Post game comments- Wichita State 80 - BU 73

[bu fan 9]

I thought Sam M played well last night.He is the only one close to a leader on the floor.

 

[tornado]

Sam M. is doing very well....

there are really only five freshmen in the Valley who even show up anywhere in the league stats,
Sam Maniscalco (BU), P'Allen Stinnett (Creighton-2nd leading scorer), Isaiah Martin (Indiana State-leads the Valley in blocked shots), Pieter van Tongeren (Evansville-3rd leading scorer and leading rebounder), and Kenny Walker (Creighton-3rd leading scorer).

Carlton Fay was many people's pick as the best incoming freshman, and yet he has struggled.
He is only playing 9 mpg, 2 ppg, 1.7 rpg.

 

[shockerfan13]

The thing that is most frustrating to me about this game is that we had built a good lead with 5 or 6 minutes to go in the first half, and Marshall pulled all 5 starters to send them a message...
He put in 5 guys that were absolutely horrible and played them for a 4 or 5 minute stretch...and our starting lineup playing against essentially their JV squad couldn't do anything, and ended up losing 2 points off of our lead, I believe. With that horrid lineup that Marshall threw out there for the last 5 minutes of the first half, BU should have extended the lead to 18 points by halftime, if they had one ounce of toughness or killer instinct...

Here is who Marshall put in to send a message to his starters with 5 or 6 minutes left in the first half...and at least 4 of these 5 guys played a 4 or 5 minute stretch at the end of the first half.

Graham Hatch - 0 pts. scored all season...13 total minutes played all season before tonight
Bret Michael - 0 pts. scored all season...6 total minutes played all season before tonight.
Lance Harris - 0 pts. scored all season...8 total minutes played all season before tonight
Aaron Ellis - averaged 1.4 points per game before tonight
JT Durley - averaged 8.4 points per game before tonight

That was the 5 man lineup that our starters were matched up against at the end of the first half...They should have destroyed that lineup and forced Marshall to bring his starters back...but it didn't happen...we couldn't even overmatch that collection of deep bench players...that is an embarrassment...

It would be the equivalent of Les getting angry at our starters and bringing in Phillips, Lavin, Austin, Egolf, and Cole-Scott to play out the last 5 minutes of the first half on the road at Creighton....You think that the Bluejays wouldn't run off about 20 points in 5 minutes against that lineup?

But we could do nothing...absolutely nothing against those scrubs...Marshall handed us a gift...we could (and should) have run that lineup off the court and built a 20 point lead by half...instead, we wilted.

Actually, there is alot more than scoring to the college game. Not saying I don't agree with you but he didn't sub those players for scoring. He subbed them to make a statement as you have said, but also because the starters weren't playing defense the way he wanted them to in the first half. They were also turning it over so bad you would have thought THEY were the scrubs.

Graham Hatch & Lance Harris I'll give you, I didn't expect to see either of them at all if much. I would expect to see 1 of the 2 for about 3 minutes total but that is about it. And that would have been about it but Hatch actually started showing what he's been showing in practice so he earned his time. But if Matt Brauer was playing I don't think you would have seen them.

Aaron Ellis - doesn't score much, but he does get his minutes so it's no surprise he came in. He has typically played pretty good defense against other team's 3 guard/sf. And according to Marshall he's very fluid on offense in practice so he plays him to show that he has confidence in Ellis so that Ellis will hopefully get more confidence in himself. Ellis isn't great offensively, but definately not a scrub.

JT Durley - Lately he has been one of our more consistent offensive weapons and he's been rebounding well. He's pretty much been our 6th man, so I wouldn't say he's a scrub at all.

 

[bert notorius]

Carlton Fay was many people's pick as the best incoming freshman, and yet he has struggled.
He is only playing 9 mpg, 2 ppg, 1.7 rpg.

CF is a freshman trapped in a senior's body. At least once last night he was standing wide open under the basket and no one could get him the ball. Finally he chucked one up from 24' and got nothing but net. SIU isn't sharing the ball very good- 11 a/gm. Even BU is getting 16 a/gm.

 

[jasonpeoria911]

What was even more funny, was most of the crowd laughed when WSU put in a new line with 4 minutes to go in the 1st half. Even the announcer put a gag in it when he said that WSU was doing a line change. Like they do in hockey with a line change. Guess WSU got the last laugh.

Jason

 

[SFP]

Salley does all he can with what he's capable of doing. He's also played out of position for two years.

I guess I'm one of the few who accepts Salley for who he is.

