Final score: Bradley 56 SIUE 54

[BUfan17]

Very lucky to get out of there with a win. Many turnovers and poor shooting usually ends with a loss.

I do think there is a lot of potential with this team, just need to keep getting better (which Wardle's teams have usually done so I am hopeful).

Hopefully the team can rest up and get ready for an even tougher Arkansas team.

[bradleyfan124]

The positive thing of this is that as bad as we played we still won and won at there place.

[Nashville Cat]

I remember the 2018-19 season where we lost to the likes of IUPUI and Eastern Illinois (at home), then we went on to lose our first 5 conference games and I was wondering if we'd beat anyone that year only to see them completely turn it around and win the MVC tournament.

BW teams typically finish much stronger than they start and early season losses and close games are what build character, and beyond that, it is never easy to win back to back road games. If we can go out and not play our best basketball and still pull out a win, I'd say that's a good thing and something to build on.

Lets not forget, we still have 2 of our better players (certainly good enough to be in the starting five) sitting out injured right now, so I think things are looking pretty bright this year, though we definitely need to stay focused as the Valley is always a competitive conference and nobody is going to give us wins.

On a side note, I apologize for not getting videos posted recently. My video editor hasn't been working and beyond that, life has been much busier than it used to be. I'm working on it and hope to get back to posting games as they're played and I'll do my best to get as many of the old games up as I can.

Appreciate it Tommy!

[Nashville Cat]

Road wins matter in the NET algorithm. BU rises to #63 this morning.

[Da Coach]

Road wins matter in the NET algorithm. BU rises to #63 this morning.

Here are the updated NET numbers for all the MVC teams.
MVC now has 4 teams in the top 100, plus Murray State at 103.
UNI dropped from 224 to 261 (ouch).
58 Drake
63 Bradley
81 SIU
96 Indiana State
103 Murray State
161 Missouri State
179 Belmont
251 UIC
260 Illinois State
261 UNI
279 Valparaiso
323 Evansville

[Nashville Cat]

Here are the updated NET numbers for all the MVC teams.
MVC now has 4 teams in the top 100, plus Murray State at 103.
UNI dropped from 224 to 261 (ouch).
58 Drake
63 Bradley
81 SIU
96 Indiana State
103 Murray State
161 Missouri State
179 Belmont
251 UIC
260 Illinois State
261 UNI
279 Valparaiso
323 Evansville

Ya, UNI got thumped at home by a mediocre Toledo team. Braves face a similar risk with Akron later in the schedule.

[BUSongwriter]

Our Braves are 4-0 since the return of Rienk Mast. I have no doubt we'd be at least 8-2 had he been available at the start of the season. He's our version of former Loyola Rambler Cameron Krutwig -- a great passing center. Maybe not all the offensive moves of Krutwig, but Rienk adds the 3-point shot. Stay healthy, Rienk, and these next two seasons will be a lot of fun!

[Nashville Cat]

Our Braves are 4-0 since the return of Rienk Mast. I have no doubt we'd be at least 8-2 had he been available at the start of the season. He's our version of former Loyola Rambler Cameron Krutwig -- a great passing center. Maybe not all the offensive moves of Krutwig, but Rienk adds the 3-point shot. Stay healthy, Rienk, and these next two seasons will be a lot of fun!

Great observation! I'm hoping Rienk comes back next year to work on his Masters Degree. We've seen Loyola and Drake return multiple 'old players, why not us?

[bradleyfan124]

One negative thing I might say about the game is that Leons needs to step up his game. He should have been dominant in this game













in this game.

[Da Coach]

Anyone interested in re-watching the game, ESPN has the entire game video archived and available to watch. It's free. even if you don't have a subscription to ESPN+.

https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/3519caf7-f6e6-445e-a38e-af0a1782502c

[epistibrain]

Here is a much better look at the final play-
https://twitter.com/MattMcClain3/sta...26776449748993

Thanks for passing that along. Not a great look on ESPN+ last night!

[wily coyote]

Trust me, very glad with the W! One of the most lackluster performances by a Wardle team, terrible passes, terrible ball handling, and not impressed with the coaching tonight...piss poor effort to say the least...

Big Mike couldn't agree with you more. One thing that absolutely drives me crazy and it almost cost us the game last night. When we get pressed in the guts of a game we only and always only have one man in the backcourt for the throw in and 3 guys around half court. We do it all the time and I can't figure out for the life of me way we do it. Has anyone else noticed this or can tell me why we do it. Just about cost us the game last night. SIUE had 3 guys defending our one guy and that makes it extremely difficult to get the ball into him.

[KillerB]

the video from the end
multiple views.. starting the the cameraman asleep at the wheel

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...C2z.mp4?tag=12

[Da Coach]

the video from the end
multiple views.. starting the the cameraman asleep at the wheel

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video...C2z.mp4?tag=12

Thanks for posting.
There was one incident that I wondered if others saw, and what they thought it was about.
The sequence of events following Connor Hickman's missed free throw at 1.2 seconds on the ESPN archived video stream is worth watching...
Link- https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...e-af0a1782502c

SIUE calls a timeout with 0.3 seconds showing on the clock after they rebounded Hickman's missed free throw. During the timeout, the officials review the video and change the clock to 0.6 seconds.
Then after that timeout, the official is about to hand the ball to the SIUE player to inbound, but he appears to be talking to the player about something. Coach Wardle notices, and starts pointing and barking at the official. He walks out onto the court, and signals for another timeout, but he continues barking at the official for several more seconds. The fans visible in front of the camera signal they want a technical foul called on Wardle as he is pulled away from the official by a couple of Bradley players. It can be seen just after the 1:59:35 mark on the ESPN game video.
I'm not sure what he was upset about. After this second timeout, the inbound play proceeded with no further action by Coach Wardle.
Does anyone have any thoughts about what Coach Wardle was upset about there?

[BUBraves 33]

My guess is that he was upset about how far back the ref was allowing the player to inbound from. There’s a rule (maybe 3 ft?) and he was much further back imo