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BU- Missouri State Postgame

Tonight was an absolute joke. Ya we won, but wow ... I can't believe that Matt Salley continues to get so many minutes. He is absolutely basketball dumb. That's not to say that he's not trying or doesn't want to win, but he just doesn't get it, I wish Sam S. was getting his minutes. If we play like we did tonight at ISU on Saturday we're gonna get crushed, end of story.
 
Beating Missouri State is a good win ;
I thought we played soft the last 15 minutes of the game because we had such a good lead.
M.Salley has got to control his temper ; M.State was giving us a lot of hard fouls and the refs were once again terrible as they lost control of the game and were constantly asking each other about what to call.
I don"t think our defense was as bad as some think as MO.State was throwing in deep 3 pointers and we were never in jeopardy of losing this game .
W. Knapp cannot shoot freethrows so we are lucky he made the choice to go there.
By playing zone we were able to save our legs so hopefully it will show on sat. night ;
 
Got the halftime score text right as I was hitting the sack last night....was quite impressed and felt pretty good. Then I got up this morning and saw the final and was like, what the heck happened in the 2nd half? After reading this thread, apparently, there again was some "experimenting" going on that provided the difference in the halves.

As far as some of the comments in the thread:

There is a definitite difference between playing aggressive and playing stupid. Apparently, Salley's T (again) was an example of the latter, not the former. You can play aggressive without playing stupid, it's a matter of self-control and temperament (or knowing when you can get away with something and won't get caught. Kids, don't pay attention to this one).

As much as the 2nd half apparently stunk, perhaps Coach Les used the opportunity to "practice" or "evaluate" some different lineups, defenses, plays, etc. It's one thing to do that in practice against guys who know what's going on and everybody's strengths and weaknesses, but against a real opponent, you can get a better feel for the effectiveness of your theories. In fact, this might turn into a new question for the coach.....anyways, if this was the intention, I'm OK with that.

As far as the "we won, who cares/why so critical" (general quotes, not specific) opinion, that attitude stinks. If you do not remain critical of every performance and take a real evaluation of the performance, you are doing yourself a disservice. Just because you "won" doesn't mean that everything was perfect or excellent. There are always things that can be re-evaluated and improved. There's nothing "doom and gloom" about it to be critical of a performace, even after a win.
 
Really we didn't play that well inthe first half at all. We had some spurts where we did well but overall this was not a good game.And we allow 52 in the second half..so overall not very impressive

First half we shoot lees than 30% and had 12 turnovers...luckily MSU shoots 26% with 16 tiurnovers...we shoot 15-16 from the line to take the comanding lead. I'm glad MSU had to bus up Wed. afternoon or maybe they would have gotten off to better start.
If we play like this at ISU we will get blown out....however I doubt that we do...

As far as Hinson goes, I'm inclined to agree with DC on this. I like Barry and sure like his lunceon talks but he could have a real toughtime next year. I still think he's a good coach and will get a decent job if he leaves MSU
 
Something else somes to mind after watching tonite. We have a real hard time guarding the 6'4-6'5 physical player not enough strength from JC or even TW and AW and too quick for the bigs...teams go after us inside if they have a player like that. That was where JJ was so effective and we don't have some that physical at a guard spot...AW is trying and next year maybe he will improve there
 
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Reply

real fan said:
Beating Missouri State is a good win ;
I thought we played soft the last 15 minutes of the game because we had such a good lead.
M.Salley has got to control his temper ; M.State was giving us a lot of hard fouls and the refs were once again terrible as they lost control of the game and were constantly asking each other about what to call.
I don"t think our defense was as bad as some think as MO.State was throwing in deep 3 pointers and we were never in jeopardy of losing this game .
W. Knapp cannot shoot freethrows so we are lucky he made the choice to go there.
By playing zone we were able to save our legs so hopefully it will show on sat. night ;
Click to expand...

Finally, a sensible evaluation of the game. We did play soft and for good reasons. Saving legs for Sat was one of them. Show me a team with a 29 point early lead and I'll show you a team who unconsiously and not on purpose, will have an intensity level lowering. It happens all the time on every level.
These last two may be a stretch, but JL may have been trying to put as little on the game tape as possible, and maybe in the back of his mind, he knew Barry didn;t need a 29 point shellacking right now.
We were never in danger of losing that game.
 
MacabreMob said:
Dude - were you like sitting right next to me? Cause I mighta been about 30 ft away too.

Anyway... Looked like MS threw an extra elbow in the chest AFTER he got the T. So he got two in for the price of one.
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Seems like some gripe because we have players who are too passive, then others gripe when we win a game and a few flares of fiery behavior by players.
I'll take the latter every time.........There is a good reason MS is getting the playing time and passive players are not.
 
onetuffshot said:
Finally, a sensible evaluation of the game. We did play soft and for good reasons. Saving legs for Sat was one of them. Show me a team with a 29 point early lead and I'll show you a team who unconsiously and not on purpose, will have an intensity level lowering. It happens all the time on every level.
These last two may be a stretch, but JL may have been trying to put as little on the game tape as possible, and maybe in the back of his mind, he knew Barry didn;t need a 29 point shellacking right now.
We were never in danger of losing that game.
Click to expand...

