Final score- Akron 67 Bradley 52

[BUfan14]

Got to have guards to win in D-1 college basketball. Just like last year, the biggest weakness is guard play. Bad passing, bad turnovers, bad shooting, bad FT shooting, no depth at guard (Davis & Burch combined go 2-13), can't shoot 3 pt shots...It is going to be a looooong season.

I just don’t understand how Brian and staff did so poorly with guards knowing full well, even with Zek back, it was a huge need all last year. We didn’t land any true point guards knowing Deen was our only true point guard as is. It’s baffling to me how obvious the problems and needs were and how poorly we addressed them. And we had a full year knowing it was a huge need.

Even in a world where Pettigrew and Ellis worked out, neither are shooters nor true point guards, our biggest needs.

Also, If you’re going to go post heavy, at least have strong guys that can make inside movies as our lone advantage. This team isn’t very strong in the post outside of Jonovic and he’s extremely limited athletically.

[Dubl R 1]

I don’t know where to begin…. Or end. And I don’t have anything good to say about the middle.

[BUfan14]

My observations tonight and generally:

1. As I’ve said all year, if any starting guard is out it will be a struggle.

2. Turnovers, free throws, and sloppy play shouldn’t still be this bad. I think it’s safe to say free throws are a problem with this team and it’s not a small sample. Even guys like Hickman and Leons can’t hit them. It’s bizarre, but it’s a trend for two years on decent overall shooting teams, so Brian has to figure out why. Why we always cross court pass it right to the other team at half court is beyond me too. I’ve never seen a team do that this often.

3. I’m not sure what our strength or identity is right now.

4. I just don’t know what the ceiling is on a team with this poor of depth. I was fooled a few games, and I’m sure it’s not that good or this bad. But we feel pretty mediocre and even that’s disappointing.

5. Atlason and Burch will be good players I still maintain, but they are experiencing growing pains.

6. Hannah and Leons are a nice post combo, but when Malevy struggles I don’t know where we turn. As was discussed last year, it’s hard to see a true go to guy unless it’s Mal. But it’d be nice to have a guard be able to do it too.

7. Davis has been a bit off himself, but I still like his game.

8. Deen would be such a nice 6th man/spark plug guy, but we didn’t bring anybody in to challenge him at PG.

9. I’m still curious what Meta’s ceiling is. Can someone overcome his lack of athleticism, even at that height, to be more than a depth guy? Where is Kyle Thomas? Is he really that bad? Shoot, people said Biliew improved so much this offseason, try him.

Like I said, probably not as bad as we are right now or as good as we started. But mediocre just doesn’t feel good either. The top 7 guys still have talent. I’m hoping top four in the Valley still.

[Stryker]

I just don’t understand how Brian and staff did so poorly with guards knowing full well, even with Zek back, it was a huge need all last year. We didn’t land any true point guards knowing Deen was our only true point guard as is. It’s baffling to me how obvious the problems and needs were and how poorly we addressed them. And we had a full year knowing it was a huge need.

Even in a world where Pettigrew and Ellis worked out, neither are shooters nor true point guards, our biggest needs.

Also, If you’re going to go post heavy, at least have strong guys that can make inside movies as our lone advantage. This team isn’t very strong in the post outside of Jonovic and he’s extremely limited athletically.

Yep. Hickman is good except from the line, and Duke has a severe limitation in his game he can't really change or overcome (size). For this team to be good those two have to be good/great every game.

[BengalFan]

Yep. Hickman is good except from the line, and Duke has a severe limitation in his game he can't really change or overcome (size). For this team to be good those two have to be good/great every game.

[BengalFan]

Yep. Hickman is good except from the line, and Duke has a severe limitation in his game he can't really change or overcome (size). For this team to be good those two have to be good/great every game.

I really don’t think we want our tiny PG to be the leading scorer. Or do we?

[Bradley3342]

All I can say is another disappointing loss that we should have won. How can you start 6-0 and start receiving votes in the national rankings and basically not show up for these last 3 games with the exception of the 2nd half of the Indiana State game. Better start figuring things out before it’s to late…

[BUBraves2006]

Game Nine

Overall thoughts: While stylistically different than last game, the first half was a way better effort defensively, even with just the eye test. The second half was about as big of a collapse as I can remember in many years. The puzzling thing about this group is that with a few exceptions, it seems like they are regressing almost across the board. This is the complete opposite of most of the recent good teams which too awhile to gel and then took off in conference play. It felt like this time around there was immediate chemistry. The only troubling aspect was that even in the wins, there were big stretches where we didn't play that well and needed a lot of resiliency to win.

