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Braves Done
- Thread starter Braveman
- Start date
Disappointing to say the least. I thought as soon as we got down, and they covered Sammy, everyone tried to do it themselves with selfish basketball. Once that happened they got a big lead which played right into their style of wasting time. Effort on the boards was terrible, I can't believe how many times I was screaming for them to put a body on people instead of just all huddling around the hoop.
Rebounding has to get better, missed open layups hurt, and someone other than SM has to be able to step up, plus we need a big guy. All things to work on for next year.
I hope we play in the CBI or CIT just because I want DSE, JE, MK, and AT get a lot of the minutes. Play to get them experience, still try to win, but get them a lot of minutes. Not the year I hoped for, but I still am very excited and optimistic for next year to be great.
Rebounding has to get better, missed open layups hurt, and someone other than SM has to be able to step up, plus we need a big guy. All things to work on for next year.
I hope we play in the CBI or CIT just because I want DSE, JE, MK, and AT get a lot of the minutes. Play to get them experience, still try to win, but get them a lot of minutes. Not the year I hoped for, but I still am very excited and optimistic for next year to be great.
What I'm talking about is our talent is mediocre. Yes, DSE, TB, and JE have some bright spots and can grow to be good players. But let's face it, we need some front court beef to become a true contender for the next few years. We get killed on the boards with teams that have average players in the 4-5 spots.
I strongly disagree that our talent is mediocre except in one spot. The 5 position is well below average right now, because we really don't even have a 5 that plays. Our talent at positions 1-4 is well above mediocre though. We will need a beef guy next year, and then we can be a tremendous team, and even more tremendous if JW happens to come. The 5 spot is killing us right now.
Bradley returns more scoring next year than any team except maybe a couple of the bottom dwellers.
A starting lineup with Sammy, TB, AW, and Will, Dodie Dunson, and maybe another big man recruit, along with Jordan Prosser, DSE, Jake, and AT will dominate this league next year.
UNI is good, but they are not that good. BU should have beaten them twice this year, and the one factor that hurt us today, their size, will be gone next year.
Anyone who thinks Bradley lacks talent to compete in the MVC next year is not paying attention or trying to start up the BU-bashing again.
A starting lineup with Sammy, TB, AW, and Will, Dodie Dunson, and maybe another big man recruit, along with Jordan Prosser, DSE, Jake, and AT will dominate this league next year.
UNI is good, but they are not that good. BU should have beaten them twice this year, and the one factor that hurt us today, their size, will be gone next year.
Anyone who thinks Bradley lacks talent to compete in the MVC next year is not paying attention or trying to start up the BU-bashing again.
Add MK to that list too, who I think will be a lot better next year too. That team alone with a big guy will be really great next year, you happen to land JW with a big and I think we are a top 20-25 team in the country next year. As I said the talent is here, if we can just improve one spot. JP and hopefully a big man recruit can make us great next year.
arabbitwhisperer
New member
I know several good things .....
I know several good things .....
1.} No more "Thank you as we thank them'. PRAISE THE LORD!
2.} No more talk as talk can promos EVERY TIME OUT BREAK taking every one completely out of the game every home game!
3.} No more worthless seat give-aways.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know several good things .....
1.} No more "Thank you as we thank them'. PRAISE THE LORD!
2.} No more talk as talk can promos EVERY TIME OUT BREAK taking every one completely out of the game every home game!
3.} No more worthless seat give-aways.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The overall effort was good in that we held UNI to under 60 points on the defensive end, we had a fair amount of point blank shots, and we even had some good three point attempts. The problem with this team, like you said BUfan14 is that this team panicks when our best players get double teamed. Everyone starts playing for themselves and not gelling as a team. We get good looks, but are so tight that we miss 2 foot layups. Ditto with the three pointers. We had good looks at three's with plenty of time to shoot them, but we just didn't look loose in our shooting stroke. And of course, our Achillie's Heel all year has been the offensive rebounding! I believe this team is well coached, but for some reason some fundementals still seem to be lacking. And that is up to the players to look into themselves to see why they can't finish up easy shots or rebounds.
