Bradley-MSU postgame thread

[MacabreMob]

That's the first time I've seen Joe Napoli in something other than black.

Great contributions by the fans. Atmosphere was great. Outcome was not the one desired - but like Buescher said after the game on the radio.... I saw what I wanted to see from this team.

Congrats MSU. Thanks to them and Coach Izzo for coming to Peoria. Good luck to them the rest of the season.

[real fan]

We lost this game because of poor rebounding and I am still trying to figure out why Daniel took the long 3 point shot with 20 plus seconds left on the shot clock; I was concerned at the start of the season about playing Salley as our biggest starter as we have no size to rebound against the bigger teams that we will face; we will not beat the top teams in the nation with that small of a lineup so it will be very difficult to get into the ncaa tour. and win unless we can figure out a way to get Collins and Egolf playing better and A. Warren needs to step-up and play like he is capable of; I am disappointed because we had the game under control with less then 7 min. to go and did not finish them off.

[MacabreMob]

Also wanted to mention.....

In the 2nd 1/2, Bradley hit only 2 shots from the floor besides 3 pt'rs (until VERY late in the game if not completely). The first was a steal, breakaway layup by JC (that almost missed) at about the 9:30 mark (so almsot 10:30 elapsed before a 2 pt bucket) and the other was a shot by (I think) Salley.

Didn't Mich St seal us from the floor last year except from the 3 pretty much?

[georgethedog]

That's half-correct. Ruffin forced way too many shots in the last 3-4 minutes. The D-Ruff Show took over BU's offensive end and he blew it late. He didn't have one shot that was under control from that point on. And the thought of having one of his teammates shoot? Never entered his mind. It was the D-Ruff Show or nothing. Extremely frustrating knowing we let them off the hook late in the game.

I SAID THAT ALL THE WAY HOME. WELL PUT!!!

[Beninator]

Just got back and dont have too much of a voice...

A big difference that I saw is that when points were needed in a posession, MSU ran a patient set and we forced the issue.. See posts above... Congrats to MSU on a nice win.

The band, students, and overall crowd were GREAT! I also loved the fact that the old intro was used tonight.

Sam Maniscalco... I like how you defended DN tonight. The more I see SM play, the more I like him.

Theron Wilson--looks as if you have been practicing free throws!

I like Will Egolf's potential, but Will scared me when he was on the floor tonight. I didnt see Rashad Austin's appearance late in the game against SEMO, but is RA that much worse than what Egolf showed us tonight? Not saying that RA was the answer tonight, but I feel that the contribution of one more big man would have been the diffrence in tonight's game.

This was Matt Salleys best game of the year to date.imo
Sam Singh gave us quality minutes.... Would have liked Collins to get some minutes in the second half though. The inside shots were open to us for most of the night.imo

Ok we gave MSU a good game and had a very good chance to win. For the first time this year, I feel that this team can play with any team on any given night. Lessons learned tonight... now lets continue to get better!

[MacabreMob]

... I also loved the fact that the old intro was used tonight...

Me too - that intro really can pump you up!

[jasonpeoria911]

Ahh heck i'll chime in.

-Many have heckled Ruff and Crouch for there shooting tonight. THEY CARRIED THE TEAM ON OFFENSE. Had half the points. Where were the young guys? Warren 1 for 4, Egolf 1 for 3, Singh no shots, Wilson 2 for 4. Sadly, I think we played into MSU's game tonight and slowed things way down which is just how they like it. Need to get these new guys to contribute more on offense.

-Rebounding was horrendous, I don't think I saw that bad of a rebounding effort all last year. That flat out cost us the game. Can't blame it on Ruff for making bad choices at the end when it never should of came down to that. Would of easily won by 5-10 points had that rebound margin been cut in half. I imagine Les will address this rather obsessively in practice tomorrow. And to think we all thought that rebounding wouldn't be much of an issue in this game.