Akron was by far the worst team we've lost to so far. They had one really good player and just a bunch of guys. And even he (Freeman) committed a ton of turnovers. We can say they were picked to win their league but this was the first game that really felt totally squandered, as opposed to the games where both Murray State and Indiana State played very well. They couldn't hit free throws either and had a ton of turnovers - definitely a game you should win.

This still doesn't feel like a time to overreact yet - the first six wins were not a fluke. Maybe we are finding out that our margin for error is smaller than anticipated, though. While I might have graded out Hickman harder than others at times, the reality is that other than his free throw shooting, he's arguably been our best player this year. You take your 1A or 1B off the team, and you're going to struggle to win.

Grades:

Deen - B+ - He was our best player tonight and really got hot for a stretch to keep us going when nobody else seemed to contribute. It's unfortunate that while he did have a good game, the key play that sticks out was when he had a wide open three to give us a six point lead in the second half and missed it. We basically didn't score for ages after that possession.

Hannah - B - When he was making an impact on the game, he was noticeable and in a good way. The stats sheet shows a lot of contributions but he like many went invisible when we really needed points. He wasn't the worst offender by far but could still have done even more.

Leons - D - I can't recall a worse game in the last two years by Malevy, maybe in his entire career. He got to eight points only by sheer volume. His shot was off, he wasn't assertive and he's really got issues at the FT line again. To cap it all off, he made some of the worst passes I've seen him make - just lazy and out of character for him. One tidbit with him that I wonder if it affects him at times is how he's constantly changing who he's guarding on defense. I wonder if that tires him out having to always be switching up his styles from guarding the point one possession to then having to guard their big man the next. Can we not roll out anyone else to clog the middle so he can play his more natural position (3/4)?

Ellis - C - He's often so difficult to grade because he's not as much of a stat sheet stuffer. I like seeing his quickness both offensively and defensively. He did fine in an expanded role, but he's just not that much of a scorer yet and makes a lot of mistakes when he has the ball. He could have had quite a few more than just three turnovers.

Jonovic - C - He didn't play all that much but he really didn't contribute much either. I'm a little puzzled by this one because their big man was almost exclusively playing down low and it seemed like this could have been a good matchup. One area I'd like to see him improve on is his passing and vision. When he gets a post touch, you pretty much know he's going up with it. He has some good low post moves but he needs to be able to pass out of it more.

Atlason - B - He's still slow on defense but I'm seeing signs of improvement. He had one really bad patch where he turned it over and then went down to the other end and had a weak foul that turned into a 3-point play. He's getting more confident in driving to the basket when people jump him for a three pointer, which is a great sign. But he's too soft of a finisher yet to really make a huge scoring splash unless he gets a lot of open 3s.

Davis - C- - Still seems to be regressing each game, making less of a contribution on both ends. He couldn't shoot, like others, tonight and just didn't seem to bring his usual energy.

Burch - D - He's still going to be a really good player but boy did he look like a freshman tonight. He couldn't shoot inside or out and he's the guard equivalent of Meta most of the time right now - if he gets the ball and starts dribbling, he's probably shooting. But, he took too many difficult shots and got himself into trouble with his drives to the basket. He had one time where he picked his head up and had a great assist to Hannah. He's got to get more under control and use that explosiveness to his advantage.

Coaching - D - I'm admittedly a big Wardle fan most of the time and generally will lean on the players when I look to reasons for a loss but he needs to take some of the blame now. I can't accept the excuse that we just weren't ready, weren't talking, didn't have the energy, etc. It's pretty damming in the post game if you say, "I saw it (the collapse) coming." If you see it coming, there has to be a way to change the momentum. Try out the zone defense? That always seems to work in spurts but it didn't seem like we tried that at all. Now is the time to figure out if you have any other contributors off the bench. You had all your big men in foul trouble and couldn't give Thomas/Linke/Gonnar, etc. a look? Maybe he sees them in practice and just figures they can't play. But, if that's the case, it looks poor on your recruiting if some of these guys can't even crack the lineup when you're shorthanded.

6-3 - there will be better days.

