Final score: Bradley 86 Tarleton State 63

[Da Coach]

Bradley (2-0) plays the Tarleton State Texans (2-1) as a campus game in the SoCal Challenge on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 7pm at Carver Arena.
The game is streamed on ESPN+ - https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/...6-a6782f2436aa
Live stats- https://bradleybraves.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media or https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broa...1&vislive=tarl
Audio- https://bradleybraves.com/watch/?Live=71&type=Archive
Bradleyfans chat room- https://us28.chatzy.com/bradleyfans

Tarleton State, located in Stephenville, Texas, is in their 4th season of Division I and a member of the Western Athletic Conference. They were a highly successful D2 program for many years prior to becoming Division I in 2020. They finished last year 17-17 overall, and 8-9 in the WAC. They played in the 2023 CBI tournament and lost their first round game to Radford 72-70 in overtime.
They are off to a 2-1 start this season with a 50-80 opening road loss at Virginia, a road win at Florida International of the CUSA (82-65), and a blowout home win over NAIA University of North Texas at Dallas (93-52). Bradley and Tarleton have never played each other. Both teams were in the 2022 Paradise Jam, but they did not play each other. Bradley finished 8th, losing all 3 games, and Tarleton advanced to the championship game, but was defeated by Drake.
Tarleton historical record- https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...ton-state/men/

They are coached by former Kentucky head coach Billy Gillispie, who has always been known as a good coach and an "elite recruiter".
Gillispie stresses defense, and he often employs pressure defense, especially on the opposing point guard to try to force other players to handle the ball, which he believes creates more turnovers. He plays almost exclusively a man-to-man defense.
He recruits junior colleges aggressively, and the roster includes 10 juco transfers.
Their top 4 scorers include 3 junior college transfers and a transfer from an NAIA school.
Here is a good column about Billy Gillispie by an ESPN writer- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...illy-gillispie

Schedule/results- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/me...hedule/2023-24
Roster- https://tarletonsports.com/sports/me...ketball/roster
Stats after 3 games- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...3/pdf/cume.pdf

Bradley stats- https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/s...3/pdf/cume.pdf

[houstonbrave]

Don’t sleep on this one. It will be a challenge. They play defense and are fast and quick. Our guards better be ready to play. Ellis and Burch need to be ready to go. I don’t see this as a game that fits Meta very well.

[BengalFan]

I watched them play FIU the other night. They aren’t big but they’re quick and athletic. They will try to speed us up. In a half-court game they don’t stand a chance. We will need a bunch of guys ready to handle the ball.

[tomahawk chop]

Anyone know why the WMBD pregame is no longer an hour? Going to the game they have the Dave Ramsey show on at 6 so I guess it has been shortened to a half hour.

[Da Coach]

Anyone know why the WMBD pregame is no longer an hour? Going to the game they have the Dave Ramsey show on at 6 so I guess it has been shortened to a half hour.

I haven't listened to it since it starts later. Is Dan Diorio doing any of the pregame show this season?
He always put a lot of work into the shows in past years, and he has been recovering from a serious illness.

[tomahawk chop]

I haven't listened to it since it starts later. Is Dan Diorio doing any of the pregame show this season?
He always put a lot of work into the shows in past years, and he has been recovering from a serious illness.

I have not heard him yet which is why i think he is no longer doing the pregame. He was not on before the UAB game.

[JMM28]

They killed Braves Plus.

[LittleBrave]

Another good test for us. No disrespect of Coach Les and he had a good run as the Braves HC, but this is the kind of home game early in the season we may have lost during his era. And UNDOUBTEDLY during the Geno flop years.
BW has taken care of "bidness" at home the last 2 seasons and for most of his BU tenure, and we've made our home floor a big advantage lately.

Go BU!

[Da Coach]

Another good test for us. No disrespect of Coach Les and he had a good run as the Braves HC, but this is the kind of home game early in the season we may have lost during his era. And UNDOUBTEDLY during the Geno flop years.
BW has taken care of "bidness" at home the last 2 seasons and for most of his BU tenure, and we've made our home floor a big advantage lately.

Go BU!

