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2023 Red-White Showcase Saturday, Oct. 21, starts at 10:00 am

I’m not a fan of starting three posts or really even playing them at any time together, especially in the Valley. I thought when Leons played the three last year we didn’t look good.

I love the cursive jerseys from last year, but my one complaint is I don’t like light blue as an accent to red, it clashes too much to me. These jerseys, I assume not the actual game ones, lean in even more with the light blue accents. I don’t love the shoulder design, it looks like a practice jersey. I wish we would accent in black or an actual school color in gray.

I’m disappointed to hear Ellis is not a scorer yet. I would have liked one more consistent scorer to go with Hick and hopefully a Leons that looks to score more this year. Deen and Hannah can score at times, but I’m never going to look at them to be the most consistent scorers. And I don’t see any of the other guys being that yet this year (maybe someday a Burch or Atlason?). Good to hear Jonovic can contribute. Even early in the year I can’t imagine 11+ guys all getting a lot of playing time (a couple may get a couple of minutes), so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.
 
Jonovic made several baskets in the lane, but it looked like he got winded a couple times and came out. His height and reach are an asset on defense.
As noted, Connor Hickman shot the ball very well, making several threes. And Duke shot the ball well, to. He is quick and made some nice passes, but also had a couple unforced turnovers. Darius Hannah, as I posted above, looks improved again this year. His defense was very good, and he made some nice offensive moves for baskets. I have heard he is shooting threes in practice, and making a good percentage. Leon was his usual reliable self on offense and defense. It looks like he has worked on creating shots on the move. I still think Jonovic will be the 5th starter, along with Hickman, Deen, Hannah, and Leons.
Pettigrew played well, and made the only three pointer I recall him taking. Ellis also looked good, though didn't look to score much. Thomas hustled, played good defense, and will help in the post. He made the only three he attempted. Davis is improved, his shot looks more confident, and he made a couple threes. The other guys, Biliew, Linke, and Atlason, did not look to score, but appeared to hustle on defense, and could see playing time.

The BU women look like they will play an uptempo style, too. They appear improved and more physical, but they still could use a couple more shooters.

Good assessment coach. My one disagreement would be Atlasan. I thought the speed of the game (we often mention that about foreign players when they first get here) showed at the beginning but he seemed to move better the longer the scrimmage. Had a couple open shots that he passed up and rushed a couple of shots. He made one or two 3's.
Hickman was very impressive. So much stronger then last season. I was impressed with how quick he got his shot off today. If he continues that during the season he will be a difference maker.
I thought Davis looked much improved from last season. Not near as stiff moving and guarded better.
Over all I see as much or more potential in this team then last seasons team.
 
Here is the link to Dave Eminian's report on the Red-White Scrimmage- https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports...al-red-white-scrimmage-in-peoria/71217017007/

The only negative I saw was a lot of turnovers. I'm sure that will get fixed by the regular season. That was because the scrimmage split up Bradley's two best ball handlers, Duke and Connor, and they played against each other. Plus, the tempo of the offense on both sides was increased from last season. The 91 points scored in just 20 minutes of scrimmaging was a result. The League average last year was a total of about 140 points in 40 minutes (or about 70 points per 20 minutes). We also have bigger, quicker guards and wings with longer reach like Emarion Ellis and Trey Pettigrew, to go along with Christian Davis and the big men, who will create more turnovers.

The last line of the article about Alamar:
Fans are going to like Atlason. The 6-foot-8 freshman can shoot, can defend bigger forwards, and looks very smooth and polished. Think MVC Newcomer of the Year candidate.

That's not likely with all the transfers in the league who have been very good players in other conferences, including a few 5th year seniors and double-digit scorers elsewhere in D1.
But Freshman of the Year could be a possibility.
 
I would not read much as far as Ellis not scoring much yesterday because Leons did not do much offensively also in that scrimmage. Jonivic definitely looked winded at times but is a force inside. I think the 5th starter spot ends up being Pettigrew, Davis or Ellises depending on matchups.I wish I could have seen Burch yesterday but hoping he gets better soon so we see him play in the exb. game.
 
Who else ran point when it wasn’t Hick or Deen? I’m curious where we’d go for some point minutes if one was out.
 
Who else ran point when it wasn’t Hick or Deen? I’m curious where we’d go for some point minutes if one was out.

Both Duke and Connor played about 19 of the 20 minutes in the scrimmage. In the final minute or so, Cade Hardtke and Sam Hennessy replaced them. I don't recall anyone else playing point guard.
In practices, Trey Pettigrew would be the next up to play PG.
 
