bu in 2006-07 without pob?

[tornado]

Upper half, but if the guards play well and the front court matures, I think BU can make a run late as they did this season.

[flipper]

hope your right. would like to see bu do well in my senior year.

[BradleyBrave]

Re: Totally Disagree

We have ZERO froncourt depth. What happens when Andrews or Salley (or both) get in foul trouble? .

I don't doubt we will be a bit short, mostly due to the loss of POB without much advance warning.

But the MVC is a guard-oriented league, and we will still be strong in guard play.
Very few other MVC teams are DEEP and STRONG in the front court, so who is there that is any deeper or stronger than BU will be?

Northern Iowa? They only had two players last year over 6'4", and used them almost every minute of every game, and in the end it was both their guards & front court that fell short, with injuries to Crawford and too many missed shots by BJ and fatigue in the big guys.

WSU? Nope, they lost the only inside guy they had. Wilson is basically a wing player and they utilize guards 90% of the time.

SIU? How so, their "big guy" Falker is really only about 6'6" and skinny, but he's good, I don't deny that. Shaw plays like a guard and the other big guys they have are deep bench so far and may not be starters. Again, SIU generally beats you with their guard play, and is neither deep nor big down low.

The rest? Nope, a few decent big guys like Evansville's Webster, ISU's Dill, & CU's Tolliver, but no depth, and in ISU's case really, really no depth.
Every other "big guy" in the Valley such as Dane Watts, Brent Heemskerk, Levi Dyer, Shaw, Odiakosa, Sky Frazier are either NO GOOD or they want to be guards and pop three pointers from 20 feet away from the basket, so they might as well throw all that height away.

So, BU with a front line of 6"11", 6'9", 6'8", 6'7", 6'6", 6'6" will actually be one of the, IF NOT THE biggest and deepest team in the Valley in front court players. I know we are a bit shy on experience, but by the end of the season, that will be taken care of.

So, BB, who in the MVC do you think has the ability dominate BU in the paint?

I have become more optimistic on what XC might bring us next year, but to expect anything close to a POB-type impact would be asking a lot. He's still a very skinny, very raw 6'11 freshman who didn't even play that much last year. ZA brings energy and athleticism, but his defense was very shoddy at times. It has to improve, hopefully it will. Salley is a big question mark too. I like what I have heard, but at this point you can't pencil him in for anything and be certain. Beyond those 3 guys, we really have no frontcourt players. Expecting any real contribution out of SS would be awfully optimistic.

I agree 100% that the MVC is a backcourt-dominated league, and we should be stronger and deeper there than we have been in years. I have said in other posts that JL and Co. are likely going to change philosophies and go back to a guard-oriented offense rather than the frontcourt-oriented one we ran last year. I am all for it. I think it's what Jim wanted to play when he got here, and I think it fits our personnel perfectly. However, I still think we're thin up front.

[vbird]

The rest? Nope, a few decent big guys like Evansville's Webster, ISU's Dill, & CU's Tolliver, but no depth, and in ISU's case really, really no depth.
Every other "big guy" in the Valley such as Dane Watts, Brent Heemskerk, Levi Dyer, Shaw, Odiakosa, Sky Frazier are either NO GOOD or they want to be guards and pop three pointers from 20 feet away from the basket, so they might as well throw all that height away

.

Tornado, you neglected to include Anthony Slack in the list of post players for ISU. Juco Junction has him rated as a pretty good prospect.

[BU Bill]

I remember ISU fans saying Odiakosa would be a solid player for ISU lasy year. So lets wait and see how good he is before we anoint him one of the top big men in the league. When Bradley fans say anything about their recruits on other forums, we are admonished by the enthusiasm-police.

[Bravesguy]

I don't think anyone is putting much hope into players who haven't played a D-I game yet.

[bu fan 9]

My biggest worry is that our guards shoot the ball like they did last year.We have to find some shooters if we are going to be a guard oriented team.