• Welcome to BradleyFans.com! Visitors are welcome, but we encourage you to sign up and register as a member. It's free and takes only a few seconds. Just click on the link to Register at the top right of the page, and follow instructions. If you have any problems or questions, click on the link at the bottom right of the page to Contact Us.

1st round NIT- Final score: Dayton 80 Bradley 66

Bacci'sAftertheGym said:
Sitting in the 3rd row I'm guessing it's not evident on TV...but dayton is playing very very physical defense. Any Bradley player on offense without the ball, cannot move an inch without their arms and shoulders being raked and held. Some might call that defense but I call it a foul. Unfortunate but Dayton players fully believe they're better than us, are joking around, and are being proven right.
Would like to see Bradley decide they can do the same. Surprisingly Montana appears to be the most experienced with this style of "basketball" and isn't being 'rooked. He is up for the challenge and has thrown a couple body checks back.
Click to expand...
I was at the game as well and agree completely. I hadn't seen a team do this to BU since maybe the 00's Saluki's hand checking everyone all the time. There were tons of time Dayton players had two hands on our guys while they were playing D, that is a foul. That said Dayton was by far the better team tonight.
 
Da Coach said:
I got nothing to say... subpar game against a good opponent. Lucky to lose by only 14. Nice to see the guys play better in the 2nd half and not totally give up.
Dayton shoots 52.1% overall and 50% from three. Bradley shoots 45.1% overall and 45.5% from three.
Turnovers- Bradley 10 Dayton 4
Steals- Dayton 5 Bradley 0 - can't remember a game where Bradley had 0 steals

Official box score- https://daytonflyers.com/sports/mens-basketball/stats/2025-26/bradley/boxscore/17692
Official attendance- 2,436 -
Something doesn't seem right about that number. The lower bowl was pretty full. It definitely appeared more than 2,436 to me.

Bradley ends the season 21-13; Dayton improves to 24-11, and they advance to play UNC-Wilmington in the 2nd round.
Click to expand...
This is a game where you can’t count any season tickets. Attendance numbers throughout the season factored in STH who did or did not show up…which brought up every total. 2,500 was probably accurate for tonight. Chattanooga game last year doubled this one.
 
I also echo that 2,400 was a very accurate count tonight. The lower bowl was not close to full - looking at my photos, there were more empty seats than occupied seats in the end sections.
 
This team looked like a team that was shocked on Sunday they were selected to play. Several of the players(and coaches) appeared to be going through the motions and unprepared for the game. I get NIT games, where you find out a couple days beforehand who you are playing, present challenges, but Dayton was ready to go from tip. I may just be reading things that aren't there but this performance makes me think more guys than we think are looking at the portal. Wouldn't be surprised if some of these guys were planning their announcements when they were caught off guard by the NIT invite.

I know attendance has been waning over the years but 2400 for an NIT matchup is pathetic.
 
molar50 said:
Yes. I thought by eye test that the attendance was 3,200- 3,500. Listening to Wardle talk on the post game show was interesting. He talked about how his generation had to work harder and this generation feels entitled. He talked about some of the challenges of being a coach. I know that he’s right, but if he can’t adapt to the current culture, he’s not going to enjoy coaching or be successful.
Click to expand...
I heard him as well. He isn't dealing with anything other D1 or D2 coaches aren't dealing with.
 
Season is over, next season starts today. Wardle on his post game mentioned today he is on the recruiting trail. Let's hope he can get what we need for the upcoming season. Will see who stays and leaves. Hope everyone stays, but in today's world of the portal who knows.
 
I never thought I'd say this but the women's team was more enjoyable to watch than the men's. I think Wardle would be the first to admit it's on him. They sure didn't look like a 20+ win team.
 
Game plan spends the first 10-20 minutes forcing the ball in to Meta and repeatedly getting nothing out of it. He had only 2 made baskets despite all that effort.
Meanwhile we fall behind by double digits then finally go to the things that have been successful all season - drives to the hoop and Alex shooting 3’s. This happened vs UNI too.
But alas, too little, too late.
 
Just need some better offensive schemes. I can't remember a game where every bucket was so hard to come by. A lot of dribble then shoot and not many passes then shoot. Need more of that and it was lacking a lot all season. Ball movement the last 3 games was not good and painful to watch.

