Final score: Drake 64 Bradley 57

[BUfan14]

I mean when we are debating Meta vs Linke as though one of those two players would make a major difference, the problem is really how we handled recruiting the last two rides for this team as I’ve said multiple times. Meta cannot create his own shot in the post and he doesn’t rebound well. So his points come from setting good screens (I do think he’s our best screener) and then getting wide open on rolls to the hoop. He is better at converting those this year, but do we really think that would make a huge difference? I’m not saying don’t try him in a game like this, but when we are looking at these two as solutions - the real problem is Bradley doesn’t have a true five man answer.

I’ve also been saying most of this year Hannah needs to play the 5 more for us, even if he wants to be a 4 man now. He is not a great ball handler on the perimeter and he has good post moves even for a skinnier guy. Thomas also is on the perimeter too much, and he also is not a great ball handler on the perimeter (this creates a lot of turnovers from both). Both seem to want to shoot threes more than make post moves too. Hannah has no doubt improved as a shooter, but we still need him in the post. I almost wonder if our best lineup right now isn’t:

1- Deen
2 - Burch
3 - Zek
4 - Davis
5 - Hannah

If we don’t have true effective posts, why not lean into small ball (really this lineup isn’t that small for a Valley team anyway) and play fully into our strengths. We just haven’t found anything consistent beyond our main four guys yet, and Atlason’s lack of development thus far has really hurt us. Again, this team still has the potential to be good, but basically we are the same level of team as last year, no better, just easier schedule so far. One of these years I want to take that next step and have a Drake like season where people talk about us truly being in the bubble and or getting top 25 votes (albeit not for very long).

[bigjimmy]

With all of the angst and hand wringing going on, with pretty good reason, guess what? We are still in first place. Yes we did not play very well in the last 30 minutes. We, along with the refs, allowed Drake to take it to us physically and we just didn't respond very well. Brian was obviously disappointed with the effort and I'm sure that that was addressed after the game. Let's see how we respond on Saturday.

[Tommy]

With all of the angst and hand wringing going on, with pretty good reason, guess what? We are still in first place. Yes we did not play very well in the last 30 minutes. We, along with the refs, allowed Drake to take it to us physically and we just didn't respond very well. Brian was obviously disappointed with the effort and I'm sure that that was addressed after the game. Let's see how we respond on Saturday.

Thank you, Jimmy.

We go through something like this every year, but come tournament time, BW always seems to have us ready. The way we implode in these nationally televised games has almost become a trend, but in the end, the goal is always to win the MVC tournament and get an NCAA bid. If I'm a betting man, I'd guess that this team will be playing it's best ball by then.

If we don't bounce back and play MUCH better against UIC on Saturday, we might have a problem. Hopefully this game served as a wake up call for the team. They honestly all looked like they were sick or disinterested or both last night.

[Bradley8792]

They honestly all looked like they were sick or disinterested or both last night.

Good point, especially Duke. I honestly thought he looked like he was exhausted. Aside from the missed goal tending call, in which case he jumped high enough he probably could have dunked.

[Dubl R 1]

Ok my turn/take/rant............