Saving our legs isnt having 4 of your 5 starters playing 33, 34, 35 and 37 minutes. Saving legs is not playing in the last 10 to 8 minutes of the game. But whatever, we won the game and in winning the game our coach has so much compassion for another coach that he wouldnt take a 29 point win instead thought, even in the back of his mind, that it would be better for the other team and coach that they didnt lose by a lot of points.

Sorry but neither statements make any sense, but it was a win and 6 straight but we better play a whole lot better in the next 2 road games or we will quickly get ourselves back to .500 and knocking back on the play in door.
 
Guys........

We are as hot as any team in the Valley...
Nobody is looking forward to facing Bradley
We've won six in a row, 7 of 8, and gone from battling for last place to battling for 2nd place in the Valley.
NOBODY, I mean NOBODY even two weeks ago would have dreamed we'd be playing our next game for a shot at sole possession of the #2 seed!!
Give a little credit where due..........

I would love to see some of the fans say a few positive things, and yet the board is filled with bellyaching again this morning.
I have a suggestion for those who don't want to watch Bradley play any more...
if you have lower bowl tickets, give them to me, as I can put them to good use...........just PM me.........

Meanwhile, CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Les and the Braves for another win with several players and coaches weakened by the flu.......
The vast majority of the fans love you guys and think you're doing great!!!!!
 
tornado said:
I would love to see some of the fans say a few positive things, and yet the board is filled with bellyaching again this morning.
I have a suggestion for those who don't want to watch Bradley play any more...
if you have lower bowl tickets, give them to me, as I can put them to good use...........just PM me.........
Click to expand...


Where is anyone saying that they want to give up their season tickets or not watch BU play anymore?:rolleyes:
A win is a win...and this team is stringing wins together and putting themselves in a great position to play somewhere in the postseason...and that is a great thing...
However, voicing concern over Matt Salley's continued inability to control his emotions, being bothered by the fact that this team gave up 50+ points in less than a half against an overmatched MSU team, having worries that this type of overall performance might not good enough to win at ISU, Drake, Creighton, etc...those are all perfectly understandable concerns and opinions to have right now...and voicing those concerns certainly does not mean that someone hates this team or "doesn't want to watch Bradley play anymore".
I'm happy that this team is winning, but at the same time, I'm hopeful that they can play even better and smarter as we move into the toughest stretch of our Valley season. KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE!!!
 
While I agree some have been over critical about the game last night, I don't have a problem with being critical about a game or team. You can over do it, but just because you win a game does not mean you have to be satisfied. As a coach, some of the harshest tongue lashings my teams have received, have come after a win.

I agree with what JL said about it being hard to maintain your intensity when you are up 29-30 points 2 mins into the second half. I mentioned it to my brother as the game was going on. I wouldn't have been as upset about if different lineups were being used or some of the deep bench guys were the ones letting the lead slip away. Iam sure that the 2nd half will be addressed in preparation for the remainder of the season. We have put ourselves in position to finish strong, and playing the way we did in the last 15 mins. was not what got us into that position.

GO BU!!!
 
The 2nd half didn't bother me. When BU was up 29, I was hoping to see DC get some extra time in the second half. He didn't ... and that doesn't bother me anymore either. :D Go Braves!
 
tornado said:
Seems like some gripe because we have players who are too passive, then others gripe when we win a game and a few flares of fiery behavior by players.
I'll take the latter every time.........There is a good reason MS is getting the playing time and passive players are not.
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"Fiery behavior" shouldn't have to include forearm shoves and trash talking other players that earn you technical fouls.
 
BU RICK said:
I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE. Aggresive play is what I want to see. I'm not talking about fists or elbows to the head - no. Getting a T for a forearm to chest or back?, I guess that's the refs call, right or wrong. Basketball is a physical game, so keep playing the same way Matt.

I'm a Bradley fan 1st and an Illini fan 2nd. If any of you remember the Illinois vs UNC NCAA championship game you will remember Shawn May knocking over player after player to get to the basket, and no fouls were called?? Illinois got screwed big time in that game by the refs not making the obvious calls. Illinois should have been the NCAA Champion.

Keep playing the same way Matt!
Click to expand...
I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU LESS.
Being aggressive...in terms of: going hard after rebounds, committing hard fouls to stop easy scores, diving on the floor for loose balls...those are all examples a smart, physical, aggressive play....and I don't have a problem with Salley or any other Brave being aggressive in those forms. There are a million ways to be physical in the game of basketball that don't result in technical fouls that selfishly hurt your team.
Getting T'd up because you think it's really cool to stand over a guy you just fouled and talk smack to him, getting T'd up because you think it "restores your toughness" when you throw a forearm at a guy simply because you were so weak with the ball on a rebound and allowed a 6' guard to take it from you...those are not tough, aggressive, physical plays...those are weak, selfish, immature plays...period.
Salley does play with some fire and that helps him defend and rebound better than any of the other bigs we have...but this whole immature, macho thing that simply won't allow him to avoid stupid technical fouls that hurt this team should not be acceptable from a 22-yr old senior "leader" on this team.
 
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