Final score: Northern Iowa 74 Bradley 63

[tomahawk chop]

Thing is with the tour. coming up soon it is not getting the players ready to contribute in it by not playing them. I know Wardle is a tough coach but to me he has kind of lost it this season by his actions with the players when a mistake is made on the court. Our young guys are afraid of making a mistake and coming out of the game which in turn will hurt production. The top 8 players on the team that give us the best chance at winning are Deen, Hickman, Leons, Hannah, Davis, Burch, Atlason and Thomas. I remember way back when Hodgson was playing in front of Lundy which was hard to understand and now I see the same thing in playing Meta over Thomas. To me producing more in games then practice is more important.

[Bballjunkie]

If you as a coach are still trying to teach lessons 27 games into the season you have a major problem. Caitlin Clark had 12 turnovers the other night but the coach knows what she has with her in what she creates for her teammates. She made several poor turnovers early but righted the ship and did her thing which won the game. Players need to trust their coach but the coach also needs to trust his players to play through it and if you are working on the right things in practice the good will overcome the bad. That's how a player gains confidence and grows. I don't see that with bu right now. Thats what is frustrating

[Landof10thcoaches]

The lesson here is we can’t keep getting hit in the mouth early. Poor play by the team and coach first 15mins of the game. Duke and Conner have to get to the rim to free up space. They did that second half but it’s to late in the game to make the difference. Yes, they were hit pushed and reached in on. Time to use those guys on the bench for a nice pick up top to let those guys know you are going to pay for hitting our guys. Wardle talks about playing perfect but knows it’s not possible. We have to adjust faster in the game coaches aren’t doing it right now either. Hit the reset button and find what works because this isn’t it lately.

[Southside]

I taped the game and turned it off when Bradley got down 25-11.

I haven’t read any posts.

Let me see if I can guess what happened.

Bradley was down about 20 at the half. Made a furious come back and got back to within 5-6, then faded down the stretch and lost by 10.

Am I close?

[ManMythLegend]

I taped the game and turned it off when Bradley got down 25-11.

I haven’t read any posts.

Let me see if I can guess what happened.

Bradley was down about 20 at the half. Made a furious come back and got back to within 5-6, then faded down the stretch and lost by 10.

Am I close?

Pretty much dead on.

[tomahawk chop]

If you as a coach are still trying to teach lessons 27 games into the season you have a major problem. Caitlin Clark had 12 turnovers the other night but the coach knows what she has with her in what she creates for her teammates. She made several poor turnovers early but righted the ship and did her thing which won the game. Players need to trust their coach but the coach also needs to trust his players to play through it and if you are working on the right things in practice the good will overcome the bad. That's how a player gains confidence and grows. I don't see that with bu right now. Thats what is frustrating

Exactly, you have to let your guys play and realize they will make mistakes yet understand they will give you the best chance of winning.

[BUfan14]

Well here is my take..."how did that work out?"
Burch will at least get a couple of assists and 6-8 pts....Atlason will get you 4-6 pts, and IMO is not a center, more of a 4! Hardtke zero pts and a couple fouls plus he cannot guard anyone atheletic! Meta plays like he is 6'5 bringing every ball he gets down to his waist "down to be stripped " as Coach Stowell would say. Put Thomas in who is a center and can pass and get some rebounds! Also saw Burch get lost on an open 3 by UNI, Wardle called Time Out and came onto court hollering at Burch.....I knew he was done.

Ya, I find it really hard to believe the entire staff felt confident in Meta and Hardtke, but not Burch and Atlason. What have the first two done to show the moment wasn't too big for them and inspire confidence?

[BUBraves2006]

I've taken some time to mull over this one and here's where I've landed on it:

1. Have we not seen how Indiana State is gradually collapsing because they have possibly the shortest rotation in the league? We can't hang the starters on 35 minutes a game and expect that we won't end up in about 5th place and get bounced on day one of the tournament.
2. I am on record as being an ardent Wardle supporter and still am. Yet, this game in particular I didn't understand at all what he was doing. To a certain extent, I could see why he wasn't happy with Burch and why he'd bench him for awhile. But, to not play him again wasn't a great look and definitely didn't put us in the best place to win.
3. Even I'm starting to tire of the ridiculously quick hook after any mistake. These are still college kids and they are going to make mistakes, especially the freshman. If you want to try and keep them around in the long run, you've got to give them a little confidence that if they make one error, it won't come with an immediate hook every time.
4. I still believe in Coach and I will never tire of the fact that his teams play hard until the end. As bad as today was, I knew a run was coming and we'd get back into it. I can't say that about most teams and it's a bedrock of the program that I hope lasts for a really long time.
5. I could not stand the way the game was officiated today. This was not saying we got the better or worse half of the calls but just reminded me of the typical Valley games (more of the past) where everything was a foul. This works significantly against us, limiting our aggressiveness and making a shortened bench look even more worrisome. I'm not here to watch a FT contest with both teams in the double bonus with 7 min left.
6. Free Kyle Thomas. I don't know what else to say. Something is really strange when Linke is getting a few minutes instead of him.

