Final score: Loyola 66 Bradley 50

[BUfan14]

I haven't seen enough of Max to have an opinion, though the coaches certainly have seen him play a lot, and Coach Wardle is high on him.
We will not go into next year with only Terry and Max as point guards. Even if we did, Connor Hickman can play the point, and has done so effectively in limited spurts this season. But I am 100% confident that the 2022 recruiting class will include a very good point guard.

Well that’s good to hear. The more I think about it the more I’m confident that Brian is a smart guy and has talked about the need to limit turnovers, shoot more consistently, and be tough. The three things I’ve been harping on getting: shooter, PG, big man.

And you’re right about Hickman, he did look competent enough to handle PG in spurts.

That’s true on the bench too, Zek and Connor were as good as any young bench guys in the valley this year. I’m just very anxious to see who we bring in this year because of the potential next year being so high.

[Da Coach]

For all sessions, the upper bowl was completely closed off.
Thursday night's attendance for Session 1 was 2,904

For Friday's games:
The lower bowl was fairly full in the side court sections, but not half full on the corner and end sections.
The attendance for the afternoon session Friday (Session 2) was 5,394
The attendance for the night session Friday (Session 3) was 5,503

The announced attendance for Saturday's Session 4 was 6,371

[lb071964]

He’s not!

[Southside]

BU desperately needs players that can break their man down and get to the basket. Leons can do it but seems to play passive for stretches. Roberts is the same.

[bradleyfan124]

I haven't seen enough of Max to have an opinion, though the coaches certainly have seen him play a lot, and Coach Wardle is high on him.
We will not go into next year with only Terry and Max as point guards. Even if we did, Connor Hickman can play the point, and has done so effectively in limited spurts this season. But I am 100% confident that the 2022 recruiting class will include a very good point guard.
.
As far as going into next year to recruit and replace the departing players, that wouldn't bother me. Some times that is an advantage to have a full year to recruit and land the best players to fill our needs. Either way, I believe our coaches will find players who will compliment the current guys.
There is usually a dwindling pool of available recruits this late in the recruiting cycle, but things have changed with the new NCAA rules, and our coaches are expecting there to be a large pool of transfers available who will be eligible immediately.

And as far as not seeing "big stars developing behind our current leaders", give it some time. You could say the same thing about every team in the MVC. Which teams have budding stars sitting on their bench right now?

And there were some who said the same thing last year at this time, but then recall what happened in April & May of 2021.
Our coaches brought in possibly their best recruiting class in April and May of 2021. The coaches added Mikey Howell on April 14, 2021, Terry Roberts on April 23, 2021, Max Ekono on April 26, 2021, Malevy Leons on May 4, 2021, and Zek Montgomery on June 12, 2021.

Of course, this year's class may not be quite as large, but I'm expecting some quality additions.

Ok Da Coach!! You know something. Who is it? Lol Seriously my son went to watch Brock Harding play. He thought he would be a good fit for Bradley

[Da Coach]

Brock Harding would fit nicely in the 2023 class, but I foresee a quality PG in this year's recruit class.

[Big Mike]

Please, juco PG for instant help....
big man to play behind Mast....
& a real 3 pt threat....Ville has proven he is not it......

[Da Coach]

Final attendance figures for all 5 sessions-

The attendance for Thursday's Session 1 was 2,904

For Friday's games:
The attendance for the afternoon session Friday Session 2 was 5,394
The attendance for the night session Friday Session 3 was 5,503

The attendance for Saturday's Session 4 was 6,371

The attendance for Sunday's Session 5 was 5,164

[BUfan14]

Please, juco PG for instant help....
big man to play behind Mast....
& a real 3 pt threat....Ville has proven he is not it......

These are the exact three needs I’ve been posting about a lot. Based on the post game interviews at times I think Brian sees it too. Have to think we end up with at least two scholarships if not three. It’d be unusual for all 12 guys eligible to come back. I just hope we keep all the top end guys.

[G child]

What drives me nuts is watching all BU players including 7 footers floating around perimeter taking threes..work ball inside!

[Da Coach]

What drives me nuts is watching all BU players including 7 footers floating around perimeter taking threes..work ball inside!

This has been the one issue that I had with the offense. We have big guys who showed they could be effective scoring inside- Rienk Mast with his developing short hook shot, Malevy Leons who was a high scorer in juco with most of his points coming in the paint, and even Ari Boya who was not a consistent scorer, but on occasions handled the alley-oops and was able to get some putbacks. Yet we were never consistently effective at feeding the inside players the ball. I'm not saying we should have built the offense around post scoring, but a little more of it would have opened the perimeter and made the outside shooters more effective.
I believe the coaches are looking for players in the current recruiting class that can upgrade that facet of the offense.

And just for the record, Bradley did not have a single three point attempt this season from any seven footer.
And of the other two big guys- Rienk Mast was Bradley's top 3-point shooter last season, and Malevy Leons was the top 3-point shooter on the team this year.

[Wisconsin-Brave]

These are the exact three needs I’ve been posting about a lot. Based on the post game interviews at times I think Brian sees it too. Have to think we end up with at least two scholarships if not three. It’d be unusual for all 12 guys eligible to come back. I just hope we keep all the top end guys.

That being said, has there been any activity from current Bradley players on the transfer portal ??
Unfortunately this has become my chief concern once a season ends.

[G child]

This has been the one issue that I had with the offense. We have big guys who showed they could be effective scoring inside- Rienk Mast with his developing short hook shot, Malevy Leons who was a high scorer in juco with most of his points coming in the paint, and even Ari Boya who was not a consistent scorer, but on occasions handled the alley-oops and was able to get some putbacks. Yet we were never consistently effective at feeding the inside players the ball. I'm not saying we should have built the offense around post scoring, but a little more of it would have opened the perimeter and made the outside shooters more effective.
I believe the coaches are looking for players in the current recruiting class that can upgrade that facet of the offense.

And just for the record, Bradley did not have a single three point attempt this season from any seven footer.
And of the other two big guys- Rienk Mast was Bradley's top 3-point shooter last season, and Malevy Leons was the top 3-point shooter on the team this year.

Agree! I know much has been balleyhooed especially in nba on much more 3 pt shots for an offense approach..but its still a higher % shot down in paint

[Da Coach]

That being said, has there been any activity from current Bradley players on the transfer portal ??
Unfortunately this has become my chief concern once a season ends.

Nope. Not yet.

[BUfan14]

This has been the one issue that I had with the offense. We have big guys who showed they could be effective scoring inside- Rienk Mast with his developing short hook shot, Malevy Leons who was a high scorer in juco with most of his points coming in the paint, and even Ari Boya who was not a consistent scorer, but on occasions handled the alley-oops and was able to get some putbacks. Yet we were never consistently effective at feeding the inside players the ball. I'm not saying we should have built the offense around post scoring, but a little more of it would have opened the perimeter and made the outside shooters more effective.
I believe the coaches are looking for players in the current recruiting class that can upgrade that facet of the offense.

Here is one thing I noticed: when a pick was set for a guard on the three point line and the post player would slip the screen as the dribbler went around the screen the dribbler (guards) often were not even looking at the post player at all and would just pass it back to the top of the key. The passes weren't always easy to the screener (though sometimes wide open ones were missed), but they didn't even look that way before passing it back out.

Conversely, and maybe partly because of the first post, I also thought on offensive rebounds our posts don't pass it back out for wide open threes enough. Mast does a fair amount. It would be nice to see players spotting up or cutting in and getting good looks after offensive rebounds when the defense is not set. That is one area I always thought Jashon could improve in, is not having to go up with everything down low.