LB, it seems that way since Coach Wardle has had great success these last two years, and 3 out of the last 4. And we all hope to see it continue.
But Jim Les also did extremely well winning home games. He never had a losing season at home.
Home record can be a function of scheduling, but Les didn't shy away from playing good teams, and he had teams like Wichita State and Creighton every year at home, and no Valparaiso.
I looked up the stats (see below), and Jim Les' home winning percentage (9 seasons) was a little better than Coach Wardle's to this point (8 seasons).
Even if Coach Wardle has another great season like the last 2 and they both have 9 seasons to compare, his winning percentage would be close, but would still not exceed Jim Les' 9 seasons.
Of course, Wardle's record would be better if the first 2 seasons were dropped out. But then, Les' would be better if we dropped his first and last seasons.

Home record of the last 3 coaches-
Jim Les
2002-03- 7-7
2003-04-11-4
2004-05- 12-3
2005-06- 13-1
2006-07- 14-3
2007-08- 13-6
2008-09- 14-4
2009-10- 10-5
2010-11- 8-8
9 seasons- 102-41 (0.713 winning pct)

Geno Ford
2011-12- 6-10
2012-13- 14-4
2013-14- 11-6
2014-15- 7-9
4 seasons- 38-29 (0.567 winning pct)

Brian Wardle
2015-16- 4-11
2016-17- 8-7
2017-18- 13-2
2018-19- 10-6
2019-20- 15-2
2020-21- 8-6
2021-22- 12-2
2022-23- 15-2
8 seasons- 85-38 (0.691 winning pct)

[Crusenswings]

Braves opened as a 10.5 pt favorite, but the line has moved to 9.5 currently

[LittleBrave]

DC - not saying that Les did a bad job with the Braves at home - he did very well as you pointed out.
It's just I recall that early in the season vs non-conf opponents that we should have beaten, we lost in a few head-scratchers and didn't look too convincing in some that we were favored by a lot. During the conf. season, I don't think it's a fair comparison as Les's teams had tougher opponents than the last few seasons under Wardle, so I can't scrutinize Les much there.

I know you were a big Les fan and honestly I like Wardle better, though there were a couple times I almost gave up hope with him - in particular when we started the Valley season 0-5, but turned things around and went on to win Arch Madness. I think things have been pretty good since then with the exception of the Covid season disaster.

[LittleBrave]

I'm hopeful that Ellis and Burch can see some minutes tonight. It will be worrisome if they don't, as this newcomer class is not looking as shiny as it did a couple months ago.

I didn't think we'd be as strong as last season with losing Mast, Monty, and J-Shon, but thought our depth would sustain. It's looking like a key injury may be devastating to another run at the championship.

[bradleyfan124]

I'm hopeful that Ellis and Burch can see some minutes tonight. It will be worrisome if they don't, as this newcomer class is not looking as shiny as it did a couple months ago.

I didn't think we'd be as strong as last season with losing Mast, Monty, and J-Shon, but thought our depth would sustain. It's looking like a key injury may be devastating to another run at the championship.

Be patient!!

[tomahawk chop]

I'm hopeful that Ellis and Burch can see some minutes tonight. It will be worrisome if they don't, as this newcomer class is not looking as shiny as it did a couple months ago.

I didn't think we'd be as strong as last season with losing Mast, Monty, and J-Shon, but thought our depth would sustain. It's looking like a key injury may be devastating to another run at the championship.

We definitely need a few more players contributing more and the sooner that happens the better. Our guards cannot continue to play too many minutes this early in the season. I am still waiting to see Thomas in action. He has the size and agility I think to help this team.

[BRAVE82]

DC - not saying that Les did a bad job with the Braves at home - he did very well as you pointed out.
It's just I recall that early in the season vs non-conf opponents that we should have beaten, we lost in a few head-scratchers and didn't look too convincing in some that we were favored by a lot. During the conf. season, I don't think it's a fair comparison as Les's teams had tougher opponents than the last few seasons under Wardle, so I can't scrutinize Les much there.

I know you were a big Les fan and honestly I like Wardle better, though there were a couple times I almost gave up hope with him - in particular when we started the Valley season 0-5, but turned things around and went on to win Arch Madness. I think things have been pretty good since then with the exception of the Covid season disaster.

Les didn't inherit the disaster and rebuild that Wardle did. Wardle started from scratch for sure.