The real test

[[email protected]]

Upcoming game against Drake will truly show where we are as a team. No doubt this will be a dog fight. Pardon the pun. Let's hope the team goes into this game focused. They are not invincible as two losses attest to that fact. Do not know what staff has in mind as far as strategy going into the game. Just play hard and execute and take our chances. Hope like last night's game we can limit our turnovers. Believe we had under 10 turnovers. We can do that then date I say we can pull this out in Des Moines. As much as I do not like Drake in their position, have to give them kudos for a complete roster turnover and new coach also. Have to believe Drake will be favored in the game, but as they say, tip it up and see what happens. All that being said I will be there in person and shouting like crazy hoping Bradley can pull out a win. "GO BRAVES"

 

[Da Coach]

This is as good a thread as any to post these two images- the current standings and the preseason poll. Note that the two teams who have improved their predicted positions the most are Drake and UIC. Otherwise, the predictions were pretty close.

 

[Tommy]

That is a darn good prediction poll if you take out UIC. Impressive!

 

[LittleBrave]

I gotta say the league is much tougher than I expected, with Drake shocking everyone with basically a full roster and coaching staff turnover, and might be better than last year's squad.

I didn't expect UNI to keep rolling, so they're better than I thought they'd be, and UE is a shade better than most expected as far as competitiveness.

Belmont has lost some head-scratchers recently, but otherwise have been a bit better than expected.

 

[LittleBrave]

Honestly, after watching a few of Drake's games, they are so disciplined that we need to match that on Sunday, and we have not shown to be a very disciplined team. Our 3-point shooting has improved since a lull mid-season, so we have that going for us. I expect a score similar to the 1st meeting in Peoria - in the 60s.

We are not as good as I thought we were after our 2 wins on the road at Murray and Belmont, so this will be a tough one and nobody can have an off game, especially our seniors.

 

[Tommy]

2-3 zone going on-off on the shooter and we will beat them. If we try to go man to man at all, I don't like our odds.

 

[Da Coach]

2-3 zone going on-off on the shooter and we will beat them. If we try to go man to man at all, I don't like our odds.

When Drake beat Bradley in Peoria (64-57), their 5 starters were held to a combined 5-19 shooting and a total of 20 points and 7 rebounds- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25/drake/boxscore/22351
Bradley played a combination of man-to-man and their 2-3 zone.

Bradley did a great job defending their leading scorer, Bennett Stirtz (18.9 ppg).
Stirtz had just 4 free throws and was scoreless from the floor, though he did get 8 assists.
Second leading scorer Mitch Mascari, had 12 points, which is about his season average (11.2 ppg). Mascari got all 12 points on 4-10 shooting from three. The rest of the Drake team was 0-6 from three.
Third leading scorer Daniel Abreu, had just 2 points, and was 0-5 from the floor.
Their other 2 starters combined for 2 points and 2 rebounds.
The guy who hurt Bradley the most was Tavion Banks, a junior college transfer, who came off the bench for 19 points and 7 rebounds.
They got 44 bench points from 4 guys who average a combined 20 points per game.
And the other factors that killed Bradley's chances were 5-20 shooting from three,17 turnovers (Drake had 15 points off those 17 extra possessions), and allowing 34 points in the paint by not being able to defend the pick and roll very well.

Maybe those things can be corrected, and Bradley's superior shooting, skills, and athleticism will lead to a win.

 

[Tommy]

When Drake beat Bradley in Peoria (64-57), their 5 starters were held to a combined 5-19 shooting and a total of 20 points and 7 rebounds- https://bradleybraves.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2024-25/drake/boxscore/22351
Bradley played a combination of man-to-man and their 2-3 zone.

Bradley did a great job defending their leading scorer, Bennett Stirtz (18.9 ppg).
Stirtz had just 4 free throws and was scoreless from the floor, though he did get 8 assists.
Second leading scorer Mitch Mascari, had 12 points, which is about his season average (11.2 ppg). Mascari got all 12 points on 4-10 shooting from three. The rest of the Drake team was 0-6 from three.
Third leading scorer Daniel Abreu, had just 2 points, and was 0-5 from the floor.
Their other 2 starters combined for 2 points and 2 rebounds.
The guy who hurt Bradley the most was Tavion Banks, a junior college transfer, who came off the bench for 19 points and 7 rebounds.
They got 44 bench points from 4 guys who average a combined 20 points per game.
And the other factors that killed Bradley's chances were 5-20 shooting from three,17 turnovers (Drake had 15 points off those 17 extra possessions), and allowing 34 points in the paint by not being able to defend the pick and roll very well.

Maybe those things can be corrected, and Bradley's superior shooting, skills, and athleticism will lead to a win.

That's a pretty good scouting report, Coach. Correct me if I'm wrong, I may have it backwards, but didn't we play mostly 2-3 zone in the 1st half and switched to mostly man in the 2nd? Either way, no excuse for giving up so many points to the bench and our 3 point shooting will have to be better or we'll be looking at another loss!

 

[Da Coach]

That's a pretty good scouting report, Coach. Correct me if I'm wrong, I may have it backwards, but didn't we play mostly 2-3 zone in the 1st half and switched to mostly man in the 2nd? Either way, no excuse for giving up so many points to the bench and our 3 point shooting will have to be better or we'll be looking at another loss!

I think you are right, Tommy. They used predominantly zone early, but when it wasn't working as effectively as the coaches were hoping, I think they did play more man-to-man in the 2nd half.

