Bradley Wins 65-56 over Iowa State

[MacabreMob]

RPI will NOT mean anything til AT LEAST Mid-January.... but for those interested....

Going into the game, Jerry Palm had Iowa St 6th and Bradley 247th.

After the game, realtimerpi.com has Bradley 69th and Iowa St 93rd.

[shaunguth]

RPI will NOT mean anything til AT LEAST Mid-January.... but for those interested....

Going into the game, Jerry Palm had Iowa St 6th and Bradley 247th.

After the game, realtimerpi.com has Bradley 69th and Iowa St 93rd.

You are completely correct about the validity of the early-season RPI. Realtimerpi had Bradley at 289th to start the day and 74th right now.

[Guinness]

You are completely correct about the validity of the early-season RPI. Realtimerpi had Bradley at 289th to start the day and 74th right now.

Guess the RPI of UIC currently. No really go ahead guess.



4. Doesnt mean much but hey, its nice to think.





Edit: Our rebounding tonight was STRIDES above what it was last year.

[shaunguth]

Guess the RPI of UIC currently. No really go ahead guess.



4.

I noticed that one too! Also, Bucknell is #1.

[ManMythLegend]

Here was my take...

JC was hounded all night, although I was pretty impressed with the way he was handling the ball under pressure. Definately an improvement over last year. On the defensive end, he seemed to get caught helping out and got a few threes drained in his eye, but that will happen when you play team defense.

Ruffin put up another fine offensive performance. He's obviously the leader and the guys thrive off of his energy. I still wasn't impressed with his defense, as it seemed like he got taken fairly often by that lanky guard with a nice cross.

Wilson seems too hesitant to shoot the ball or make a play for himself. It seemed like there were numerous times when he had an open lane or wide-open look and he quickly passed the ball. He did have a couple of big shots and played well, I'm sure his confidence will come with time.

Sally didn't look bad. He seems to have more desire to win than he did last year. You could see he was obviously frustrated with himself at times. I think we still need more contribution from him if we expect to have a great season as opposed do a good one.

Collins looked good. He had a couple of rebounds where he just elevated and ripped them down. I think he'll be a force towards the end of the season. I'd like to see him go to the rim hard with confidence like ZA used to.

Sam Singh played a solid role for the second consecutive game. Anything that Sam contributes IMO is a bonus. Some of the fans around me still seemed to be anti-Singh which I don't agree with.

Will showed some flashes of tenacious defense. When he got in the game, he busted his *** and went after loose balls and long rebounds. Just the kind of player I think we need to step up at times. His offense will come, but he did impress me with his defense tonight.
I was hoping he was going to put up a highlight reel dunk on that steal, but I'd rather have the two points than a blown dunk.

TCS needs to be playing more than Sam M. Sam didn't play poorly tonight, but he was just kind of there. Not making much of a difference, he's like that guy that is a body to make the tenth in a pick-up game. I do think he will be a great player by the time it is all said and done, but he just isn't there yet. TCS is more of an offensive threat and IMO should see more minutes, unless he doesn't produce on the defensive end.

Last, but not least is my boy Warren. I saw two flashes of the future tonight. Warren took the ball at key moments in the game and did whatever he wanted to his defender. This kid will be a star IF he wants to be, mark my words. I think he lacks some of the confidence he needs, but I hope that it will come with time.

We definately aren't where we need to be, yet. It's going to obviously take some time, but we definately have the size and talent to be on top of the conference. We just need to find our style and get into a groove. This team has potential, no doubt about it.
Just my opinions of what I saw

-MML

[MacabreMob]

Hey - we helped put UIUC in the dance last year... maybe we will help put UIC in this year.

LOL!

[Guinness]

Hey - we helped put UIUC in the dance last year... maybe we will help put UIC in this year.

LOL!

Argh. Two games that anger me from last year are the UIUC game (so had that until the very end) and the SIU ArchMadness game(again....had it until the very end).

[Da Coach]

Free throws missed in the SIU game, and foul trouble for Zach against UI cost us those 2 games. This year's team shoots FTs better, and has the depth to avoid those kind of losses.

[jasonpeoria911]

Just a few tidbits.

-The attendance certainly looked over 10,000, it almost rivaled the NIT game from the looks of it in person. Plus there was no posters left when wife and I got there 10 minutes before tipoff, so there had to of been 10+K.

