Final score: South Dakota State 81 Bradley 65

[bigjimmy]

We certainly look like a team that wants to initiate offense early and play at a faster pace which is right up SDSU’s alley so I think we need to be careful about not getting into a shootout with them. We need to really concentrate on our defensive effort tonight. Will be curious to see how the rotation is and who finishes the game. Looking forward to it.

[BUSongwriter]

Oh my. So SDSU couldn't shoot lights out from 3 again.
News flash: They can. And we still can't defend it.
We'll be lucky to be within 20 at half. Sigh.

[Bradley3342]

Oh my. So SDSU couldn't shoot lights out from 3 again.
News flash: They can. And we still can't defend it.
We'll be lucky to be within 20 at half. Sigh.

Ditto BUSongwriter! Definitely a disappointing first half!

[BRAVE82]

Tons of fouls being called against Bradley and North South East Dakota State is 19-20 from the line. Make that 22-23 .

[BUBraves2006]

28 of 29 from the line. That's almost as insane as their three point shooting last season ...

[Cousins Cuts podcast]

The game plan in the first half was not good. They were crashing inside on every drive and leaving wide open shooters. That second half seemed to be better in that regard as they had no threes at all I believe. The new guys seemed to be a little yippy this first game. Terry had his good moments but unfortunately too much bad. I am happy they had some improvement in the second half tho.

[Da Coach]

Final score- South Dakota State 81 Bradley 65

https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=372097

[BUfan17]

Refs were bad but this loss is not their fault. We looked rushed at times and played pretty sloppy. We have a lot to improve on and this really showed it. Good news is that we are at the very beginning of the season and I saw a lot of hustle out there, just not a whole lot of execution. This is a new team and I expect us to get better.

[MacabreMob]

This team lost a buzzer beater last year to Oral Roberts who then went on to win Summit Tourney then upset Ohio State of the mighty Big10 (a lofty 2 seed) and Arkansas before losing a close game to Florida in the NCAAs last year.

[Tommy]

We lost this game for one reason - shooting. We can't make a shot to save our lives right now, so hoping that's partly from the newness and learning to play together.
Defense was solid (3 point defense was terrible in the 1st half but improved drastically in the 2nd). SDSU didn't have a great inside game and when we forced them to go there, they struggled, but our ridiculously low shooting percentage didn't give us much of a chance to catch up. We actually outscored them in the 2nd half, so that's something to take away from the game.
I think the refs weren't calling it evenly, but you have to play with what you get there and they weren't overly terrible. If I'm being completely honest, I'm a little biased and always think we get a raw deal from the refs, but you need to expect that on the road.
One big positive was our aggressiveness and ability to challenge and block shots inside. To point out one person in particular, Hannah can't shoot to save his life, but man can that kid can block shots, and it wasn't just him challenging down low. It was a total team effort there, so that's something to build on.

In the end, I'm not happy with the shooting, but I think they showed high effort and good defense, along with quite a few impressive passes/assists. I'm hoping that will give us something to look forward to in the future with this team, but they are going to need some work for sure.

[Jim]

Final score- South Dakota State 81 Bradley 65
https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=372097

South Dakota State only had a total of three blocked shots? Seemed lot a lot more to me.

[BUfan14]

Being the first game with so many new people I have a lot of thoughts:

First game on the road with a lot of new players, and the other team is a team I could see winning an NCAA game if they get there thanks to veteran leadership and shooting ability. So I’ll try to keep this game in perspective. However, It continues to baffle me year after year how teams like South Dakota State can recruit multiple shooters and we still fail to do so despite citing it as a need every year.


One observation I have is that our passing the last couple of years has been horrendous and that makes a big difference in three point shooting. Just look at Ville two years ago versus last year, and I don’t think that was all regression from Ville. Many teams that shoot the three well, especially at the mid-major level, know that they need to pass the ball back out from the post. Mast seems like he has the basketball IQ to do this and is solid at passing out of the post, but he spends a lot of time on the perimeter himself because he is a good shooter. Jashon has not proven to be a good post passer yet. Yesterday there were several occasions where he could have passed the ball back out to a shooter but decided to throw something up anyway. Reminded me of Childs last year. Despite all the times having the ball, Jashon had 0 assists as a senior leader. He averages under 1 a game for his whole career. Yes, I don’t believe he should play guard, but he also needs to learn to pass out of the post and not always throw up a shot at 6’5”. You have to move the ball back out from the post sometimes to get good three point looks, and our team hasn’t seemed to understand that in recent years. So while our shooting is bad, we are not helping ourselves to maximize our shooting either.