My philosophy is that we can overcome the lack of a big guy if we play smarter. We had the effort today, but it was not smart effort. We didn't quit today, but instead of relaxing before we attempted these open shots, we rushed them. This team can never seem to finish things off (at least after great games like yesterday's). So unfortunately the end result is a team that puts in a good effort and doesn't quit, but it's not a smart effort, and far from a great team effort that will help them overcome adversity consistently. That "c" word is the key for this team to get better. And yes, UNI is quite good so they deserve all the credit in the world for disrupting Bradley's flow today. But I think there were ways we could have at least kept the game close, but we didn't.
I still believe despite the way this season turned out that these are fixable issues, and that we have the coaching and player personnel to turn things around next year. Next year will definitely be the make or break season for this program, and anything less than a home NIT appearance at the absolute minimum will be unacceptable. But we definitely have the talent to accomplish this, and I think many people will be pleasantly surprised as to how well we will do next year.
Exactly. We as a result of no inside game, we have a very one dimensional offense. When we hit the outside shots, we win. When we don't hit the outside shots, we play like we did today.
Bradley competed with UNI both previous games this season, and all 3 games last year.
This game was more of an aberration. Every bounce seemed to go to UNI, and they were hitting their shots, while Bradley wasn't. I lost count of how many layups and bunnies Bradley missed, and how many of Bradley's passes were right into the hands of a UNI player.
Prediction- Bradley will easily beat UNI 3 times next year.
This game was more of an aberration. Every bounce seemed to go to UNI, and they were hitting their shots, while Bradley wasn't. I lost count of how many layups and bunnies Bradley missed, and how many of Bradley's passes were right into the hands of a UNI player.
Prediction- Bradley will easily beat UNI 3 times next year.
squirrelgotdead
New member
We were blown out by UNI in the semis last year.
Well since Bradley will obviously be a 1 seed
(I really think they could be), In order to beat them 3 times we'd have to meet them in the tourny somewhere...what seed you think they'll be??Exactly. As I said above, the fact that we had so many easy layups and bunnies shows US that the effort was there and also shows us how close we came to making this a good game. Also giving up fewer than 60 points to a great team shows us that this team is buying into Les's defensive philosophy.
I think it's just a case of nerves and some occasional selfish play that does this team in from time to time. Hopefully one more year of experience, better communication and a good summer of conditioning and practice will get this team into position for a great year next year. And I have every reason to believe next season will be great!
TheAsianSensation
New member
We played to our seed. We lost. It's not like UNI is bad.
Time to move onto the CIT. I see us getting invited, although we may not host this time if the hosts are determined on merit.
Time to move onto the CIT. I see us getting invited, although we may not host this time if the hosts are determined on merit.
Braves4Life
New member
Taylor Brown
Taylor Brown
I didn't want to start a new thread for this since it would probably just turn negative but.............
Where was Taylor Brown second half?
Taylor Brown
I didn't want to start a new thread for this since it would probably just turn negative but.............
Where was Taylor Brown second half?
Well since Bradley will obviously be a 1 seed
UNI will be missing 3 of their top guys- Farokhmanesh (9.5 ppg, and their best three point threat), Koch (12 ppg, 5 rpg), and Eglseder (12 ppg, 7.4 rpg). There is also a chance O'Rear doesn't return, because he plans to play pro baseball, and is eligibile and will likely be drafted by MLB this summer.
It's hard to argue that nobody else loses as much as UNI does.
So the lineup they will have left looks like a middle of the pack lineup to me. I'll predict a 5 or 6 seed next March.
LittleBrave
Active member
I hope that BU will feed off of the Creighton game rather than hang their heads on how they performed today.
UNI just makes you look bad. Let's finish the season with a few more wins in the CIT or CBI (hopefully CBI).
Good to see Edge on the court again. Hopefully we can get his confidence back before next season.
UNI just makes you look bad. Let's finish the season with a few more wins in the CIT or CBI (hopefully CBI).
Good to see Edge on the court again. Hopefully we can get his confidence back before next season.