Specifically, Vs Drake

1. We ABSOLUTELY let them impose their will, did not match their intensity or physicality AT ALL....very disappointing
2. Strategy wise.......Zone, Zone, Zone.....we saw it early then just abandoned until late in the game. No need to chase them for 25 seconds just for the man to man to breakdown in the final 5 seconds....sit in the zone and let them stand there. I would zone them EVERY possession, but when we do zone, we treat every player equal which we should not be doing..we get overextended, and either give up a back door layup (against the zone no less) or let the wrong guy shoot. There are at least 2 guys on the floor for Drake at all times that I would absolutely let/invite shoot the ball from beyond 16 feet, whether its a 2 or a 3...but even when we are in zone we jump at these players and close out on them like they are Larry Bird and they get by the first line of defense on the zone and we breakdown or foul.. The point of the zone is to make them shoot from the outside...not to run at them like they are shooters...or you wouldnt be in the zone if they were. Again last night Mascari hit 4 3's....nobody else made any....LET THEM SHOOT....they are not good from there and they know it...they don't want to play that way.....we should make them beat us doing what they don't want to do.
3. We did a great job the first 10 minutes of taking their pick and roll away...then after their 2nd timeout, instead of the picker rolling down the middle they started rolling to the back side of the play....Drake would make a pass of the screen to the wing, we would shift, then they would lob the pass over the top to the back roller, or make a sharp cross court pass to him as he was left unguarded on that back side roll....they must have run that 10 times before we picked it up....then when we did cover it...it was usually banks that would then have a smaller guy on him and they smartly would reverse the ball, have him seal that defender and a simple hi low pass for a layup.....They made adjustments all game to keep getting to the basket off of motion....need to play zone against them with specific shading to make certain guys shoot and take that motion away...if they beat us from 3 (something they havn't done or want to do all season, then so be it)...just don't let them beat you doing what they want.
4. Offensively.....Hannah was 5-7 from the floor....he should have 15 shots or better...just walk to the post turn around and get a pass...we make that simple thing so hard its amazing....we spend 15 seconds trying to get our 5 man the ball at the top of the key for what?....They aren't tremendous passers, we fumble the ball out there doing that constantly...and have nobody in position for offensive rebounding because the big guys are 20 feet from the bucket. We were bigger than Drake and didn't even look to exploit it....when we did it worked but not nearly enough
5. Fouls Fouls Fouls.....again we send a team to the line 28 times..unreal..they made 18...that is 9 2pt shots, or 6 3's they would have to make if we just made them shoot from the outside....we have to find a way to not send the opposing team to the line 30 times...3 out of the last four games we have done that....that is incredible
6. Tavion Banks...6'7" 200lbs, and we made him look like Moses Malone last night.....unreal

What Happened?

1. What has happened in the last 4 games from the team we saw earlier in the season? Almar has gone to almost a non factor since he was moved out of the starting lineup...I don't see the advantage to him coming off the bench...I'm not a fan of Thomas and Darius together on the floor...we aren't as potent offensively and we are not seeing the benefit rebounding wise to having both of them out there...
2. Where is Meta???....he has gone from about 10-15 min a game to zero???...and we were winning!.....he needs to play some every game as sometimes he can be a game changer...he frees up Duke better on the high ball screen, and wears people down with his size...it's not like he was costing us games and needed to go to the bench...I don't get it
3. Linke, I'm sorry guys, but he should not be getting minutes...especially over Meta. There is not one thing he does better than Meta. He is a complete liability on the offensive end, he does not get rebounds, is not a good passer, and looked lost defensively last night. I believe he had 0pts, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists in his time last night.
4. Also in Myrtle Beach, we posted up WAY MORE than we are now...Darius, Almar, Meta, Zek....we put them in the post and worked out of it...we aren't doing any of that now....it is constant high ball screen, or handing off to the center and the top of the key then running around while he holds it and finally gives it back to Duke, who then just gets double teamed off the hand off...lol its infuriating

Moving Forward

1. We have to change some things offensively....teams are taking away our high ball screen completely, just absolutely flooding the ball handler with a double team...and covering the roller with a corner defender....Duke has a tough time with his height making that pass to the corner out of that double team
2. I don't know why we don't run more specific sets for shooters...Davis, Almar, Dillon, Duke (when he's not the primary ball handler) are all deadly when they get a clean look...we are so ball screen dominant or run off the big with the ball at the top of the key our secondary players have resorted to just standing there watching that...no off the ball movement...run some staggered screens or something to get them open without the ball
3. POST UP....have to establish a post game...we have ZERO right now
4. We have to either ...find a way to get to the foul line, OR, stop putting the other team at the line 30 times a game....that is killing us
5. We are soft, and teams know it.....we gotta figure that out....
6. Careless Turnovers...half of them come just trying to get the 5 man the ball at the top of the key...have to cut them down

Ok Im coming down from the ledge now

[BRADLEY FAN 49]

In fairness, I think he has grown a lot in this area in recent years. Also, no one had a flow tonight anyway, so I can't blame him for trying different combos in this one. Like I said in my post, no one really was having a good night or doing anything offensively in this one.

