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Back from the Red - White Scrimmage

Just to be clear, I wasn't meaning to rip people for having negative perceptions of last night. Everyone is certainly welcome to interpret things as they wish. That's what makes our forum great!

I would hope, though, that if BU comes out in the next 2 exhibition games with a solid 8-10 man rotation, and Collins goes for 10 pts and 15 rebs, Austin for 8 pts and 7 rebs, Cole-Scott for 10 pts, Sam for 6 pts and 5 dimes, and BU wins by 30, that perhaps the perception may change a bit.

Like any other sport, the goal of the preseason is to get into shape, sort out any open spots in the rotation, get the new guys acclimated, and most importantly, get through healthy. BU is hopefully on their way to accomplishing these goals.
 
Dallas Brave said:
I was expecting to watch the film on bubraves.com this morning, but it wasn't taped as it has been in last years. That is inexecusable. Fans outside the Peoria-area rely upon this - very disappointing.
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DB...From what I heard, JL did not want the scrimmage "broadcast" so that coaches of future opponents could not get an early look at the Braves. I'm not sure how much truth their is to this but that is what I heard. Can anyone else confirm?

As far as the scrimmage.....IMO it's a glorified practice played in front of a crowd. The players are still playing against each other. They know each others moves, the plays, the offense and defense. I don't think you can make any accurate judgement until they play other teams. We will know alot more after the next two exhibition games.

GO BRAVES!
 
Chucky T's said:
DB...From what I heard, JL did not want the scrimmage "broadcast" so that coaches of future opponents could not get an early look at the Braves. I'm not sure how much truth their is to this but that is what I heard. Can anyone else confirm?
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Don't expect any exhibition games to be broadcast on BUBraves.tv in the Les era for this exact reason. I agree with it 100%. There's a reason Jim Les is 5-0 in season opening games.
 
The lack of sharpness should not come as a surprise. We were able to beat some good teams early in the year the last two years because we did not have a lot of newcomers and were sharp early on.

I have felt that this may only be a .500 team by the time Valley play starts because we will be working out the kinks and the players learning their roles. That said, I also think that this team will improve with each game and has the potential to win both the Valley regular season and Valley Tournament. I expect this team to again have 20+ wins and make the NCAA Tournament.

Be patient Bradleyfans:)
 
dogsrus said:
Can GOOD reports also be a rush to judgement.....if some see negatives and others see positives who's rushing to judgement?

IF all reports were glowing would we be hearing the same "reprimands" ?
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Of course GOOD reports can also be a rush to judgement! I have not meant to "reprimand" anyone, only stating that I am personally holding judgement until I see this team with five players on the court playing against another team. Don't get me wrong, I was not overly pleased with the bigs either, but then again Thornton and Phillips played as many minutes as Collins and Austin. I'd venture to say this team will not even be close to a .500 team if that holds true once the season starts. So, yes, if things don't change once we play another team.....I'll be extremely worried.
 
Some other observations I had last night with some of the players and overall -

Will Egolf - Didn't like his body language. He's supremely talented, perhaps the most talented and versatile big man we have had in a long, long time. He seemed very non-chalant a lot of the time, and unsure of himself with the basketball. Seemed to hang his head very easily. Typical freshman awakenings? Perhaps. I just worry when kids come from that far from home. Cam Rigby immediately comes to mind. If Will gets some fire in him, and learns what it takes to succeed at this level, he's an all-league talent that can play at the next level. If he doesn't, he could frustrate. Again, hopefully (and probably) just freshman growing pains.

Tyrone Cole-Scott - With all due respect to the game Daniel Ruffin had, TCS was a few rolls on the rim away from stealing the show on opening night. He's got great strength, great quickness, and great explosiveness around the rim. I really look forward to seeing him tandem with DR and seeing TCS get some open looks from the perimeter. He looks like a Will Franklin clone, but with more athleticism and explosiveness. His JUCO numbers suggest he'll be able to shoot the 3, and I look forward to seeing that. He will be a very hard person to keep out of the lineup if he can shoot the 3 and grasp the defensive end of the court.

Anthony Thompson - The numbers may not suggest anything out of the ordinary, but I really liked what I saw from AT. He moves effortlessly up and down the court, has very good hands, moves smoothly around the basket, and has decent form (for a lefty). He really is about 30-40 lbs from being a factor inside, which is why I wouldn't waste of year of his talent on this season. Redshirt the kid, and explain to him how much more valuable his 5th year will be than this year will be (and then point to Dan Ruffin as to why).

