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2024-25 Bradley team

BUfan14 said:
Rienk Mast seemed pretty good at that too. I do like this addition a lot, but as someone else said Mal is going to be hard to replace. He and Hick were our best defenders. Zek wasn’t a great defender nor shooter last year. I like bringing Zek back, but I think many are severely underestimating what Hick brought to the table to say they are a wash. Our defense will be interesting this year for sure losing our two best. Our best perimeter defender may well be Davis at this juncture, not knowing how well the new guys can defend.
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I have seen Thomas play and was really impressed with him. He did some things around the basket I did not even see Mast do. And he was a great passer
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I have seen Thomas play and was really impressed with him. He did some things around the basket I did not even see Mast do. And he was a great passer
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This is GREAT! I've heard a LOT of great things about CT.

I think Zek is a great defender from what I saw from him in Year 2, but maybe didn't show it last season. He also was a reliable 3-point shooter for BU his first 2 seasons, and has a mid-range jumper/floater as good as Hick's. Don't get me wrong - going to miss Hick, but I think Zek can fill his shoes, even though he may not get the minutes that Hickman got.

I actually think Zek can be 3rd (or even 2nd) team MVC for his final season...just a question of how bad he wants to make this season his best yet.
 
Going to be a REALLY fun team to watch!
Long, athletic, close-knit...let's hope they can gel sooner than later, as non-conf wins will be critical to NCAA tourney chances!

As in every season, there are some hiccups and learning curves in all the combos, and we should have more guys to "try out" to eventually get Wardle's preferred 8-man rotation when MVC play begins.
Would be nice to be as deep as that 2005-'06 team!
 
Da Coach said:
Dave Eminian has an article in the PJ Star projecting the starters for 2024-25. It is a subscription-only article on the PJ Star website.
However, it is available free on other sites like Yahoo and AOL- https://www.aol.com/start-bradley-basketball-braves-look-115935670.html
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I see the starters being Deen,Dillon, Montgomery, Hannah and Thomas. I think Davis ,Burch , Atlason and Johnson to get many minutes off the bench. Jonovic"s playing time will depend on his improvement over the summer but because we do not have many bigs we really need him to be better. The Italian guy could help some if he can play defense because he appears to be good offensively. I just wish the last 2 spots would be filled with younger players.
 
tomahawk chop said:
I see the starters being Deen,Dillon, Montgomery, Hannah and Thomas. I think Davis ,Burch , Atlason and Johnson to get many minutes off the bench. Jonovic"s playing time will depend on his improvement over the summer but because we do not have many bigs we really need him to be better. The Italian guy could help some if he can play defense because he appears to be good offensively. I just wish the last 2 spots would be filled with younger players.
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I think with Thomas and Jonovic battling each other every practice should make both of them better
 
tomahawk chop said:
I see the starters being Deen,Dillon, Montgomery, Hannah and Thomas. I think Davis ,Burch , Atlason and Johnson to get many minutes off the bench. Jonovic"s playing time will depend on his improvement over the summer but because we do not have many bigs we really need him to be better. The Italian guy could help some if he can play defense because he appears to be good offensively. I just wish the last 2 spots would be filled with younger players.
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I am predicting almost the same THawk, but replace Dillon with Davis. I know many of you like Davis to come off the bench (heck I do too), but I think he's one of our Top 5 guys on both ends. Of course Dillon I don't know much about.

Look for Burch to have a great season and be a bit more in control of his game, though he's got that Walt Lemon go hard demeanor. If you've seen Demarion in warm-ups, he's got great mid-range touch and many shots in his arsenal, tough to guard - much like Zek, but Zek is very smooth!

The starting 5 usually is not a big deal and 2 of the guys usually get subbed pretty early and don't end up playing 30 min. even. But it's fun to guess!!! :)
 
tomahawk chop said:
I see the starters being Deen,Dillon, Montgomery, Hannah and Thomas. I think Davis ,Burch , Atlason and Johnson to get many minutes off the bench. Jonovic"s playing time will depend on his improvement over the summer but because we do not have many bigs we really need him to be better. The Italian guy could help some if he can play defense because he appears to be good offensively. I just wish the last 2 spots would be filled with younger players.
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Gotta believe Linke is the primary backup big unless Meta finds a way to improve his athleticism a lot. I said last year I don’t know if it’s possible to improve from where he was athletically enough to be a viable D1 option, but it’d sure help if he could.

I would say Deen, Dillon, Zek, Hannah, Thomas with Davis, Burch (initial backup point?), Atlason, Linke is the 9 man rotation and hope no injuries cause I think it’ll take Johnson and van der Knaap time to grow (I know nothing just basing this on what I read people saying). Feels similar to Burch and Atlason, but maybe less polished on both accounts. Burch needed time and from what people said about both, he was more polished and ready than Johnson from Milwaukee as well.

We have bigs, just not ones that have hope of being starters or in some cases contributors. Linke, Meta, Biliew all are on the bench and 5 guys “capable” of playing the 5 spot is a lot out of 13. I’ve said already, I don’t care young or not, the Biliew spot is such a waste even if there was just a small chance a guy could contribute and/or stay for next year, it’s better than 0% Biliew chance of both.
 
bradleyfan124 said:
I think with Thomas and Jonovic battling each other every practice should make both of them better
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No offense to Jonovic, but I hope Hannah and Thomas battle each other a lot in practice even if they’re both on the starting five group. If Thomas is a true outside threat as a five, then I hope he can beat Meta every time by stepping outside and shooting or blowing around him. Even on the inside, I would hope athletically he could get around him. I think Hannah would be much better practice against athletic D1 competition.
 
