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Butler 83 - Bradley 64 -- postgame thread

I thought the first 12 miutes we played great defense and were getting good shots but just could not make the shots that we normally make;the 2nd half Butler was able to do anything they wanted to on offense as they made a huge number of layups on backdoor cuts which in turn got their 3 point shooters more open looks; had we played offensively in the 1st half like we did in the 2nd half we might of had a chance.
 
Pa-the-tic

Poor everything. Poor adaptation. Not showing depth. Rushed shots. Earlier in the season I would say "they just need to adjust". Well this period is over. Start producing. We seem to have the same problems and none of them are getting any better.


The refs....oy....they didnt help either.
 
I agree with both real fan and guinness. Early in the game, we looked pretty good defensively. Later, we were pathetic. This team is consistently inconsistent. Plus,

Our guards were a non-factor.
When our defense was bad, it was really bad.
We're 11 games in and Collins hasn't progressed like we thought.

We better start playing a consistent game night in and night out, or it will be a long conference season...
 
MacabreMob said:
BU gets a BUMP from LOSING....

at RealTimeRPI.com... BU went from 54 RPI to 50 and SOS of 56 to 29!
Click to expand...

That's good to hear. I figured that would happen considering how good Butler is. Also important to remember is that a team is usually not as good as they are on their best night, just as they are usually not as bad as they are on their worst night. In other words, I think we will be okay with some home cooking against VCU this weekend.
 
In my opinion Bradley was in this game until the refs took them out of it. Being at the game, I noticed that one ref looked eerily familiar, he was one of the referees from the first game at UIC, Steve Skiles. Sometimes it seems like he enjoys calling things against Bradley by the smirk on his face when a player tries to talk to him after. As bad as Bradley played at times, I can't help but think that it would have been a completely different game if the refs had let them play instead of calling tic-tac fouls. Even if they called the tic-tac fouls, call them against Butler too when the game was close. It burns me up when you see makeup calls after its a 15 to 20 point game. Making a couple of those foul calls against Ruffin changed the whole dynamic of the game because IMO he was doing a stellar job in locking up AJ Graves. I guess we'll never know. That being said Bradley still had their chances and failed to execute. I guess sometimes you have to play better to compensate for bad calls and when you don't, you getted whooped!
 
I was at the game with O&B. Great venue for a game and enjoyed the atmosphere tremendously.

Here are some of my observations / take-aways in no particular order. Unfortunately, after a 19 point loss, the comments tend to be mostly negative.
  • Bradley failed to seize the opportunity presented early in the game when Butler was missing their shots .. If Bradley had been able to hit some of their open shots and layups in the first 5-6 minutes, they could have easily opened up an 8-10 point lead and been in position to control the tempo of the game. That said, Butler is a better team and would probably have won even if Bradley had jumped to an early lead.
  • Bradley's lack of an inside game is hard to watch. I'm all for players earning their playing time in practice, but I'm frustrated by not having Austin on the floor because he looks like he could be a missing piece to the puzzle that is this year's team. He played the last 90 seconds of tonight's game. I wish JL would play him more minutes at a meaningful time of the game so that we could get a better look at this kid. I'm hoping that the failure to develop DC and RA is not reflective of the coaching staff's capability.
  • It doesn't look like JL has a handle on what combinations of players play best together. His small ball lineup in the second half gave up a ton of layups and didn't get hardly any offensive rebounds. This team will fight and claw when they get behind, but they do it with frenetic effort as opposed to running a disciplined offensive scheme.
  • Without an inside game, the team needs to shoot 3's with the same level of success as last year ... it's not happening
  • JL's decision to get Teed up after the blown offensive charge call on JC in the first half was crazy. After Butler made the two FTs, we were down 12, Butler had the ball and the home crowd was into the game. I think the T deflated our guys and got the Butler crowd riled up ... Butler goes on to build a 15 point half time lead.
  • On the good side, Cole-Scott can get to the rim. This team needs a reliable scorer, maybe Cole-Scott can fill the need.
 
Ok, so has any reporters asked Les why DC is getting yanked so quick and not given a 2nd chance in a game? Almost every game, DC is ridin the pine after making 1 or 2 mental mistakes. He's a newcomer to the team, he's going to make mistakes and has to play thru them. Tonight he played 2 minutes and picked up 2 quick fouls. First one was a traditional hit the hand on a close shot and the 2nd was a coming over to help another teammate down low and picked up the foul from behind. I mean, were losing by 20 points in the 2nd half, at least give Collins another chance to make amends. Picking up another foul or 2 isn't going to matter a whole lot. I can see if he was doing that every game but he usually stays out of foul trouble. Plus, our 3's weren't falling, while Salley and Singh were building a house with there close chip shots. Those are easy throw ins for DC. Remember, hes only missed 1 or less shots in 8 of the 11 games. As much as we can blame Ruffin with his wild shots and Crouch not creating his own shot, I think a lot of blame needs to go on Les for not allowing DC to play thru his struggles and be a bigger piece to our puzzle later in the season. I'm sure our defense couldn't of been much worse with DC in there, probably would of been better.