Andrew Warren - He has definitely put on the weight that we all wanted to see him put on. That's a good thing. But I don't get the feeling that he's grown at the rate that we wanted him to at this point. I expected him to play more like a veteran last night, to be more assertive, more aggressive. He still played passively like a freshman. I'm not even talking about the 0-5 from the field necessarily. He didn't go to the rim hard, and when he did get to the rim, he was shortarming things like he was afraid to take a hit or finish with authority. He's one of the more experience guys on the roster. He needs to act like it, show some fire, show no fear. Hopefully he will.

Big men - Don't expect this team to go back to the offense we ran with POB and Sommerville just because we have some beef this year. I think it was Tornado or DC that described our new bigs as being similar to Zach Andrews in that they're big, athletic, can finish, and can score around the basket. But, they are not true offensive post threats, and will rarely be the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd option offensively. This is entirely true. These guys are there to defend, rebound, and get the ball to our superior guards. They are certainly physically capable of doing that. If they can defend and rebound, we will be very, very good.

Potential lineup - Very, very hard to say right now. I think you can pencil in Ruffin, JC, and Salley for sure, and probably Collins and be safe. That last starting spot is such a mystery. There are so many directions it could go. My early favorite would be Cole-Scott, giving us superior perimeter quickness and ball pressure, to go with our legitimate beef down low. I don't see Sam getting the nod over TCS, but rather spelling both TCS and Ruffin keeping 2 superior ballhandlers on the floor at all times. I think Warren is going to have to do a lot to overtake TCS for that spot. If Warren does get the nod (along with the other 4 named), we would have quite an imposing starting lineup (6'5", 6'5", 6'7", 7'0"). We would sacrifice some perimeter quickness and ball pressure though, which is why I think TCS is the way to go.

Anyways, just some thoughts on a few guys from last night. By this time next week, everything I just wrote could be the stuff of high comedy. Time will tell.
 
I agree with most of what BradleyBrave had to say, though I didn't notice anything about Will Egolf's body langauge in particular. I also agree with his lineup suggestion, I can see the same starting four, but struggle who would be the fifth player. I think throughout the year we could see a LOT of different lineups depending on matchup. I think we'll tend to run with three guards, but I could also see a lineup with Salley at the 3 and Austin at the 4, or Egolf at 3 and Salley at 4.
 
I think a redshirt for A.T. would also be a good thing as he will not get many min. this season; Egolf is a player and because it was just a scrimmage I would not read too much of what he did as too the type of player that he will be this season, thurs. night and sunday afternoon is going to tell us a lot about possible rotations.
 
shaunguth said:
I would have been worried myself if I was out of town and reading some of the reviews last night. However, I do feel there has been a healthy mix of people that have not rushed to judgement as well.
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Would just like to add that I'll be in such a position Thursday night as I won't be able to make the game. :( I will be looking forward to seeing the reports after everyone's first look at the team in a game situation and I will most definitely be at the game next Sunday!
 
Rumors from a couple of my sources (ok, my ONLY sources) are that TCS will not start because he simply cannot play D. I have heard that its almost as if he doesn't want to. I admit I was very impressed with his speed and ability to penetrate, but if he won't/can't play D I don't want him starting... I think the starting lineup will be the three that are locks, and two of the following three, Collins, Wilson, and Warren. I hope SamM is in there, but I just don't see it happening. Although I still say it's great to have this discussion where it seems there are 5 people legitimately fighting for 2 of our starting spots.

BTW I also thought Ryan Thornton looked liked he could be a definite contributor in years to come. He had height, a shot and seemed to place himself well. I liked it...
 
amckillip said:
Rumors from a couple of my sources (ok, my ONLY sources) are that TCS will not start because he simply cannot play D. I have heard that its almost as if he doesn't want to. I admit I was very impressed with his speed and ability to penetrate, but if he won't/can't play D I don't want him starting... I think the starting lineup will be the three that are locks, and two of the following three, Collins, Wilson, and Warren. I hope SamM is in there, but I just don't see it happening. Although I still say it's great to have this discussion where it seems there are 5 people legitimately fighting for 2 of our starting spots.

BTW I also thought Ryan Thornton looked liked he could be a definite contributor in years to come. He had height, a shot and seemed to place himself well. I liked it...
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If that is indeed true, then TCS will find a lot more of the bench than he wants to. I hope this isn't another David Selby situation, where we have a tremendously gifted offensive player who can't stay on the court because he refuses to play the defensive end of the floor. It's simple - you defend or you don't play.