If anything he has gotten worse!!

[BleedRed4]

Ok my turn/take/rant............

Specifically, Vs Drake

1. We ABSOLUTELY let them impose their will, did not match their intensity or physicality AT ALL....very disappointing
2. Strategy wise.......Zone, Zone, Zone.....we saw it early then just abandoned until late in the game. No need to chase them for 25 seconds just for the man to man to breakdown in the final 5 seconds....sit in the zone and let them stand there. I would zone them EVERY possession, but when we do zone, we treat every player equal which we should not be doing..we get overextended, and either give up a back door layup (against the zone no less) or let the wrong guy shoot. There are at least 2 guys on the floor for Drake at all times that I would absolutely let/invite shoot the ball from beyond 16 feet, whether its a 2 or a 3...but even when we are in zone we jump at these players and close out on them like they are Larry Bird and they get by the first line of defense on the zone and we breakdown or foul.. The point of the zone is to make them shoot from the outside...not to run at them like they are shooters...or you wouldnt be in the zone if they were. Again last night Mascari hit 4 3's....nobody else made any....LET THEM SHOOT....they are not good from there and they know it...they don't want to play that way.....we should make them beat us doing what they don't want to do.
3. We did a great job the first 10 minutes of taking their pick and roll away...then after their 2nd timeout, instead of the picker rolling down the middle they started rolling to the back side of the play....Drake would make a pass of the screen to the wing, we would shift, then they would lob the pass over the top to the back roller, or make a sharp cross court pass to him as he was left unguarded on that back side roll....they must have run that 10 times before we picked it up....then when we did cover it...it was usually banks that would then have a smaller guy on him and they smartly would reverse the ball, have him seal that defender and a simple hi low pass for a layup.....They made adjustments all game to keep getting to the basket off of motion....need to play zone against them with specific shading to make certain guys shoot and take that motion away...if they beat us from 3 (something they havn't done or want to do all season, then so be it)...just don't let them beat you doing what they want.
4. Offensively.....Hannah was 5-7 from the floor....he should have 15 shots or better...just walk to the post turn around and get a pass...we make that simple thing so hard its amazing....we spend 15 seconds trying to get our 5 man the ball at the top of the key for what?....They aren't tremendous passers, we fumble the ball out there doing that constantly...and have nobody in position for offensive rebounding because the big guys are 20 feet from the bucket. We were bigger than Drake and didn't even look to exploit it....when we did it worked but not nearly enough
5. Fouls Fouls Fouls.....again we send a team to the line 28 times..unreal..they made 18...that is 9 2pt shots, or 6 3's they would have to make if we just made them shoot from the outside....we have to find a way to not send the opposing team to the line 30 times...3 out of the last four games we have done that....that is incredible
6. Tavion Banks...6'7" 200lbs, and we made him look like Moses Malone last night.....unreal

What Happened?

1. What has happened in the last 4 games from the team we saw earlier in the season? Almar has gone to almost a non factor since he was moved out of the starting lineup...I don't see the advantage to him coming off the bench...I'm not a fan of Thomas and Darius together on the floor...we aren't as potent offensively and we are not seeing the benefit rebounding wise to having both of them out there...
2. Where is Meta???....he has gone from about 10-15 min a game to zero???...and we were winning!.....he needs to play some every game as sometimes he can be a game changer...he frees up Duke better on the high ball screen, and wears people down with his size...it's not like he was costing us games and needed to go to the bench...I don't get it
3. Linke, I'm sorry guys, but he should not be getting minutes...especially over Meta. There is not one thing he does better than Meta. He is a complete liability on the offensive end, he does not get rebounds, is not a good passer, and looked lost defensively last night. I believe he had 0pts, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists in his time last night.
4. Also in Myrtle Beach, we posted up WAY MORE than we are now...Darius, Almar, Meta, Zek....we put them in the post and worked out of it...we aren't doing any of that now....it is constant high ball screen, or handing off to the center and the top of the key then running around while he holds it and finally gives it back to Duke, who then just gets double teamed off the hand off...lol its infuriating