[bigjimmy]

Who are we? A team who started 6-0 by playing great team defense and moving the ball with a purpose on offense or the team who has lost their last 3 games by not doing basic things like boxing out, being smart with the ball and guarding the 3. They got 10 days until the Cleveland State game to figure out who they want to be.

[patrick_o'brian]

Who are we? A team who started 6-0 by playing great team defense and moving the ball with a purpose on offense or the team who has lost their last 3 games by not doing basic things like boxing out, being smart with the ball and guarding the 3. They got 10 days until the Cleveland State game to figure out who they want to be.

I think we are what they said we were. The #3 team in the Valley. And I’m not sure we’re even meeting those expectations now. Not having Hick hurt last night for sure, but as mentioned above Drake beat these guys by 20 ( yes on a neutral court, but it was a 20 point win) and Utah St. beat them by 2.

Free throws did hurt us but that was only -7. The lack of effort on the boards was the dagger at -18 2nd chance points. If your backcourt is weak, like someone said, pound the post and then maybe open up the perimeter for Atlasson and Davis. Someone said Atlasson was finishing weak at the rim. Boy, he sure surprised me on those driving dunks. Didn’t look weak to me.

What we always do well on defense we are not doing. The law of verticality, defending the basket vertically with arms up and staying within our cylinder. The arms are arching forward attracting more fouls. It’s more of an “art” than a “law”, we have had it mastered but we’re getting lazy and not staying within our cylinder which is leading to some crushing “and ones”.

I was chugging the Koolaid with those first 6 wins. However, in hindsight, a couple bounces the other way and we start 3-3 instead of 6-0. The 0-2 start in the MVC is hard to swallow. It leaves little room for error once the conference season is in full swing. Hopefully we can end the non-con with some wins to get that swagger back and go into the conference season with some confidence. If not, we aren’t a Top 3 contender like they said we were. Go Braves!

[Fan since 88]

My nephew from Indy visited last weekend, so I brought him to Saturday’s game. His observation was we do not seem to have an on court leader. I had to agree with him and found that to be an interesting thought. Seems like we could use some of that. I’m interested in the thoughts of our fans on the board.

[Da Coach]

I am not sure I agree. Duke and Connor are both vocal leaders on and off the court, and although Malevy is a quiet person, he leads by example with his dedication and work ethic.

The early schedule has been more difficult, which accounts for a major part of the struggles the last week. But I see the problems to be a lack of depth at the guard spot, inconsistent shot-making ability, a drop-off in inside scoring (points in the paint) and defense, and a drop in rebounding.

Here is a simplified sortable stats page for the 2023-24 MVC teams- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...oints/dir/desc

Click on each stat heading, and see where Bradley ranks. In every statistical category, Bradley ranks in the bottom half of the league

Here is last seasons (2022-23) sortable stats page- https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...sMade/dir/desc

Do the same with last year's stats, and you'll see that Bradley ranked in the upper half of every stat except free throw percentage.

Bradley's raw numbers in each stat category are not that much different than last year's, but most teams in the league have gotten better, while Bradley has dropped off a little.
We miss Rienk, Zek, and Ville, and the portal transfers and freshmen are not making up for what we lost.

[Classof77]

The last sentence from Coach nails it. I would add JaShon to the list. We have height, we have length, we have athleticism. We don't have beef or strength inside.

[bradleyfan124]

A couple positives from the game last night. First Atlason is getting better. He still needs to keep working on his defense but he seems to be doing that, He is not afraid to rough it up. He is driving better. Someone on here said at one time he needs to quit driving to the basket. NO. He needs to be able to drive to the basket .A good outside shooter is hard to defender knows he can drive around them. Now the negative that is a positive. I cant help but think Connor Hickman would have made a difference in the game both offensively and defensively. It will be good to get him back

[Tommy]

My nephew from Indy visited last weekend, so I brought him to Saturday’s game. His observation was we do not seem to have an on court leader. I had to agree with him and found that to be an interesting thought. Seems like we could use some of that. I’m interested in the thoughts of our fans on the board.

That would be Hickman, and I don't think our depth at guard is good enough to win with him out right now. Only having 3 guards doesn't give you much room for playing matchups and you're asking for a ton of minutes from those guys. Maybe later in the year when Ellis has gotten more comfortable with the system and gotten his shot going, but right now without Hick, we are going to have a hard time getting a win in my opinion.