I agree about Salley that he does show up and plays hard. He's just should not be a starter in this league even as a 4 and btw he is not the only player who is playing out of position. TW and AW are not playing their natural position add JC's liability on defense now we really have problems in rebounding and our overall D. That is the real problem and we do have the personel to address this we just may not be able to have our best players starting, but this is a team game.

 

[Braves4Life]

Give These Kids A Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Give These Kids A Break!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Salley does all he can with what he's capable of doing. He's also played out of position for two years.

I guess I'm one of the few who accepts Salley for who he is.

Scouter, I rarely agree with what you say but you hit this right on the money! Remember, these are kids who are here to represent Bradley University as best they can. They stay out of trouble, do their best in the classroom, and play to the best of their ability. Take a second and pretend as if these are your kids putting it on the line for BU and you come online to see how they are perceived by their fellow classmates and ADULT fans and have then you have to read all this cr@p!?

These kids have all been a credit to the University and if they don't play up to our expectations then whose fault is that? They're doing the best that they can with what they've got. Blame the coaches, not the players!

 

[BUBrave28]

Sounds to me like you might be the head coach of some football team in Oklahoma. Is it the Cowboys?

 

[BradleyBrave]

Good to see you at the game last night, Mike...
I agree, right now, it isn't the guard play, it is the inside play that's killing us.
We just don't stop people from driving down the lane and dunking!
Wouldn't it be nice it we still had Patrick O'Bryant?

It's not just our bigs. Our guards' defense is atrocious. Below-average guards like the Laurie brothers and Gal Mekel are doing whatever they want. They also don't box out. Warren and Crouch are both 6'5", and both are averaging 3 rpg, and are getting outrebounded routinely by smaller guards. It's sickening to watch. But, let's not split hairs here on what 'the problem' is - the whole team stinks, and there's not one thing they do well besides lose.

 

[TNel]

If this doesn't get turned around in a hurry, I feel a total meltdown coming (i.e., defections, transfers, etc.). Where have you gone Danny Granger?

 

[Braves4Life]

If this doesn't get turned around in a hurry, I feel a total meltdown coming (i.e., defections, transfers, etc.). Where have you gone Danny Granger?

I have a feeling some defections may be encouraged at seasons end by the coaching staff

 

[ER3]

...They stay out of trouble, do their best in the classroom, and play to the best of their ability. Take a second and pretend as if these are your kids putting it on the line for BU and you come online to see how they are perceived by their fellow classmates and ADULT fans and have then you have to read all this cr@p!?

These kids have all been a credit to the University and if they don't play up to our expectations then whose fault is that? They're doing the best that they can with what they've got. Blame the coaches, not the players!

Do you really believe that all of these players are playing to the best of their abilities? If that is truly the case, Les' ability to judge talent should really be called into question.

These guys aren't playing well, they aren't playing with much fire or passion, and as a team they just aren't playing up to expectations...

Is the coaching staff to blame for this mess? Absolutely...they brought these kids here and repeatedly praised them for the overwhelming amount of talent they possess...So, the coaches definitely have to be on the hook for not being able to get these players to play up to their supposed talent levels...

But the players cannot simply be given free pass here. They are paid (in the form of a free education) to win basketball games for this University...period. That is the ONLY reason these players are paid to come to BU. To help Jim Les's basketball team win basketball games. Do we want them to be good people?...sure. Do we want them to attend classes, get their degrees, and be 'good citizens'? absolutely.

But they were brought here to win games...and that isn't happening right now...so the players have to be held accountable for those failures...along with the coaching staff...

 

[BradleyBrave]

If this doesn't get turned around in a hurry, I feel a total meltdown coming (i.e., defections, transfers, etc.). Where have you gone Danny Granger?

Jim has lost this team. The body language of our senior 'leaders' says as much.

 

[Big Mike]

Right now with the team being on break it is the best time to make adjustments.....school doesn't start back until the 23rd so lets get take the season back! All these player's and coach's have to do right now is play ball .......no homework......come on staff lets get it done!

 

[ph]

Good to see you at the game last night, Mike...
I agree, right now, it isn't the guard play, it is the inside play that's killing us.
We just don't stop people from driving down the lane and dunking!
Wouldn't it be nice it we still had Patrick O'Bryant?

I wish the coaching staff stopped thinking that.
Our bigs are not POB.
Our bigs cannot play like POB, thus they get yanked out of the game for not being POB.

If the coaches realized what the strengths of our bigs were, they would change their coaching philosophy, and adjust the game to suit our bigs strengths.