Exhibition- Bradley 91 Millikin University 52

[Da Coach]

Ville Tahvanainen with a flurry of points late is the leading scorer with 18. Child's had 16 pts, 12 rebounds in just 24 minutes, and Stephan Gabriel had 14.

[BUfan17]

Nice to see Ville and Gabriel had good games. I know exhibition games don't mean much but overall a good job. I really do hope we get Boya and Mast back soon to add some depth. Other than that I'm really excited to see what happens this season.

[Chibearsfan10125]

Anyone have a guess on the early rotation, based on what you saw tonight?

I’d say we run an 8 man rotation of Danya, DB, Nate, Eli, Koch, Henry, Ville, and Gabriel. Thomas is good depth at this point. First five listed are starters.

[Da Coach]

Anyone have a guess on the early rotation, based on what you saw tonight?

The starting 5 were Brown, Kennell, Childs, Bar, and Kingsby. The top subs were JaShon Henry, Stephan Gabriel, and Ville Tahvanainen, and to a lesser degree, Antonio Thomas, who will probably get 6-10 minutes a game as the backup point guard..
Those 9 will be Coach Wardle's rotation and get the bulk of the meaningful minutes.
That could change a little if and when Boya and Mast come back. Both were in street clothes.

Among the freshmen-
If Ville can shoot like he did tonight, he will get more minutes than I thought he might. His shooting could be a major factor for BU. He is a very solid player who makes good decisions and doesn't make mistakes. His only downside is his defense, which isn't really too bad for a freshman, and will get better.
Stephan Gabriel is a stud. He does occasionally make a bad decision, but he is a decent defender, excellent rebounder, and had a pretty well rounded offensive game. He only had 1 turnover, and the team had only 9 which is great considering how frequent the subbing was, and how the personnel on the court was constantly changing.
Antonio Thomas also looked good- 5 assists and only 1 turnover in only 11 minutes.
The 2 walkon guys, Houpt and Burger played some minutes at the end, but I don't expect to see them get many minutes the rest of the year.

[ihatetea]

I’d say we run an 8 man rotation of Danya, DB, Nate, Eli, Koch, Henry, Ville, and Gabriel. Thomas is good depth at this point. First five listed are starters.

This is how I would see it too. Bar or Mast will also get minutes, but just like Thomas those minutes will be fairly sparse. Those three are more insurance for certain situations than anything else.

I’d also guess that our most effective lineup will either be Brown/Kingsby/Gabriel/Henry/Childs, Brown/Kennell/Gabriel/Henry/Childs, or Brown/Kingsby/Kennell/Henry/Childs. The first lineup would be great defensively and in transition but might be shooting light. The second lineup adds Kennell for shooting but loses a little ball handling. While the third lineup sacrifices some size and defense but would be really good on offense.

[patrick_o'brian]

Amen! Gabriel is a stud. He has the “it” factor. This team is gonna do great things.

[Dub]

Guys, there’s no doubt we’ve got some really strong freshman, and Kingsby looks like he will be effective and fun to watch. I left the game very excited about what we could do this year and next.

[Da Coach]

Game story from BradleyBraves.com-
Bradley basketball runs past Millikin, 91-52
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2019/...kin-91-52.aspx

Box score-
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit.../29/bradex.pdf

Bradley lead by as much as 44 points (77-33) with a little over 5 minutes left in the game. Millikin cut the lead a little when Bradley went to a 5-guard lineup the last few minutes of the game with even the walk-on players getting court time (Sean Houpt played the final 6 minutes, Riley Burger played the final 4 minutes).
Attendance 4,495

[Bradley3342]

Looks like we have some really good freshman this year. Stephan looks to be a real stud and Ville looks like he has great range on his shot. Should be a fun year!

[Tommy]

How was Gabriel not recruited by some bigger teams? Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we've got him, but my goodness, that is not a freshman boy I was watching last night. That is a full fledged man that took it to the rim every chance he got! Loved it!
Was it just my impression or did we have more dunks last night than we had all last season combined?
Lastly, Ville! Oh my goodness can that boy shoot. I'm sure every night won't be like last night, but that sure was a stellar start.
Definitely the best recruiting class BW has brought in so far and I am pleasantly surprised as I didn't know what to expect. Granted, this game was not a huge test, but they did what they are supposed to do against a DIII team, right!

[Heemeskerk]

Great to hear all the reports from the game and thanks to those who provide their observation - enjoy reading everyone's thoughts and pumped for the season to start!. Not being local I just saw the short clip from the red & white scrimmage of Gabriel and he looked impressive for a freshman. Body and skill. Rare Bradley finds a physique, athleticism, and basketball skills such as that for a freshman. Typically we get the types that have some of the raw tools but need to be developed and it isn't always apparent which players will develop. Anyway I think we are seeing result of a great run last year and a very fine coaching staff finding some under the radar talent. I worry though if this season is as good as we think it can be that the big boys come calling Coach Wardle...

[Da Coach]

Gabriel and Antonio Thomas both committed to Bradley back in September, 2018, and they signed in the early (Nov. 2018 ) signing period. That was before the impressive run late last season. So I attribute a lot to the coaches' hard work, expert scouting, persistence, and connections. There are probably a couple reasons Gabriel fell through the cracks, but I don't want to speculate. I'm just glad he did. He actually got more recruiting interest in high school in New Jersey for football, but he was dead set on playing basketball. Plus, he had a late growth spurt. He was only 6'5" before his senior year in HS, and he grew a couple more inches between then and when he arrived at prep school.

We've posted this video before (from May, 2017). Stephan put in a lot of work in high school and afterward to develop his skills to enable him to get D1 offers-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mOdy47Wmbs

Here is what I thought when he committed-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...315#post465315

[Heemeskerk]

Thanks Da Coach good points and as always you and the board were on beat early! Even more impressive we landed him! Go BU!

[Tommy]

Here is what I thought when he committed-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...315#post465315

Well you nailed it, and so did Tornado in his comments. We definitely lucked out getting in on this guy early.

[Time Out]

Been a guest on Bradley Fans for years, thought it was about time to join. You long time members, and Da Coach do a great job on bringing us all the latest news, and it is much appreciated. Really look forward to watching what should be an exciting season. Love the athleticism and speed we saw last night in the exhibition game.