Thoughts on tomorrow's game

[Tomahawk]

No doubt this will be a rough game for our Braves. Indiana St. opens as a 4 pt. favorite. To be expected though. If Braves can continue doing what they have been doing in this streak of games, should be interesting. Play good defense, rebound, and hit good percentage of shots. I have never posted a prediction, but in my gut I feel somehow someway Bradley stands a good chance. Here it goes. 75-71 Bradley. Might be wishful thinking, but just have a feeling about this game. "Go Braves"

[The Old Guy]

I agree completely. This is not the same team that played Indiana State earlier this year. Defense is better, Bradley is playing better team basketball, and the offense is better. I think we can win this game.

[Tomahawk]

If anyone would rather be around a raucous crowd while watching the game, then go to Crusen's on War Memorial for the game. Will be there with a group to watch.

[bradleyfan124]

Bradley can beat Indiana State

[Dub]

I don't have a result prediction. Bradley can beat ISU with the right prep and execution. ISU is GIVING away thousands of tickets and are well aware of the national coverage, so the crowd will be very big, hostile and will make it tough. Likely a sellout or close. I expect our guys to play without fear. It will be important to get off to a competitive start and keep the crowd at bay.

As we saw at SIU, anything can happen with this Bradley team. I can see Bradley going in and getting this done on Saturday. In the event they fall short, it will fuel the fire... there's a ton of season left where we will control our own destiny. Been a very fun year so far.

[Da Coach]

I don't have a result prediction. Bradley can beat ISU with the right prep and execution. ISU is GIVING away thousands of tickets and are well aware of the national coverage, so the crowd will be very big, hostile and will make it tough. Likely a sellout or close....

I just checked the Indiana State website and Ticketmaster, and both show the game is "Sold Out" with no tickets available.
Indiana State's Hulman Arena seats over 9,000, and according to their stats page, they average 4,469 fans per home game. There might still be some unsold tickets, but their athletic department wants it to be a sellout, so they have removed the tickets from sale on Ticketmaster, and as was noted, there are several promotions going on where tickets are being given away free to boost attendance.
Yesterday (Thursday), the local Culvers restaurant in Terre Haute had a promotion and gave away 2,000 free tickets to the game. They were gone so quickly, they obtained another 1,000 more and gave them away.- https://www.tribstar.com/news/local_...899beaeec.html (may need to open in Private Window, and click the "stop load- X button" to keep from encountering a paywall)
Another article (free)- https://www.mywabashvalley.com/news/...-this-weekend/
Several other merchants are also giving away free tickets- https://twitter.com/CoachSchertzISU/...67543859781922
Plus, they are giving away 1,000 "baby blue replica jerseys presented by Pepsi", and "3,000 goggles" for “be like a Robby Day”, and they have a halftime act "Pacer’s Power Pack" which they are promoting. So by game time it will be a loud, full-capacity crowd, probably for the first time in many years.

[Tommy]

First time we played them, we shot horribly in the first half and Hickman went down injured, so there is no reason we can't beat ISU blue if we can figure out a way to keep Avila from getting easy points in the lane. This is all assuming we shoot like we have been during the latest stretch.

I expect to see a rotation of Jonovich and Thomas on Avila and doubling down on him every time he gets the ball in the lane, though I think BW tried to have Hannah defend him some last game, didn't he (I don't think he's big enough to defend Avila well, personally). We just need to make sure we don't leave Swope open and make the rest of the team beat us, as they get very little production out of their bench.

A good team effort can get the job done against a very talented Sycamore team and let's hope the refs aren't quite as involved in the game as they were in our first meeting.

[Bballjunkie]

I agree they have no bench. we have to do a good job of handling their runs. We can't play defense in spurts against this team. When we out rebound the other team we usually win. Conwell is also a threat but agree we can't let swope or avilia dominate. The longer we can stay close I like our chances. Go braves

[BUfan17]

Really need to contain Swope and need to have a big body on Avilia. I liked what I saw from Thomas recently, put him or Jonovic on Avalia and don't let him get any easy points inside.

We need a big game from either Deen or Hickman (or preferably both) if we are going to win. It is a winnable game, but it is going to be a hostile atmosphere.

[Bacci'sAftertheGym]

I'm reviewing the play-by-play on ESPN.com and remembering just how winnable our previous matchup was.
ISUb went on a 20-6 run in the final 7 minutes of the 1st half.
Down by 19 at halftime, we outscored them 47-36 in the 2nd half.
That's just too big of a deficit to come back from against anyone (recent historic comebacks excluded). We've got to set ourselves up for success better. There's no reason we can't stop a run like that with the smart veterans we have on the team.

Missing Hickman in the final 10 minutes, we had it within 7 points with 5 minutes to go.
Bradley misses a defensive switch on Avila for a top of the key wide open 3? Bang. Dagger.
Then we fight it back to within 7 with 3 minutes to go.
In the final 3 minutes Bradley made several key plays to give themselves a chance. Clutch steals, rebounds, and good open shots. They just didn't fall. (Duke's shooting slump, which he's since clawed out of). Then we had to start fouling to stop clock.
It was a MUCH closer game than ESPN's "win probability" chart suggests.

And we all know BW has a chip on his shoulder based on his post-game comments after Wednesday's game...saying "It's a game we just can't win. Nobody seems to think we can win". I trust he'll have our boys in the ZONE.
When a healthy Bradley team plays a full 40 minutes of ball, and when we have our head on a swivel for defensive closeouts+helpside rotations...Bradley is the better team in any gym.

I got Bradley by a million on Saturday.

[tomahawk chop]

First time we played them, we shot horribly in the first half and Hickman went down injured, so there is no reason we can't beat ISU blue if we can figure out a way to keep Avila from getting easy points in the lane. This is all assuming we shoot like we have been during the latest stretch.

I expect to see a rotation of Jonovich and Thomas on Avila and doubling down on him every time he gets the ball in the lane, though I think BW tried to have Hannah defend him some last game, didn't he (I don't think he's big enough to defend Avila well, personally). We just need to make sure we don't leave Swope open and make the rest of the team beat us, as they get very little production out of their bench.

A good team effort can get the job done against a very talented Sycamore team and let's hope the refs aren't quite as involved in the game as they were in our first meeting.

Jonovic cannot guard Avila because Meta is not capable of guarding a 3 point shooter plus a center that is mobile. I expect Leons, Hannah and Thomas to guard him at different times in the game.Their 3 point shooting and ours could be the difference in who wins this game. We need to be the more physical team.