 

[Da Coach]

The other thing I would like to see Bradley at least try against Drake is something Coach Wardle has shown an aversion to do much of in his 10 seasons at Bradley- a half-court or 3/4 court pressing defense.
Bennett Stirtz is Drake's overall leader and point guard. He plays almost 40 minutes per game, and has averaged over 41 minutes per game over their last 7 games (includes 2 overtime games in which he played all 45 minutes). He is the MVC's leading scorer, and leader in assists. Drake doesn't actually have another true point guard on the team, and they rely heavily on Stirtz to run their offense nearly 40 minutes every game. And, he's not in the top 10 in turnovers, despite having the ball in his hands more than any other MVC player.
He gets to the free throw line a lot and shoots almost 80% there. And, he makes every other player on Drake's team better with his passing and assists. As much as I love Duke, IMO, Stirtz is the MVP of the league for what he does for Drake.
Why not try pressing him, maybe a zone press starting in the back-court, and at times double-team him if necessary, to force the ball out of his hands. Bradley has the depth and quickness to be effective with a full or 3/4 court press. Coach Wardle rarely employs such a defense, so I don't expect to see him play one, but it could make a difference. I do not think Drake has other effective ball-handlers and passers to compete with Bradley if forced to run their offense without Stirtz.

 

[BengalFan14]

I think you are right, Tommy. They used predominantly zone early, but when it wasn't working as effectively as the coaches were hoping, I think they did play more man-to-man in the 2nd half.

Coach had CD on Stirtz much of the game in the second half. The defensive strategy worked on the main guys but we gave up bench points, turnovers and 2nd shots. Clean up 2 of those and we will be fine.

 

[Stryker]

The other thing I would like to see Bradley at least try against Drake is something Coach Wardle has shown an aversion to do much of in his 10 seasons at Bradley- a half-court or 3/4 court pressing defense.
Bennett Stirtz is Drake's overall leader and point guard. He plays almost 40 minutes per game, and has averaged over 41 minutes per game over their last 7 games (includes 2 overtime games in which he played all 45 minutes). He is the MVC's leading scorer, and leader in assists. Drake doesn't actually have another true point guard on the team, and they rely heavily on Stirtz to run their offense nearly 40 minutes every game. And, he's not in the top 10 in turnovers, despite having the ball in his hands more than any other MVC player.
He gets to the free throw line a lot and shoots almost 80% there. And, he makes every other player on Drake's team better with his passing and assists. As much as I love Duke, IMO, Stirtz is the MVP of the league for what he does for Drake.
Why not try pressing him, maybe a zone press starting in the back-court, and at times double-team him if necessary, to force the ball out of his hands. Bradley has the depth and quickness to be effective with a full or 3/4 court press. Coach Wardle rarely employs such a defense, so I don't expect to see him play one, but it could make a difference. I do not think Drake has other effective ball-handlers and passers to compete with Bradley if forced to run their offense without Stirtz.

Wouldn't mind seeing some of this as well depending on the situation and game flow. With the rotation and depth on our team, I would think we could wear them out and our fresh legs could really make a difference.

 

[Tommy]

I agree, Coach. As many minutes as Drake plays their starters, make them work as hard as possible for every second they play!

 

[tomahawk chop]

I like playing zone against them just to save our legs and not chasing them around all night. Mitch is really their only great 3 point shooter so he is the one you cannot give him wide open 3 point shots. We also cannot let them get offensive rebounds and limit our turnovers to 10 or less.

 

[BUFAN1]

I want to see Bully on Stirtz. I think his stealing prowess could really cause some issues.

 

[Dubl R 1]

That's a pretty good scouting report, Coach. Correct me if I'm wrong, I may have it backwards, but didn't we play mostly 2-3 zone in the 1st half and switched to mostly man in the 2nd? Either way, no excuse for giving up so many points to the bench and our 3 point shooting will have to be better or we'll be looking at another loss!

I honestly don't remember us playing much zone at all other than the first 2-3 possessions, and we did get off to a 9 point lead. Don't remember ANY zone in the 2nd half.

The ideal way to defend Drake IMO would be to play man for the first 20 seconds of the shot clock then switch to various zones throughout the game when the shot clock goes under 10...that takes away their bread and butter late in the clock, and if you keep em guessing on the zone switch, maybe that leads to bad possessions as the shot clock winds down. Or if Drake gets frustrated they may try to get a shot up before we switch, which IMO is also in our favor as we speed them up a bit....Also mix in some 3/4 court zone pressure just to keep em off balance.

This obviously requires a significant amount of focus by the team to pull this off, and you need a clear leader on the floor to call out the switches, and you really have to put an effort in to rebound out of those zones....but I think Drake would struggle against this.

I doubt we do that, but if done well it would really give them fits I think. They are so good at breaking you down in the final seconds I would rather dictate where that ball goes and who shoots it by taking away options with a zone, but do it late so they can't probe it for 20 seconds.

 

[egib52]

The other thing I would like to see Bradley at least try against Drake is something Coach Wardle has shown an aversion to do much of in his 10 seasons at Bradley- a half-court or 3/4 court pressing defense.

This is why I believe we give up such high 3 point percentages in some games. If you watch teams that really limit good looks, it is because they are in passing lanes and push the players out towards half court to make clean catches. Now with the Valley refs this could lead to us picking up ridiculous fouls.