Evansville @ Bradley Post Game 77-76 BU!

[edmondo15]

This is just pure speculation, but it could be very possible that some of these newcomers who have seen less action lately have hit the "freshman wall." I know that all of them aren't freshmen, and usually it doesn't get to all newcomers, but none the less the first year playing D1 ball is usually the hardest. By mid season, perhaps some of these kids are mentally taxed? We have to remember that they've been going full speed since late-August.

[Beninator]

I've gotta take a little issue with the 'coach wannabees' comment - Do you really think that by questioning or having an opinion on who plays or how we're playing, that we're all 'coach wannabees'? Come on. I have yet to see a post where someone says 'I could do a better job'. No coach is above having their moves analyzed or questioned, not even Jim Les. To quote a friend of mine when discussing the silliness of the coach being above questioning or criticism, "I can't make movies, but I know a bad one when I see it."

I am not saying that JL or any coach should be above question... That is basically why we have message boards. H*** I have questioned why we havent given Rashad Austin more minutes numerous times. (see my quote on the bottom of my post..That quote has been there for quite a while) But I will not give RA a stainding O when he enters the game from the bench. IMO, if a crowd gives someone a standing O, the response has to be earned on the court. My "coach wannabees" response was basically ment to be light hearted smack talk to the people last night who gave an unproductive seven footer a standing O for simply walking on the court. The results were still the same.

[TheHeemyMonster]

[QUOTE=Braves4Life;58422]Wow! What a sour puss! I can only imagine your posts at this time of year if you were a board member during the Sweet 16 year [/QUOT

what would my post be like? I am sure I posted during those times and were quite happy about our teams performance. Back then there was actually something to cheer about. Right now I can see too many positives besides SM getting better and better.

[Beninator]

He has not gotten consistent minutes since BEFORE the Butler game. He was averaging 14 min/game over the first ten games of the season and has averaged 2.5 min/game in the last nine games.

My error shaunguth.

[TheHeemyMonster]

Just what exactly do you want JL to do with our bigs?

Will Egolf-freshman who shows flashes of talent but from what I have seen, Will does not deserve to be thrown into major minutes this year. We should give Will some minutes, but those minutes should be ment to give him some experience for future years.

Sam Singh-god bless him but we are talking about a guy who has had a couple of knee operations and is a role player. He has worked his a** off to get where he is now.. More minutes...sure if the matchup permits, but as much as I appreciate what Sam has done this year, he isnt the answer.

Collins-He gets a standing O from the coach wannabees in the crowd, but basically DC did last night after the standing O what he has done on a consistent basis since the Butler game... NOTHING BUT LOOK LOST. Send DC to the bench, work with him in practice, and see if he can get anything close to looking like he knows what is going on for the 3-4 minutes he should get during the next game.

Austin-I'll give you this one...RA deserves more minutes and should play a bigger role in our substitution patterns.

Salley-Like him or not (I know he has his flaws), the effort is there and he is the best option.... as for numbers, Salley was the team leader in rebounds last night with JC.
(both had 7 rebounds for the game)

What I want coach Les to do is to play the guys that are productive when they are in. Egolf is not right now
Singh- Needs to start every game over Salley
Salley- needs to get some minutes just because we dont have much other options
DC- Needs to get some minutes bc of what he has shown earlier this year. Having him play 5 minutes and nothing the rest of the game doesnt do much for his confidence or get him any experience
Austin- needs to play just as much as salley does. He doesn t seem to make any mistakes and cleans up the boards well. He is also a bigger body than Salley as well.

I guess I dont have a complete answer on what needs to do but it just doesnt seem like he knows what to do either. DC and Egolf dont play for 3 games then both get pt. Singh starts 2 games then doesnt play in the first half. RA plays in the first half, does well then doesn play in the 2nd??? I just dont get it

[bu fan 9]

You think DC needs time on the floor give me a break.

[Heemeskerk]

SM

Sounds like Sam had another great game. I am in Punta Cana so not in touch with the rest of the world. I think I am proving right on my thoughts and post very early in the year about SM being special....glad to see all the ney sayers are coming around.

[mrcoachdude]

You think DC needs time on the floor give me a break.He is soft and lost as we all seen last night.

He needs some pt or he will not improve....practice is practice...we are talking about practice.....

nothing beats some gametime pt.....