Jason
 
My thoughts on the game, the Refs sucked big time. Something like a 14 FT advantage for Butler at the half and an overall -10 on team fouls for Bradley. Many had mentioned Bradleys good D the first 10 minutes of the game, well guess why it sucked after that, the Refs got whistle happy on us. Can't play tough man to man when your in foul trouble. However, no excuse for our eye popping 16% three point shooting. Some of it could of been good Butler D but a lot of them were normal open shots. Highly doubt that will happen again this season. Lets get back home, schools out for a month and the team can concentrate solely on basketball.

Jason
 
I just got back from Butler, and here's my take (a lot of repeat, but humor me)...

First, if you get a chance, go see a game at Hinkle. It's got such a pure basketball feel to it, it's eerie in a good way. It is a true gem and Butler is lucky to have such a great place to play.

Anyways, onto the game.

-I will very rarely, if ever blame officials for a loss. I won't tonight either. But, with about 5 minutes left in the 1st half, the game was 15-15. After that point, I don't think I have never seen such bad officiating. When it was all said and done, it was a 19-4 run that included 2 charges, Ruffin's 3rd foul, and a technical foul. BU didn't do as much as they could to stop the bleeding, but keep in mind that they had 2 baskets taken away on phantom charges, and had over twice as many fouls called against them as the home team. Those fouls equated to 14 points on FT's. Add that to the 4 points we lost on charges, and you've all of the 15 point halftime bulge and then some. Against one of the nation's top teams, the game is as good as over. We certainly didn't capitalize on some 1st half opportunities, but nothing burns me more than the officials taking over the game. It was absolutely awful.

-I am glad someone mentioned the lack of a post presence. Not having anyone that commands any inkling of interior defense is really making life tough on guys like Ruffin, Warren, and especially JC. Even as limited as Zach Andrews was offensively, he at least was capable enough to get respect that opened up things for DR, WF, JC, DA, and even JJ. Salley is worthless offensively, Sam fouls too much and can't seem to finish anymore, Collins doesn't get enough time, and Austin is nowhere to be found. Egolf is 6'9" but we use him like he's 6'4", and he plays like it. I like the run-and-gun 4 guard attack as much as anyone, but one of the keys to the 4 guard attack is post player that can score. The only guy who's remotely close to being that guy is Collins, and he doesn't play (I would add that I didn't have that much of a problem with DC's lack of minutes tonight, as Butler's style is just not conducive to him logging major time).

-Tyrone Cole-Scott by far played his best game of the season. I still don't like his perimeter shot (way too much motion, way too mechanical, not fluid enough), but he is our quickest player by far and can get to the rim. Hopefully this will be the confidence builder he needs. He's a talented player.

-Butler is every bit as good as Vanderbilt and Michigan St. They are better than any team in the Valley, and I think they could beat any team in America in their building. I don't see them losing more than 2-3 more games all year. IMO they're a top 4 seed in the NCAA's. AJ Graves is an all-american, and would be the best player in the MVC if they played there.

-Call me crazy, but I feel a lot better about our chances of winning the league and making the NCAA's this year than I did 2 weeks ago. As bad as things are going at times, this team never, ever quits. I wish the defense was a little more consistent because quite frankly - when we defend, we win. That's all there is to it. IMO, we shouldn't lose another home game this year, and should be able to win 4 or 5 league road games if we defend like we're capable of. That puts us at about 22 regular season wins heading to St. Louis. With 1 win there, and our phenomenal non-conference SOS, I think we're dancing.

-All that being said, I personally think that this mix of guys is 1 year away from being all that it could. Unfortunately we will never see what it 'could' be, because DR and JC will be gone. If we could ever put 2 halves together we'd be a top 25 team, but with the large amount of youth and inexperience we have, we're probably going to be a fringe NCAA team all season. It is what it is. I think the talk of this being the most talented team during this regime was a bit premature. It perhaps has the chance to be that, but at the present time it's not.

I've rambled enough. Saturday is a must. Let's get it done.
 
BB. Good comments.

Refs - this game got me wondering how much have the MVC's refs actually hurt the league? It seems that the Refs usually dictate a slower game, plus keep taking teams out of games...

Talent - It certainly does not feel like the most talented class. and we have certainly had more first year players with better contributions. I am still holding hope for the SM, WE and AT combo in 2-3 years. If WE develops into a 6-9 slasher and AT develops into a regular post player we have the missing pieces from this year's team.
 
ButlerFan said:
The officiating was horrible, but it was horrible for both teams.
Click to expand...

Agreed. It seemed like at the onset of the 2nd half, one of the officials made it a point to try and 'even things up' foul-wise, especially with the quick T on Roberts. But, the official who was whistle-happy in the 1st half stepped in with a couple of offensive foul calls on BU that took care of whatever 'evening' was going on. Butler was the better team, no doubt. I just would have liked to taken the officials out of the equation and see if we could have given the Bulldogs a better game.
 
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