Bradley's Lack of Offensive Fire Power - from NCAA Tournament Bleacher Report - Ranking all 68 teams

[Go_Braves]

Provided further below - The "Bradley Report" from the NCAA Tournament 2019: Power Ranking All 68 Teams article:

Bottom line: Bradley's Lack of Offensive Fire Power

My view - we'll see. I am a Bradley Alum and a HUGE HUGE Bradley Fan. But, I have to agree - if the Braves come out flat as they did in the
first half of the 2019 MVC Tournament Championship game - this Thursday against Michigan State - game over. Bradley's defense - solid with a tweak. Let me explain my view of a defensive tweak. Ben Jacobson (UNI Head Coach) realized Bradley's defense was extremely tough and physical down low during Bradley's first two MVC Tournament bracket games. With AJ Green and company - UNI successfully shot the ball in the first half from the outside. Anyone think MSU's head coach Tom Izzo isn't seeing this from the films he's watching about Bradley? Michigan State shot 39 % from the 3's this past Sunday against Michigan.... Michigan State's 3 point shooter is M. McQuad (7 - 13, 54%) Bradley's defense needs to be tough at both ends outside and underneath. Bradley's offense needs to play an entire game as the offense did in the second half of the 2019 MVC Championship game.

SEND A EARLY GAME MESSAGE TO THE SPARTANS BRADLEY - WE ARE NOT IMPRESSED AND WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED...

1st Score Slam Dunk! Texas Western vs. Kentucky '66 Finals https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTzzGq03Yts

Comments ?: Thank you and GO BRADLEY....


NCAA Tournament 2019: Power Ranking All 68 Teams

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...itorial#slide9

60. Bradley Braves

Record: 20-14, 9-9 in Missouri Valley

How They Got Here: The Braves made it through the Missouri Valley tournament by the slimmest of margins, winning their games against Missouri State, Loyola-Chicago and Northern Iowa by a combined eight points. After an 0-5 start to conference play, they went 9-4 to close out the regular season, hitting their stride at the perfect time to earn the automatic bid.

Reason to Believe: Bradley won the one Quad 1 game it played this season with a 59-56 victory over Penn State at the Cancun Challenge back on Nov. 21. The defensive-minded Braves rank 34th nationally in points allowed per game (65.0) and 47th in opponents’ field-goal percentage (41.6%). And while they're not a high-scoring team, they do knock down threes at a respectable 36.6 percent clip.

Reason to Worry: While that Quad 1 win is nice, the Braves also have a whopping 11 losses in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games, including a home loss to a sub-300 NET team in Eastern Illinois. The defense is solid, but they rank 246th in KenPom's adjusted offensive efficiency, and they lack a true go-to scorer, which will make it awfully hard to play catch-up if they fall behind early.

March Madness Ceiling: This is the school that reached the Sweet 16 in 2006 as a No. 13 seed, so anything can happen. The lack of offensive firepower makes the Braves a tough pick to win even one game this time around, though.

[tornado]

some teams really complaining about the NCAA's new selection criteria
NC State - https://twitter.com/Fred_Demarest/st...21005444714497

...and several gurus noting that the new policy disproportionately rewards wins with margins of victory over 10 points and high offensive efficiency.
Most bigger schools are gonna quickly figure out that this means making sure you only schedule non-conference opponents that you can whallop
and staying away from anyone who can stay within 10 points or even possibly beat you. This is gonna make it all the harder for decent mid-majors to ever find anyone to play them.

[bradleyfan124]

some teams really complaining about the NCAA's new selection criteria
NC State - https://twitter.com/Fred_Demarest/st...21005444714497

...and several gurus noting that the new policy disproportionately rewards wins with margins of victory over 10 points and high offensive efficiency.
Most bigger schools are gonna quickly figure out that this means making sure you only schedule non-conference opponents that you can whallop
and staying away from anyone who can stay within 10 points or even possibly beat you. This is gonna make it all the harder for decent mid-majors to ever find anyone to play them.

It has been that way for awhile. The bigger schools wont play us because they don't want to lose. So they don't schedule us. Illinois said awhile back they would not play Bradley again..after we beat the.. Dan Muller complained about that last year. The NCAA needs to do something about that

[bradleyfan124]

I look for Luuk to have a good game. He did not do very well in the MVC tournament so Michigan State does not know that a 6'9" guy can step out and shoot 3's. If he gets hot..Look out!!

[Go_Braves]

some teams really complaining about the NCAA's new selection criteria
NC State - https://twitter.com/Fred_Demarest/st...21005444714497

...and several gurus noting that the new policy disproportionately rewards wins with margins of victory over 10 points and high offensive efficiency.
Most bigger schools are gonna quickly figure out that this means making sure you only schedule non-conference opponents that you can whallop
and staying away from anyone who can stay within 10 points or even possibly beat you. This is gonna make it all the harder for decent mid-majors to ever find anyone to play them.

I TOTALLY AGREE TORNADO (and exactly bradleyfan124) ... As I shared earlier

As has been shared I believe by others - the "NET" system is fatally flawed. But it is the only system out there that tries to rank every team and key to the NCAA selection committee's decisions. From the web article:

The NET, explained: NCAA adopts new college basketball ranking to replace RPI.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...etball-ranking

This article explains: (A)The NCAA Evaluation Tool, which will be known as the NET, relies on game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency, and the quality of wins and losses. ** and ** (B) The model, which used team performance data to predict the outcome of games in test sets, was optimized until it was as accurate as possible.

So starting this year - the NET will always favors schools in the P5 conferences. Because the teams in the P5 conferences always play each other during the conference portion of their season. As demonstrated by Penn State (beaten by Bradley) whose NET score today is 47 and
also SMU (NET score 98 ). Schools in the Power 5 will "always" have an advantage due to "strength of schedule" and have no reason to ever schedule a game against a mid-major program.

So if the NET (and previous RPI) was so accurate - as explained - " these NET scores are to assist in predicting the outcome of each basketball game". If this is true then each NCAA lower seed should loose next week to their higher seed opponent. And all of us know that is not going to be the case. I doubt that this will ever happen - but if a day comes when the NCAA requires the P5 schools to play more games against mid-major opponents and on their home courts - this system will continue to be flawed.

It's not a game - it's a business.

GO BRAVES - make some noise next week.

[Go_Braves]

I look for Luuk to have a good game. He did not do very well in the MVC tournament so Michigan State does not know that a 6'9" guy can step out and shoot 3's. If he gets hot..Look out!!

I hope that Luuk, Nate, DB, and DLO all have good games and can all hit there 3's - then Michigan State will be running in circles not knowing who to really guard in the outer rim. All that Bradley has to do is really keep an eye on M. McQuad of Michigan State on the outer rim for their 3's - and then play their tough defensive play near the basket and under the rim and be aggressive with the take "a ways" as they did for their last 3 games in the 2019 MVC Tournament.

[Go_Braves]

I agree - this is a difficult topic to accept and to counter.

Another difficult topic to face is "early game nerves / jitters"....

Bradley sort of showed their jitters during the first half of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship and also showed being "flustered" during the first half likely due to realizing what they are playing for and exhaustion after playing difficult games the previous 2 days.

Realize - for the Michigan State seniors, this is their fourth NCAA tournament, Juniors third tournament, etc. Michigan State may "hit their stride" sooner than Bradley. I sure hope not. In 2006 - Bradley kept up with Kansas in the beginning of the game. If my memory serves me correctly - Bradley stayed with all their NCAA opponents at the beginning and throughout their games. Stay the course.. Go Braves and "Bust Most Everyone's Bracket"....