Report from Savvis on Win over Wichita

[tornado]

All I can say is that this is great, and I am so happy for the BU players,
ALL OF THEM, and their coaching staff.
(and the fans too!)

I hope it is obvious to the fans how improtant each and every player is, even if his contributions don't show up in the headlines.

Brandyn Heemskerk hasn't played more than a few minutes in the past month, but he practices hard every day, he was out there one hour before the game today getting some work in around the basket with Lennox Forrester, and Big B was ready when his number was called.
I hope the TV audience could hear how loud the BU fans were when Brandyn came into the game.
Brandyn immediately contirbuted, as he filled up the middle, threw some "D" at the Shox, got a steal, a couple rebounds (one an offensive) and hit a couple FT's.
That still doesn't look like a ton, but it was enormous while POB was on the bench.

My full report follows...

[Da Coach]

There were somewhere around 2500-3000 Bradley fans there.

There were probably more Wichita fans, but the BU fan made a lot more noise.

[tornado]

I drove all the way back to Peoria, picked up my kids, and drove all the way back down to St. Louis and got there by 10AM

We went to the Grand central Station mall, ran into gobs of BU fans there and did a little shopping as well as grabbed some eats.
Then we went over to the Sheraton and the BU pregame party was WILD and jammpacked!!
Jaques' has some fine hot wings!!!!

Then just as soon as the Savvis Center opened at noon, we went in and sat down, to watch the BU kids prepare and to let them know with our cheers that they were well supported.

Cellus' dad, bro, wife, and baby were right behind us, and next to us was Jim Les' wife and kids.
All were pulling hard for the seniors to lead us and they did.
Jim is smart, he is not counting on inexperienced players to lead us, but he does expect those lesser experienced players like Brandyn, Danny Adams, and POB to contribute, and they sure did.

But the leaders were soooooooooo obvious,
they were Cellus, TB, and Boogie.
Bogie came off the bench and sparked us again.

The refs called their usual ticky stuff on POB and when Paul Miller climbed over Patrick's back several times, he got away with it.
But the perimiter defense was awesome.
Ogirri shot well, but guys like Kyle Wilson and Couisnard never got a decent look.
Every time BU was down a point or 5 points, it seemed like nobody was a bit shaky.
Now we know our guys can play, and it's just a matter of time until they put on a run.

[tornado]

By the way, I found an open computer terminal in the lobby of our hotel, and while everyone else is out on the town, I am here watching the SIU-UNI game and posting on BU!!

(by the way, we heard about the time the game began that the Illini won, now we're pulling for Purdue!)

Also, I see Charlie Spoonhaur is working with the broadcast team today!

Cellus with 17 pts, 14 rebounds!!!!
Couisnard and Wilson were a combined 0-15!!!!!!!

Every game in the tourney so far has been a hard fought defensive battle with low scoring and low shooting pct.
To a casual observer, it would appear that maybe the Valley is not as good as ranked.
But I think it is because of the pressure, the defense, and the pac that these games are being played.
This is exactly what the Valley needs so that its teams will be ready to face their opponents in the post season.

My player of the game was Cellus.
He is definitely their team leader.
But an honorable mention today goes to Brandyn Heemskerk, who played perhaps the most valuable few minutes.