-For the intros, they had that short vid and the President about 5 minutes before regular intros and then during the starting lineups, they played some muted highlights on the screen while announcing the players.

-As for the game itself, The one thing that stood out in my mind was, WTF did Collins only play 8 freakin minutes? He nearly had Salleys contribution in 20 less minutes. Yes DC picked up 2 quick fouls but let him at least get to 4 fouls. I'm sure Les doesn't want the senior Salley to feel left out but ya gotta play who is getting it done. Not to mention that it was easier for Ruff and gang to get the ball inside with DC in there.

-Loved the refs, only 19 FT's compared to 46 from the UIC game.

-TO's were fairly average. I think last year BU averaged 11 a game and they only had 14 tonight. Some rushed passes trying to make the play caused most of the TO's but overall much better than last game.

-Defense, well what can ya say. When you allow 30 less points than the last game, ya gotta give thumbs up. 16 TO's including 12 steals is a great accomplishment. A lot less open shots and much more aggressive on the guarding, looked like a different team.

-Overall, much much better performance than last week. I think some of the new guys need to shoot more. Several times tonight they passed up some great shots. If a couple of the new guys can show that they can make the shots then that will take a lot of pressure off of JC who was double teamed virtually the whole night. So I say, keep up the great D, shoot more, pass less and continue the great rebounding. Still not ready to make my record prediction. If some of the new guys can show me some shooting Sunday, then i'll be ready to give a good prediction.

Jason

[shaunguth]

Just a few tidbits.
-As for the game itself, The one thing that stood out in my mind was, WTF did Collins only play 8 freakin minutes? He nearly had Salleys contribution in 20 less minutes. Yes DC picked up 2 quick fouls but let him at least get to 4 fouls. I'm sure Les doesn't want the senior Salley to feel left out but ya gotta play who is getting it done. Not to mention that it was easier for Ruff and gang to get the ball inside with DC in there.

I thought his minutes should have went up after the first game and he ended up playing five less minutes tonight.

[TheHeemyMonster]

A win is a win but I thought we looked average at best tonight. If we played Mich St tonight we lose by 15+ IMO.

My take on the game.

Ruff- way out of control and i am not sure what it is. I feel like he is playing exactly how he played last year but just isnt getting away with it. He drives baseline and everyone in the building knows he is not taking it to the hole and is going to try and kick it out for a three. However now we don't have another scorer like Franklin to bail him out. He puts some passes on the ground for the big guys that just have no chance right now of getting to them. It was great to have ZA to be there to catch them and slam them down

JC- what can you say?? If he gets defended like he has been the first couple games all year long we could be in some trouble. Yes i know he had 19 pts the first game and shot real well but he did only shoot the ball 12 times in the first game and got hot. Needs to get at least 15-20 looks a game. JL needs to find ways to get him open

Salley - i think he is going to be fine, looks frustrated but still coming off an injury and had huge guys on him all night. I think he can average 12 and 7 by the end of the year.

Wilson- am i the only one not impressed with this guy?? I know he hit a few big shots tonight but if you know anything about this guy you know we can't expect that too much from him. Yes he is athletic and he can get some boards but he worries me. I guess he is worth getting some minutes but i think it might be a little much.. TSC and Collins need more and this guy might be taking them away from them.

Collins- Why isn't this guy playing??? He played the best out of all big guys tonight IMO and played well for the limited minutes last game. There were some big guys in there tonight and Collins didn;t get the minutes i believe he deserves... anyone have an answer??

TSC- again why isn't this guy playing?? He has shown me more on offense and defense than Sam M. He did not get as many attempts as I would like to see. I think he should be getting 8-10 looks a game to take some pressure off of Ruf and JC

Warren- keep taking it to the basket, you are a stud when you do that... not much else to say but your outside shot isnt falling so far and we need some pts from you.