-The refs, they were so so. A few calls could of gone either way but that missed travel call with us up by 3 or 5 with about 3 minutes left really gave them a lot of momentum. Les was furious and most of the fans were also. You can't tell me that 10,000 fans clearly saw a travel but 2 refs couldn't?

-On the ultimate plus side, only 12 TO's compared to 15 TO's forced. THATS EXCELLENT against a top notch team. Sam had the most turnovers which usually it's Ruffin and Crouch. If we can keep the TO's at that rate and get the rebounding back to normal, then we'll be very tough to beat.

-Crouch needs to stay out on the arch and drive less. He kept his 3 point FG percentage about the same but shot horribly when he attempted to drive to the hoop or take short jump shots.

-Ruff, well was Ruff. Shot was a tiny bit off but made some good passes.

-Egolf, scared me. From the air ball three to getting beat in and out down low for 2 fouls in 6 minutes, to fresh for this showdown.

-Wilson was Wilson. I would of liked for him to drive to the hoop or shoot more but his 4 fouls killed any intensity he could of brought.

-big Sam, great on defense, horrible on offense. 1 for 4 with 3 TO's in 23 minutes. His shots should of been up around 7 or 8. Still love his play though.

-Then good ole DC, tonight was his worst on the D. Got burned a couple times early on, Les sat him down. Brought him back in only to get burned another couple times. Les gave him a good and I mean good chewing and that was the end of the night for DC. I also noticed he wasn't boxing out very well as he was getting outrebounded left and right like the rest of the team. Only that shouldn't happen to a 7 footer. His offense certainly would of helped late in the game though.

-Overall, it was good to give MSU land a scare for 95% of the game. It showed the US that the Carver crowd is a beast to play in front of. I know some people think a L is a L that won't help us in the rankings but Davidson was briefly in the Top 25 after a 3 point loss to #1 NC. Coaches do recognize a good team that can play with the top dogs, especially with it being in primetime on an ESPN affiliate. We know this team isn't that horrible on rebounding game in and game out, so lets just hope that the TO rate stays steady at about 12. A 6-3 start is not all that bad considering 1 loss was in the opener with 7 new guys and the 2 other losses to a #9 and #23 ranked teams. Both ranked games we were tied or within 5 points down to the final minute with only 9 games as almost a whole new team this season. This team will continue to get better but right now I think there great and better than last season. If Bradley can hang within 5 points down to the wire at Butler then we certainly deserve to be in the top 35 at least.

Jason

[jasonpeoria911]

Forgot to mention, DC once again only missed 1 shot for 7 out of 9 games. Went 2 for 3 in his short 12 minutes. Get that man some defense work and we'll have a beast down low.

Jason

[abraveforlife]

thoughts

1. I wanted to go to a Bradley game against one of the best in the country
Check.

2. I wanted State to give us everything they had
Check.

3. I wanted to know if we could play with one of the best in the country
Check.


It is a long season. Come out every game with the same heart and intensity and we will be celebrating at arch madness. Grow and learn from this. The season does not ride and die on one game. I hope all who are reading this who are not posters, will go to the games more and sell that B A S T A R D out every game. This is good team getting better. I hate to sleep on a lost, but I love waking up to a future of growth and progress. Go Braves!!!!

[BUconnorD]

1) new intro...AWESOME...easiest fact of the night

2) Ruff yes he did lead the team for pretty much the entire game 39 min. of play...I'll take it. He's an amazing point guard and a real leader. THAT BEING SAID. he did force some stuff at the end, however he probably had the best perspective on what needed to be done. So i'm mad, but not that mad.

3) Crouch. He was kinda hitting his 3's (3/7). That's OK. BUT, he did have 4 steals and focused on his D. which payed off because his guy fouled out by the end of the game.

4) Matt Salley had the best game of the season. Is that saying much? no. He needs to start producing hard core or I'm gonna be very disapointed in the coaching staff's decision making.

5) Sammy M. played ok. most turnovers of the team? not so good. But he's young and had the gitters. I see great potential in him once Ruff graduates.