Moving Forward

1. We have to change some things offensively....teams are taking away our high ball screen completely, just absolutely flooding the ball handler with a double team...and covering the roller with a corner defender....Duke has a tough time with his height making that pass to the corner out of that double team
2. I don't know why we don't run more specific sets for shooters...Davis, Almar, Dillon, Duke (when he's not the primary ball handler) are all deadly when they get a clean look...we are so ball screen dominant or run off the big with the ball at the top of the key our secondary players have resorted to just standing there watching that...no off the ball movement...run some staggered screens or something to get them open without the ball
3. POST UP....have to establish a post game...we have ZERO right now
4. We have to either ...find a way to get to the foul line, OR, stop putting the other team at the line 30 times a game....that is killing us
5. We are soft, and teams know it.....we gotta figure that out....
6. Careless Turnovers...half of them come just trying to get the 5 man the ball at the top of the key...have to cut them down

Ok Im coming down from the ledge now

Amen! Love our coach, he’s brought us many winning seasons but how in the world does a first year coach in the valley out-coach a vet like Wardle?! Maybe Wardle needs to swallow his pride and adjust his system a bit because that offense last night was horrendous and it didn’t seem like he has any interest on changing what is going on (been like this for 4 game)… are we back to the Molinari days where we just stress defense and hope our offense picks up the slack??
Scary game on Saturday…

[BUBraves2006]

Amen! Love our coach, he’s brought us many winning seasons but how in the world does a first year coach in the valley out-coach a vet like Wardle?! Maybe Wardle needs to swallow his pride and adjust his system a bit because that offense last night was horrendous and it didn’t seem like he has any interest on changing what is going on (been like this for 4 game)… are we back to the Molinari days where we just stress defense and hope our offense picks up the slack??
Scary game on Saturday…

You do realize their coach has won four national championships, right? I don't care that it's D-II - you have to have some coaching chops to win a national championship at any level. I know this isn't entirely the point you're trying to make, but to feel like it's incredulous that they might actually have a great coach is not a great take. He took TWO timeouts in the first half when things weren't working and adjusted in real time and they played very well after those. We on the other hand refuse to ever call a first half timeout until the last possession, inevitably to set up a play that doesn't work. What has happened to our out of timeout plays also? We used to get a basket nearly every time from these and it just doesn't happen like it used to - those quick baskets add up.

I haven't commented much on this game but this is exactly what I've been saying for awhile now that I think we might actually be overestimating how good this team actually is. We could very easily lose our next four games and go from being in first in the league to being in the play in game. I don't expect that to happen, but this could spiral fast, especially since we could very easily be 2-3 in the league and that includes two games against the absolute doormats in the conference.

You can be happy that we are in the place that we are - I am too - but I think it's a bit of a facade and nothing this team is doing is showing me that they are improving. Who has gotten better since the beginning of the season? Some guys have been mostly steady the whole way (Zek, Duke, Davis, to name a couple) but others are definitely regressing (Meta, Atlason). I also would have liked to see more growth from Burch and JJ by now, which are both guys I really like, but haven't seen as much growth I would expect there either.

Wardle teams never give up and I truly love that to the point that I never really feel like we're cooked in any games. But, you can only ride that tight rope so many times and expect to hang on because you can find another gear.

It's crazy to think that a 13-3 team could be at a crossroads, but I think we've hit that now. Here's hoping we turn and start getting better again soon. If we fall back into that 8-team mush with two losses, it's going to get a lot more complicated to win the league or even get a high seed.