2023 Red-White Showcase Saturday, Oct. 21, starts at 10:00 am

[Da Coach]

Jonovic and Hickman stood out to me. Coach said Biliew is significantly improved but I didn't see it on the court. Which is a shame with that body.

Jonovic made several baskets in the lane, but it looked like he got winded a couple times and came out. His height and reach are an asset on defense.
As noted, Connor Hickman shot the ball very well, making several threes. And Duke shot the ball well, to. He is quick and made some nice passes, but also had a couple unforced turnovers. Darius Hannah, as I posted above, looks improved again this year. His defense was very good, and he made some nice offensive moves for baskets. I have heard he is shooting threes in practice, and making a good percentage. Leon was his usual reliable self on offense and defense. It looks like he has worked on creating shots on the move. I still think Jonovic will be the 5th starter, along with Hickman, Deen, Hannah, and Leons.
Pettigrew played well, and made the only three pointer I recall him taking. Ellis also looked good, though didn't look to score much. Thomas hustled, played good defense, and will help in the post. He made the only three he attempted. Davis is improved, his shot looks more confident, and he made a couple threes. The other guys, Biliew, Linke, and Atlason, did not look to score, but appeared to hustle on defense, and could see playing time.

The BU women look like they will play an uptempo style, too. They appear improved and more physical, but they still could use a couple more shooters.

[Da Coach]

On display at the scrimmage today-

The MVC regular season championship trophy-



And championship ring-

[houstonbrave]

I thought Meta looked pretty good and think he will probably get the fifth starting spot most nights-but agree he got winded and certainly won’t play 40 mins. I thought both Christian and Darius looked greatly improved. Emarion will get a fair number of mins and can defend but worry we won’t get a lot of points out of him. Almar can shoot- I really like his upside. If Hickman does not get on first or second all conference by year end I will be surprised. Sorry did not get to see Burch due to illness.

[Classof77]

Hickman's strength gains weren't limited to upper body. His dunks during warm ups looked effortless.

[Jim]

Demarion Burch is absent from the Red-White Showcase. No reason given.

Wardle said he has been sick for the last few days.

[yoda]

btw- there were a few more recruits that showed up - I think one kid from Milwaukee-area and a few others from in-state

Class of 2026, just a sophomore, 6-6 - https://twitter.com/EthanJoling/stat...15766744842328

https://twitter.com/WisBBYearbook/status/1715797431546249302

https://twitter.com/WisBBYearbook/status/1695878733612056862

[Da Coach]

Photos and video from today's scrimmage-

https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1715827931572740107

https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1715820254797222132

https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1715752090403008972

And from the women's scrimmage-

https://twitter.com/BradleyWBB/status/1715782116619784681

[BUfan14]

I’m not a fan of starting three posts or really even playing them at any time together, especially in the Valley. I thought when Leons played the three last year we didn’t look good.

I love the cursive jerseys from last year, but my one complaint is I don’t like light blue as an accent to red, it clashes too much to me. These jerseys, I assume not the actual game ones, lean in even more with the light blue accents. I don’t love the shoulder design, it looks like a practice jersey. I wish we would accent in black or an actual school color in gray.

I’m disappointed to hear Ellis is not a scorer yet. I would have liked one more consistent scorer to go with Hick and hopefully a Leons that looks to score more this year. Deen and Hannah can score at times, but I’m never going to look at them to be the most consistent scorers. And I don’t see any of the other guys being that yet this year (maybe someday a Burch or Atlason?). Good to hear Jonovic can contribute. Even early in the year I can’t imagine 11+ guys all getting a lot of playing time (a couple may get a couple of minutes), so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

[basketball nut]

Jonovic made several baskets in the lane, but it looked like he got winded a couple times and came out. His height and reach are an asset on defense.
As noted, Connor Hickman shot the ball very well, making several threes. And Duke shot the ball well, to. He is quick and made some nice passes, but also had a couple unforced turnovers. Darius Hannah, as I posted above, looks improved again this year. His defense was very good, and he made some nice offensive moves for baskets. I have heard he is shooting threes in practice, and making a good percentage. Leon was his usual reliable self on offense and defense. It looks like he has worked on creating shots on the move. I still think Jonovic will be the 5th starter, along with Hickman, Deen, Hannah, and Leons.
Pettigrew played well, and made the only three pointer I recall him taking. Ellis also looked good, though didn't look to score much. Thomas hustled, played good defense, and will help in the post. He made the only three he attempted. Davis is improved, his shot looks more confident, and he made a couple threes. The other guys, Biliew, Linke, and Atlason, did not look to score, but appeared to hustle on defense, and could see playing time.