6) Collins. See the thread dedicated to him for this game.

7) Singh. Great. he made Defense his job and he showed up to work. (bad pun? ohyea!!)

TCS. didn't play...i don't get it


and that's all I have to say about that

[CLBravesfan]

I think the reason for not playing DC in thw second half was due to rebounding. Singh was put in to try to stop all the offensive rebounds. DC did play well in the first half but showed his non strength and weakness when faced with stronger opponents with all the rebounds MSU got. I thought it was a good move by JL to have Sam in there to give us more strength on the rebound side of things.

Overall I think BU can hang their heads high, we did not get the W but I thought we showed we can play with the big boys. lets not forget this was a top ten team that came to Peoria, not many BCS teams would do that, I hope more games like this can come to Peoria in future years as it will help build the program more.

Congrats to MSU for a hard fought win, Thanks to Izzo for not shying away from a tough road game. One of my biggest complaints against BCS schools is their scheduling of tough games especially on the road (hear that Duke).

[Da Coach]

PJ Star articles--

Spartan effort for BU

http://pjstar.com/stories/120507/BRA_BF4BLKQC.081.php

Braves fans really rise to occasion by Kirk Wessler--

http://pjstar.com/stories/120507/KIR_BF4BMOLE.081.php

At lunch, he gets his just desserts
Bradley soccer coach draws three ovations during BU hoops event ahead of NCAA quarterfinal

http://pjstar.com/stories/120507/BRA_BF4887HL.083.php

[numbr_9]

Before getting on Warren too much, remember that he guarded Neitzel a lot of the game and effectively shut him down. Yeah, I love warren to be an offensive threat, but keeping them from scoring points is as good as scoring them yourself.

Rebounding ... ug. Horrendous. Cost us the game.

Officiating .. yeah, they missed a couple calls, but overall I thought it was a well officiated game. Certainly can't blame anything on the zebras. They didnt cause us to get outrebounded by so much.

Ruff. A couple bad decisions at the end that are magnified because it's the end of the game, but he was overall very good tonight. They werent' giving Crouch ANY easy buckets in teh second half.

Credit state's D and rebounding effort. That won them the game.

Thanks to coach Izzo and the MSU program for agreeing to come down to Peoria in a 2-for-1 deal. Hope at the end of this season this can be listed as a "quality win" for you guys. best of luck the rest of the way. Don't think you can have anything but respect for BU after the game today.

and GREAT fans tonight. wow. Let's bring it like that the rest of the year!!

Okay, enough moral victories! Let's go close out some games, beat butler and VCU, and put ourselves back in the discussion.

anybody think we may be pretty darn good in valley play this year? We have played two great teams tough, and I dont know if anybody can compare to Vandy, let alone MSU. SIU looks very beatable. Creighton scares me more than anybody.

GO BRAVES!

[mike radigan]

TCS. didn't play...i don't get it

2 minutes, 1 assist, 1 turnover.

[Bravesfan]

1. I wanted to go to a Bradley game against one of the best in the country
Check.

2. I wanted State to give us everything they had
Check.

3. I wanted to know if we could play with one of the best in the country
Check.


It is a long season. Come out every game with the same heart and intensity and we will be celebrating at arch madness. Grow and learn from this. The season does not ride and die on one game. I hope all who are reading this who are not posters, will go to the games more and sell that B A S T A R D out every game. This is good team getting better. I hate to sleep on a lost, but I love waking up to a future of growth and progress. Go Braves!!!!

Excellent post! Well put! Like I said last night, hopefully it won't come down to an at-large bid with the committee seeing that we did not get that one marquee win. However, despite a somewhat down Valley this year, if we win the conference regular season and/or tourney, we're still in the NCAA Tournament. And like you said, if we continue coming out with this type of intensity every night, we will continue to get better and win a lot of games.

I see a lot of similarities between this team and the Sweet Sixteen team from two years ago. They will just keep getting better, and the fans will be in for a treat this year!

GO BRAVES!!!