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Final score: Northern Iowa 74 Bradley 63

I don’t understand the commitment to Hardtke and Meta today. I’m sure they work very hard. Hardtke is a non factor on offense. Meta has cost the team big time on defense and with rebounding in the middle of a run. I’m sure he’s sending a message to Burch and Atlason, but at the cost of the game? And Hardtke just gives up a three.

At one point the lineup out there had one guard with the other four being Davis, Leons, Hannah, Meta….I know Brian is frustrated as we all our, but overreacting and putting us at a disadvantage won’t help.
 
BUfan14 said:
I don’t understand the commitment to Hardke and Meta today. I’m sure they work very hard. Hardke is a non factor on offense. Meta has cost the team big time on defense and with rebounding in the middle of a run. I’m sure he’s sending a message to Burch and Atlason, but at the cost of the game?
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Agree....not impressed with the coaching decisions today....call me what you want but this is not the time for learning punishment....:mad::mad::mad:
 
Just a poor effort from the players at the beginning and in my opinion this was the worst coached game of the year too. Think of this, we had two banked threes and a fall away buzzer beater three from Leons to make it as close as it was.

The offensive plan early was awful and wasn’t adjusted until halftime. The effort from the players was awful and lethargic early. Deen didn’t have it at all tonight. Leons was a no show in half one, and as I posted before, we didn’t get going until he decided to show up.

As I said in my last post, Brian’s frustration/sub patterns, while understandable, cost us many points tonight during our runs. Meta cannot play defense or rebound and he hasn’t even been hitting layups. Why is he in during crucial minutes? Are Atlason’s and Thomas’s efforts that bad we have to send a message by putting us in a poor spot during a run? Also, I would have left Leons in with four fouls. Why not at that point, it’s a critical stretch.

One kudos to give out…I thought Christian Davis did so many little things in half two, from good rebounding position, passing, defense to put us in position to come back. Now he needs to start hitting threes again.
 
Man! What a disappointing loss. Didn’t even show up today and why Burch didn’t get any time on the court today is bewildering to me. We could be headed toward a Thursday matchup if we don’t figure this out real quick.
 
UNI dominated the 1st half, building as much as a 21 point lead, on their was to a 44-26 halftime lead. Bradley played better in the 2nd half, and cut the lead to 4 points, 55-51 with a little over 9 minutes left. But they couldn't get any closer, as fatigue appeared to set in. The starters all played heavy minutes, and Bradley got almost nothing from the bench this game. The only bench points were 2 free throws by Ahmet Jonovic in the first half.
Bradley appeared sluggish in the final minutes, and many of their shots were short, as UNI holds their lead and wins 74-63. Bradley outscored UNI 37-30, and held UNI to 5-22 (22.7%) shooting in the 2nd half. But, the 18 point 1st half deficit is what cost Bradley the game.
Stats- https://unipanthers.com/sidearmstats/mbball/media
Hickman leads Bradley with 22 points. The final stats were not that much different, except UNI shot a little better (39% to 36%), and they made a few more threes (10-24 to 7-28 ). Bradley needs to find a way to get more from their bench, and get the starters a little more rest. It doesn't get any easier down the stretch, and the tournament will tax the players strength and endurance even more.
 
Never quite sure which group of guys are going to show up this year. Didn't see any fire or intensity on the first half. Amd honestly even during a big run in the second half I didn't see them wanting it enough. Disappointing loss. We are going to most likely lose the drake game so with things getting tight we may need to win all 3 other games to stay out of Thursday.

They kept talking about Darius not being completely healthy. I'm wondering if maybe multiple other guys were battling an illness as well. Looked tired...and soft....and indifferent. It was a bad look. When teams are very physical with our guards and extend their defense way out we really struggle.
 
Why are Meta and Hardtke even playing because the answer is a huge amount of recruiting mistakes. The other thing is I guess Thomas, Atlason and Burch in his dog house for whatever reasons. This continues we will be losing more players after the season because of the circumstances of his punishing players. The rebound where UNI got 3 chances was because Meta had 0 idea where the ball was, Thomas was getting those type of boards. My opinion is coach has lost this team by his high expectations, nobody is perfect. Freshman will make mistakes and you have to live with them. I wish coach would at least say he has made mistakes in preparation.
 
I am pretty sure they have decided to redshirt Thomas. It's obvious metta can't play. Total rollercoaster due to a coach that panics early in game. How can atlason and Burch ever feel comfortable on this team. I've tried to support wardle over the years but I agree with earlier post that he coached a horrible game. Yanking these guys early and often is destroying this team mentally. Why even start Hannah if you are going to yank him at 17:00 every game. Did that to zeke last year and he is at Rhode island.
 
Bballjunkie said:
I am pretty sure they have decided to redshirt Thomas. It's obvious metta can't play. Total rollercoaster due to a coach that panics early in game. How can atlason and Burch ever feel comfortable on this team. I've tried to support wardle over the years but I agree with earlier post that he coached a horrible game. Yanking these guys early and often is destroying this team mentally. Why even start Hannah if you are going to yank him at 17:00 every game. Did that to zeke last year and he is at Rhode island.
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Thomas cannot redshirt because he played in games after the dead line.
 
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