I have a feeling our stud PGs and SeaStrunk will be gone. If 2 of them stay, AWESOME!
 
It was a good learning experience for them. Shows them where they have to be as a player and as a team. I am hoping the core of this group is coming back. According to a message on another thread on here the majority have committed to coming back. I hope that is the case
 
Last night showed just how weak the Valley was this season. We got beat mostly because our frontline is not very good. We are slow a not very athletic inside, I counted at least 4 times last night where the ball was lying on the floor for anybody to pick it up and we seemed to have no idea where it was at because the lack of awareness.
 
tomahawk chop said:
Last night showed just how weak the Valley was this season. We got beat mostly because our frontline is not very good. We are slow a not very athletic inside, I counted at least 4 times last night where the ball was lying on the floor for anybody to pick it up and we seemed to have no idea where it was at because the lack of awareness.
Click to expand...
This is reality. The MVC has been gutted. BU should have been a middle to lower middle MVC team this year. But the valley has been gutted every year for several years now with NIL and the transfer portal. There isn't much left at this point honestly.
 
I don't know how we missed on CT - he was for the most part a bust for 2 seasons. Can't say enough about how great of a person and teammate he is, but that's doesn't go far enough to winning games. I guess we just had it good with Malevy for 2 seasons who did what CT did and a whole lot more.
Meta's progression from Year 1 to last night was sloth-like. We expected more - didn't get it. Time to move on and look for better. I think Kai Yu WILL be better with more playing time.
Rebounding got better down the stretch, but was a major weakness most of the season.

The BIGS need to be in the paint a lot more next season. Holding the ball waiting for a little guard to hand off to just doesn't work half the game.
That ruins the flow of the offense too. Need a couple bangers who can score down low and kick out once in a while. AJ actually did a good job at that, but he's gone.
 
tomahawk chop said:
Last night showed just how weak the Valley was this season. We got beat mostly because our frontline is not very good. We are slow a not very athletic inside, I counted at least 4 times last night where the ball was lying on the floor for anybody to pick it up and we seemed to have no idea where it was at because the lack of awareness.
Click to expand...
Ridiculous. It was the #9 conference in the country this season. 3 teams were underdogs to teams 40-50 spots better in NET, 1 team was a favorite. Dayton was 44 spots better in NET.
 
Stryker said:
This is reality. The MVC has been gutted. BU should have been a middle to lower middle MVC team this year. But the valley has been gutted every year for several years now with NIL and the transfer portal. There isn't much left at this point honestly.
Click to expand...
The MVC is #9 and has been top-10 3 years in a row.

The MVC’s metrics have been better - by quite a bit actually - than in Loyola’s final 4 years in the league where it didn’t rank in the top-10 any of those 4 years.

It’s some fans’ perception the league has been “gutted” because of their bias against the portal and NIL. But that perception doesn’t come close to what the objective, non-biased numbers say.
 
BravesWinINStyle said:
The MVC is #9 and has been top-10 3 years in a row.

The MVC’s metrics have been better - by quite a bit actually - than in Loyola’s final 4 years in the league where it didn’t rank in the top-10 any of those 4 years.

It’s some fans’ perception the league has been “gutted” because of their bias against the portal and NIL. But that perception doesn’t come close to what the objective, non-biased numbers say.
Click to expand...
I am pleased with 9th for 3 straight years. That's tough to do with all the turnover in players and coaches!
Would love for 6th or 7th like it was back in the mid 2000s but odd are vs us.

Bradley just has to focus on getting better. That's all I care about really.

This was a tough season to watch after how well the team played a year before (and really the past 3 years) This team overachieved slightly, but every game was a slugfest. Really need 4 guys on the court who are offensively/defensively efficient and can be relied upon to score.
Last night we only had Alex. Wheeler made things happen, but he's not a breakout scorer.

Quanny has been SO off the last 3 games and he carried us pretty much through the season. With him playing poorly, you see more easily the weaknesses on the team. I felt he was pressing b/c aside from Alex, nobody else is that reliable to score.
I feel bad for the kid cause you know he wants it so bad.

Recruiting is TOUGH, but we GOTTA do better!
 
Last edited:
So I didn't see Bully's family at the game, which was odd.
Burch didn't even sit with the team on the bench? How bad was he hurt in practice? Something is off. A lot felt OFF last night at the game even before tipoff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top