[bigjimmy]

We have 4 games to get this figured out. Davis played a team high 37 minutes and only took 3 shots. Can't happen. The 5 guys off the bench were a combined 0-4. Can't happen. Only getting 6 assists on 19 made field goals. Can't happen. One of your main ball handlers had 5 turnovers. Can't happen. What needs to happen on Wednesday? Need to hit the Bears literally in the mouth from the opening tip and take care of business.

[BUfan17]

I've taken some time to mull over this one and here's where I've landed on it:

1. Have we not seen how Indiana State is gradually collapsing because they have possibly the shortest rotation in the league? We can't hang the starters on 35 minutes a game and expect that we won't end up in about 5th place and get bounced on day one of the tournament.
2. I am on record as being an ardent Wardle supporter and still am. Yet, this game in particular I didn't understand at all what he was doing. To a certain extent, I could see why he wasn't happy with Burch and why he'd bench him for awhile. But, to not play him again wasn't a great look and definitely didn't put us in the best place to win.
3. Even I'm starting to tire of the ridiculously quick hook after any mistake. These are still college kids and they are going to make mistakes, especially the freshman. If you want to try and keep them around in the long run, you've got to give them a little confidence that if they make one error, it won't come with an immediate hook every time.
4. I still believe in Coach and I will never tire of the fact that his teams play hard until the end. As bad as today was, I knew a run was coming and we'd get back into it. I can't say that about most teams and it's a bedrock of the program that I hope lasts for a really long time.
5. I could not stand the way the game was officiated today. This was not saying we got the better or worse half of the calls but just reminded me of the typical Valley games (more of the past) where everything was a foul. This works significantly against us, limiting our aggressiveness and making a shortened bench look even more worrisome. I'm not here to watch a FT contest with both teams in the double bonus with 7 min left.
6. Free Kyle Thomas. I don't know what else to say. Something is really strange when Linke is getting a few minutes instead of him.

I agree with everything you said. It seems like Wardle is his own worst enemy at times. At this point in the season he isn't "teaching" anyone a lesson by sitting them. You need to let your best players play in order to win. Tactics like this probably aren't going to do too well in the transfer portal era.

Jonovic was terrible today and for Linke to get minutes over Thomas is ridiculous (no offense to Linke).

[bradleyfan124]

I agree with everything you said. It seems like Wardle is his own worst enemy at times. At this point in the season he isn't "teaching" anyone a lesson by sitting them. You need to let your best players play in order to win. Tactics like this probably aren't going to do too well in the transfer portal era.

Jonovic was terrible today and for Linke to get minutes over Thomas is ridiculous (no offense to Linke).

Linke is not the person to put in to be physical

[tomahawk chop]

Ya, I find it really hard to believe the entire staff felt confident in Meta and Hardtke, but not Burch and Atlason. What have the first two done to show the moment wasn't too big for them and inspire confidence?

That whole statement makes no sense, I seriously doubt all those people were asked who should be playing and who they can trust. Coach is really good at X"S and O"S but to me he is having trouble now as far as which players need to be on the floor. He just seems to be coaching angry now instead of being calm and allowing his players a little freedom on the court. Too many highs and lows and nothing in the middle. The thing to remember is if your leader panics the rest will follow his lead.

[Dubl R 1]

The Bench has to be better for sure, no question about it, but man, the starters have to quit digging a 10 point plus hole for the bench to dig out from. The bench when they come in and even slightly underperform the lead grows by a few points and all of a sudden we are down by 20. The starters have to do a better job of setting the tone at the beginning of games.

This game again another example of bewildering inconsistency from the refs...they called the 2nd half completely differently than the 1st half. BU couldn't buy a foul in that first half, then in the 2nd the refs finally starting calling N Iowa for all the grabbing and holding they were doing.

[tomahawk chop]

The Bench has to be better for sure, no question about it, but man, the starters have to quit digging a 10 point plus hole for the bench to dig out from. The bench when they come in and even slightly underperform the lead grows by a few points and all of a sudden we are down by 20. The starters have to do a better job of setting the tone at the beginning of games.

This game again another example of bewildering inconsistency from the refs...they called the 2nd half completely differently than the 1st half. BU couldn't buy a foul in that first half, then in the 2nd the refs finally starting calling N Iowa for all the grabbing and holding they were doing.

He also needs to let the starters play at least together for the first 6 to 8 minutes of the game without subbing so soon unless we get into foul trouble. It is very hard to get into any flow when you do not get enough time to even break out a sweat.

[patrick_o'brian]

Whether we agree or not, here was Coach Wardle's explanation for not playing his bench more - https://twitter.com/nosam_klemm/stat...31575240523878

Yeah, I heard the reasoning in his post game comments on the radio. While I am so happy he’s our coach, I wholeheartedly disagree with his assessment, but he’s the coach and I am just a fan. Not only his assessment but the assessment of all the people he mentioned contributed to that assessment. That was a long list of people that were really off on their evaluation. So I do have to respect his decision, but do not agree with it.