Final: Bradley 75 George Mason 67

[Da Coach]

Great article by Dave Eminian with a lot of quotes from Bradley players and Coach Wardle - https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...s/82607684007/

Also some nice quotes from George Mason head coach Tony Skinn-
• George Mason coach Tony Skinn, on the running, fading, right-handed hook shot made by Bradley's Christian Davis as time was expiring on the shot clock from way beyond the 3-point line for a 10-point lead with 10:57 left: "Jalen (Haynes, George Mason star center) missed two bunnies. And the (BU) kid who made the HORSE shot from like 37 feet. Things like that happen, you kind of know in the back of your head you're not getting that win."
• Skinn, on a big deficit vs BU: "You get down 18 against what should be an NCAA (Tournament) team, you're not going to win that game. That's a team that should be playing in March Madness just like us."
• Skinn, on Bradley's strong first half that set a tone: "I thought they had way more juice than us right out the gate. I thought they wanted it more and came into the game with a business approach. Sometimes you get on that plane, you have your mind made up on making a choice to want to win a game."

Photos- https://www.pjstar.com/picture-galle...n/82618815007/

Duke tweaked his left ankle in this video, but returned and seemed ok. - https://x.com/icetimecleve/status/1903528408866263377

If anyone can find a video clip of Christian Davis' 3-point shot as the shot clock ran out, please post it. Bradley's lead was shrinking, Darius Hannah had just gone out with his serious knee injury, and fouls were starting to mount up for Bradley. -
If you open the ESPN+ Replay, and set the time to 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 20 seconds, it will show the Hannah injury, followed by the Davis 3-point shot as the shot clock expired.

[Da Coach]

...
If anyone can find a video clip of Christian Davis' 3-point shot as the shot clock ran out, please post it. Bradley's lead was shrinking, Darius Hannah had just gone out with his serious knee injury, and fouls were starting to mount up for Bradley. -

Here is a replay of Christian Davis' miracle three pointer - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1903532447037596139

[daveineureka]

Feel so bad for Darius, hope just a sprain and recovers completely. Most definitely he will not play the next game. Hopefully by the teams performance we are witnessing a glimpse of next year by Cory Thomas play. Up in the air if Christian Davis can win his case to get another year. Team showed character and heart playing without Zek and now Darius more than likely not available for Tuesday:s game. Strong recruiting so far and need strong post players as has been discussed numerous times on the message board. Let's have a good turnout for the game as this will be the last time we will get to see them and our seniors. "Let's get it done'

[BengalFan14]

Will admit I’m the least qualified to comment, but I agree. I thought he was brought in to be a three point shooter, and instead spends all his time under the basket. I think he’s out of sync not playing a more natural position on the perimeter.

He can’t defend on the perimeter.

[Fan since 88]

He can’t defend on the perimeter.

expecting atlason to enter the portal.we’ll see. He seems to have played himself out of the rotation.

[patrick_o'brian]

5 years ago if a guy like Corey Thomas has the game that he just had I would, without any hesitation or cynicism, feel ecstatic about his potential and his future here at BU. While I still do, the JC rule and Transfer Portal tampers that down just a notch. Does anyone else feel that way sometimes? I’m still proud of the game he had and that he powered us into the Quarterfinals, but there’s always that nervous twitch like maybe some coach saw that and is licking his chops. Surely I can’t be the only one with that MINOR sense.

Im still happy for him and can’t wait for Tuesday.

[tomahawk chop]

expecting atlason to enter the portal.we’ll see. He seems to have played himself out of the rotation.

He has had a bad season. He has gotten somewhat better on defense but he has not been able to score plus he does not rebound at all for a 6-8 player. We will know shortly if he goes into the portal.

[tomahawk chop]

Beating George Mason on their home floor is a huge accomplishment considering no team in their conference the A-10 did that this season. We came out strong and were pretty much in control for most of the game. I hated to see Hannah get hurt yet we stuck in there and continued on and were able to beat a very good team. Hoping his injury wasn"t as bad as it looked but I am afraid he has played his last game for Bradley. The rest of the team needs to rally behind this and win on Tues. night so they can get to play in the NIT"s final 4 at Hinkle FieldHouse. That would be a great thing for the team to experience to finish out this season and for some their careers at Bradley.