BUfan14 said:
Gotta believe Linke is the primary backup big unless Meta finds a way to improve his athleticism a lot. I don’t care young or not, the Biliew spot is such a waste even if there was just a small chance a guy could contribute and/or stay for next year, it’s better than 0% Biliew chance of both.
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Agree on both points BUfan14. I was ok with Linke playing a little and he showed more than he did his previous 2 seasons. At least he's a decent screener, has good size, knows Wardle's system well, and can kick the ball back out (cause he's not much of a scoring threat - hee hee).

Keeping Billew doesn't make sense unless he's a walk-on, but maybe he's one of the best guys at practice - no idea. I hope I regret this, but he has little hope of contributing whatsoever for BU this season in games.

We could bring in a guy who could is better skill-wise than Billew (and Linke)...but what place would he find on the team?
It seems like Coach Wardle is content with what the group of guys he's got on the roster.
 
I don't have as much basketball wisdom/education as many of you...are Davis, Zek, Burch, and Atlason all considered Wings? (2 or 3 positions)
I know just because they all shoot from outside doesn't make them a 2, but they spend a lot of time on the perimeter, but can all (maybe not Burch) post up from time to time.
 
I'll try my description... :)....For the record, I have heard college coaches vary a little in their description of these terms.
Both Zek and Burch are capable of playing the 1 or 2 positions, though they are not as skilled ball-handlers and passers as Duke, so their time at the 1 (point guard) would be only if necessary. Burch is more of a typical 2-guard, or off-guard. Zek, because of his size (6'6") could play the 2 or the 3, which more often these days is referred to as a wing. Davis is more of a typical 3 (small forward or wing forward), but in some systems he also might be used as a wing guard. Atlason is not going to play either guard spot (1 or 2), but could play the 3 or 4. In basketball today, there is much more of a blurred line distinguishing a 2 from a 3, or a 3 from a 4. That is why the term "wing" or "swingman" is used instead (a player who plays mostly away from the basket on offense, but is not the primary ball-handler).
 
I’m sure there are different descriptions depending on the coach, but here are my thoughts:

Traditional basically lineup:

1- PG or primary ball handler
2- SG or primary perimeter scorer/shooter, can handle the ball pretty well, but is focused on scoring more than distributing
3- SF tweener that is taller, plays on the perimeter, good defender, not always a great ball handler
4- PF bigger guy with some athleticism, but can play back to the basket
5 - C bigger body guy who grabs rebounds and makes post moves, plays good defense

Since the three point line and more skilled big men have been incorporated in the game, two true posts (PF and C) are not that common anymore at least in college. Mid-majors especially don’t usually land skilled big men or they take a while to develop. So most good mid-majors beat teams with three point shooting, ball handling, and quickness. Kind of like how Loyola took out an Illini team with a great traditional college big man in Cockburn.

Most mid-majors it seems to go for something like this:

1 and 2 spots still the same.
3 - third taller guard who can handle it some and shoot, good defender would still be nice.
4 - basically the equivalent of the old small forward. Maybe can shoot outside a little, but quicker and can rebound and slash or play in the post a little. Ala Elijah Child or Mal or Theron Wilson or Taylor Brown.
5 - if you can get a center great, but for mid-majors this ends up being more of an old school PF. Darius Hannah doesn’t shoot like some want a four man to do in today’s game, but his body type and quickness would be an example. POB would be the closest to a true center I can remember at Bradley in a while. Meta would fit the traditional body type of this spot. Rienk and Thomas seem like more new school big men that can step out and shoot a 3 too, further blurring the traditional positions.

Since most mid-majors and most teams in general start 3 guards (occasionally four on really small teams) and they’re so important to
mid-major success, ideal roster construction to me has 7 guards, 6 forwards with hopefully one or two guys capable of playing a big bodied center role in an ideal world depending on matchups. That’s why I haven’t been a huge fan of our roster construction where we waste spots on a lot of 4/5 position guys who don’t play instead of grabbing more perimeter guys.

Some guys are “combo” guards like Hickman where they are shooting guards that can play point, but it’s not their main spot or they’re not usually the main point guard. They are usually not super small either for defensive purposes (Hickman was 6-3). Anyone can technically play any spot, but it’s not ideal. Deen would be too short to defend most 2s effectively as an example.

This is how I see them (this is all fluid and in the eyes of the beholder):

Deen - 1
Johnson - 1
Dillon - 2
Burch - 2 (could be a combo guard)
Zek - 3, 2, he does play the 1 but I didn’t think he was great at it in the past.
Davis - 3, I think he could be a stretch 4 in smaller lineups but he’s not used that way
Hannah - 4/5
Atlason - 4 (Brian used him as a 3 and 5 at times, I don’t think he should in either case)
Thomas - 5/4
Linke - 5
Meta - 5
Biliew - 5 (not skilled enough to be a 4)
van der Knaap - not sure seems like a 4 maybe a 3
Hardtke - I guess a 2? He was a walk-on so not a guy that’s typically thought of as skilled enough for any D1 position. He doesn’t handle the ball in meaningful minutes and he’s not big enough nor athletic enough to be a 3.
 
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