I would lean against Wilson at this point because he seems to be limited offensively. Starting Salley and Collins limits us offensively and ballhandling-wise, starting Wilson wouldn't necessarily help in that regard IMO.
 
amckillip said:
Rumors from a couple of my sources (ok, my ONLY sources) are that TCS will not start because he simply cannot play D. I have heard that its almost as if he doesn't want to. I admit I was very impressed with his speed and ability to penetrate, but if he won't/can't play D I don't want him starting.
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If only he'd be willing to play like this all the time:

maniscalcotcs.jpg
 
I agree fish.............TCS really looked good on both O and D Friday night! To me he was the most atheletic player on the court....at least for the red/white...........much quicker than advertised! There was nothing wrong with his D!:confused:
 
Here's an idea of how false the impressions can be from such a scrimmage....
from one of the opponents that Bradley will face this year........

Butler held their intrasquad scrimmage Saturday night as well......(about 800-1000 in attendance)

they played two squads against each other, "Blue" vs. "White".

One squad the "White", had pre-season All American & Preseason Horizon League POY AJ Graves, Will Veasley, Zach Hahn, Drew Streicher, Elliot Englemann, Avery Jukes, and Alex Anglin (all experienced and returning players.)
the "Blue" had Mike Green, Matt Howard (freshman) , Shawn Vanzant (freshman), Julian Betco, Pete Campbell, Grant Leinendecker, Nick Rodgers, and Ben Slaton (all the freshmen, new players, most of the current inexperienced players - including the two-Rodgers & Slaton-who played in the fewest games, and one starting guard - Green.)

The two teams went at it full tilt for 30 minutes (two 15-minute halves).
The shooting was atrocious, even AJ Graves was only 3-12 from long range, and and the cumulative 3-pt shooting for both teams was 7-32, and overall shooting pct. was in the 30's.
The fans on the Butler board were mostly unimpressed and said so in their discussion just like our people did.
In the end, Blue won 48-36, with AJ Graves getting only 13 points on 5-for-19 shooting overall, and his more experienced team losing by 12, and scoring only 36 points in 30 minutes.
Every player who played was a scholarship player, there were no walk-ons, and the main players like Graves and Green went most of the full way.

so same thing as we saw...it wasn't always pretty....but the explanation seen in the next morning's newpaper account was...
"the defense is a little ahead of the offense at this point".
(sound familiar?)



Todd Lickliter's new team, Iowa, also had their scrimmage last night, their Black - Gold game....way less than 2000 in attendance!
Again...shooting was bad....Black was 4-14 from 3-pt, and Gold was 6-20 (a combined 10-34, 30%)
and they played a full 40 minutes, final score 51-49!!...and the box score shows that the starters went
almost the full way on both squads...as they played the thing for real, as a real preseason competetive game....
they had been told by the coach that playing time "was at stake"...
(highly touted transfer Cyrus Tate had only 3 pts in 40 minutes, highly touted incoming freshman Jake Kelly had 4 pts on 1-8 in 40 minutes)


Here's how empty the place was:

489888.jpg
 
JL preaches D and as much as we shoot the 3 he loves fast break easy points. The players hopefully will buy into JL's system. The D not the O will dictate how good we are. So tell me overalll did we play decent D in the scrimmage because D is alll about desire.
 
SanFranciscoPete said:
JL preaches D and as much as we shoot the 3 he loves fast break easy points. The players hopefully will buy into JL's system. The D not the O will dictate how good we are. So tell me overalll did we play decent D in the scrimmage because D is alll about desire.
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I'm no expert, but it did not seem that an offence could run wherever they wanted. (Still a lot of the perimeter guard weave trying to find an opening)
In last year's Red-white there were a bunch of little guards throwing up junk in the lanes. They did not do that this year (the differene a 7 footer makes..)
The JC shot attempts I remember were well guarded. JC was running into position and had a split second to catch set and shoot..
D certainly contributed to O problems
 
ph said:
I'm no expert, but it did not seem that an offence could run wherever they wanted. (Still a lot of the perimeter guard weave trying to find an opening)
In last year's Red-white there were a bunch of little guards throwing up junk in the lanes. They did not do that this year (the differene a 7 footer makes..)
The JC shot attempts I remember were well guarded. JC was running into position and had a split second to catch set and shoot..
D certainly contributed to O problems
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The defense seemed to be very much in-your-face. Hopefully, that holds true all season long!
 
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