[yoda]

He has had a bad season. He has gotten somewhat better on defense but he has not been able to score plus he does not rebound at all for a 6-8 player. We will know shortly if he goes into the portal.

I hope someone shows Almar the stats for Jeremy Crouch’s 4-year Bradley career.

JC had a classic sophomore slump - a terrible 2nd year after a promising freshman season.
But he worked hard, came back as a junior and had a monster, record breaking season in which he LED THE ENTIRE NATION in 3-point shooting, and went on to finish his career scoring 600 points in his senior season and Top 20 all time in BU career scoring.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/jeremy-crouch-1.html

[Da Coach]

expecting atlason to enter the portal.we’ll see. He seems to have played himself out of the rotation.

I'm not saying Almar should stay or leave, but I hope he stays. It's up to him and the coaches. But, Almar is only a sophomore, and he did help Bradley win a few games earlier in the season. His numbers for this season have been a little disappointing, but they are actually pretty similar to his All-Freshman team stats from last year. And despite his recent problems, he is still shooting over 38% for the season from three - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../almar-atlason

And for comparison, Darius Hannah was not part of the rotation when he was a sophomore, either. In fact, Darius' entire sophomore season was spent almost entirely on the bench. He played in only 19 of 31 games, and an average of just 4.8 minutes per game. His averages were 1.2 points, and 1.2 rebounds, and he shot 36.4% from the floor, 0% from three, and 31.6% from the FT line. - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba.../darius-hannah

There are many other examples of past players who had terrible sophomore years, only to turn into great players. Another one I recall was Jeremy Crouch. His sophomore season was terrible, and it wasn't because of injury. Some people call it a sophomore slump, but he turned into one of the greatest shooters in Bradley history. The next season, Jeremy's junior year, he was 2nd on the team in scoring, and he lead the country in 3-point percentage at 50.0%. - https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...alPct/dir/desc

Add: Sorry, I wrote this about Jeremy Crouch before the previous post was posted. Great minds think alike.

[Tommy]

First of all, if Darius reads these boards, we love you man! You gave us 5 great years and our success was greatly tied to you and your effort! We were blessed to watch you posterize other team’s star players on a regular basis and you will never be forgotten! One of THE all-time great Braves of all time! God bless and prayers for a full and complete recovery, my friend!
The Braves win on a court where the home team had gone 18-1 in what we’re told is a better conference than the MVC. Done without our starting shooting guard and a game where our star forward/center went down injured. What heart and determination this team showed, and win or lose from here on out, this team has earned my love and admiration forever. Definitely one of my favorite teams of all time.
Concerning Atlason, he’ll be back next year and I suspect he’ll be a beast. Yoda is way better than me at pointing out similarities with past teams and he made a great observation earlier. What the eye test tells me about AA is that he has a sweet looking shot and is a high effort kid with a good attitude. Give me a kid with a great attitude and high effort and I have no doubt success will follow. Let’s remember Darius and how he shot early in his career. He couldn’t make a free throw, let alone a shot, and he turned into a great shooter from everywhere, including 3’s! These are the high character type guys BW brings in, and often times it takes longer than we’d like to see dividends, but dividends do eventually come in.
Looking forward to the Chattanooga game. Next man up, Braves! Let’s keep the 3’s draining! As long as we have CD and Duke leading the team as our seniors, we’ve always got a chance.
One more game is the motto from here on out, boys! Let’s keep it rolling!

[Ogre]

Here is a replay of Christian Davis' miracle three pointer - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1903532447037596139

Wardle begging for a foul. Haha

[egib52]

MVC will definitely need to focus on development, so I'm hoping that's how AA views it.

[Dub]

Wardle begging for a foul. Haha

No. He had his arms up the last 5+ seconds of the possession. He’s asking his team: what was THAT?

[Da Coach]

Corey Thomas was yesterday's Bradley Player of the Game - https://x.com/BradleyUMBB/status/1903556203063689348
Well deserved. Corey had a career-high 21 points (7-10, 3-5 from three) and 11 rebounds in just 27 minutes. He also played good defense on GMU's inside big men.

Too bad they couldn't have given Co-POG's, because Christian Davis had perhaps the best game of his career, too. He tied his career-high in points with 21 (7-11, 5-8 from three), contributed 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block, played great defense, plus the miracle three pointer.