The BU women look like they will play an uptempo style, too. They appear improved and more physical, but they still could use a couple more shooters.

Good assessment coach. My one disagreement would be Atlasan. I thought the speed of the game (we often mention that about foreign players when they first get here) showed at the beginning but he seemed to move better the longer the scrimmage. Had a couple open shots that he passed up and rushed a couple of shots. He made one or two 3's.
Hickman was very impressive. So much stronger then last season. I was impressed with how quick he got his shot off today. If he continues that during the season he will be a difference maker.
I thought Davis looked much improved from last season. Not near as stiff moving and guarded better.
Over all I see as much or more potential in this team then last seasons team.

[Da Coach]

Some great photos of the men's and women's Red-White Scrimmage by PJ Star photographer Matt Dayhoff-

https://www.pjstar.com/picture-gallery/sports/college/basketball/bradley-hoops/2023/10/21/bradley-basketball-on-display-in-red-white-scrimmage/71277618007/

I'm not seeing any PJ Star article about the event yet.

[basketball nut]

Some great photos of the men's and women's Red-White Scrimmage by PJ Star photographer Matt Dayhoff-

https://www.pjstar.com/picture-gallery/sports/college/basketball/bradley-hoops/2023/10/21/bradley-basketball-on-display-in-red-white-scrimmage/71277618007/

I'm not seeing any PJ Star article about the event yet.

They have a nice write up on line this morning.
Hickman new nickname "Baby Tank" and how much stronger he is this year.
Mentioned Atlasan as an MVC newcomer of the year candidate.

[Da Coach]

Here is the link to Dave Eminian's report on the Red-White Scrimmage- https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...a/71217017007/

The only negative I saw was a lot of turnovers. I'm sure that will get fixed by the regular season. That was because the scrimmage split up Bradley's two best ball handlers, Duke and Connor, and they played against each other. Plus, the tempo of the offense on both sides was increased from last season. The 91 points scored in just 20 minutes of scrimmaging was a result. The League average last year was a total of about 140 points in 40 minutes (or about 70 points per 20 minutes). We also have bigger, quicker guards and wings with longer reach like Emarion Ellis and Trey Pettigrew, to go along with Christian Davis and the big men, who will create more turnovers.

The last line of the article about Alamar:
Fans are going to like Atlason. The 6-foot-8 freshman can shoot, can defend bigger forwards, and looks very smooth and polished. Think MVC Newcomer of the Year candidate.

That's not likely with all the transfers in the league who have been very good players in other conferences, including a few 5th year seniors and double-digit scorers elsewhere in D1.
But Freshman of the Year could be a possibility.

[tomahawk chop]

I would not read much as far as Ellis not scoring much yesterday because Leons did not do much offensively also in that scrimmage. Jonivic definitely looked winded at times but is a force inside. I think the 5th starter spot ends up being Pettigrew, Davis or Ellises depending on matchups.I wish I could have seen Burch yesterday but hoping he gets better soon so we see him play in the exb. game.

[BUfan14]

Who else ran point when it wasn’t Hick or Deen? I’m curious where we’d go for some point minutes if one was out.

[Da Coach]

Who else ran point when it wasn’t Hick or Deen? I’m curious where we’d go for some point minutes if one was out.

Both Duke and Connor played about 19 of the 20 minutes in the scrimmage. In the final minute or so, Cade Hardtke and Sam Hennessy replaced them. I don't recall anyone else playing point guard.
In practices, Trey Pettigrew would be the next up to play PG.