Both Duke and Connor played about 19 of the 20 minutes in the scrimmage. In the final minute or so, Cade Hardtke and Sam Hennessy replaced them. I don't recall anyone else playing point guard.
In practices, Trey Pettigrew would be the next up to play PG.

I don't remember if it was Pettigrew or someone else but there was small stretch that Hickman went more off guard and that player did run the point. Not near as smooth as Hickman. You can see his improvement with his bulked up size. He might be the best player we have if he can shoot like he did Saturday. A lot quicker getting his shot off now.
 
I have been hearing that Connor felt that his shot was broken last year, and that he now feels like he has fixed the problem. His shooting has been very good in the practices this season. Let's hope he keeps it up. :)

Losing Zek unexpectedly at the end of March hurt Bradley, almost as much as losing Rienk and Ville. He would have been the primary backup point guard this season, and he handled that pretty well last year. When he surprised everyone and announced he was entering the portal on March 28, it was too late to replace him with another quality point guard. So we'll probably see Duke and Connor play 35 minutes in most games this season, with Trey helping out a little.

Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage Oct. 13, and he is being counted on to be a leader for the URI team.
https://twitter.com/BillKoch25/status/1712967298951082199
https://twitter.com/PetrickZack/status/1707172163982110934

Zek will start and get a lot of playing time at Rhode Island, though it might not be at point guard like he wanted to play at Bradley. URI was really bad last year and are rebuilding with a ton of new pieces. They finished with an overall record of 9-22, and they were 5-13 and 14th place in the A-10, despite 2022-23 being the weakest year in the history of the A-10.
Head coach Archie Miller cleaned house after his first year at URI. They lost 9 players from last year's team, including their top 4 scorers, and 5 of the top 6. Every player who started for them is gone, and this year's roster includes 13 new players-- five D1 transfers, three jucos, and 5 freshmen. 3 of the new players are pretty good point guards, so Zek will likely play off the ball.
https://gorhody.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster
 
Getting back to our starting 5 I just cannot see Jonovic, Hannah and Leons on the court at the same time because of the situation of guarding the 3 point shot. We would be at a huge disadvantage against any opponent that has multiple players that are able to shoot 3 pointers at a good percentage. I also think Pettigrew can play the point and actually handles the ball better then Zek. We should get a better idea on what combinations work the best after we get several games in this season. We have several veterans but also some new players that will be vital to our overall success this season.
 
I don't remember if it was Pettigrew or someone else but there was small stretch that Hickman went more off guard and that player did run the point. Not near as smooth as Hickman. You can see his improvement with his bulked up size. He might be the best player we have if he can shoot like he did Saturday. A lot quicker getting his shot off now.

Connor had a quick shot last year too - and mid-season appeared a bit too quick and didn't have good balance, which affected his 3-pt shots.
Can't wait to see his improvements! I was psyched about Hickman even before he joined the Braves - now we're seeing how good he can be!
 
Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage Oct. 13, and he is being counted on to be a leader for the URI team.
https://twitter.com/BillKoch25/status/1712967298951082199

I thought Zek had the most upside of any Brave last 2 seasons and as close to an nba prospect we've had in over a decade, aside from Childs, but his senior season was mediocre for his potential and we know how the rest of the season imploded for him.

Zek was the catalyst to help the Braves win on the road with his big 2nd half at Indy St. last year. If we didn't have his contributions, I don't think we even finish Top 3 last season. Nothing but best wishes for Zek at URI.
 
..Btw, there are some Rhode Island people who thought that Zek was the best player on the floor in their Blue-White Scrimmage..

Hmm, the stats and the comments on their message boards had most of the post-scrimmage buzz about David Green, a portal transfer junior who
was really hot in the first half scoring 19 pts, then finishing with 26 pts on 10-17, 4-9 from 3pt and 7 reb. He is however, a 2-time transfer and is still awaiting his NCAA waiver.
Jaden House, senior transfer from High Point also had 26 pts on 10-13. Zek had 15 but was 0-4 from 3pt, 1 asst and 3 turnovers.
Rhode Island had a dozen players leave last year and totally rebuilt their roster from the portal, but 10 or 12 of their guys are guards and wing players. quite a bottleneck at that spot...

One guy on the Rhode Island roster I will be interested to see is the son of one of the greatest shooters in basketball history.
Ray Allen III, son of NBA Hall of Famer Ray Allen, the all-time record holder for 3-pointers made 'til Steph Curry just broke it, and formerly cited by some as the greatest shooter in NBA history.
 
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