Sam M - i have been looking for your game ever since the red/white and i am still looking for it... i keep hearing how good you were in HS and how you might be better than ruf someday. However right now you are a hazard on offense with your turnovers and lack of a jump shot and very slow and questionable on D.... TSC should be taking more minutes away from you

Sam S- looks a lot better than I thought he would, however I am still not convinced. Don't get me wrong we def need you this year and I want to get 15+ mins from you a game but I dont think he is a reliable threat. All of his pts so far seem to be "the right place the right time" . I guess that is knowing where you are supposed to be but I feel like if I was on the court I could have made the same plays. Keep it up Sam we need you this year. Prove me wrong

Egolf- looked the best i have seem him play so far.... needs to be ready to him that 3 or at least be ready to score... get aggresive.. you are a freshman so its expected... could be very valuable down the stretch creating mis matches

one last thing... I never saw the former President of Bradley at any athletic even in my life,i didn't even know his name. The new president however was at the UIC game and came multiple times to the student section giving out high fives and starting cheers with us. I am a huge fan and I think this great for Bradley

Also did everyone else love the giant heads in the student section as much as I did. I loved it. Dickie V, MJ, Jim Les, Tilla Tequilla, The Count, the guy from 300, flava flav, the burger king guy!! loved every one of them

[2bradleyfans]

[QUOTE=TheHeemyMonster;48132]
Sam S- looks a lot better than I thought he would, however I am still not convinced. Don't get me wrong we def need you this year and I want to get 15+ mins from you a game but I dont think he is a reliable threat. All of his pts so far seem to be "the right place the right time" . I guess that is knowing where you are supposed to be but I feel like if I was on the court I could have made the same plays. Keep it up Sam we need you this year. Prove me wrong

I am personally blown away by Sam S. I had no idea.... we have seen so little in the past... I thought this was a nobody that we were binging back... but he could certainly add something to these games based on what I have seen in the last two outings. I think all the players just need some time to get used to each other in D1 ball.

[TheHeemyMonster]

this might sound like i am hating on the braves but I am just trying to be realistic.... i am more conviced after tonight on how good we can be. Our defense showed up tonight which was a HUGE concern for me. I know we have enough weapons on Offense. We just need to put it all together and get everyone on the same page. I am confident that JL can do that. At least by conference time and hopefully sooner than later

[jasonpeoria911]

-President Glasser reminds me of what she would be like back in college. Sort of like the band girl all pumped up LOL. Nothing wrong with that of course.

-As for the heads, LOL, those were hilarious. At first I just saw Jordan for most of the first half, and then all the others appeared, it was a gag. I think the head of Les needs to be one of his angry ones. Several people in my section were pointing to the heads when they first started noticing them. I say keep those around all season. Heck, I say make a lot more for both end caps. Heck, I say make a promotion out of them for the whole crowd LOL.

Jason

[BradleyBrave]

Good -

Students - Out in force, LOVED the heads. Keep it up.
President Glasser - Love the enthusiasm and the visibility. Keep it up.
Defense - That's more like it. That kind of D will win games when the O isn't there.
David Collins - Jim...trust him. Play him. His +/- should say it all.
Sam Singh - Continues to impress with what he brings.

Bad -

Intros - Please, go back to the ones from last year, or just do the standard lineup announcing. The song with the montage was terrible, and the team was warming up in the dark for God's sake. Is it going to take a trip down the stairs or sprained ankle before we scrap this?
Matt Salley - The passiveness on offense and the passes to the opposition are getting hard to stomach. He's better than that, we've all seen it.
Offense - Still no rhythm or flow. I think Jim is still figuring out who to play, and the offense won't flow until the rotation clears itself up a bit.

Observations -

Wilson needs to be a threat offensively. The whole arena gasped when he passed up the wide open layup. He looked good on the 3's when he didn't hesitate.

Cole-Scott does get a bit lazy on defense. That has to be why his minutes are limited right now.

JC showed how versatile he is. Their whole game plan was designed around running at him, and he responded by going to the hoop and dishing out 5 nice dimes, and even grabbing 4 boards. I thought he played great.

As I have felt the last 3 years about this, I still don't want the ball in Ruffin's hands at the end of a half or game. He's not a good decision maker in those situations.

Loved the changing of defenses from man to 2-3 to 1-3-1. Some more of that on Saturday and we may have pulled it out. Much better job in that regard by the staff.

Overall, I still don't have a great feeling about this team yet. I see talent, but I don't see a 'team'. Some nice defensive strides were made, but this thing is nowhere close to clicking yet on offense or rotation-wise. I'll gladly take the win, and am actually glad we have a couple of cupcakes coming up to continue to work out the kinks.