DBJ in a “pass first” mentality. Often he has very few attempts or points before halftime and dishes the ball around to everyone else, who promptly fails to score when needed. Then after halftime he over exerts offensively as we get behind and the hour is late. What we need is for DBJ to be a little more aggressive in looking for attempts FROM THE START, but the rest of the team needs to pull their weight and make shots.... that’s the big problem I see:

The ball doesn’t pass through the goal apparatus when we shoot.

[Vent]

I mostly agree. However what I’m seeing over the past 5-6 games is basically an attempt (albeit failed) to do exactly as you prescribe. We start every game with DBJ in a “pass first” mentality. Often he has very few attempts or points before halftime and dishes the ball around to everyone else, who promptly fails to score when needed. Then after halftime he over exerts offensively as we get behind and the hour is late. What we need is for DBJ to be a little more aggressive in looking for attempts FROM THE START, but the rest of the team needs to pull their weight and make shots.... that’s the big problem I see:

The ball doesn’t pass through the goal apparatus when we shoot.

Not having shooters has been a problem for at least 8 years. The coaching staffs of Ford and Wardle have failed miserably in getting players that can come off a screen and hit a shot from 18 feet and out. That includes dribbling off a screen to shoot or catching a pass off a screen and shooting. It has been a glaring weakness and until addressed we will be mired in mediocrity in a very mediocre league.