As far as individuals (this is just a first impression for this year):


Mast - He will shoot better and is a good hard working player who takes responsibility for mistakes. I always see him owning up when coach talks to him.


Roberts - I was worried his game looked like a previous Terry at first, but he is a better passer and more sly on defense. His defensive IQ seemed high and I think he can learn to force less in the future on offense. I liked his game, and am hoping his outside shot will be more consistent going forward.


Hickman - I wish he was more aggressive on offense, which I read was the opposite of the exhibition, but it seems like he went the other way in this game. I like his game all around, I don’t see any major weaknesses in his game and think he will be really good over 4 years. I was really impressed with how quick and high his shot release was, that is a good sign for a young shooter.


Henry - I covered him, but he cannot try to be the hero, he isn’t that player. Let the game come to you.


Boya - Whatever he gives you on offense is a bonus, his defense is solid a few minutes a game against bigger guys. I think 5-10 minutes is fine for him for now, but don’t start him.


Kent - I think he played better than he is getting credit for. His individual defense didn’t look bad to me, but his team defense is still a tad slow and he looks lost at times in rotations. His offense was much improved. He seemed to shoot more fluidly and his back cuts showed stronger basketball IQ than last year. I think he could be a solid 6th man scoring type if, again, we can work on getting shooters open looks.


Hannah - I was hoping to see a more polished game this year, but he looked about the same as last year. I am hoping that it is just the first game and he will grow from here. Obviously a great shot blocker, but we need more than that.


Howell - Again a guy I think that is getting less credit than he deserves. If he can make open threes (shot looked respectable), make good passes, and play solid defense I’m not sure what more we want in a backup point guard.


Leons - Was the most disappointing player of the night for me outside of Henry. I guess I expected him to be ready quicker because of the hype. I should give him more time to adjust, but what makes me nervous is the slender frame. He didn’t look particularly comfortable to me yet. His stats looked better than I thought they would looking at them, but he didn’t stand out to me in any way. Again, this was probably unfair being his first game against a good team on the road, but I expect more of him going forward if this team is going to do anything. I still see the potential for a nice all around game from him, but he didn’t look like the slam dunk hit everyone said in game 1. With his slender frame he will need to be at least a mid-level shooting threat and a better passer than he showed today to get to a good place in my opinion. I still have high hopes for him going forward.


Montgomery and Ekono didn’t play enough for me to form any kind of initial opinions.


My starting lineup (as a fan based on one game) right now would be: Mast, Henry, Kent, Hickman, Roberts for now with Ville in for Kent once he returns. Leons a 6th man backing up Henry (Henry can play some minutes at the 3 but not a lot), with Howell backup PG, Hannah backing up Mast, and Boya playing a few minutes against bigger lineups as needed. Kent will be more of the backup 2/3 6th man once Ville returns.

[LittleBrave]

Nice reflections and insights fellas.

I was encouraged by our play in the 2nd half. We looked hungry and not intimidated.
We should be the quickest amd most athletic team in the Valley and toughest to score on in the paint.

It’s Game 1…we have much room for improvement and need to get that chemistry that I think we’ll have to be a contender in the league this year. We may not see it greatly improve until 6th or 7th game, but we have the talent.
I don’t think we are a good outside shooting team once again. Can’t get in a shootout with team son the perimeter, though I think Hickman will be an outside threat in the coming years.

Have faith fellow Braves fans!

[Tommy]

Game has been posted on Youtube and Rumble. Apologies for taking so long to get it up.

[Dub]

Game has been posted on Youtube and Rumble. Apologies for taking so long to get it up.

We can let it slide this time.