[bu fan 9]

You have to earn playing time and last night showed why he doesn't get any playing time.

[chitown fanatic]

BU fan 9...what exactly do you want DC to do with the whopping 5 minutes Jim has given him since December? I don't know any player who can play 5 minutes and light the world on fire. Last night, Collins wasn't lost...he was just a non-factor...just as Matt Salley is a non-factor.The difference is Salley gets to be a non-factor for 25 minutes a night, every night. Have you ever seen a starter less productive in your life??? I'm willing to bet any amount of money that if you gave DC the same minutes Salley gets, he'd be more productive. It's hard not to be...Salley usually has 2-4 points and 3-5 boards....even Sam maniscalco more than doubled his board total Wednesday. I've been saying it all season....let DC play a while and he will improve. We have seen that the same can not be said for Salley. Speaking of Salley, how bout that turnover that almost cost us with 30 ticks left? What a waste of space.

I'd also like to say that Heemy Monster is dead on with his comments. Coach Les is clueless with his bigs. He has no rotation to spak of, so guys don't know their roles. I will be there Wednesday, but I'm afraid we will be waxed pretty badly. Our only hope is that ISU goes into their common 10-minute funk where they can't hit the broad side of a barn. But it seems that whoever we play never misses. I watched the MSU -UNI game today, and I couldn't belive how bad MSU shot...and it wasn't UNI's D. These were wide open looks and tey missed them all game long. We have yet to see an opponent in conference shoot like that....11-17 last night from 3's for E-Ville, including a pair of 25 footers. The D has to improve or the Birds will light us up for 90 in our own barn.

[bu fan 9]

If you think DC should get more playing time you are looking through rose colored glasses. He has no idea where he needs to be on defense he is to soft to rebound and if he does get the rebound they take away from him.If you don't think he was lost last night maybe you should watch him when he gets in the game.He is not ready for playing time yet.

[BradleyBrave]

As long as Jim has been coach, I have never questioned who's playing. I can say that 99% of the time, Jim has always had the right guys and the best guys in the game. I can't say that right now with Jim's big man rotation. There's no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever. Case in point - Sam Singh. There's no way Sam Singh is so up-and-down at practice to get a DNP against UNI, then log big minutes against Missouri St, to eventually starting at UNI and against Drake, to not playing for the first 30 minutes against Evansville. No way. There's not one thing Salley does that much better than SS to warrant the minute disparity, and if there is an area where Salley is perhaps a little better (defense), it's more than offset by Salley's offensive ineptitude. Same thing goes for Austin.

[Dubl R 1]

Some people have been complaining that Bradley doesn't play enough zone defense. Well how did you like the zone last night? The man to man wasn't good but the zone was painfully bad. It seemed like everytime Bradley played zone Evansville buried a 3. I'm no coach but I think one of the problems with Bradley's man defense is that their help defense is not very good. That type of inability to change and flow depending on where the ball is shows up probably even worse in the zone. Anyway a win is a win and there is no doubt this team is getting better. The team hasn't quit. The last two home games have definitely been better than the prior two.

To me, it looked like BU went to a 1-2-2 zone early in the 1st half for a couple of possessions, and it really befuddled Evansville, and then for whatever reason, BU went back to the 2-3. Evansville hit alot of 3's both the first half and second half vs that 2-3. But your right, the man to man was getting beat for curl screen lay ups all night.

[Beninator]

As long as Jim has been coach, I have never questioned who's playing. I can say that 99% of the time, Jim has always had the right guys and the best guys in the game. I can't say that right now with Jim's big man rotation. There's no rhyme or reason to it whatsoever.

I agree Bradleybrave, Jim needs better substitution patterns with his bigs.
We also need to utilize two bigs at the same time as much as possible depending on matchups.

For the sake of a debate, I would prioritize the minutes accordingly:

1. Matt Salley
2. Sam Singh
3. Rashad Austin.
4. Will Egolf- people on this board will probably disagree with this, but Will shows me more right now than our 7 footer but we are not talking major minutes with a priority this low.. Also ranking Will above DC to get game time experience to Will which should pay dividends in the future.
5. David Collins- he has shown me NOTHING right now....4-5 minutes tops to rest the other players in this rotation. Adjust DC's minutes upward if he shows improvement.

These prioritizations can and should change depending on performance.

[bu fan 9]

I think you are right Beninator.